Tri-City Americans

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Tri-City Americans

City: Kennewick, Washington
League: Western Hockey League
Conference: Western
Division: U.S.
Founded: 1988
Home Arena: Toyota Center
Colours: navy blue, red, cream & silver
Head Coach: Don Nachbaur
General Manager: Bob Tory

The Tri-City Americans are a major junior hockey team of the Western Hockey League, based in Kennewick, Washington. The team plays its home games at the Toyota Center (formerly known as the Three Rivers Coliseum).

Contents

1 History
2
3 Retired numbers
4 External link

History

The Tri-City Americans franchise began in 1982 in Nanaimo, British Columbia as the Nanaimo Islanders, and moved to New Westminster, British Columbia in 1983, to become the second incarnation of the New Westminster Bruins. They moved to the Tri-Cities in 1988.

The Americans have never enjoyed strong local support, mainly due to their startling lack of competitiveness during the first thirteen or so years of franchise history. As a result, in 2004, the former owner of the Tri-City Americans attempted to move the team to Canada; however, the other Western Hockey League teams voted to prevent the move. Shortly after this failure, the team was sold to Tri-Cities natives, including Olaf Kolzig, the goalie for the Washington Capitals, and Stu Barnes of the Dallas Stars, both former Americans players. Since the sale, local support for the team seems to have increased modestly.

The Americans' fiercest rival is the Spokane Chiefs. In addition to several other meetings during the year, the teams have a tradition of playing every year on New Year's Eve in Kennewick.

In the 2003-2004 season, the Americans had the first female to compete in the WHL, Shannon Szabados, a fifteen-year-old Canadian goalie who was on the team for the season.

Ironically, there were only two American citizens, Jason Beeman (California) and Kyle Peters (Oregon), on the team's roster for the 05/06 season.

Stu Barnes
Milan Bartovic
Alexandre Boikov
Brian Boucher
Jason Bowen
Mike Busniuk
Kimbi Daniels
Brad Ference
Dan Focht

Scott Gomez
Olaf Kolzig
Zenith Komarniski
Jaroslav Kristek
Jason Labarbera
Daymond Langkow
Rick Lanz
Scott Levins
Bill Lindsay

Jason Marshall
Josef Melichar
Steve Passmore
Stephen Peat
Ronald Petrovicky
Terry Ryan
Terran Sandwith
Ray Schultz

Todd Simpson
Dan Smith
Sheldon Souray
Jaroslav Svejkovsky
Billy Tibbetts
Terry Virtue
Vladimir Vujtek
B.J. Young

Retired numbers

33 - Olaf Kolzig

14 - Stu Barnes, Todd Klassen

8 - Brian Sakic

External link

[Tri-City Americans website]

Western Hockey League
Current teams : Brandon Wheat Kings \| Calgary Hitmen \| Chilliwack Bruins \| Everett Silvertips \| Kamloops Blazers \| Kelowna Rockets \| Kootenay Ice \| Lethbridge Hurricanes \| Medicine Hat Tigers \| Moose Jaw Warriors \| Portland Winter Hawks \| Prince Albert Raiders \| Prince George Cougars \| Red Deer Rebels \| Regina Pats \| Saskatoon Blades \| Seattle Thunderbirds \| Spokane Chiefs \| Swift Current Broncos \| Tri-City Americans \| Vancouver Giants
Expansion for 2007-08 : Edmonton
CHL: \| Memorial Cup \| OHL \| QMJHL \| WHL

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