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Tipped Off
10-02-2005, 10:54 AM
Historic night for Silvertips
Everett's Kyle Annesley scores two third-period goals as the Silvertips win their home opener for the first time in the three-year history of the franchise.

By Nick Patterson
Herald Writer


EVERETT - Kyle Annesley wasn't even supposed to be in the lineup Saturday night.

The Everett Silvertips left wing appears to be the odd man out among the four players vying for three overage roster spots, and Saturday night he was in line to again be a healthy scratch.

But given a chance, Annesley cashed in, and his efforts led the Silvertips to a historic victory.

Annesley scored the goals that gave Everett the lead for good, and the Silvertips won a home opener for the first time in franchise history, defeating the Prince George Cougars 5-2 in a Western Hockey League game.

Before a crowd of 7,569 at the Everett Events Center, Annesley scored twice in a span of 1:19 midway through the third period as Everett (1-1) snapped a two-game losing streak in home openers and rebounded from a disappointing 6-4 loss at Kamloops in its season opener.

"The biggest thing we could have done is bounce back from that game in Kamloops (when the Tips couldn't hold a 3-0 lead) with a big win tonight," Annesley said. "I think every single guy played his part in the win tonight. There wasn't one guy who stood out, it was every single guy doing his job that got us the win."

Annesley has a hard road to stick with the team. He was the healthy scratch among Everett's four overagers - only three are allowed to suit up - in the season opener in Kamloops, he's the only overager who wasn't named one of the captains, and he only has until the overager deadline of Oct. 13 to state his case.

But when Torrie Wheat's injured foot didn't hold up during Everett's morning skate, Annesley was inserted into the lineup. And he delivered in a big way, breaking a 1-1 tie midway through the third period with two goals in 1 minute, 19 seconds.

"He's been really cooperative in terms of how hard he's practiced, and he's actually been one of our best goal scorers in practice," Everett coach Kevin Constantine said about Annesley. "So the idea of putting him in, he actually deserved to play. You're in that numbers game with those 20-year-olds, but his practice habits and his success in practice made him deserving to be in the lineup. You hate to see Wheatie hurt at all, but we were happy to give him (Annesley) a chance because he's made a pretty difficult situation tolerable by how good a kid he's been about what's happened."

Karel Hromas, John Lammers and Jason Fransoo also scored goals, Shaun Heshka and Cody Thoring each had two assists, Peter Mueller had an assist in his WHL debut, and Leland Irving made 23 saves in net for Everett (1-1), which looked strong throughout. The Tips outshot Prince George (1-3) 45-25 and finished 4-for-11 on the power play, which gives Everett a 50-percent success rate (7-for-14) on the power play this season.

Yet despite the domination, Everett had difficulty finding the net the first two periods, and when Prince George's Devin Featherstone scored a power-play goal 33 seconds into the third period to tie it at 1-1, the Silvertips found themselves in peril.

That's when Annesley began started an Everett scoring spree. First, at 8:49, he batted a loose puck out of the air an into the net to give the Tips the lead. Then at 10:08 with Everett on the power play, he tipped Cody Thoring's shot from the center point through Prince George goaltender Real Cyr, giving the Tips some breathing space.

Everett put the game away down the stretch as Prince George took six penalties in the final 9:23 - four for delay of game after players sent the puck into the stands from the defensive zone. Power-play goals from Lammers at 13:32 and Fransoo at 16:16 were split by Eric Hunter's short-handed breakaway goal at 15:46.

"Obviously (the penalties) were the difference," Prince George coach Mike Vandekamp said. "Some of the penalties that we took we could have avoided, some were just unfortunate. But there's definitely a couple we'd like to have back. Discipline was something we wanted to have in our game tonight and we didn't have enough of it."

Cyr finished with 40 saves in net for the Cougars.

Slap shots: Prince George was without its top defenseman, 19-year-old Andy Rogers, who remains in camp with the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning. The Cougars also played without last season's leading goal scorer, 20-year-old center Colin Patterson, who was a healthy scratch. ... Hunter's goal came with the Cougars down two men.

Silvertips 5, Cougars 2

Prince George 0 0 2 - 2

Everett 1 0 4 - 5

First Period-1, Everett, Hromas 1 (Fransoo, Dailey), 3:10 (pp).

Second Period-No goals.

Third Period-2, Prince George, Featherstone 2, 0:33 (pp). 3, Everett, Annesley 1 (Heshka, Kress), 8:49. 4, Everett, Annesley 2 (Thoring, Hamill), 10:08 (pp). 5, Everett, Lammers 2 (Heshka, Mueller), 13:32 (pp). 6, Prince George, Hunter 2, 15:46 (sh). 7, Everett, Fransoo 1 (Thoring, Fiala), 16:16 (pp).

Shots on goal-Prince George 6-9-10-25. Everett 10-17-18-45. Power-play opportunities-Prince George 1 of 6. Everett 4 of 11.

Goalies-Prince George, Cyr 0-2 (45 shots, 40 saves). Everett, Irving 1-1 (25 shots, 23 saves).

Tipped Off
10-02-2005, 10:57 AM
EVERETT BURIES PRINCE GEORGE
Silvertips Win Home Opener 5-2
Everett Silvertips Press Release

Everett, WA - AThe Everett Silvertips skated away with a 5-2 victory over the Prince George Cougars in front of 7,559 fans at their first home game of the 2005-06 season. Everett's record is now 1-1 for the regular season.

Four of Everett's five goals were scored on a power play. This started when Karel Hromas got a piece of a rebound shot on a power play at 3:10 of the first period. Newcomer Jason Fransoo and rookie Zack Dailey posted assists on Everett's first tally of the game. The scoreboard did not move for either team until the third.

The Cougars tied up the game early in the final period of play with an unassisted power play goal by Devin Featherstone at 33 seconds. The Silvertips then put up three unanswered goals. Eight minutes after Featherstone's tally the Silvertips reclaimed the lead when Kyle Annesley pounded a shot through traffic and into the pipes. Shaun Heshka and Mark Kress received the assists. A minute and a half later Annesley answered again with a tip off of a Cody Thoring shot on another power play. Thoring and Zach Hamill earned both assists. Then at 13:32 John Lammers pushed the Silvertips to 4-1 with help from Shaun Heshka and newbie Peter Mueller. Prince George gained one with an unassisted goal by Eric Hunter but Everett put the final nail in the coffin with a Jason Fransoo mark at 16:16. Thoring added his second assist on the night in Everett's final point.

On the power play Everett went 4 for 11 while Prince George only completed one on six chances. The Silvertips out shot the Cougars by 20, with final shots on goal putting Everett at 45 and Prince George at 25. In goal for the home team was second year Silvertip Leland Irving. Irving made 23 stops on the night to aid in the team victory. Irving's record is now even at 1-1. Real Cyr made 40 saves on 45 shots and drops his numbers to 0-2.

The Everett Silvertips are back in action tomorrow night, Sunday October 2nd, at the Everett Events Center where they will host a BC Division rival, the Kelowna Rockets. The puck drops at 5:05pm.

Silvertips Box Scores

Kyle Annesley 2 G
Jason Fransoo 1 G, 1 A
Karel Hromas 1 G
John Lammers 1 G
Shaun Heshka 2 A
Cody Thoring 2 A
Zack Dailey 1 A
Mark Kress 1 A
Zach Hamill 1 A
Peter Mueller 1 A
Leland Irving (1-1): stopped 23 of 25 shots
Power Play: Everett 4/11, Prince George 1/6
Shots on Goal: Everett 45, Prince George 24
Attendance: 7,559

3 Stars of the Game

1. Kyle Annesley (EVT)
2. Shaun Heshka (EVT)
3. Peter Mueller (EVT)

Tipped Off
10-02-2005, 11:00 AM
The New rules were difficult on PG last night. They had 5 delay of game penalties & one illegal substitution when they tried to swap out a plyer after na icing call. They also received a few high sticking calls. All in all it made it diffucult for PG to ever get in any kind of flow.

ihlemic10
10-02-2005, 11:27 AM
Yeah the delay of game killed them. I would have no problem with getting rid of that rule.