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Tipped Off
09-28-2005, 10:22 AM
Silvertips captain leads by example
By Jim Riley
Special to The Seattle Times

When Mitch Love was the captain of the Everett Silvertips, he was as much cheerleader as defenseman, an emotional leader unpracticed in the art of understatement.

Torrie Wheat, this year's captain, could not be more of a contrast. Whereas Love was loud, Wheat tends to whisper.

Everett coach's and director of hockey operations, Kevin Constantine, doesn't think the decibel difference will matter much.

"Mitch was very vocal and passionate, as a leader and as a player, and Torrie's game is much more subtle," Constantine said. "The best leader I ever had was Ron Francis in Pittsburgh, and Torrie is very much like him."

Constantine said Francis and Wheat share some of the same mannerisms and the ability to be heard when speaking softly.

"Torrie has all the attributes to be a great leader," Constantine said. "He's not overly talkative, but he'll say something when something needs to be said."

Wheat, 20, grew up playing hockey in Nanaimo, B.C., and is a captain for the first time in his hockey career.

"It won't change the way I'm going to play," Wheat said. "Captain or not, I hope the work ethic I try to take on the ice every game will be an example the young guys can follow. I try to be a guy who leads by example and by doing all the little things right to help the team win."

Wheat has been studying the sometimes-complex relationship between captains and referees for some time. He is billeted in Everett with Vaughn Rody, who makes his living as an National Hockey League linesman.

"I've learned a lot from him," Wheat said. "Whenever he's home, we talk about it. This is my fifth year in the league, so I already know a lot of the referees in the league."




Wheat, who came to the Silvertips in a trade with the Swift Current Broncos in June 2003, is already having his leadership tested.

The Silvertips jumped out to a 3-0 lead in their season opener against Kamloops, only to lose 6-4. Now the Silvertips have a full week off before playing their home opener in the Everett Events Center on Saturday.

"It's killing us having to wait so much because that was a very disappointing game," Wheat said. "It was a combination of them playing some fantastic hockey and us not playing our best. You never like to lose, but it's made us more focused for the home opener."

Everett never allowed six goals in a game last season and gave up five goals only twice. The only other time Everett had allowed six was a 6-1 loss in Spokane on Jan. 3, 2004.

"I think it's human nature that when you score three goals as fast as we did, you have a tendency to think how good you are and how easy it is," Constantine said. "In hockey, goals can come in bunches, and that's what happened."

The Silvertips traded away last year's starting goaltender Michael Wall a few weeks ago, but Constantine isn't worried about Leland Irving, Wall's replacement.

"I'd give Leland about a C grade for the game," Constantine said. "I don't think he gave up a lot of bad goals where you would give him a D or an F, but he didn't make the big saves when he had to, either."

Wheat said he believes the Silvertips just need to get back to what made them so successful in the team's first two seasons.

"We had the attitude that we were going to score a lot more goals [in the opener], and maybe that wasn't the best thing to do," Wheat said. "We need to get back to doing all the little things right 100 percent of the time. Once we do that, our offense will make us a potent team."

Get your tickets

According to Zoran Rajcic, director of business operations, the Silvertips have sold more than 6,000 tickets for Saturday's home opener against Prince George, and a sellout in the 8,250-capacity events center is possible. Season-ticket sales are up slightly, to just more than 3,600.

Tickets are available at the Everett Events Center box office from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., at 866-332-8499 and at www.everettsilvertips.com.

Bob in Everett
09-28-2005, 09:03 PM
Wheat will be on NW Sports with Paul Silvi @ 9:30 on NWCN and 10:30 on KONG. See the Tip's site for more airtimes.

Bob