Americans hammer Giants 8-2 to keep West lead
KENNEWICK, Wash. -- Brendan Shinnimin led the way with two goals and two assists as 13 Tri-City Americans players scored at least a point in a 8-2 rout of the Vancouver Giants Friday night in Western Hockey League action.
Nils Moser, Kruise Reddick, Adam Hughesman, Jordan Messier, Justin Feser and Neal Prokop also scored goals for Tri-City (15-3-0), which jumped out to a 5-0 lead and never looked back.
Zach Hodder and Brednan Gallagher replied for the Giants (12-5-3), who trail Tri-City by three points for first place in the Western Conference.
Americans goaltender Drew Owsley picked up his 14th victory of the season, stopping 37 shots. Vancouver netminder Jamie Tucker lasted just five minutes, allowing two goals on five shots before being replaced by Brendan Jensen, who stopped 17 of 23 to take the loss.
Rockets blank Bruins 3-0
KELOWNA, B.C. - Adam Brown recorded his fourth career shutout for Kelowna, making 23 saves, as the Rockets blanked the Chilliwack Bruins 3-0 in Western Hockey League action on Friday night.
Brandon McMillan, Kyle St. Denis, and Mitchell Callahan scored for Kelowna (10-7-1). The Rockets' first two goals were power-play markers, while Callahan's was into an empty net with 57 seconds remaining in the game.
Chilliwack (7-9-4) suffered its first shutout loss of the season, has now lost three straight games. Mark Friesen made 31 saves for the Bruins.
Blazers edge Oil Kings in OT
KAMLOOPS, B.C. - Right-winger Jimmy Bubnick's overtime goal gave the Kamloops Blazers a 6-5 victory over the Edmonton Oil Kings in Friday night Western Hockey League action.
Tyler Shattock, Bronson Maschmeyer, C.J. Stretch, Shayne Wiebe and Brendan Ranford also scored for Kamloops (9-9-2), ending a seven-game losing streak.
Devin Balness, Michael St. Croix, Robin Soudek, Mark Pysyk and Brent Raedeke replied for Edmonton (7-10-4), which led 4-1 early in the second period.
Kamloops goaltender Justin Leclerc stopped 26 shots, while Cam Lanigan of the Oil Kings turned aside 32.
Broncos end losing streak with win over Cougars
SWIFT CURRENT, Sask. -- Cody Eakin scored twice to reach the 20-goal plateau in his 20th game of the season, sparking the Swift Current Broncos to a 4-1 win over the visiting Prince George Cougars in Western Hockey League play Friday night.
Justin Dowlinghad two goals in the third period to guarantee the victory for Swift Current (10-9-1). Broncos netminder Morgan Clark made 25 saves.
Eakin scored both goals 1:50 apart in the first period. The 18-year-old's second of the game was on the power play, his tenth extra-man advantage marker of the season.
Taylor Makin opened the scoring for Prince George (3-13-1) at the midway point of the opening period with his second goal of the season. Cougars goaltender Hudson Stremmel stopped 36 shots.
The win ends a Swift Current four-game losing skid.
