Pre-Game 5 Articles

[Tipped Off]

Kelowna Capital News

Rockets face uphill battle to overcome deficit

Sean Connor/Capital News

Leland Irving and the Everett Silvertips will try to pin down Justin Keller and the Kelowna Rockets tonight in Game 5 of the WHL’s Western Conference semi-final.

By Warren Henderson
Staff Reporter
Apr 14 2006

Blake Comeau is all for history repeating itself. Only this time around, the Kelowna Rockets’ forward would like to see it happen in reverse.

In 2004, the Everett Silvertips roared back from a three-games-to-one deficit in the Western Conference final to beat the Rockets in seven games.

In 2006, the tables have been turned—Kelowna needs three straight victories over the ‘Tips in the best-of-seven conference semi-final to avoid extinction from the Western Hockey League playoff landscape.

“Every guy on the whole team knows it’s possible…Everett did it to us before, now we’re going to have to do the same if we want to keep playing,“ said Comeau, whose Rockets host the ‘Tips tonight in Game 5.

“Obviously we didn’t want to be down 3-1, but that’s the situation and there’s no quit on this team. There needs to be desperation on every shift for the rest of the series.”

Trailing 3-1 in a playoff series is unfamiliar territory for Rocket teams of the recent past. Not since 2001 when they fell 4-1 to the Kootenay Ice in the conference final has Kelowna faced as big of an uphill climb. Still, Kelowna bounced back against Seattle after being down 3-2 last April. And two seasons ago, the Rockets showed their resiliency rebounding from a 2-0 disadvantage to beat Tri-City in six games.

This spring, the Rockets dug a hole for themselves by losing back-to-back games in Washington this week.

Despite out shooting Everett 73-40 and enjoying the edge in overall play, it was the hometown Silvertips who found ways to score when they needed to, winning 2-0 on Tuesday, and overcoming a 2-0 deficit on Wednesday to post a 3-2 victory over the Rockets.

Troy Ofukany was the only Rocket to beat ‘Tips goalie Leland Irving scoring both goals.

While head coach Jeff Truitt doesn’t point the finger at any of his players for a lack of offensive production in the series, veterans such as Justin Keller, Blake Comeau, Tyler Spurgeon and Troy Bodie haven’t been delivering quite as hoped. The quartet has combined for just two goals in the first four games, a partial result of Everett’s stifling defensive style.

Truitt said Kelowna’s ability to come back in the series will be based on a complete team effort, not simply the exploits of three or four players.

“We need everybody playing their best game on (Friday),” said Truitt. “We have to go right after them. We can’t be conservative. Everybody in the dressing room needs to stand up and be counted.”

Kelowna product and WHL rookie Kyle Beach has been a bit of a thorn in the Rockets side in the last two games, playing the role of instigator while scoring a goal and adding an assist.

Beach, 16, Everett’s first round bantam draft pick in 2004, re-joined the ‘Tips this week after finshing out his season with Okanagan midget Rockets.

Another Kelowna native, Brady Calla, has also helped make life difficult for his hometown team, scoring the winner in Game 1 and assisting on the ‘Tips second goal on Wednesday night by John Lammers.

Game 6 of the conference semi-final, if needed, will be played Sunday night in Everett, with a seventh game scheduled for Tuesday, April 18 back in Kelowna.

[Tipped Off]

Everett eyeing its lead warily
By JIM RILEY

Special to The Seattle Times


EVERETT — The advantage is three games to one, but the Everett Silvertips know firsthand how perilous that edge can be in the Western Hockey League playoffs.

Two seasons ago, the Silvertips trailed the Kelowna Rockets by that very same margin before winning three games in a row — all by one goal and all in overtime — to win the series and advance to the Western Hockey League championship.

Two of Everett's narrow wins came at Prospera Place in Kelowna, where the Silvertips can win a Western Conference semifinal series on Friday.

Everett has six players who played on that improbable expansion team that shocked the Rockets two years ago.

Torrie Wheat, Everett's team captain, will never forget those three victories that completed the comeback.

"We have to remember that series, and we've talked about it," Wheat said. "Kelowna is known for never quitting, and they could quite easily win three straight. This next game is pretty crucial for us."

Then, Wheat was an 18-year-old who had been left unprotected by the Swift Current Broncos and claimed by the Silvertips in the expansion draft.

Now, Wheat is 20 and a key leader on a young team many considered to be a year or two away from making a long playoff run.

"The young guys we have are just so confident," Wheat said. "There's no young-guy, old-guy thing on our team. It's really quite different from any other teams I've been on."

In fact, Wheat said, it's Everett's ability to use its depth and play four lines on a consistent basis that has been a key to Everett's 6-2 record in the playoffs so far.

"We're really fresh right now, and it's a good feeling," Wheat said. "Getting that extra 30 to 45 seconds of rest during a game is huge."

The Silvertips held a short skate at the Everett Events Center early Thursday afternoon and boarded the bus at 3 p.m. for the five-hour trip to Kelowna.

With Jason Fransoo's game-winning goal with 1:20 left in Wednesday's 3-2 win, the Silvertips have now had 14 different players score goals in the playoffs. That's two more than any other team.

Peter Mueller, Shaun Heshka and Zach Hamill share the lead in scoring for the Silvertips with nine points each. Wheat and John Lammers both have eight points.

Leland Irving leads the playoffs by stopping 94.9 percent of the shots he's faced. In Everett, Irving stopped 71 of 73 shots.

Wheat doesn't think Everett has played its best in the playoffs yet.

"We've had guys on certain nights who have played fantastic," Wheat said. "But on other nights we've had some guys struggle a bit. We've yet to have 20 guys playing at their top level at the same time."

NOTES

• Five players from the Silvertips have been invited to the NHL draft combine May 30-June 3 in Toronto. Peter Mueller, Brady Calla, Leland Irving, Ondrej Fiala and Graham Potuer are among the 115 players invited to participate. The draft will be held June 24 in Vancouver, B.C. A total of 16 WHL players were invited, including Bud Holloway of the Seattle Thunderbirds. Besides Everett, only Spokane and Prince George, with two each, had more than one player invited.

• The last time the Rockets trailed a series 3-1 was 2002 when they lost to the Kootenay Ice 4-1. Last season, the Rockets trailed the Seattle Thunderbirds 3-2 before posting wins at KeyArena and Prospera Place to win the semifinal series. The Rockets then went on to win the WHL championship.


Everett vs. Kelowna
Silvertips lead the best-of-seven Western Hockey League playoff series 3-1:
Date Site, Time
April 7 Everett 5, Kelowna 3
April 9 Kelowna 3, Everett 2
Tuesday Everett 2, Kelowna 0
Wednesday Everett 3, Kelowna 2
Today At Kelowna, 7 p.m.
Sunday *At Everett, 6:05 p.m.
Tuesday *At Kelowna, 7 p.m.
* if necessary

[Tipped Off]

Rockets new to long-shot role
But despite leading 3-1, Tips know the Kelowna players won't give up

By Nick Patterson
Herald Writer


EVERETT - The Kelowna Rockets are in unfamiliar territory. They find themselves staring straight into the abyss.

So long the overlords of the WHL, the Rockets are in the unusual position of having to dig themselves out of a hole. The Everett Silvertips hold a commanding 3-1 lead in their best-of-seven second-round playoff series, putting this group of Kelowna players in a position they've never experienced before.

"It's a lot different," Kelowna forward Troy Ofukany said. "For most of the playoffs last year we were in the driver's seat. But I think we've got a lot of older guys and a lot of experience, so I think we're going to come through in the next three games here."

The Rockets must win three straight to keep their season alive, but if Kelowna pulls it off it'll be a first for this group. During Kelowna's reign atop the league the past three seasons, the Rockets won 11 of their 12 playoff series. Just twice in those 12 series did Kelowna lose at least three games - in an epic Western Conference finals in 2004 when Everett prevailed in Game 7, and in the second round in 2004 when the Rockets beat Seattle in Game 7. In neither of those series did the Rockets face elimination as early as Game 5. The last time Kelowna was down 3-1 in a series was against Kootenay in the 2003 Western Conference finals, and the Rockets promptly lost that series in the following game.

"It's a little different situation for them," Everett center Mark Kress said. "But I'm guaranteeing that they'll never give up."

Kelowna may not give up, but the mood was certainly somber outside the Rockets' locker room at the Everett Events Center after Game 4, a game in which the Tips overcame a 2-0 deficit to win 3-2 on Jason Fransoo's goal with 1 minute, 20 seconds remaining. And Kelowna has no experience to draw upon for facing this type of adversity.

"As long as there's a game to play, you keep playing and you play hard," Kelowna coach Jeff Truitt responded when asked about his team facing a new situation. "That's what we're expecting out of our guys (tonight)."

Although these Rockets have never come back from a 3-1 deficit, they are acutely aware that it can be done. In that Western Conference championship series in 2004 Everett fell behind Kelowna 3-1, but the Tips won three straight overtime games for an unlikely series victory. Ten current Rockets were part of that series two years ago.

This time the roles are exactly reversed.

"It's a little eerie," Everett defenseman Shaun Heshka said. "I kind of thought about it (Wednesday) night, sitting there and saying that we're looking pretty good in this series right now. Then it kind of hits you that we did the same thing to them a couple years ago. They're definitely a team that's capable of doing the same to us, so we can't go into this game lightly."

On Everett's side is a strong history of closing out series when given the chance. The Tips are 5-2 in franchise history in possible clinching games, and Everett has won every series in which it reached an advancement game. Both of Everett's losses in possible clinching games came last year in the first round, when the Tips lost two straight after going ahead 3-1 against Portland. Everett eventually won that series in Game 7.

Now the Tips just have to make sure history doesn't repeat itself.

"We were in that position when we were down 3-1 in our inaugural season," Kress said. "Hopefully it won't turn out the way it did for us."

Slap shots: Five Everett players are among the 115 players invited to the NHL Draft Combine on May 30-June 3 in Toronto. The players invited are forwards Peter Mueller, Brady Calla and Ondrej Fiala, defenseman Graham Potuer, and goaltender Leland Irving. Everett's five players are the most invited from any team in the Canadian Hockey League. ... Should Everett lose Game 5, tickets for Sunday's Game 6 at the Everett Events Center will go on sale immediately upon Game 5's completion. Tickets will be available by calling 866-332-8499 or online at www.everettsilvertips.com. The Events Center box office will open for ticket sales at 10 a.m. Saturday.