Kristi
03-22-2005, 03:27 PM
Hawks have a plan for predictable Everett
By JASON VONDERSMITH Issue date: Tue, Mar 22, 2005
The Tribune
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After the Winter Hawks beat Everett 5-2 on Sept. 20, 2003, they had reason to be confident. The expansion team seemed like easy pickings.
The Hawks have since learned their lesson, scoring more than four goals against Everett only once, as the Silvertips found their identity.
Everett clamped down defensively, rarely made bonehead mistakes — and kept winning all the way to last year’s WHL Western Conference finals under coach Kevin Constantine.
And Portland is 6-12-4 against Everett in the past two years, scoring just 43 goals in the 22 meetings.
The teams open a best-of-seven first-round playoff series Friday in the Rose Garden. Get ready for some classic, tight playoff action. Or — boring hockey.
“It isn’t exciting hockey, but they win,” Portland defenseman Michael Funk says. “They’ve kept it simple and played their systems to a T.”
“They have our respect,” defenseman Alex Aldred says. “But we think we know how to play against them. If we can control ourselves, we can have success against them.”
Translation: The Hawks can’t take stupid penalties.
Portland did go 3-2 in the spiffy Everett Events Center (capacity 8,250) this season and is 2-1-2 in its past five matchups with the Silvertips.
Everett might be the most predictable team in the Western Hockey League. The Silvertips suck opponents into their style by clogging the neutral zone — “they’ll wait for you to cough up the puck, and then capitalize,” Funk says — and by making simple and safe plays defensively.
“Their team doesn’t take too many chances,” Aldred adds. “They’ll go off the glass (with the puck) and out of the zone, and ice it whenever they have a chance.”
The Hawks gained home-ice advantage in the series by winning their last four games. Portland coach Mike Williamson welcomes the edge because of the fans, the potential for four games here and the right to choose which lines to match up with Everett during face-offs — the home team always chooses last.
Notes
Everett plays a very disciplined game, attaining by far the fewest penalty minutes in the league. Portland averaged nine more penalty minutes per game. Williamson accuses Everett of diving and drawing penalties the cheap way. … Portland pushed to clinch second in the WHL U.S. Division in the last regular-season game for the second consecutive year. “Now, we have to refocus and re-energize, something we didn’t do last year,” Williamson says, referring to the 4-1 playoff series loss to Tri-City. … Portland has gone unbeaten in its last 10 road games by playing the proverbial “simple” hockey, Aldred says, and riding goalie Blake Grenier.
Leading scorer Dan DaSilva got whacked in the chin by Seattle’s Zack FitzGerald’s swinging stick on Saturday, and he has been dealing with concussionlike symptoms since then. DaSilva says he “kinda blacked out” after the hit, a different experience for him than two previous concussions. “I’m taking it slow, day by day,” DaSilva says. … Portland’s power play has gone cold. It’s 2 of 30 in the past five games, 7 of 70 in the past 13 games and 3 of 42 against Everett’s top-ranked penalty kill unit this season. Not good trends. “We’re not going to get a lot of pretty plays against Everett, because they block a lot of shots and stay close to the net (defensively),” Williamson says. “We need to move the puck, send it in and battle for it. We gotta get some ugly goals.”
By JASON VONDERSMITH Issue date: Tue, Mar 22, 2005
The Tribune
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After the Winter Hawks beat Everett 5-2 on Sept. 20, 2003, they had reason to be confident. The expansion team seemed like easy pickings.
The Hawks have since learned their lesson, scoring more than four goals against Everett only once, as the Silvertips found their identity.
Everett clamped down defensively, rarely made bonehead mistakes — and kept winning all the way to last year’s WHL Western Conference finals under coach Kevin Constantine.
And Portland is 6-12-4 against Everett in the past two years, scoring just 43 goals in the 22 meetings.
The teams open a best-of-seven first-round playoff series Friday in the Rose Garden. Get ready for some classic, tight playoff action. Or — boring hockey.
“It isn’t exciting hockey, but they win,” Portland defenseman Michael Funk says. “They’ve kept it simple and played their systems to a T.”
“They have our respect,” defenseman Alex Aldred says. “But we think we know how to play against them. If we can control ourselves, we can have success against them.”
Translation: The Hawks can’t take stupid penalties.
Portland did go 3-2 in the spiffy Everett Events Center (capacity 8,250) this season and is 2-1-2 in its past five matchups with the Silvertips.
Everett might be the most predictable team in the Western Hockey League. The Silvertips suck opponents into their style by clogging the neutral zone — “they’ll wait for you to cough up the puck, and then capitalize,” Funk says — and by making simple and safe plays defensively.
“Their team doesn’t take too many chances,” Aldred adds. “They’ll go off the glass (with the puck) and out of the zone, and ice it whenever they have a chance.”
The Hawks gained home-ice advantage in the series by winning their last four games. Portland coach Mike Williamson welcomes the edge because of the fans, the potential for four games here and the right to choose which lines to match up with Everett during face-offs — the home team always chooses last.
Notes
Everett plays a very disciplined game, attaining by far the fewest penalty minutes in the league. Portland averaged nine more penalty minutes per game. Williamson accuses Everett of diving and drawing penalties the cheap way. … Portland pushed to clinch second in the WHL U.S. Division in the last regular-season game for the second consecutive year. “Now, we have to refocus and re-energize, something we didn’t do last year,” Williamson says, referring to the 4-1 playoff series loss to Tri-City. … Portland has gone unbeaten in its last 10 road games by playing the proverbial “simple” hockey, Aldred says, and riding goalie Blake Grenier.
Leading scorer Dan DaSilva got whacked in the chin by Seattle’s Zack FitzGerald’s swinging stick on Saturday, and he has been dealing with concussionlike symptoms since then. DaSilva says he “kinda blacked out” after the hit, a different experience for him than two previous concussions. “I’m taking it slow, day by day,” DaSilva says. … Portland’s power play has gone cold. It’s 2 of 30 in the past five games, 7 of 70 in the past 13 games and 3 of 42 against Everett’s top-ranked penalty kill unit this season. Not good trends. “We’re not going to get a lot of pretty plays against Everett, because they block a lot of shots and stay close to the net (defensively),” Williamson says. “We need to move the puck, send it in and battle for it. We gotta get some ugly goals.”