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Tipped Off
04-06-2005, 10:45 AM
From the Tips website:
Everett Advances to Next Round of WHL Playoffs
Silvertips Win Game Seven 3-2

Portland, OR - After a nail-biting game 7 and a spectacular series, the first round of the Western Hockey League Playoffs is over with the Everett Silvertips coming out on top of the Portland Winterhawks 4-3. In tonight's decisive game, the Silvertips hung on to a 3-2 margin to win the game.

In each game this series the team who scored first won the hockey game and tonight was no different. Everett was first on the board at 13:55 of the first period. With the puck in Portland's zone, Curtis Billsten sent a pass to Mark Kress who was streaking towards the net and Kress easily dropped it behind Blake Grenier.

Portland tied it up early in second on a power play when Everett was called for having too many men on the ice. Garrett Festerling scored his only goal of the post season with assists from Braydon Coburn and Brendan Mikkelson. At 9:47 the Silvertips once again pulled into the lead. Zach Hamill got the puck at the blue line on a Portland turnover and sent a pass to Kyle Annesley who quickly put the puck on net. Grenier made a kick save but sent the puck right to Alex Leavitt, who fired again and this time found the hole to make it 2-1.

Leavitt struck again at 10:17 of the third period on a breakaway. This was Everett's first shot of the period but that was all the Silvertips needed. With about three minutes left in the game, the Winterhawks pulled Grenier and sent an extra attacker out onto the ice. After two minutes of relentless firing by Portland, Coburn found the additional goal at 19:01, but enough time wasn't left to score again and send the game into overtime. Cody McLeod and Brandon Dubinsky tallied the assists on the Winterhawks' last goal.

The final battle between Mike Wall and Blake Grenier ended with Wall topping Grenier 4-3. Wall stopped 36 of 38 shots, 16 of 17 in the last period alone, to secure a Silvertip win. Grenier made 18 saves on 21 shots and ends his post season 3-4. On the power play both teams scored on one of four chances. In the game Portland out shot Everett 38-21 with 17 coming in the last period compared to Everett's 4.

It's not over for Everett, the Silvertips advance to the next round where they will face off against the Kootenay Ice in Cranbrook, BC. The first two games are in Cranbrook on Friday, April 8th and Saturday, April 9th. The series comes back to the Everett Events Center on Monday, April 11th and Tuesday, April 12th. Game times for the BC games are at 6pm Pacific Standard Time. Everett's home games start at their regularly scheduled time of 7:05pm.


Silvertips Box Scores
Alex Leavitt (4) 2 G
Mark Kress (2) 1 G
Curtis Billsten 1 A
Kyle Annesley 1 A
Zach Hamill 1 A
Mike Wall (4-3): 36 saves on 38 shots
Shots on Goal: Everett 21, Portland 38
Power Play: Everett 1 for 4, Portland 1 for 4
Attendance: 9,697

3 Stars of the Game
1. Mike Wall (EVT)
2. Alex Leavitt (EVT)
3. Braydon Coburn (POR)

Tipped Off
04-06-2005, 10:46 AM
From the Oregonian:
Another unlucky seven
Everett beats the Hawks, who lose for the fourth consecutive time in the first round and third in a Game 7
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
PAUL BUKER
For the Winter Hawks, the torture of the postseason continues.

"This hurts," Hawks center Brandon Dubinsky said as he tried to come to grips with Tuesday night's numbing 3-2 loss to Everett in the deciding Game 7 of the teams' first-round Western Hockey League playoff series.

"It was a long series, and we came out on the short end of the stick," Dubinsky said as teammates sat glumly in the locker room, contemplating the sudden end to the season and, in some cases, the end of their major-junior careers.

"I thought it should have been the other way around," said Dubinsky, who wasn't sure the better team advanced to a second-round series against Kootenay.

Perhaps. But after watching the Hawks get most of the bounces in Games 5 and 6, Everett was determined to get out of the Rose Garden with a victory. The Silvertips made it a long night for a crowd of 9,697.

The team that scored first won every game in this series, and it was no different in Game 7. Everett's Mark Kress scored at 13:55 of the first period off a nice pass from Curtis Billsten after Kyle Annesley did the dirty work along the boards and Hawks captain Braydon Coburn fanned attempting to clear the puck along the wall.

Portland fought back to make it 1-1 on Garrett Festerling's power play goal after Everett was penalized for having too many men on the ice.

If the Hawks had momentum, it didn't last long. After Dubinsky was sent off for roughing in the second period, 20-year-old center Alex Leavitt put Everett in front 2-1 with a power play goal at 9:47.

Trying to catch the Silvertips from behind in the third period is a nearly impossible task. The Hawks were pressing to tie it again when Leavitt put the game away with a breakaway with 9:43 left in regulation. The play was set up when Kress blocked a shot by Coburn near center ice.

"Any time you get a goal in a Game 7, it's usually one of the greatest goals of your life," Leavitt said of the breakaway.

"I couldn't believe I had so much open ice. I thought for sure someone would be on me. I looked behind me twice."

Hawks goaltender Blake Grenier played with Leavitt in Swift Current, "and he always stoned me," Leavitt said. "He's had my number this entire series. I've had about three breakaways on him, and I finally got lucky tonight."

Said Grenier: "There's not really much I can say. He shot through the 'five' hole (between Grenier's legs). I've got to close my pads and get those."

Portland pulled Grenier with 3:40 left and scored with 59 seconds remaining as Coburn beat Everett goaltender Michael Wall with a hard shot from out front. But when Grenier went off again, with 29 seconds left, the Hawks couldn't mount another charge.

It was a familiar ending for Portland, a franchise that has lost three Game 7s in four years and been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs four years running.

"I thought the effort was there. I thought everybody played their hearts out the whole series," said left wing Cody McLeod, who didn't have a goal in the series.

"Game 7s can go either way," added McLeod, a 20-year-old who moves on next season, "and we just came up a little short. I'm not going to be able to wear this uniform again, and that's pretty tough to take."

The Hawks lost three of the first four games in the series, despite outplaying and outshooting coach Kevin Constantine's team. Portland outshot the Silvertips 38-21 in Game 7, but Everett did its usual remarkable job of clogging the area in front of the net and waiting patiently to capitalize on turnovers.

"We failed to capitalize when we were playing our best earlier in the series, and it came down to a Game 7," Williamson said. "We didn't get a goal when we needed it tonight and we had to fight from behind."

Leavitt praised the Hawks.

"It was probably the toughest series I've ever been a part of," he said. "They came back from 3-1, and it just shows what kind of character that team has. A lot of teams, especially at this age level, would have just quit. They could have just shut 'er down. I was with Swift Current last year and we got down 3-1 to Medicine Hat, and we basically just quit and got blown out in Game 5. But Portland had no quit. . . . It was just an unbelievable effort on their part to come back.

"They almost came all the way back, but we got lucky."

Williamson and his players thought they had what it takes to go deep into the playoffs this season. Instead, they will spend another long summer wondering what happened, and why.

"I wish there were words to express what I feel right now," Grenier said

Tipped Off
04-06-2005, 10:47 AM
From the Everett Herald:
Silvertips survive
Alex Leavitt's breakaway goal in the third period gives Everett just the cushion it needs to hold off Portland and win 3-2, taking the best-of-seven series.

By Nick Patterson
Herald Writer


PORTLAND, Ore. - All series long, the Everett Silvertips have asked Michael Wall and Alex Leavitt to carry the heavy load.

And on Tuesday night it was those same two players who carried the Silvertips into the second round of the Western Hockey League playoffs.

Leavitt scored two goals and Wall stopped 36 shots as the Silvertips defeated the Portland Winter Hawks 3-2 in Game 7 of their first-round series.

"It's amazing, really" Leavitt said. "Coming into their building, with them having all the momentum in the series, it was really an unbelievable accomplishment by the guys to keep going forward and not worry about what happened in the past."

Everett, which won the best-of-seven series 4-3, advanced to face Kootenay, the top seed in the Western Conference, in the second round. Games 1 and 2 are Friday and Saturday in Cranbrook, British Columbia.

Leavitt scored the go-ahead goal midway through the second period to make it 2-1, then scored what proved to be the game winner midway through the third on a breakaway. Portland's Braydon Coburn scored with 59.8 seconds remaining to make it a tense final minute, but the Tips held on.

Mark Kress also scored for Everett, giving the Tips the early lead. The team that scored first won all seven games in the series.

"It was a battle," Wall said about winning the series. "They pressured and pressured. Guys made some key blocks out front and we just battled through it."

Garrett Festerling added a goal and Blake Grenier made 18 saves in net for Portland, which fought back from a 3-1 series deficit to force Game 7.

"Overall I was happy with the way our team battled through, not just tonight but in the playoffs and the last half of the year," Portland coach Mike Williamson said. "But we failed to capitalize when we were playing our best earlier in the series. It came down to a Game 7 where I was still happy with the effort, but a couple of fundamental errors, a couple of turnovers and they found the back of the net."

The bounces that Everett didn't get in losses in Games 5 and 6 returned in Game 7. Kress' goal came after Coburn misplayed the puck behind his own net, Leavitt's first goal came on a rebound and his second came after Kress blocked a shot into the neutral zone, setting Leavitt off to the races. Leavitt finished with team-highs of four goals and nine points in the first round.

The rest of the heavy work was done by Wall. Wall, who has been outstanding all series long, was his stellar self again in Game 7. Portland put all kinds of pressure on the Everett net, particularly in the final 10 minutes - Portland outshot Everett 17-4 in the third period - but Wall always came up with the answer.

"(Wall) was the difference, in the series as well as the game, because we got outchanced most games," Everett coach Kevin Constantine said. "If you get outchanced and outshot in nearly every game your goaltender better be very good, and he was obviously very, very good."

The game was tied 1-1 midway through the second periodwhen Leavitt gave Everett control. On a Tips power play, Zach Hamill made a nifty behind-the-back pass to Kyle Annesley in the left slot. Annesley's shot was saved, but Leavitt got the rebound and fired it behind Grenier, making it 2-1 at 9:53.

Leavitt then gave Portland a mountain to overcome at 10:17 of the third period. Coburn wound up and shot from the left point, only for Kress to block the puck back across the blue line. Leavitt streaked onto the loose puck, broke away all alone and put a shot right through Grenier's legs, making it 3-1.

Portland then kept the puck almost exclusively in the Everett zone the rest of the way, with Wall making big saves on Dan DaSilva, Coburn and Alex Aldred before Coburn cut the lead to one, getting a shot through Wall after a feed from Cody McLeod. But the Tips prevented any good Portland looks in the final minute.

Everett took advantage of a Portland mistake to take the lead 13:55 into the game. Coburn mishandled the puck behind his own net, allowing Curtis Billsten to sweep in for the puck and whip a pass out front to Kress. Kress one-timed a shot past Grenier on the glove side and in off the inside of the post, giving Everett a 1-0 lead.

Portland tied it at 1:56 of the second period. Coburn carried the puck into the zone, floated to the left corner, then dropped a pass back out front for Festerling, who beat Wall at the near post to make it 1-1.

Slap shots: Everett captain Mitch Love was scratched Tuesday. Love tried skating during warmups, but his injured knee turned out to be too sore to play. Love suffered the injury in Game 3, missed Games 4 and 5, then played in Game 6. ... Tickets for Everett's home games next Monday and Thursday go on sale at 9 a.m. today at the Silvertips office or noon at the Everett Events Center box office. They can also be purchased by phone at 1-866-332-8499 or online at www.everettsilvertips.com. ... Portland has been dumped out of the playoffs in the first round four straight years.

Silvertips 3, Winter Hawks 2

Everett 1 1 1-3

Portland 0 1 1-2

First Period-1, Everett, Kress 2 (Billsten), 13:55. Second Period-2, Portland, Festerling 1 (Coburn, May), 1:56 (pp). 3, Everett, Leavitt 3 (Annesley, Hamill), 9:53 (pp). Third Period-4, Everett, Leavitt, 10:17. 5, Portland, Coburn 1 (McLeod, Dubinsky), 19:00. Shots on goal-Everett 6-11-4-21. Portland 7-14-17-38. Power-play opportunities-Everett 1 of 4. Portland 1 of 4. Goalies-Everett, Wall 4-3 (38 shots, 36 saves). Portland, Grenier 3-4 (21 shots, 18 saves).

Tipped Off
04-06-2005, 10:49 AM
From the Seattle Times:

Silvertips win, clinch series

By Jim Riley

Special to The Seattle Times

PORTLAND, Ore. — The unconventional Everett Silvertips have done it again.

The Silvertips went against long-standing Western Hockey League tradition by winning a Game 7 on the road last night. Everett beat the Portland Winter Hawks 3-2 in front of 9,697 fans at the Rose Garden to capture the opening-round Western Hockey League series, four games to three.

Even with the victory by Everett, the second time in the franchise's two-season history it has won a Game 7 (the Silvertips won a Game 7 last year in Kelowna), visiting teams are 12-36 in such games in WHL history.

Alex Leavitt had a pair of goals in the game for Everett, which advances to the second round against the Kootenay Ice, and Michael Wall made 36 saves for the Silvertips.

"I think they grabbed the momentum in Game 6 and it was a little scary coming in here for Game 7," Wall said. "They played very well so I think maybe we stole one here tonight."

Everett coach Kevin Constantine, who said his team has felt comfortable on the road, singled out Wall as a key to the series.

"Wall was the difference tonight and in the entire series," Constantine said.

Leavitt, who came over in a trade from Swift Current earlier in the season, said the main focus for Everett was to forget statistics.

"We had 16 keys we needed to win because you need 16 wins to take the league championship," Leavitt said. "One of those keys was to throw stats out the window. So any mention of Game 7s or records in opposing barns or for guys who hadn't been scoring, we didn't worry about any of that. If it was brought up by anyone on the team, you got punched in the face."

Leavitt scored in the second period to give the Silvertips a 2-1 lead and then on a breakaway in the third to make it 3-1. The Winter Hawks pulled goaltender Blake Grenier and made it 3-2 with a Braydon Coburn goal with a minute left, but Everett managed to kill off the final minute to take the series.

"I was brought to this team to score goals and provide offense," Leavitt said. "If I wasn't going to do it now, there wasn't really any point of me being here. I love the pressure situations."

The Silvertips scored first on a rare turnover by Portland defenseman Braydon Coburn. Kyle Annesley pressured Coburn into giving up the puck against the boards in the Portland end. Curtis Billsten collected it and zipped a pass to Mark Kress in front of the net.

Kress took his time and fired a shot over Portland goaltender Blake Grenier at the 13:55 mark of the first period.

Portland tied it 1:56 into the second period after the Silvertips were given a two-minute penalty for too many men on the ice. Garrett Festerling got his first goal of the playoffs only 16 seconds into the power play when he got the puck past Wall after a pass from Coburn and Darrell May.

The Silvertips regained the lead with a power-play goal. Leavitt scored the goal, his third of the playoffs, after assists by Annesley and Zach Hamill. The goal came after a roughing penalty by Portland's Brandon Dubinsky.

Leavitt gave the Silvertips a 3-1 lead with a breakaway goal in the third period, and Everett was able to survive an all-out Portland assault.

Notes

• Everett captain Mitch Love warmed up, but was scratched with a sore knee.

• Next for Everett is Kootenay, the team that had the WHL's best record. The seven-game series will open in Cranbrook, B.C., Friday and Saturday.