Americans moves

Tri-City gets a player and loses a player, both related to the Chiefs. Read the Tri-City Herald story below.

Annie Fowler
Herald staff writer
The Tri-City Americans are going into their playoff series with the
Chilliwack Bruins with some good news and a little bit of bad news.
Goaltender Drew Owsley is back on the ice and it¹s business as usual between
the pipes for the second-year netminder who missed nine games with a
concussion suffered against Spokane. That¹s the good news.
The bad news? Tri-City defenseman Tyler Schmidt was suspended one game by
the Western Hockey League for his clipping major and game misconduct
Saturday against Spokane¹s Kyle Beach . The verdict came down Tuesday from
league disciplinarian Rick Doerksen.
³On of the reasons there was no rush was because there were no games,² said
Tri-City general manager Bob Tory. ³Rick tries to look at a number of
factors and the severity of the injury. He did a real thorough job and it
was fair.²
Beach, who injured his right knee, was helped off the ice after the hit and
made his way out of Toyota Center on crutches after the game. In a Tuesday
interview with KREM TV in Spokane, Beach said he wasn¹t sure what the extent
of damage was, nor when he will be able to play.
But news on Wednesday was more encouraging for the 2008 first-round draft
pick of the Chicago Blackhawks .
³We are hoping he can play Saturday,² said Spokane GM Tim Speltz, who team
will play Portland in the first round. ³I think the suspension signaled that
the injury wasn¹t as bad as first thought. Kyle has worked really hard this
week and so has our therapist. We are hopeful for Saturday.²
Having Owsley back in the lineup gives the Americans two weapons to throw at
the Bruins ‹ and they won¹t know until it¹s time to turn in the game rosters
as to who they will face.
³It¹s good to have two quality goaltenders,² Tory said. ³It¹s a better
position to be in than having one like a lot of teams do. A big strength of
this team is its depth ‹ a lot of guys have been down this road before.²
Winners of the U.S. Division and Western Conference , the Americans get
home-ice advantage through the Western Conference finals , should they
advance that far.
The Bruins are the eighth seed in the Western Conference, but Tory said they
are not taking them lightly after finishing 1-3 against Chilliwack during
the regular season.
³Chilliwack is coming in to win and that¹s what makes the playoffs so
exciting,² Tory said. ³We will do our thing to be successful.²
Note: The Americans fell out of the top 10 in the final week of the CHL
poll. Tri-City, at the top of the honorable mention category, is ranked the
equivalent of 11th. The Americans, who were 10th last week, were ranked as
high as fourth during the season and were ranked for 20 of the 26 weeks.