Tipped Off
04-02-2006, 06:03 PM
Adversity hasn't stopped Silvertips
By John Sleeper
Herald columnist
First, let's put to rest nasty rumors about the Everett Silvertips.
The team bus isn't an ambulance.
They don't practice at the Mayo Clinic.
They have no plans to sew red crosses onto their sweaters.
Injury and illness gripped the team this season the same way quicksand grips its victim. The wave has been consistent from the start of the season, through Christmas, and didn't stop through Friday, at the end of the Silvertips' successful first-round playoff series against the Tri-City Americans.
Knees, backs, shoulders, ankles, concussions. And that doesn't even touch a series of nasty flu bugs that hung around all season and continues into the playoffs.
Here are some numbers: In the 2003-04 regular season, players missed a total of 104 games because of illness or injury. The next season, the number reached 129.
This season, the number shot up to 198.
"I've never seen anything like this," said Everett head coach Kevin Constantine, who coached seven seasons in the NHL and two years with the Pittsburgh Forge of the North American Hockey League, "not to this magnitude. It never let up."
Yet, somehow, the Silvertips won the U.S. Division for the second time in their three-season history, set franchise records with 40 victories, 85 points, 25 home wins, goals scored (203), power-play goals (81) and short-handed goals (13).
Forward John Lammers, obtained in the off-season via a trade with Lethbridge, scored 38 goals and finished with 75 points, both Everett season records. Defenseman Shaun Heshka set a team record with 49 assists. Leland Irving, 17, in his first full-time WHL season in goal, set franchise records for wins (37), saves (1,504), games played (67) and goals-against average (1.92). Center Zach Hamill had a career year, with 21 goals and 38 assists.
Peter Mueller made a convincing run for rookie of the year honors, with 26 goals and 32 assists, most ever for a Silvertip first-year player. Torrie Wheat, in his final year as a Silvertip, was steady in every aspect.
So the team had its best regular season ever, even while missing a record number of players. How does this happen.
"It's just willpower," defenseman Jason Fransoo said. "Guys are stepping up when key guys are out of the lineup. Guys who don't play a lot are just stepping up their game. The team is just playing like a team."
Many times, the players went into each game not knowing who their linemates were. Injuries robbed the team of any continuity. They practiced with whoever was healthy that day.
"You don't make excuses," defenseman Jonathan Harty said. "You've just got to go just as hard and make up for the losses."
Forward Brady Calla missed the first four games of the Americans series with the flu, but made it back in time for Friday's series-clincher. He said he wasn't shocked that the team survived the lost personnel.
"Guys understood their roles," he said. "They understood that, if they did that, everything else would take care of itself."
In a strange way, the season-long misfortunes likely made the team stronger - much stronger than their record would indicate. The Silvertips finished eighth overall in the WHL, but it wouldn't be outlandish to surmise that they're in the top four of five when healthy.
Although too many frontline players missed valuable time, it allowed younger players to develop faster than they normally would. It made the team deeper. And that will help as the playoffs go on. A lot.
Taylor Ellington, Graham Potuer, Eric Doyle, Zack Dailey, Damir Alic, Jonathan Milhouse, Jesse Smyke, Shane Harper and others got valuable playing time in the regular season and are more ready to contribute in the playoffs.
"I don't know if any of them would have been ready if we'd been healthy," Constantine said. "It made us deeper because it allowed some other guys to develop."
The question, however, remains. What happened and is there anything the coaching staff could have done to prevent it?
"We're going to try to take a look at it at the end of the year and figure out why," Constantine said. "Some of it's inevitable, but also is it that we're young, is it that we're small, is it the way the game's played in our league?
"Too many of these kids are missing too much of their development if they're injured as much as they are."
On the other hand, if Everett goes on to win the title and the Memorial Cup, line up the kids next training camp and inject them with viruses.
Hey, whatever works.
By John Sleeper
Herald columnist
First, let's put to rest nasty rumors about the Everett Silvertips.
The team bus isn't an ambulance.
They don't practice at the Mayo Clinic.
They have no plans to sew red crosses onto their sweaters.
Injury and illness gripped the team this season the same way quicksand grips its victim. The wave has been consistent from the start of the season, through Christmas, and didn't stop through Friday, at the end of the Silvertips' successful first-round playoff series against the Tri-City Americans.
Knees, backs, shoulders, ankles, concussions. And that doesn't even touch a series of nasty flu bugs that hung around all season and continues into the playoffs.
Here are some numbers: In the 2003-04 regular season, players missed a total of 104 games because of illness or injury. The next season, the number reached 129.
This season, the number shot up to 198.
"I've never seen anything like this," said Everett head coach Kevin Constantine, who coached seven seasons in the NHL and two years with the Pittsburgh Forge of the North American Hockey League, "not to this magnitude. It never let up."
Yet, somehow, the Silvertips won the U.S. Division for the second time in their three-season history, set franchise records with 40 victories, 85 points, 25 home wins, goals scored (203), power-play goals (81) and short-handed goals (13).
Forward John Lammers, obtained in the off-season via a trade with Lethbridge, scored 38 goals and finished with 75 points, both Everett season records. Defenseman Shaun Heshka set a team record with 49 assists. Leland Irving, 17, in his first full-time WHL season in goal, set franchise records for wins (37), saves (1,504), games played (67) and goals-against average (1.92). Center Zach Hamill had a career year, with 21 goals and 38 assists.
Peter Mueller made a convincing run for rookie of the year honors, with 26 goals and 32 assists, most ever for a Silvertip first-year player. Torrie Wheat, in his final year as a Silvertip, was steady in every aspect.
So the team had its best regular season ever, even while missing a record number of players. How does this happen.
"It's just willpower," defenseman Jason Fransoo said. "Guys are stepping up when key guys are out of the lineup. Guys who don't play a lot are just stepping up their game. The team is just playing like a team."
Many times, the players went into each game not knowing who their linemates were. Injuries robbed the team of any continuity. They practiced with whoever was healthy that day.
"You don't make excuses," defenseman Jonathan Harty said. "You've just got to go just as hard and make up for the losses."
Forward Brady Calla missed the first four games of the Americans series with the flu, but made it back in time for Friday's series-clincher. He said he wasn't shocked that the team survived the lost personnel.
"Guys understood their roles," he said. "They understood that, if they did that, everything else would take care of itself."
In a strange way, the season-long misfortunes likely made the team stronger - much stronger than their record would indicate. The Silvertips finished eighth overall in the WHL, but it wouldn't be outlandish to surmise that they're in the top four of five when healthy.
Although too many frontline players missed valuable time, it allowed younger players to develop faster than they normally would. It made the team deeper. And that will help as the playoffs go on. A lot.
Taylor Ellington, Graham Potuer, Eric Doyle, Zack Dailey, Damir Alic, Jonathan Milhouse, Jesse Smyke, Shane Harper and others got valuable playing time in the regular season and are more ready to contribute in the playoffs.
"I don't know if any of them would have been ready if we'd been healthy," Constantine said. "It made us deeper because it allowed some other guys to develop."
The question, however, remains. What happened and is there anything the coaching staff could have done to prevent it?
"We're going to try to take a look at it at the end of the year and figure out why," Constantine said. "Some of it's inevitable, but also is it that we're young, is it that we're small, is it the way the game's played in our league?
"Too many of these kids are missing too much of their development if they're injured as much as they are."
On the other hand, if Everett goes on to win the title and the Memorial Cup, line up the kids next training camp and inject them with viruses.
Hey, whatever works.