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Opinion: Jim Riley | |||||||||||
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Tory, Clouston deserve some time It was only five years ago, at just about this point of another long Western Hockey League season, when the Tri-City Americans made a mistake that still haunts them. Then, back in 1997, the team's management fired Bob Loucks after an 0-5-1 start in a pathetic fit of fear and panic. The results were predictable. Rick Lanz came in, was overmatched and went 17-44-5 in what quickly became the worst season for this woebegone franchise since it arrived here in 1988. Worse even than the record, the Americans organization took a crippling hit in the court of public opinion when the popular, outspoken Loucks was forced to leave town. Now, as the Americans slip to 1-8-0-1 after their ninth straight loss, a 7-3 trouncing by Calgary on Wednesday night in Kennewick, the question has to be asked. Is it possibile that rookie coach Shaun Clouston and assistant Jim Hiller will suffer similar fates? The answer from Bob Tory, Tri-City general manager and part owner, is simple and direct. There is no way the coaches are going to take the blame. Tory, to the contrary, has been impressed with the way Clouston has handled the aggravating streak that no one saw coming. "The worse things have gotten, the harder Shaun has worked," Tory said. "He's committed and working very hard to stay positive. Everybody is frustrated, but he's doing everything he can to help the team get better. The more we've lost, the earlier he's come in to watch film and plan practices. That's all you can ask." To everyone connected with the organization, this start to what was expected to be a solid season has been a nightmare. Now the questions become when and how will it end? Will heads roll? Or will the Americans have the patience to stay the course? Tory, who seems to have the complete support of president Darryl Porter, said changes aren't imminent. "We know that the only way out of this is to stay disciplined," Tory said. "Shaun has done that. It would have been easy for him to lose his cool with the players or the press, but he's kept his poise." There is a great tendency in times of adversity to point fingers and assign blame. Tory won't do that. Neither will Clouston. In fact, Tory said he'll take the blame himself because he's been here longer than Clouston. That isn't really fair because Tory has had only had one bantam draft and none of those players is yet in uniform. Tory did make several good trades last season, more than he would have liked to have made. "You build a hockey team in this league through the bantam draft, not through trades," Tory said. "Usually when you make a trade, you're getting something somebody else didn't want. Or you have to trade away your young, talented players. I'm not willing to do that." So expect Trader Bob to be a bit less active this year, even if this streak continues. There were two positive signs for the Americans on Wed-nesday, a hat trick by Colin McRae and two power play goals. The Americans are in the process of paying a steep price for poor decisions made in panic years ago. Even though Tory used all his skills to apply layers of makeup, the fact is this team is ugly in a lot of ways and it's going to take time to repair the damage. So now the only choice is to be patient, to let the young guys mature and hope they can compete after Christmas. To do anything else would be to simply follow the same old patterns that got the franchise here in the first place. | ||||||||||
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