Tipped Off
01-09-2006, 12:41 PM
Outrageous! ... not
The 5,889 fans at the Everett Events Center Sunday night voiced their displeasure when an apparent game-tying goal by the Silvertips' Zach Hamill in the waning seconds of the third period was - correctly - waived off by the referee.
By Nick Patterson
Herald Writer
EVERETT - There was outrage at the Everett Events Center on Sunday night.
The 5,889 Everett Silvertips fans in attendance roared with approval when Zach Hamill scored what appeared to be the tying goal with seconds remaining, then erupted in displeasure moments later when that goal was waived off.
But perhaps the greatest outrage was Everett's third-period performance, which was the primary culprit in the Silvertips' 5-4 loss to the Kamloops Blazers.
Everett gave up three goals in five minutes midway through the third period, turning a 3-2 lead into a 5-3 deficit. If not for that lapse, Hamill's last-ditch effort would have been meaningless.
As a result, Everett lost for the first time this season in 19 tries when going into the third period with a lead.
"We really went to sleep at the beginning of the third," Everett coach Kevin Constantine said. "We took a lot of penalties that let them back in. It was a really inconsistent game, at times great and at times not very good at all."
Yet Hamill, who scored two goals and was Everett's best player, nearly rescued the Tips at the end. With 22.5 seconds remaining, Hamill fired a shot on the rush that beat Kamloops goaltender Devan Dubnyk and bounced out. The goal light went on, the horn sounded and the crowd erupted, but referee Andy Thiessen immediately waived off the goal.
Play was then stopped with Thiessen huddling with his linesmen and then communicating with the goal judge over the headset. After several minutes he upheld his no-goal call, drawing jeers from the crowd.
"I just shot it, it hit both posts, and the next thing I know it didn't go in the net," Hamill said. "So I assume it didn't go in. (John) Lammers saw the goal and said it didn't go in, so I trust his word on it."
"It was a heck of a shot,'' Dubnyk said. "The guy shot it right through the D-man's (defenseman's) legs and just over the top of my pad. But I saw it come out behind me and back out the other side and it just doesn't make sense that it went into the net. The goal judge behind the net, I thought it was a little unprofessional to continue to say the puck went in and around the net. But it was pretty obvious that everybody in the ice knew that it didn't."
T.J. Mulock scored two goals, including what proved to be the game-winner, to lead Kamloops (21-19-1-3). Former Silvertip Brady Mason, Brock Nixon and Moises Gutierrez also scored for the Blazers.
Hamill and Ondrej Fiala each had two goals and an assist for Everett (23-15-2-0).
Everett's performance Sunday was hard to figure. On one hand, the Tips created a boadload of scoring chances, and only the heroics by Dubnyk kept the score down. Everett outshot Kamloops 43-23.
But on the other hand the Tips had all kinds of defensive breakdowns. Everett's defensemen made mistakes that presented Kamloops with odd-man rushes and they took bad penalties at inopportune times.
And Everett was no better in goal. Starter Leland Irving was yanked after the first period, having given up two goals on eight shots. Matt Esposito came on in relief and wasn't any better, surrendering three goals on 15 shots.
"Irv had played probably more minutes than any goalie in the league and if it looks like he's off, that's the time I have to give Esposito some time," Constantine explained about the quick hook. "Espo up to this point has always got the job done when he went in. He's had two good starts in Calgary and Seattle and has gone on in relief and done an OK job. Tonight I don't think he did that."
Esposito's struggles coincided with the Tips falling behind. It began after a Graham Potuer slashing penalty. A bad bounce behind the net presented Nixon with a chance in front, and Nixon backhanded a shot under Esposito to tie the score at 3-3 at 6 minutes, 32 seconds.
The Blazers took the lead two minutes later with another power-play goal. A mere four seconds following a Jonathan Harty holding penalty, Roman Tesliuk's shot from the point was tipped by Nixon and banked in off Gutierrez, giving Kamloops the lead at 8:28.
Mulock scored a crucial goal at 11:13 when, on the rush and with bodies all around the front of the goal, the puck somehow found the net to make it 5-3.
Fiala scored on a rebound on the power play with 1:16 remaining and Esposito pulled from the net to set up the exciting finish.
Slap shots: Everett left wing Karel Hromas played Sunday for the first time since returning from the World Junior Hockey Championships. Also, Everett defenseman Jason Fransoo, who came out of Saturday's 2-1 overtime loss at Tri-City after taking a blow to the head, had recovered enough to make the lineup. However, center Ryan Sawka, who went down with a knee injury in that game, was scratched. Also, defenseman Taylor Ellington missed his second straight game because of illness. ... Kamloops played without left wing Travis Dunstall, who was suspended indefinitely because of a knee-on-knee hit that injured Portland star Brandon Dubinsky on Saturday. ... The Blazers were working on short rest because the fire alarm went off in the team's hotel early Sunday morning, forcing the team to evacuate the building.
Blazers 5, Silvertips 4
Kamloops 2 0 3 - 5
Everett 1 2 1 - 4
First Period-1, Kamloops, Mulock 10 (Gutierrez), 8:26 (pp). 2, Everett, Hamill 9 (Heshka, Fiala), 13:21 (pp). 3, Kamloops, Mason 2 (Bartley, Skrudland), 15:10. Penalties-Tesliuk, Kamloops (delay of game), 3:24; Potuer, Everett (hooking), 6:31; Eisenkirch, Kamloops (cross-checking), 12:50; Skrudland, Kamloops (cross-checking), 15:51; Ellerby, Kamloops (tripping), 18:18; Hamill, Everett (hold stick), 18:27.
Second Period-4, Everett, Fiala 7 (Wheat, Lammers), 4:47 (pp). 5, Everett, Hamill 10, 7:19 (sh). Penalties-Stretch, Kamloops (holding), 2:08; Delaronde, Kamloops (hooking), 4:38; Doyle, Everett (hooking), 6:33; Kassian, Kamloops (interference), 8:59; Alic, Everett (goaltender interference), 10:43.
Third Period-6, Kamloops, Nixon 11, 6:32 (pp). 7, Kamloops, Gutierrez 7 (Nixon, Tesliuk), 8:28 (pp). 8, Kamloops, Mulock 11 (Rome), 11:13. 9, Everett, Fiala 8 (Heshka, Hamill), 18:44 (pp). Penalties-Calla, Everett (holding), 0:29; Potuer, Everett (slashing), 5:01; Harty, Everett (holding), 8:24; Macias, Kamloops (hooking), 11:33; Mason, Kamloops (hooking), 17:55.
Shots on goal-Kamloops 8-5-10-23. Everett 17-12-14-43. Power-play opportunities-Kamloops 3 of 6. Everett 3 of 9.
Goalies-Kamloops, Dubnyk 16-14-0-1 (43 shots, 39 saves). Everett, Irving (8 shots, 6 saves), Esposito 2-2-1 (15 shots, 12 saves).
The 5,889 fans at the Everett Events Center Sunday night voiced their displeasure when an apparent game-tying goal by the Silvertips' Zach Hamill in the waning seconds of the third period was - correctly - waived off by the referee.
By Nick Patterson
Herald Writer
EVERETT - There was outrage at the Everett Events Center on Sunday night.
The 5,889 Everett Silvertips fans in attendance roared with approval when Zach Hamill scored what appeared to be the tying goal with seconds remaining, then erupted in displeasure moments later when that goal was waived off.
But perhaps the greatest outrage was Everett's third-period performance, which was the primary culprit in the Silvertips' 5-4 loss to the Kamloops Blazers.
Everett gave up three goals in five minutes midway through the third period, turning a 3-2 lead into a 5-3 deficit. If not for that lapse, Hamill's last-ditch effort would have been meaningless.
As a result, Everett lost for the first time this season in 19 tries when going into the third period with a lead.
"We really went to sleep at the beginning of the third," Everett coach Kevin Constantine said. "We took a lot of penalties that let them back in. It was a really inconsistent game, at times great and at times not very good at all."
Yet Hamill, who scored two goals and was Everett's best player, nearly rescued the Tips at the end. With 22.5 seconds remaining, Hamill fired a shot on the rush that beat Kamloops goaltender Devan Dubnyk and bounced out. The goal light went on, the horn sounded and the crowd erupted, but referee Andy Thiessen immediately waived off the goal.
Play was then stopped with Thiessen huddling with his linesmen and then communicating with the goal judge over the headset. After several minutes he upheld his no-goal call, drawing jeers from the crowd.
"I just shot it, it hit both posts, and the next thing I know it didn't go in the net," Hamill said. "So I assume it didn't go in. (John) Lammers saw the goal and said it didn't go in, so I trust his word on it."
"It was a heck of a shot,'' Dubnyk said. "The guy shot it right through the D-man's (defenseman's) legs and just over the top of my pad. But I saw it come out behind me and back out the other side and it just doesn't make sense that it went into the net. The goal judge behind the net, I thought it was a little unprofessional to continue to say the puck went in and around the net. But it was pretty obvious that everybody in the ice knew that it didn't."
T.J. Mulock scored two goals, including what proved to be the game-winner, to lead Kamloops (21-19-1-3). Former Silvertip Brady Mason, Brock Nixon and Moises Gutierrez also scored for the Blazers.
Hamill and Ondrej Fiala each had two goals and an assist for Everett (23-15-2-0).
Everett's performance Sunday was hard to figure. On one hand, the Tips created a boadload of scoring chances, and only the heroics by Dubnyk kept the score down. Everett outshot Kamloops 43-23.
But on the other hand the Tips had all kinds of defensive breakdowns. Everett's defensemen made mistakes that presented Kamloops with odd-man rushes and they took bad penalties at inopportune times.
And Everett was no better in goal. Starter Leland Irving was yanked after the first period, having given up two goals on eight shots. Matt Esposito came on in relief and wasn't any better, surrendering three goals on 15 shots.
"Irv had played probably more minutes than any goalie in the league and if it looks like he's off, that's the time I have to give Esposito some time," Constantine explained about the quick hook. "Espo up to this point has always got the job done when he went in. He's had two good starts in Calgary and Seattle and has gone on in relief and done an OK job. Tonight I don't think he did that."
Esposito's struggles coincided with the Tips falling behind. It began after a Graham Potuer slashing penalty. A bad bounce behind the net presented Nixon with a chance in front, and Nixon backhanded a shot under Esposito to tie the score at 3-3 at 6 minutes, 32 seconds.
The Blazers took the lead two minutes later with another power-play goal. A mere four seconds following a Jonathan Harty holding penalty, Roman Tesliuk's shot from the point was tipped by Nixon and banked in off Gutierrez, giving Kamloops the lead at 8:28.
Mulock scored a crucial goal at 11:13 when, on the rush and with bodies all around the front of the goal, the puck somehow found the net to make it 5-3.
Fiala scored on a rebound on the power play with 1:16 remaining and Esposito pulled from the net to set up the exciting finish.
Slap shots: Everett left wing Karel Hromas played Sunday for the first time since returning from the World Junior Hockey Championships. Also, Everett defenseman Jason Fransoo, who came out of Saturday's 2-1 overtime loss at Tri-City after taking a blow to the head, had recovered enough to make the lineup. However, center Ryan Sawka, who went down with a knee injury in that game, was scratched. Also, defenseman Taylor Ellington missed his second straight game because of illness. ... Kamloops played without left wing Travis Dunstall, who was suspended indefinitely because of a knee-on-knee hit that injured Portland star Brandon Dubinsky on Saturday. ... The Blazers were working on short rest because the fire alarm went off in the team's hotel early Sunday morning, forcing the team to evacuate the building.
Blazers 5, Silvertips 4
Kamloops 2 0 3 - 5
Everett 1 2 1 - 4
First Period-1, Kamloops, Mulock 10 (Gutierrez), 8:26 (pp). 2, Everett, Hamill 9 (Heshka, Fiala), 13:21 (pp). 3, Kamloops, Mason 2 (Bartley, Skrudland), 15:10. Penalties-Tesliuk, Kamloops (delay of game), 3:24; Potuer, Everett (hooking), 6:31; Eisenkirch, Kamloops (cross-checking), 12:50; Skrudland, Kamloops (cross-checking), 15:51; Ellerby, Kamloops (tripping), 18:18; Hamill, Everett (hold stick), 18:27.
Second Period-4, Everett, Fiala 7 (Wheat, Lammers), 4:47 (pp). 5, Everett, Hamill 10, 7:19 (sh). Penalties-Stretch, Kamloops (holding), 2:08; Delaronde, Kamloops (hooking), 4:38; Doyle, Everett (hooking), 6:33; Kassian, Kamloops (interference), 8:59; Alic, Everett (goaltender interference), 10:43.
Third Period-6, Kamloops, Nixon 11, 6:32 (pp). 7, Kamloops, Gutierrez 7 (Nixon, Tesliuk), 8:28 (pp). 8, Kamloops, Mulock 11 (Rome), 11:13. 9, Everett, Fiala 8 (Heshka, Hamill), 18:44 (pp). Penalties-Calla, Everett (holding), 0:29; Potuer, Everett (slashing), 5:01; Harty, Everett (holding), 8:24; Macias, Kamloops (hooking), 11:33; Mason, Kamloops (hooking), 17:55.
Shots on goal-Kamloops 8-5-10-23. Everett 17-12-14-43. Power-play opportunities-Kamloops 3 of 6. Everett 3 of 9.
Goalies-Kamloops, Dubnyk 16-14-0-1 (43 shots, 39 saves). Everett, Irving (8 shots, 6 saves), Esposito 2-2-1 (15 shots, 12 saves).