Friday night is huge
Published 4:46 pm Thursday, February 25, 2010
Friday night Comcast Arena plays host to its biggest game of the season thus far.
Tri-City comes to town for the final meeting of the season between the Americans and the Tips. Tri-City arrives with a three-point lead over Everett for first place in the U.S. Division, and this game probably decides whether there’s a race for the banner. While a loss doesn’t completely kill of Everett’s title hopes, it would make it extremely difficult. The Tips would trail the Americans by five points, and Tri-City would have a game in hand. Even with a favorable remaining schedule, it would be tough for the Tips to make up the gap in just eight games.
But if Everett wins, well it’s game on. The Tips would trail by one, and that Tri-City game in hand seems less significant when considering that the Tips have three games remaining against Prince George.
The Americans let Everett back into the picture by dropping five of seven, but Tri-City got back on track by spanking Portland 6-0 Tuesday, scoring three goals in the game’s first minute.
Tri-City will be without forward Todd Kennedy. The fourth-liner is awaiting his suspension after a charging major taken against Portland’s Eric Doyle on Tuesday. The hit reportedly was a bad one to the head, and it’ll be interesting to see how hard the WHL comes down after some of the lengthy suspensions handed out for headhunting earlier this season in the OHL and QMJHL.
