Tipped Off
03-26-2008, 11:13 AM
from heraldnet.com
Silvertips' Kyle Beach: Emotions can overshadow his talent
By Rich Myhre, Herald Writer
EVERETT -- Tell someone you're looking for Kyle Beach's softer side and you get a grin in return.
Beach, after all, is not only among the most talented athletes in the Western Hockey League, he also has one of the most notorious appetites for rough stuff. To suggest otherwise is enough to make WHL players -- rivals and teammates alike -- smirk at the absurdity.
And in this instance, the smile comes from Beach himself.
But the funny thing is, the Everett Silvertips winger from Kelowna, B.C., is more decent than most people know, even diehard Tips fans.
Beach, who turned 18 in January, talks to his parents by telephone almost every day. He's a doting "big brother" to the daughter and son of Kelly and Rich Shaver, his Everett host family. And maybe one of the few things to top his love of hockey is his love of country -- the sole decoration he's hung on his Everett bedroom wall is a Canadian flag.
Being big hockey fans, the Shavers attend many Everett games and they've seen Beach's ornery alter-ego in person. But, Kelly Shaver insisted, "he's completely different once he steps off the ice. He wouldn't be here with my kids if he was a ruffian or a rotten kid."
Beach moved in with the Shavers last spring, "and when he was first coming to live with us people said, 'Do you know who you're getting?' And with the articles you read, you'd think he was a punk and a trash talker. But we've never had any issues with him. He interacts with our friends and our family.
"And he's great with my kids," she added. "He's basically a kid himself."
Of course, the kid also plays hockey, a game not known for niceness. It is a jarring, often violent sport, and sometimes the gloves come off. In his two full seasons in Everett, Beach has landed more than his share of checks, shoves and punches. On top of that, he yaps unceasingly at opponents. It's no coincidence that he led the team in penalty minutes in 2007-08 for the second year in a row -- by a wide margin.
Emotions 'on his sleeve'
He is the player opposing teams and fans love to hate. And the player his own coaches and teammates try to understand.
"His issue is emotional control," said Silvertips head coach John Becanic, whose team trails Spokane 2-0 in their best-of-seven first-round WHL playoff series that resumes tonight at the Everett Events Center. "Other players have other issues, but his is just one that he wears on his sleeve. And it's out there for people to see."
Emotion, of course, is what makes Beach stand out -- for good and for bad. It is emotion that makes him heedless of physical risk, sending him to the net with abandon and allowing him to create chances for himself and his teammates. Similarly, it is emotion that sometimes prompts him do foolish things, making himself less effective and his team less likely to win.
"He's vulnerable to bad penalties every now and then, and there've been times when he's put his team in a tough situation," said Doug Soetaert, the team's vice president and general manager. "Sometimes you have to take a punch in the mouth and skate away. … He just has to keep his mind and his composure and his focus on the game, and by doing that he's a better hockey player on a nightly basis."
Emotion, Beach explained, "is what gets me into the game. It's my love for the game and the emotion that I put into the game that brings my intensity every night. Because if you play the game with no emotion, it's a totally different game and you're not going to do anything out there.
"You definitely have to play with emotion, but you've also got to control it," he said. "You have to play on that edge and you've got to stay on the right side of that edge. Every once in a while that line, that edge, gets crossed and you have a bit of a problem. But you still have to play on that edge, because if you're not doing that every night, you're not going to be as effective as possible."
Without his emotion on the ice, "I don't think he'd be that good, to be honest," said winger Shane Harper, one of Beach's closest friends on the team. "Sometimes it can be a little too much and it can put our team down, but if he didn't play like that, he wouldn't help our team as (much). And that's what he brings. That's a big part of his game."
Up-and-down year
Beach was good enough last season to be named the WHL's Rookie of the Year. Before this season he was projected as a high first-round pick in this summer's National Hockey League draft, and throughout the fall he did nothing to disappoint.
Then, just before Christmas his play began to wane, which probably had something to do with injuries. Most significantly, he suffered a concussion in mid-December and another in January -- both the result of fights -- and after that he sometimes didn't seem like the same player.
"His first half was just so outrageously good," Becanic said. "But the second half he's struggled offensively. Now, were the injuries (responsible for) his lack of offensive production? I don't know. But in the first half he also drew more penalties than he took, and in the second half he took more penalties than he drew. So his effectiveness dropped somewhat, but he's also (18) years old. And when you're (18) years old, you expect some of that."
"I'm a bit worn down," Beach admitted, "but I'm not going to make excuses and use injuries as a back door to get out of not producing or playing to my potential. But it's definitely affected me with the concussions I've had this season. It's just something I have to overcome."
At the top of his game, Beach is a player of remarkable promise. At 6 feet, 3 inches and upwards of 200 pounds, he has a great body for hockey. Add to that his quickness afoot and his ability with a stick, and "his future is as bright as he wants it to be," Becanic said. "The sky is the limit for him."
"His future is basically in his own hands," Soetaert agreed. "He's a big-time power forward, he's got unbelievable hands, and he can play mean and nasty. And as long as he plays the game in the right way, he's got a good chance to succeed in the National Hockey League."
Silvertips' Kyle Beach: Emotions can overshadow his talent
By Rich Myhre, Herald Writer
EVERETT -- Tell someone you're looking for Kyle Beach's softer side and you get a grin in return.
Beach, after all, is not only among the most talented athletes in the Western Hockey League, he also has one of the most notorious appetites for rough stuff. To suggest otherwise is enough to make WHL players -- rivals and teammates alike -- smirk at the absurdity.
And in this instance, the smile comes from Beach himself.
But the funny thing is, the Everett Silvertips winger from Kelowna, B.C., is more decent than most people know, even diehard Tips fans.
Beach, who turned 18 in January, talks to his parents by telephone almost every day. He's a doting "big brother" to the daughter and son of Kelly and Rich Shaver, his Everett host family. And maybe one of the few things to top his love of hockey is his love of country -- the sole decoration he's hung on his Everett bedroom wall is a Canadian flag.
Being big hockey fans, the Shavers attend many Everett games and they've seen Beach's ornery alter-ego in person. But, Kelly Shaver insisted, "he's completely different once he steps off the ice. He wouldn't be here with my kids if he was a ruffian or a rotten kid."
Beach moved in with the Shavers last spring, "and when he was first coming to live with us people said, 'Do you know who you're getting?' And with the articles you read, you'd think he was a punk and a trash talker. But we've never had any issues with him. He interacts with our friends and our family.
"And he's great with my kids," she added. "He's basically a kid himself."
Of course, the kid also plays hockey, a game not known for niceness. It is a jarring, often violent sport, and sometimes the gloves come off. In his two full seasons in Everett, Beach has landed more than his share of checks, shoves and punches. On top of that, he yaps unceasingly at opponents. It's no coincidence that he led the team in penalty minutes in 2007-08 for the second year in a row -- by a wide margin.
Emotions 'on his sleeve'
He is the player opposing teams and fans love to hate. And the player his own coaches and teammates try to understand.
"His issue is emotional control," said Silvertips head coach John Becanic, whose team trails Spokane 2-0 in their best-of-seven first-round WHL playoff series that resumes tonight at the Everett Events Center. "Other players have other issues, but his is just one that he wears on his sleeve. And it's out there for people to see."
Emotion, of course, is what makes Beach stand out -- for good and for bad. It is emotion that makes him heedless of physical risk, sending him to the net with abandon and allowing him to create chances for himself and his teammates. Similarly, it is emotion that sometimes prompts him do foolish things, making himself less effective and his team less likely to win.
"He's vulnerable to bad penalties every now and then, and there've been times when he's put his team in a tough situation," said Doug Soetaert, the team's vice president and general manager. "Sometimes you have to take a punch in the mouth and skate away. … He just has to keep his mind and his composure and his focus on the game, and by doing that he's a better hockey player on a nightly basis."
Emotion, Beach explained, "is what gets me into the game. It's my love for the game and the emotion that I put into the game that brings my intensity every night. Because if you play the game with no emotion, it's a totally different game and you're not going to do anything out there.
"You definitely have to play with emotion, but you've also got to control it," he said. "You have to play on that edge and you've got to stay on the right side of that edge. Every once in a while that line, that edge, gets crossed and you have a bit of a problem. But you still have to play on that edge, because if you're not doing that every night, you're not going to be as effective as possible."
Without his emotion on the ice, "I don't think he'd be that good, to be honest," said winger Shane Harper, one of Beach's closest friends on the team. "Sometimes it can be a little too much and it can put our team down, but if he didn't play like that, he wouldn't help our team as (much). And that's what he brings. That's a big part of his game."
Up-and-down year
Beach was good enough last season to be named the WHL's Rookie of the Year. Before this season he was projected as a high first-round pick in this summer's National Hockey League draft, and throughout the fall he did nothing to disappoint.
Then, just before Christmas his play began to wane, which probably had something to do with injuries. Most significantly, he suffered a concussion in mid-December and another in January -- both the result of fights -- and after that he sometimes didn't seem like the same player.
"His first half was just so outrageously good," Becanic said. "But the second half he's struggled offensively. Now, were the injuries (responsible for) his lack of offensive production? I don't know. But in the first half he also drew more penalties than he took, and in the second half he took more penalties than he drew. So his effectiveness dropped somewhat, but he's also (18) years old. And when you're (18) years old, you expect some of that."
"I'm a bit worn down," Beach admitted, "but I'm not going to make excuses and use injuries as a back door to get out of not producing or playing to my potential. But it's definitely affected me with the concussions I've had this season. It's just something I have to overcome."
At the top of his game, Beach is a player of remarkable promise. At 6 feet, 3 inches and upwards of 200 pounds, he has a great body for hockey. Add to that his quickness afoot and his ability with a stick, and "his future is as bright as he wants it to be," Becanic said. "The sky is the limit for him."
"His future is basically in his own hands," Soetaert agreed. "He's a big-time power forward, he's got unbelievable hands, and he can play mean and nasty. And as long as he plays the game in the right way, he's got a good chance to succeed in the National Hockey League."