Tri-City Americans

The Tri-City Americans franchise is an original franchise of the WHL. They began in 1966 as the Calgary Buffaloes before being renamed the Centennials after one season. The franchise was also known as the Billings Bighorns from 1977 to 1982 before relocating to Nanaimo, British Columbia as the Nanaimo Islanders. After only one season, they moved to New Westminster, British Columbia to become the second incarnation of the New Westminster Bruins. They moved to the Tri-Cities in 1988.

The Americans enjoyed local support until early 2000, the start of 4 owners in 4 years, all wanting to relocate the team to Canada. Between selling off team assets and one owner banning the local newspaper columnist from attending games, the attendance dropped considerably. The lack of any notable championships didn't help matters either. Although the ownership group represented by Darryl Porter had stated upon purchasing the team that they would create a local presence (the oft-heard criticism of the ownerships groups), Mr. Porter had still not moved to the Tri-Cities in his 3rd year of ownership. In 2004, Porter attempted to move the team to Chilliwack, British Columbia in Canada. However, the other Western Hockey League teams voted to prevent the move, including all four other American teams as well as 2 Canadian teams. Shortly after this failure, the team was sold to Tri-Cities natives, including Olaf Kolzig, the former goalie for the Washington Capitals, and Stu Barnes of the Dallas Stars, both former Americans players. Since the sale the team has doubled attendance figures and won the first division championship in team history. Porter and his investment group were later granted the Chilliwack Bruins as an expansion franchise.

On November 29, 1989 Americans goaltender Olaf Kolzig became the first goalie to register a WHL goal when he successfully shot on an empty net against the Seattle Thunderbirds.

The Americans annual series with the Highway 395 rival Spokane Chiefs is always intense and full of action, clearly their biggest rival year in and year out. The competitiveness of the two team is such that an annual tradition with the Americans is to play the Chiefs at home on New Year's Eve. The only time this tradition was broken was due to a one-day strike by the Americans over the training tactics of one of the coaches.

In the 2002–03 season, sixteen-year-old goaltender Shannon Szabados became the first female player to compete in the WHL when she played one game for the Americans. In 2010 Szabados won gold in Women's Ice Hockey at the 2010 Winter Olympics playing for Canada.

During the 2007–08 WHL season, the Americans won the US Division regular season championship for the first time after a March 15, 2008 game against division rival Spokane Chiefs in Kennewick, Washington at the Toyota Center. The Americans won the Western Conference regular season championship, and the Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy for the best overall regular season record in the WHL. The 2009–10 Season marked the third straight year the Americans won the US Division.

At their annual New Year's Eve game against the Spokane Chiefs on December 31, 2008, the Americans set a record for attendance at a hockey game in the Toyota Center, with 6,042 attendees.[2] The Americans surpassed this number on March 13, 2010, in a game against Spokane, with an attendance of 6,053.[3]

The Americans won the Western Conference championship for the first time in the 2010 playoffs defeating the Chilliwack Bruins, Kelowna Rockets and Vancouver Giants in successive series before dropping the league championship to the Calgary Hitmen in 5 games.

The Americans are charitably-active in the Tri-Cities area. Years ago, the Americans were one of the first teams to do 'The Teddy Bear Toss', which was originally called 'Toy Trick'. This is where the fans would throw stuffed animals onto the rink on a selected night when the home team scores their first goal. The players collect the bears and hand them out to various organizations or the players take them along with them when they visit children in the local hospitals.

A definite first at the Tri-City rink was the Breast Cancer night. Brian Sandy, Senior VP of business operations and Chief Marketing Officer, dreamed up this event, where the ice is tinted pink and the players wear pink jerseys that are auctioned-off at the end of the night. The game on February 2, 2008, every jersey sold for the maximum donation of $500 each, with all proceeds supporting breast cancer research.

The Americans also were active in raising start-up funds for the establishment of a local chapter of The First Tee. Players visit schools and hospitals weekly and assist the young hockey players with their practices. Links are provided on their website to other organizations like the local Humane Society, and opportunities have been provided to the Children's Developmental Center to volunteer to aid in the seating at games for a $15,000 check at the season's conclusion.

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties OTL = Overtime losses Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against

• 2009–10: Loss, 1-4 vs Calgary

Updated December 17, 2020.[4]

#	Nat	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace	Drafted
22		Parker Bell	LW	L	17	2018	Campbell River, British Columbia	Eligible 2022
29		Paycen Bjorklund	RW	R	20	2015	Grand Prairie, Alberta	Undrafted
19		Connor Bouchard (A)	C	L	19	2016	Cochrane, Alberta	Undrafted
31		Talyn Boyko	G	R	18	2017	Drumheller, Alberta	Eligible 2021
5		Mitchell Brown	D	R	19	2016	Salmon Arm, British Columbia	Undrafted
–		Donovan Buskey	G	L	21	2020	North Vancouver, British Columbia	Undrafted
39		Booker Daniel	LW	L	19	2018	Vanderhoof, British Columbia	Undrafted
30		Mason Dunsford	G	R	17	2018	New Westminster, British Columbia	Eligible 2021
4		Ian Ferguson	D	L	18	2018	Chatham, Ontario	Undrafted
–		Andrej Golian	D	L	19	2020	Banska Bystrica, Slovakia	Undrafted
23		Tyson Greenway	C	L	18	2018	St. Albert, Alberta	Eligible 2021
12		Samuel Huo	C	R	19	2019	Richmond, British Columbia	Undrafted
27		Wil Kushniryk	LW	L	21	2018	Chilliwack, British Columbia	Undrafted
28		Marc Lajoie	D	L	17	2018	St. Albert, Alberta	Eligible 2021
24		Edge Lambert	RW	R	19	2019	Grande Prairie, Alberta	Undrafted
41		Aidan Lawson	D	L	19	2020	Providence, Utah	Undrafted
37		John Little	C	L	18	2020	Parksville, British Columbia	Eligible 2021
21		Bryan McAndrews	D	L	19	2016	Edmonton, Alberta	Undrafted
34		Sasha Mutala (A)	RW	R	19	2016	Vancouver, British Columbia	2019, 140th Overall, COL
26		Landon Roberts	LW	L	18	2017	Souris, Manitoba	Undrafted
18		Blake Stevenson	RW	R	20	2016	Calgary, Alberta	Undrafted
7		Luke Zazula	D	L	20	2019	Langley, British Columbia	Undrafted

• 8 - Brian Sakic
• 14 - Stu Barnes, Todd Klassen[5]
• 33 - Olaf Kolzig

• Tri-City Americans website
• Tri-City Herald coverage of Tri-City Americans
• Tri-City Americans flagship radio station
• Tri-City Americans celebrate 25 years | Tri-City Herald