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Tipped Off
09-27-2005, 03:44 PM
More pop with the puck
Everett isn't abandoning its defensive ways, but the Silvertips' offense should be more explosive this season with Peter Mueller and John Lammers joining Torrie Wheat, Zach Hamill and Brady Calla as scoring threats.

Story by Nick Patterson
Herald writer


For two years, if you cupped a hand to your ear in Everett, you could hear the whispers.

For two years the Everett Silvertips enjoyed unprecedented success for a new franchise in the Western Hockey League.

And for two years the rest of the league looked with disdain and disgust on how that success was attained.

Complaints that the Silvertips played boring hockey rained in from all quarters, some claiming that teams like Everett would eventually prove the downfall of the sport. Opposing fans grumbled about how they'd rather have their teams lose playing a more exciting offensive brand of hockey than win playing like Everett.

Those days look to be over.

A new order
Peter Mueller makes it look easy.

In Everett's preseason practices, the Silvertips' new center has done things not yet seen in Everett. He has the size and strength to shrug off checks, much like a horse casually shoes flies away with its tail. He has the skills and skating ability to turn any tiny crack in the defense into a scoring chance. And when he breaks free on goal, it seems like he scores every time.

Indeed, Mueller is the total offensive package, and he embodies Everett's new look.

These aren't your father's Everett Silvertips.

"Without question we're going to be a different team offensively," said Torrie Wheat,Everett's leading scorer last season. "The possibilities are endless. I can't wait."

Everett' had the best first two years of any franchise in WHL history. Among the Silvertips' achievements were a U.S. Division title, a Western Conference championship and virtually every team record for a first-year expansion franchise.

Everett accomplished that with a stingy defense that was among the best in the league. It had to be, considering a shortage of offensive talent caused the Silvertips to finish 18th in the league in scoring in 2003-04 and 16th in 2004-05. Wheat's team-leading totals of 25 goals and 32 assists last season - which are also franchise records - are modest in the grand scheme of things.

His numbers could be dwarfed this season.

In Mueller and left wing John Lammers, the Silvertips have added elite offensive talents. Mueller was the second-leading scorer for the U.S. National Team Development Program's under-18 squad last season, despite being the only 16-year-old on the roster. Lammers was the Dallas Stars' third-round pick in the 2004 NHL draft and came to Everett in an offeseason trade with Lethbridge. He already has more WHL points (124) than any player to suit up for the Silvertips not named Alex Leavitt.

Then there's the wild card, Czech center Ondrej Fiala, who arrived 10 days before the season opener. Fiala is expected to need an adjustment period, both to playing and living in North America. But he's thought to have the ability to be a major contributor.

"I think the newcomers will make a big impact in terms of numbers," said Shaun Heshka, Everett's top scorer among defensemen last season. "Having guys like Lammers and Mueller around - (guys) who are really skilled and can put the puck on your stick - will be pretty huge. It'll be nice to see some tic-tac-toe passing, and hopefully they'll put it in the net."

The newcomers aren't the complete story. Everett also has a pair of second-year forwards in Zach Hamill and Brady Calla who appear poised for breakouts following solid rookie seasons.

Hamill, a gifted playmaker who was Everett's first-ever Bantam Draft selection in 2003, is a little bigger than last season, when he led the WHL in scoring among 16-year-olds with 33 points. Calla, already one of the fastest skaters in the league, is showing signs of becoming a deadly finisher, too. Both gained valuable experience during the offseason, winning gold medals as members of Team Canada at the U-18 Junior World Cup.

"I think the guys in their second year are going to have so much more confidence," said Kevin Constantine, Everett's coach and director of hockey operations. "Hamill and Calla were pretty entertaining players in moments last year. I just think you'll see them more consistently doing stuff on more of a game-to-game basis. The extra year for those guys is going to mean good things for our offense, too."

Throw veteran holdovers Wheat and Karel Hromas into the mix and Everett's offense this year might make its previous offenses look like they came straight from a Midget league.

"There will be a few times in every game this year where the fans will just go, 'Whoa!'" Wheat said. "There are some players here who can do some things with the stick and the puck that are amazing."

Staying the course
Wheat might be Everett's top returning scorer, as well as one of the team's veteran leaders. But that doesn't make Wheat immune from Constantine's wrath for missing an assignment in his own end, as evidenced in a recent practice.

As improved as Everett's offense could be this season, the Silvertips still built their foundation of success on playing solid defense, and Constantine wants to make sure the players remember that.

"I think the things that we try to teach fundamentally stay in order whether you have good players or medium offensive talent and so forth," Constantine said.

"The red flag that goes up is we, for two years, have found ways to beat more-talented teams because there is a natural tendency for players to rely on their offensive talent for success. In hockey, team success isn't built around offensive talent, it's built around work ethic and attention to detail on defense. I think as long as our foundation of how we do things doesn't erode at all just because we think we're more talented, then our team has way greater potential just because it can find a way to win in more ways than one."

As a result, there's been little change in the way Constantine has coached the Tips. There might be a greater willingness to allow the offensive players an element of freedom when they have the puck, but everything's still rooted in the same philosophy of being defensively solid.

"We are more offensive, but I still think our main system and our main focus is defense," Calla said. "I know when we have the puck on our sticks we're going to make better offensive choices this year because we know we're a little bit more skilled. But our main idea is still defensive hockey. That's what's taken us so far the last two years, so we're going to stay with that."

Nevertheless, the Silvertips are excited about the offensive possibilities this season presents - and the prospect of lighting up the lamp above the opposing goal more frequently.

"It's going to be nice," Hamill said. "the last two years we haven't scored the most goals. But hopefully this year we can score more goals, and keep the goals off the board at the same time.

"We've got a lot of offensive weapons," Hamill added. "If we use them in the right times and the right places, then we should be able to score goals."

And maybe then the whispers will finally come to an end.





Rippin' the Tips
During Everett's first two seasons, some criticized the Silvertips' style of play, calling it boring.

" 'Being Kevin Constantine' ... coming to an arena near you. OK, so there's no such movie. For that we can be thankful - it would be about as exciting as watching trap hockey night after night. Which, in some WHL centres, is the norm. Yuck."

Prince George Citizen, Oct. 28, 2004

"This game was as exciting as watching your toenails grow. There were two odd-man breakouts in the entire game. There were eight shots on goal in the opening 20 minutes but zero scoring chances. The second-period intermission featured a bunch of mascots playing soccer - who would have guessed that they would score more goals (two) in two minutes than two hockey teams would in 65:50?" Kamloops Daily News, April 25, 2004

"The Kelowna Rockets opened the Western Hockey League's 2004-05 season not with an exciting win, but a boring 4-2 loss to the Everett Silvertips at Prospera Place. In fact, so dull was Saturday's game that the score proved flattering.

"Why, even the 6,348 fans in attendance agreed by keeping silent for the most part - as they did in last season's Western Conference championship between Kelowna and Everett. In that best-of-seven series, the Silvertips upset the Rockets by icing the puck. Constantly. On Saturday, little had changed." Kelowna Daily Courier, Sept. 26, 2004