Highly Sought Goaltender Prefers To Stick With Tri-City

There was no For Sale sign hanging around Brian Boucher’s neck Wednesday at lunch.

The all-star goaltender - the focus of trade talk this week as Friday’s Western Hockey League trading deadline approaches - said he’s more than willing to stay in Tri-City, where the Ams are coming around after a horrible start.

The Americans went into the all-star break only four points (two games) behind injury-riddled Kelowna and nine points down on Prince George. Boucher, 19, said he’d like to be a part of a playoff run in Kennewick.

“I’m a Tri-City American right now and I want to be a Tri-City American for the long haul,” he said after Wednesday’s all-star luncheon at Cavanaugh’s Inn At The Park.

The long haul is only another two or three months. Boucher has signed with the NHL Philadelphia Flyers and will play professionally next year. Should Tri-City get into the playoffs - only the last-place team misses out - the Ams probably aren’t good enough to play too deeply into April.

So even if Boucher prefers to finish his junior hockey career in Kennewick, nobody is ruling out a trade, should a contending team in need of great goaltending make an offer Tri-City GM Bob Brown couldn’t refuse.

Earlier in the season, when trade talk swirled around Boucher, Brown took him aside.

“He took me in his office and said, ‘Look, I’m not trading you right now.’ And if it were to ever happen, it may be a deadline deal,”’ the goaltender said.

“Obviously the deadline is near,” said Boucher, whose inspired play led Team USA to a silver medal at the World Junior Tournament. “He said it would take a pretty darn good offer for them to trade me.”

One WHL scource said the Ams are looking for three top-line players, or potential top-line players.

“I tried to make it clear to him that I’m not going to pack it in and call it a season on Jan. 25 (when some veterans headed for the pros start planning ahead). I want to go to the playoffs and I want the Americans to be in the playoffs. I hope that’s good enough for them to keep me but I realize that I’ll be gone next year and they have an organization to run.”

Seattle Thunderbirds general manager Russ Farwell is rumored to be actively chasing a deal.

“They’re still wrestling with trading him (Boucher),” Farwell said. “I don’t believe in talking about it anyway. If he (Brown) is trading him, we’ll probably talk about it, but that’s all I can say.”

The second-place T-Birds, 10 points ahead of the third-place Chiefs, may indeed be chasing the blockbuster that would bring defenseman Chris Phillips of Prince Albert or Boucher to Seattle, but Farwell’s approach is long-range.

“We’re looking,” he confirmed. “If those teams (PA and Tri-City) are going to make a trade, we’re interested, certainly. We were active last year at the deadline but we’re in a little bit different (stronger) position this year.

“I don’t think if the playoffs started tomorrow that we think we would win but we’ve seen so much improvement in our team that if give them two more months, we think we can compete.”

Notes

Spokane’s left wing Greg Leeb, one of five Chiefs in this game, wore stitches on his left wrist, leftovers from Sunday night’s bus wreck near Cranbrook. Leeb said contrary to earlier reports, the Chiefs’ bus didn’t roll, but landed on its side and slid down the embankment… . The Spokane crowd, a sellout of 10,455, was the biggest in the 23-game history of the all-star game, surpassing the 7,473 that showed up in Calgary for the 1991 game… . Thirteen all-stars made their country’s national teams for the World Juniors. Nine played for Team Canada.

Portland’s Brad Isbister said being named captain of the West all-stars caught him by surprise. “I’m not sure how that came about,” he said. “I just came into the Arena the other day and the C was already on the jersey. It’s an honor, to supposedly lead this many good players.” … Winter Hawks defenseman Joey Tetarenko said he felt sorry for D-men and goalies. “It’s a great chance for players to show their skills,” he said. “It’s just tough when your skills are on the defensive side.”

The Vancouver Canucks (with four) had the most draft choices in the all-star game - Zenith Komarniski, Tri-City; Peter Schaefer, Brandon; Josh Holden, Regina and Tyler Willis, Seattle… . Since he came back as one of Team Canada’s last cuts, Komarniski has played like a man possessed. The 18-year-old defenseman scored 13 points in Tri-City’s five road games prior to the all-star break, including four in a win at Kamloops.

, DataTimes