Tips 8th Hat Trick Trips Kelowna

[Tipped Off]

should say 9th hat trick


Captain Torrie Wheat Leads Team to 4-1 Victory
Silvertips Increase Lead in Division Race
Everett Silvertips Press Release

Torrie Wheat had a natural hat trick tonight
Everett, WA - The Everett Silvertips came away with a 4-1 win over the defending WHL Champions, the Kelowna Rockets. There is only one more meeting between these two clubs and the Rockets lead the series 2-1. Everett gained two more valuable points in the race for the top spot in the US Division. They currently have 81 points and a 38-23-2-3 record. Kelowna, second in the BC Division, has 88 points and a 42-20-1-3 history.

After a scoreless opening period Torrie Wheat struck gold when he caught a pass from behind the net and sent the puck up and over and already down Kristofer Westblom at 1:46 of the second. Later in the period on a power play at 17:02, he struck again when he fired from underneath the left circle. The puck hit the cross bar and bounced out but it put the Silvertips up 2-0. Then at 2:52 of the final session, on another power play, Wheat chipped at a loose puck in the crease and managed to tuck it in right next to the left post to earn his second hat trick of the season. This is the Silvertips' ninth hat trick this year and their fourth natural hat trick overall. Brady Calla topped off Everett's scoring at 17:13. Westblom moved out of the crease to play the puck. Calla swooped, intercepted the puck and fired it behind the Kelowna goalie.

The Rockets did manage to tally one goal midway through the third. Chris Ray caught a rebound and found a hole behind Leland Irving. Earning one assist a piece tonight for the Silvertips were Ondrej Fiala, Zack Dailey, Zach Hamill and Shaun Heshka. In goal Leland Irving was solid and turned away all but one of 30 shots. His record jumps to 35-20-1-3. Kristofer Westblom stopped 19 pucks on 23 shots and drops his goaltending history to 15-6-1-1. On the power play both teams had five opportunities to convert but only Everett succeeded on scoring two power play goals. The Rockets out shot the Silvertips 30-23.

The Everett Silvertips now travel north to Prince George, BC where they will battle the Cougars in two back to back games. The games will be played on Friday and Saturday, March 10th and 11th. The puck drops both nights at 7:30pm.

Silvertips Box Scores

Torrie Wheat (14, 15, 16) 3 G (2nd hat trick this season)
Brady Calla (8) 1 G
Ondrej Fiala 1 A
Zack Dailey 1 A
Zach Hamill 1 A
Shaun Heshka 1 A
Leland Irving (35-20-1-3): 29/30 saves
Power Play: Everett 2/5, Kelowna 0/5
Shots on Goal: Everett 23, Kelowna 30
Attendance: 6,725

3 Stars of the Game

1. Torrie Wheat (EVT)
2. Leland Irving (EVT)
3. Ondrej Fiala (EVT)

[Tipped Off]

Wheat's hat trick leads Silvertips to 4-1 win against Kelowna


By Nick Patterson
Herald Writer


EVERETT - The suits at New Era must be loving the Everett Silvertips right about now.

After all, the Tips are almost single-handedly keeping the cap manufacturers in business.

Torrie Wheat recorded a hat trick - the third straight home game in which an Everett player has scored three goals - and the Tips finished their toughest stretch of the season on a high by beating the Kelowna Rockets 4-1 Sunday night.

Wheat scored the first three goals of the game, prompting the Everett fans to toss their headgear onto the ice for the third straight time.

"It's a big game to do it in," Wheat said. "It was awesome.

"That's weird, huh?" Wheat added about the hat trick string. "It's pretty cool. We've got the players to do it. I'm getting lucky, but with some of our players it's understandable."

Wheat is just the latest Everett player to join the hat-trick parade. Ondrej Fiala began the streak with one in Wednesday's 5-1 victory against Portland, followed by Zach Hamill's in Friday's 6-2 win over Seattle. After registering a total of three hat tricks in their first two years of existence, the Tips have nine this season, seven at home.

"When the first hat came onto the ice tonight I thought, 'Oh, that's right, Wheatie already had two," a smiling Everett coach Kevin Constantine said. "Strange year, all the hat tricks. Whoever's hot is really hot on that night."

Everett inched yet closer to the U.S. Division title. The Tips (38-23-2-3) now lead second-place Seattle by 14 points, meaning any combination of Everett wins and Seattle losses equaling two gives the Tips the crown. Everett has six games remaining, Seattle eight.

Goaltender Leland Irving was Everett's other hero Sunday. Irving kept Everett, clearly fatigued from playing its eighth game in 10 days, in the game. He carried the team through the first period while the rest of the team sleepwalked, and remained sharp throughout. He finished with 29 saves.

"Sometimes you're depended on to do that kind of stuff," Irving said. "I knew the guys were coming in tonight tired, so a few guys need to step up their games.

"I'm just going out every night trying to give the guys a chance to win. I think I did a pretty good job tonight."

Brady Calla added a late goal for Everett, which held the best power-play unit in the league scoreless. Kelowna finished 0-for-5 with the advantage.

Chris Ray scored and Kristofer Westblom made 19 saves in goal for Kelowna (42-20-1-3), which was also playing its eighth game in 10 days.

"We're not going to rest on that as an excuse," Kelowna coach Jeff Truitt said about his team's difficult stretch. "They're in the same boat as we are and you have to battle through that. For two periods I thought our guys were OK. We worked hard and had some jump, which is good. then the third period after that third goal, we got down on ourselves a little bit. Even though we picked ourselves up and tried to generate something, it wasn't happening."

After Irving's efforts kept the game scoreless through one period, Wheat gave Everett the lead 1 minute, 46 seconds into the second period. Hard work behind the net by Zack Dailey and Ondrej Fiala gave Fiala a moment of daylight with the puck. He fed the puck out front to Wheat, who one-timed a wrist shot into the top corner of the net.

Wheat gave Everett a 2-0 lead going into the third period with a power-play goal at 17:02. Hamill drifted up top before whipping a pass to the left corner, where Wheat one-timed a shot behind Westblom.

Wheat completed his hat trick and essentially ended the game with another power-play goal 2:58 into the third, scoring on a rebound.

Slap shots: Everett's win gave the Tips 81 points, breaking the previous franchise record for points in a season of 80 set in 2003-04. ... Everett center Peter Mueller, who was originally scheduled to start, was a late scratch. Mueller, who was hindered after blocking a shot with his leg in Saturday' 2-1 loss at Seattle, skated in the warmup but was unable to go. ... Everett defenseman Graham Potuer, who was rattled by a hit from Ryan Gibbons late in Saturday's game, recovered enough to play Sunday. ... With defenseman Cody Thoring out injured, John Lammers is now wearing an "A" as an alternate captain. ... Kelowna right wing Troy Bodie was knocked cold after a check into the boards by Everett's Ryan Sawka midway through the second period. Bodie had to be carried off the ice, but later returned in the third period.

Silvertips 4, Rockets 1

Kelowna 0 0 1 - 1

Everett 0 2 2 - 4

First Period-No goals. Penalties-Kress, Everett (interference), 2:20; Ray, Kelowna (hooking), 6:34; Ray, Kelowna (high sticking), 12:32; Heshka, Everett (tripping), 13:45; Kress, Everett (roughing), 16:19; Ofukany, Kelowna (goaltender interference), 19:03.

Second Period-1, Everett, Wheat 14 (Fiala, Dailey), 1:46. 2, Everett, Wheat 15 (Hamill, Heshka), 17:02 (pp). Penalties-Fiala, Everett (interference), 12:29; Darzins, Kelowna (kneeing), 16:38; Kress, Everett (slashing), 18:38.

Third Period-3, Everett, Wheat 16 (Fiala, Lammers), 2:58 (pp). 4, Kelowna, Ray 23 (Almond, Keller), 7:08. 5, Everett, Calla 8, 17:13. Penalties-Comeau, Kelowna (charging), 2:05.

Shots on goal-Kelowna 9-12-9-30. Everett 4-8-11-23. Power-play opportunities-Kelowna 0 of 5. Everett 2 of 5.

Goalies-Kelowna, Westblom 15-6-1-1 (23 shots, 19 saves). Everett, Irving 35-20-1-3 (30 shots, 29 saves).