Four unanswered third period goals in the span of nearly four minutes lifted the Tri-City Americans to a 5-4 come-from-behind victory over the Kootenay Ice at the Rec Plex last night.

American forwards Adam Hughesman and Brendan Shinnimin were untouchable as they combined for eight points on the night; Shinnimin with two goals and two assists, and Hughesman with a goal and three helpers, as they led their club out of a 3-1 deficit during third frame.

Both Shinnimin and Hughesman hail from Winnipeg, where they grew up playing hockey together and have continued that chemistry going into the WHL while playing on the same team and even the same line.

"It's kind of surreal that we are here together as twenty-year-olds, as overagers," said Shinnimin. "But yeah, we have great chemistry and we've had it all our lives so it's just something that's built over a lot of years."

Ice forward Jesse Ismond had a banner night, notching the club's first hat-trick, and nearly scored a fourth, but his single-handed efforts weren't enough to propel his team over their opponents.

"I think I was just around that net area, you know, a couple of them were right in front of the net; that's where most of the goals come from," said Ismond, of his scoring success. "If you can get some shots, and have that presence there, you're bound to get lucky and that's what happened tonight."

Nathan Lieuwen had a rough night, facing 40 shots, as the Tri-City squad outgunned the Kootenay team in the second and third periods, while Eric Comrie, the opposing stopper, made 24 saves.

Comrie has a Kootenay connection as his half-brother, Mike, spent part of the 2001 season with the Ice and is now a stalwart forward in the pros, playing for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

It could've been a battle between the number one and two goalies in the WHL in Lieuwen and Ty Rimmer, but the Americans opted to play Comrie, who got the job done and earned the win.

"Him [Comrie] and Rimmer are just a great goalie tandem and Com's a young goalie, coming into the league at sixteen-years-old, he plays like a veteran, plays with a lot of poise and he's an outstanding goalie," said Shinnimin. "...He gains a lot of confidence off of games like this, especially against a team like Kootenay and a goalie like Lieuwen and it's a great morale boost for him and hopefully it'll help him play even better coming down the road."

Tri-City found success on the powerplay, scoring three goals with the man-advantage, while two of Ismond's markers came while the Americans had a man in the box.

The third period trouble for the Ice began eight and a half minutes in, when Marcus Messier scored on a wrist shot after receiving a pass from Hughesman while skating into the Ice zone on a powerplay.

Nearly two minutes later, Shinnimin walked through the ice defence and hit the iron with a wrist shot, but buzzed around in the zone and tipped a point shot from Hughesman for his second goal of the night.

Seventeen seconds later, the Americans were celebrating again, when Patrick Holland took a pass in the slot and wired a shot that bounced off the twine.

Hughesman banged in another shot nearly a minute and a half later, to put a two-goal cushion on Tri-City's lead, as the club found themselves ahead by 5-3 with eight minutes to go in the frame.

The explosive goal production was more than unexpected, considering the lead the Ice had, but despite a solid first period, the Ice fell back and allowed their opponents to gain a foothold in the second period, and dominate in the third, said Ice bench boss Kris Knoblauch.

"Tonight we just sat back and let them dictate the game because they played very hard and very fast and most of the last forty minutes we had to defend and you can only do that so much," Knoblauch said. "You have to attack-a lot more than we did tonight-and we just didn't have that attack."

Lieuwen pumped his team up with a big save right off the bat, when he denied Justin Feser on an odd-man rush. Lucas Nickles took an early penalty and the Ice powerplay went to work.

Elgin Pearce shot the puck from the left wing off the faceoff circle that trickled under Comrie, which was shoveled in by Ismond for his fifth of the season.

The third line unit for the Ice continued to be deadly, as Brock Montgomery scored on a neat tic-tac-toe play with Adam Rossignol to double the score and mark his second goal in two games.

Joe Antilla moved back into forward territory, manning Drew Czerwonka's spot, who is recovering from an upper body injury sustained in the previous game against the Rebels.

Antilla's usual spot has been with Elgin Pearce and Sam Reinhart on the second unit, but while he's up on the front with Reinhart and Ismond, Dylen McKinlay has seamlessly filled in his role.

Tri-City got on the board in the second, when Hughesman fed a pass to Shinnimin, who one timed a slap shot over Lieuwen's left leg pad.

The action was steadier in the second frame, as both teams were back and forth with quality chances. Tri-City rang a shot off the post, which coughed up a fat rebound to the point and an American defenceman blasted a shot at Lieuwen, who flashed the leather to make the save.

Lieuwen also stoned Hughesman, kicking out his right leg to deny a stuff-in from a pass across the slot. Joey Leach was also a defensive force for the Ice, single-handedly breaking up more than a few odd-man rushes.

While the Americans scored on the one powerplay, the Ice held them at bay with their only other second period man advantage, as Ismond made a Herculean effort in their zone with the puck in the corner, shaving at least 20 seconds off the powerplay clock and fending off four American jerseys by himself.

Ismond scored his second powerplay goal of the night in the third period, sniping a corner off a feed from McKinlay to give the Ice a 3-1 lead, before the Americans made their improbable comeback. He put away his third for the hat-trick with 19 seconds left in the contest, scooping up a rebound on a point shot from Antilla, who came out as the extra attacker when Lieuwen vacated his crease.

"He was playing physical and moving his feet and I think that's the biggest thing: if he wants to have a good night, he has to play physical and skate hard," said Knoblauch, "and tonight he was and was able to get the bounces around the net, and he's got the skill around the net to get those goals."

The loss keeps the Ice two points behind the Tigers, who have clawed their way into first place overall in the WHL with their win over Seattle on Tuesday night.

The Americans are on the road and swinging through teams in the Central Division, with games against the Lethbridge Hurricanes and the Medicine Hat Tigers before returning home.

The Ice will regroup over the next few days and prepare for their next game against the Seattle Thunderbirds on Saturday night.