Chiefs @ Tips 1/29

[Tipped Off]

Likely Scratches for the Tips: Kress, Hromas , sawka and mueller.


HESHKA AND IRVING BREAK SINGLE SEASON RECORDS
Defenseman Shaun Heshka has broken a team record for most assists in one season by a Silvertip with 36 assists. The Melville, SK native tallied 3 assists in the 6-1 win over the Tri-City Americans. The previous club record was held by Alex Leavitt who recorded 35 assists last season. Silvertips goaltender Leland Irving is now the leader in Silvertips franchise history with the most wins in one season with 25. The previous record of 24 wins was set by Jeff Harvey in 2003-2004 and Mike Wall in 2004-2005. Forward John Lammers is 1 goal away from breaking the club record for most goals in one season and 8 points away from breaking the record for most points in a single season. Currently Lammers is tied with John Dahl and Torrie Wheat with the most goals in one season by a Silvertip with (25). Wheat also holds the single season record for most points in a season with 57.

SILVERTIPS FRANCHISE REACHING 100 WIN PLATEAU
The Everett Silvertips franchise currently has 96 franchise victories in their two plus seasons in the WHL and are 4 wins away from reaching win #100 in franchise history. In recent WHL expansion history it took the Vancouver Giants, Calgary Hitmen and the Red Deer Rebels to reach the 100 win mark in their 4th season in the WHL.

VERSUS THE SPOKANE CHIEFS
Tonight is the seventh meeting of nine between the two US Division rivals. The Silvertips are 4-2 against the Chiefs this season and 1-1 vs. Spokane at the Everett Events Center. The Silvertips lead the all time series with Spokane with a record of 15-8-1 (tie) against the Chiefs. In their last meeting on December 16, 2005 at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena, the Silvertips defeated the Chiefs 4-1. Future Meetings: February 10: @ Everett, February 17: @ Everett.

VERSUS THE US DIVISION
Everett is 16-6-1-1 against the US Division this season (9-3-0-1 at home and 7-3-1-0 on the road).

SPECIALITY TEAMS
The Everett Silvertips are 3rd in the WHL on the power play (58 for 288, 20.14%) and 5th on the penalty kill (201 for 234, 85.90%). The Spokane Chiefs are 16th in the WHL on the power play (41 for 275, 14.91%) and 16th on the penalty kill (245 for 305, 80.33%). The Silvertips are 2 for 30 against the Chiefs on the power play this season and Spokane is 3 for 29 against the Silvertips on the power play this season.

The Silvertips are 5-2-0-0 on Sundays, 5-3-1-1 in January

[Tipped Off]

Not enough Chiefs to stop Silvertips
Everett scores four power-play goals in 5-1 victory over short-handed Spokane

By Nick Patterson
Herald Writer


EVERETT - The Seattle Seahawks on Monday night against the Philadelphia Eagles. Mike Tyson versus Peter McNeely. The battle of Little Bighorn. All classic mismatches.

Sunday night the Everett Events Center played host to a mismatch of similar proportions.


Kevin Nortz / The Herald

Everett’s Zach Hamill scores a goal, shooting the puck past Spokane’s Kevin Armstrong.
The Everett Silvertips had their way with the Spokane Chiefs, scoring five goals in the first 33 minutes, and the Tips cruised to a 5-1 victory over the bedraggled Chiefs.

Everett (29-17-2-1) scored at will on the power play. The Tips converted four of their first five opportunities into goals - scored by Zach Hamill, John Lammers, Shane Harper and Torrie Wheat - and Everett made it look almost casual against the wounded and weary Chiefs.

"They were missing a lot of key guys tonight and in the back of our heads we knew we had to take advantage of that," Wheat said. "They still played unbelievably hard for the amount of guys they had in the lineup. If it wasn't for our power play we maybe would have just squeaked it out."

Meanwhile, the deck was completely stacked against the Chiefs (18-26-4-2). Not only does Spokane have the worst record in the Western Hockey League's Western Conference, the Chiefs were playing their third game in three nights in three different cities, and Spokane was also playing three skaters short because of injuries.

All of which was a recipe for blowout.

"To be shorthanded obviously makes it a tougher task," Spokane coach Bill Peters said. "But those are situations where you have to be disciplined and not put teams on the power play and be prepared to play a very smart game."

Jason Fransoo also scored for Everett and goaltender Leland Irving finished with 33 saves. Lammers' goal was his 26th of the season, breaking Wheat's franchise record for goals in a season.

Michael Grabner scored for Spokane. Chiefs goalie Kevin Armstrong gave up four goals on 10 shots before being lifted midway through the second period. Thomas Stehr made nine saves in relief.

Everett's power play is on fire. The Tips are 8-for-18 on the advantage the last two games. In Everett's preceding three-game losing streak, the Tips were 1-for-18 on the power play.

"You have those nights," Everett coach Kevin Constantine said about Everett's power-play success. "If you look at the first three games of the last five, we did the same things on the power play those nights. Our power play hasn't done anything different the last five games other than the puck going in."

The result was an emphatic response to the brief skid. Everett, which beat Tri-City 6-1 on Friday, has outscored its opponents 11-2 the last two games.

"The practice before (the Tri-City victory) our coach (Kevin Constantine) pointed at the banners and said, 'We're blowing a good opportunity for maybe getting another one. It doesn't seem like you guys want it right now,' '' Wheat said.

''I think we responded in that game against Tri-City and came out hard, and I don't know if we played our best game today but we got a win."

The puck spent most of the first period in the Spokane zone and Everett emerged with a 2-0 lead. First, at 3:44, Jason Fransoo's shot from the center point found its way past Armstrong to put Everett on the board. Then at 17:15 with the Tips on the power play, Wheat found Hamill veering into the right slot, and Hamill beat Armstrong high to the near side, making it 2-0.

Everett scored on all three of its power plays in the second period - needing a total of just 1:35 - to stretch the lead to 5-0 and turn it into a rout. Lammers began the onslaught by blowing a slap shot through Armstrong at 6:14, Harper followed with a slap shot of his own that deflected in off traffic at 10:05, and Wheat made a nice move around Stehr to score at 12:48.

Slap shots: Everett's third-leading scorer Peter Mueller, who the Tips hoped to have back for Sunday's game, sat out his third straight contest because of a concussion. Constantine said Mueller will be back for Wednesday's game at Kelowna. ... Spokane dressed just 15 skaters - three fewer than normal - because of injuries to forwards Jeff Lynch, Johannes Salmonsson, David Linsley and Myles Stoesz and defensemen Dan Mercer and Jared Spurgeon.

Silvertips 5, Chiefs 1

Spokane 0 1 0 - 1

Everett 2 3 0 - 5

First Period-1, Everett, Fransoo 3 (Hamill), 3:44. 2, Everett, Hamill 17 (Lammers, Heshka), 17:15 (pp). Penalties-Hamill, Everett (cross-checking), 8:51; Erickson, Spokane (hooking), 13:42; Hobson, Spokane (holding), 16:30.

Second Period-3, Everett, Lammers 26 (Heshka, Wheat), 6:14 (pp). 4, Everett, Harper 4 (Calla), 10:05 (pp). 5, Everett, Wheat 11 (Hamill, Heshka), 12:48 (pp). 6, Spokane, Grabner 17 (McCue, Falk), 16:21 (pp). Penalties-Heshka, Everett (hooking), 1:31; Szaszkiewicz, Spokane (high sticking), 5:08; Ja. Lynch, Spokane (hooking), 9:45; Magistrale, Spokane (holding), 12:39; Doyle, Everett (cross-checking), 15:53.

Third Period-No goals. Penalties-Sonne, Everett (elbowing), 2:12; McCue, Spokane (kneeing), 4:04; Fransoo, Everett (holding), 5:00; Bruton, Spokane (fighting), 10:17; Sonne, Everett (fighting), 10:17; Zimmerman, Spokane (roughing), 11:00; Haw, Spokane (roughing), 12:10; Harty, Everett (hooking), 13:55.

Shots on goal-Spokane 8-12-14-34. Everett 6-7-7-20. Power-play opportunities-Spokane 1 of 6. Everett 4 of 8.

Goalies-Spokane, Armstrong 15-12-1-2 (10 shots, 6 saves), Stehr (10 shots, 9 saves). Everett, Irving 26-15-1-1 (34 shots, 33 saves).

[Tipped Off]

Silvertips feeling the power in win
By Jim Riley

Special to The Seattle Times

EVERETT — Owners of the hottest power play in the Western Hockey League, the Everett Silvertips quickly turned out the lights on the Spokane Chiefs at the Everett Events Center on Sunday.

The Silvertips scored four power-play goals, including three in the second period, to score an electric 5-1 victory that lacked drama but had plenty of artistry.

Everett has scored eight power-play goals in its past two games, a feat coach Kevin Constantine found both welcome and a bit curious.

"You have those nights, but we haven't done anything different on the power play in the last two games," Constantine said. "We've had the same number of scoring chances. The puck has just found its way to the back of the net lately. The good thing is the effort has been pretty consistent."

It was the second win in a row for Everett (29-17-2-1) and gave the Silvertips a 10-point cushion over the second-place Seattle Thunderbirds in the U.S. Division.

The loss dropped Spokane to 18-26-4-2 and put the Chiefs in danger of falling out of contention for a playoff berth.

Zach Hamill and Torrie Wheat both had a goal and two assists, and Shaun Heshka had three assists for the Silvertips. Everett scored on four of its first five power-play chances to end any hopes for the Chiefs, playing their third game in three nights with a depleted lineup.

Wheat, the Everett captain who has been slowed by a sore ankle, said the Silvertips have gone back to the basics on the power play with overwhelming results.

"Our coaches always say that you're going to score 90 percent of your goals on point shots, screens and rebounds," Wheat said. "I think we kind of got away from that for a while and were getting too fancy."

Spokane outshot the Silvertips 34-20 but spent so much time unsuccessfully trying to kill penalties it didn't matter.

"Heshka makes it all happen up top by shooting BBs," Spokane coach Bill Peters said. "If it's not on net, it's down to the bottom and they do a good job of puck retrieval and letting their skill guys go to work."

John Lammers also had a power-play goal for Everett, his franchise-record 26th of the season.

SILVERTIPS 5, CHIEFS 1

Spokane 0 0 1 — 1
Everett 2 3 0 — 5
First — 1. Everett Fransoo 3 (Hamill) 3:44. 2. Everett Hamill 17 (Wheat, Heshka) 17:15 (pp). Second — 3. Everett Lammers 26 (Heshka, Wheat) 6:14 (pp). 4. Everett Harper 4 (Calla) 10:05 (pp). 5. Everett Wheat 11 (Hamill, Heshka 12:48 (pp). 6. Spokane Grabner 17 (McCue, Falk) 16:21 (pp). Third — No scoring. Shots on goal by: Spokane 8-12-14 — 34. Everett 6-7-7 — 20. Power plays (goals, chances) — Spokane 1-6, Everett 4-8. Goaltenders: Spokane: Armstrong (L,15-12, 10 shots 6 saves), Stehr (10 shots, 9 saves). Everett: Irving (26-15). A — 5,356.

[chiefgongshow]

Were you at the game? If so how did the Chiefs look reguardless of the score, like were they atleast working hard throughout the game. Sounded like the penalitys that hurt them were of the fatigue variety, but Peters said it correctly theres not an excuse you just have to play smarter in those situations.

[Tipped Off]

The Chiefs looked like a team who got the shaft in the scheduling department & were hit with some injuries. In other words, exactly how you'd expect them to look after traveling all the way across the mountains to play Seattle on Friday, then back across the mountains to play Tri on Saturday, back again to play the Tips on Sunday. By the time they showed up here, they skated three guys short and McCue hurt his knee and never was really the same once he came back from the locker room. Hopefully he is ok.

I think the question you are asking is, did they give up...and I would say NO. They hit back just as hard in the third as they did in the first. I think the key when you are tired is, you make a lot of silly penalties because you are a step slower than the competition. That's what it seemed like tonight. Everett was getting all the digs in the corners as the Chiefs were tired, and eventually had to use the stick or the hold to keep them close. They got 34 shots on goal, so by that alone you could see they kept coming. They hit a post and a cross bar in the third to keep the score at 5-1 instead of 5-2 or 5-3...and that is with the Tips playing more defensively due to the early scores.

[chiefgongshow]

Thanks for the word from the westside. Brutal 3 days for the Chiefs or even the last 5 days for that matter playing Vancouver on Wed before hitting the road. Its good to hear they didnt quit, it gives hope to know theyre working hard game in and game out the last week.

[rezstyle]

The Chiefs looked like a team who got the shaft in the scheduling department & were hit with some injuries. In other words, exactly how you'd expect them to look after traveling all the way across the mountains to play Seattle on Friday, then back across the mountains to play Tri on Saturday, back again to play the Tips on Sunday. By the time they showed up here, they skated three guys short and McCue hurt his knee and never was really the same once he came back from the locker room. Hopefully he is ok.

I think the question you are asking is, did they give up...and I would say NO. They hit back just as hard in the third as they did in the first. I think the key when you are tired is, you make a lot of silly penalties because you are a step slower than the competition. That's what it seemed like tonight. Everett was getting all the digs in the corners as the Chiefs were tired, and eventually had to use the stick or the hold to keep them close. They got 34 shots on goal, so by that alone you could see they kept coming. They hit a post and a cross bar in the third to keep the score at 5-1 instead of 5-2 or 5-3...and that is with the Tips playing more defensively due to the early scores.

I have yet to see the chief's play a full game this year other than possibly one night against T/C. If they didn't give up here, that's probably a first that I've heard of/seen. Don't get me wrong, there are a few players that would never give up (both Lynches, Steosz), but on the whole, I think this year, as with recent years past, it almost seems like they are relying on how they look on paper. Our team is full of potential, but if you don't play hard every minute of every night, you have a cellar season.