Newcomers join Ams in time for Red Lion tourney

This story was published Friday, September 7th, 2007

ANNIE FOWLER HERALD STAFF WRITER

Don Nachbaur has seen a lot of new faces since the Tri-City Americans training camp opened two weeks ago, so getting two more Thursday was no big deal to the fifth-year coach.

The Americans brought in 18-year-old defenseman Paul Levarsky and 19-year-old forward Brayden Nargang. The two practiced with the team Thursday and are expected in uniform for the Red Lion Hotels preseason tournament this weekend.

"These games are the type of situations you want to evaluate players in," Nachbaur said. "It's a measuring tool to gauge what type of players they are in intense situations. Playing against other teams and players is what you need. It shows how you compete. That's what I look at."

Tri-Cities opens with Seattle tonight and plays Spokane on Saturday. Both games are at 7 p.m. On Sunday, the Americans play Everett at 5 p.m.

The tournament features two games a day at Toyota Center. Playing in today's first game will be Spokane and Portland at 3 p.m.; Saturday, Everett and Portland play at 3 p.m., while on Sunday, Seattle and Portland play at 1 p.m.

Levarsky, a 6-foot-1, 200-pounder from Surrey, British Columbia, played 17 games for Red Deer last season, totaling one assist and 12 penalty minutes. The Rebels reassigned Levarsky, their seventh-round pick in the 2004 bantam draft, to the Merritt Centennials of the BCHL, where he played eight games with no points.

"He hurt his knee the first period he played for us, then was out a month or more," said Merritt assistant coach Wayne Wittal.

Levarsky was invited to Everett's camp this fall, but was reassigned Tuesday.

"He had a decent tournament in Everett," said Americans general manager Bob Tory. "He has league experience and with T.J. (Fast) gone (at Los Angeles Kings camp) and Jarrett Toll hurt (broken ankle), we didn't want to be short-handed on the back end. This is a good opportunity for him. He can come in, get comfortable and show us what he can do."

The 6-2, 200-pound Nargang, from Edenwold, Saskatchewan, played the 2005-06 season with the Portland Winter Hawks, finishing with three assists, 10 penalty minutes and a minus-18 rating in 67 games. He played five games for Portland last season before being assigned to the Weyburn Red Wings of the SJHL, where in 38 games he had three goals, six assists and 26 penalty minutes.

"He knows Taylor (Procyshen) and he called me and asked for a tryout," Tory said. "It's preseason, so why not. This time of year a few extra bodies don't hurt; you want your training camp to be competitive."

The Americans released 6-7 defenseman Josef Tichy of the Czech Republic on Thursday, leaving 30 players left in camp. Fast and Colton Yellow Horn (Tampa Bay Lightning) are at NHL camps and with Toll injured, there are 27 players available for the weekend.

"We have so many guys that the lineups will change each night so you can give each guy an equal look," Nachbaur said. "We as a group, since we are so young, have to figure how to compete and not be satisfied with coming close. You also want to see them get better from game to game in the exhibition season. There will be a lot of decisions to be made when it's all said and done."

The Americans finished 0-1-1 during the Everett tournament last weekend, losing to Spokane and tying Vancouver.

"You get to play a lot of younger players and you want to see if they are ready for this level of hockey," Tory said. "That's our focus for the weekend."

Note

The Western Hockey League has 111 players attending National Hockey League training camps. Of those players, 80 were selected in the NHL draft, 31 were invited as free agents and 25 are already signed to NHL contracts. The Vancouver Giants and Calgary Hitmen each have 11 players attending NHL camps, the most of any team in the WHL.