History
Foundations
The Americans franchise began as a founding franchise of the league, beginning as the Calgary Buffaloes in 1966. The original team was renamed the "Centennials" after one season. In 1977, the franchise relocated to Montana and was known as the Billings Bighorns—part of an initial wave of American teams in the league. In 1982, the team moved again, this time to Nanaimo,Tumultuous beginnings
The team's new arena in Kennewick, the Tri-Cities Coliseum, was not ready in time for the start of the team's first season in Washington, forcing the team to seek practice ice in Walla Walla and to play its first seventeen games on the road. The team's inaugural game was a 4–2 loss in Spokane against the Chiefs. The team finally debuted in their new home arena on November 20, 1988, defeating the Seattle Thunderbirds 4–3 in overtime in front of 6,000 spectators. Led by stars Stu Barnes and goaltender Olaf Kolzig, the Americans were playoff contenders from the outset. The team gained widespread attention during their second season when they staged a one-game walk-out; Dixon hired Bill LaForge to manage the team, and when he stepped in for coach Rick Kozuback and allegedly levied verbal abuse at players and instructed them to injure their opponents, the players refused to play in their December 31, 1989 game against the Portland Winter Hawks. Dixon ultimately agreed that Kozuback would continue coaching the team, rather than LaForge. In that season's playoffs, during their first round series against the Thunderbirds, Kozuback and several players got into a physical altercation with fans, who had apparently been pouring beer onto the bench; Kozuback and two players were suspended, while Seattle was fined for its fans' actions. Despite re-branding as the Americans, the team wore the New West Bruins' black-and-gold colors for the first two seasons in Kennewick, before Dixon finally paid for new uniforms in their red, white, and blue color scheme in 1990. The team found limited success in its first two decades, winning its first playoff series in 1995 over Spokane, but never advancing past the Division final.Twenty-first century
Struggling on and off the ice, the team was nearly relocated to Chilliwack, British Columbia, in 2004. However, an ownership group including former players Kolzig and Barnes, along with Bob Tory and Dennis Loman, purchased the team and kept it in Kennewick. In 2021, Barnes would be named the team's head coach. The Americans' had their most successful run in a five-season period from 2007–08 to 2011–12, when the team topped the U.S. Division four times. In 2007–08, led by goaltender Chet Pickard and coach-of-the-year Don Nachbaur, the team won the regular season title with a 52-win, 108-point season, before losing a seven-game conference final series against Spokane that featured a then-record five overtime games. The following season, at their annual New Year's Eve game against the Chiefs on December 31, 2008, the Americans set a team record for attendance with 6,042 attendees. In 2009–10, the Americans won their third straight division title and advanced to the championship series for the first time in history. They faced the Calgary Hitmen, losing the series in five games.Season-by-season record
''Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties OTL = Overtime losses Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against''Championship history
* Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy: 2007–08 * Conference championships: 2009–10 * Regular season Division titles (4): 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2011–12WHL Championship final
* 2009–10: Loss, 1–4 vs Calgary HitmenPlayers
NHL alumni
Alumni of the Americans who played in the National Hockey League (NHL). Scott Gomez was the first former American to win the Stanley Cup. * Carter Ashton * Stu Barnes * Milan Bartovic * Jake Bean * Shawn Belle * Alexandre Boikov * Brian Boucher * Jason Bowen * Brandon Carlo * Dylan Coghlan * Eric Comrie * Kimbi Daniels * Chris Driedger * Brad Ference * Brett Festerling * Dan Focht * Morgan Geekie * Scott Gomez * Patrick Holland * Olaf Kolzig * Zenith Komarniski * Jaroslav Kristek * Jason Labarbera * Daymond Langkow * Brett Leason * Scott Levins * Bill Lindsay * Jason Marshall * Josef Melichar * Steve Passmore * Stephen Peat * Alexander Pechursky * Ronald Petrovicky * Carey Price * Michael Rasmussen * Terry Ryan * Terran Sandwith * Jesse Schultz * Ray Schultz * Brendan Shinnimin * Todd Simpson * Dan Smith * Sheldon Souray * Clayton Stoner * Jaroslav Svejkovsky * Billy Tibbetts * Juuso Valimaki * Terry Virtue * Vladimir Vujtek * Tyler Weiman * Parker Wotherspoon * B. J. YoungRetired numbers
The Americans honored Todd Klassen in 1993, months after he was killed in a car crash. The team also began awarding the Todd Klassen Humanitarian of the Year Award annually.Awards
CHL awards
WHL awards
References
External links