Ready for round 3

[Tipped Off]

Silvertips Ready for Round Three of WHL Playoffs

04/19/06 - Western Hockey League (WHL) Everett Silvertips

The Everett Silvertips will continue to battle in the 2006 WHL Playoffs when the reigning US Division Champions take on the Vancouver Giants in the Western Conference Finals. During the 2005-2006 regular season, the Silvertips posted a 4-2 record against the Giants in the six meetings. In the first two rounds of the 2006 WHL Playoffs, the Silvertips defeated the Tri-City Americans 4-1 in round one and Everett defeated the defending WHL Champions, Kelowna Rockets 4-2 in round two.


SILVERTIPS AND GIANTS REGULAR SEASON SERIES RUNDOWN

This will be the second time in franchise history the Everett Silvertips will battle the Vancouver Giants in a playoff series. The Silvertips and Giants met in the 2004 Western Conference Semi-Finals in the Silvertips inaugural season. Everett defeated the Giants 4-2 in the seven game series. During the 2005-2006 regular season, the Silvertips posted a 4-2 record against the Giants this season. Everett went 2-1 against Vancouver at the Everett Events Center this season and 2-1 at Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, BC. The Silvertips are 7-9-2 (OTL) all time against Vancouver in the regular season (4-4-1(OTL) all time @ Everett, 3-5-1(OTL) all time @ Vancouver). In the six game regular season series, Giants forward Mitch Bartley and defenseman Paul Albers led the Giants in scoring against Everett with 1 goal and 3 assists. Goaltender Dustin Slade went 2-2 against the Silvertips and posted a 2.77 GAA, .875% SP. Silvertips forward John Lammers led the Silvertips in scoring against the Giants with 8 goals and 6 assists. Zach Hamill added a goal and 7 assists against the Giants this season, while Peter Mueller added 5 goals and 2 assists in the season series against Vancouver. In goal, Leland Irving went 4-2 against Vancouver with a 2.18 GAA and a .930% SP.


SILVERTIPS VS. GIANTS SPECIAL TEAMS RUNDOWN

The Silvertips went 8 for 36 on the power play against the Giants this season while Vancouver went 3 for 34 against the Silvertips on the extra man advantage. The Silvertips finished the 2005-2006 season 4th on the power play (81 of 420, 19.30%) and 5th on the penalty kill (295 of 343, 86.00%). The Vancouver Giants finished the regular season 3rd in the WHL on the power play (91 for 465, 19.57%) and 1st on the penalty kill (345 for 397, 86.90%). Currently in the playoffs, the Silvertips are 12 for 60 (20.00%) on the power play and 44 for 46 (95.65%) on the penalty kill. The Giants are 12 for 60 (20.00%) on the power play and 55 for 58 (94.83%) on the penalty kill.


SILVERTIPS PLAYOFF SCORING LEADERS

Silvertips forward Zach Hamill (3 goals, 11 assists) leads the Silvertips in playoff scoring with 14 points. The Port Coquitlam, BC native also leads the team in assists with (11). Shaun Heshka (3 goals, 10 assists) is 2nd on the team in playoff scoring with 13 points. Peter Mueller (7 goals, 5 assists) is 3rd on the Silvertips in playoff scoring with 12 points. Mueller also leads the Silvertips in goals scored with (7). In goal, Leland Irving has recorded 8 wins, 1.48 GAA, .944% SP and 3 Shutouts during the playoffs. The Swan Hills, AB native is currently 3rd in the WHL in GAA (1.48), tied for 1st in SP (.944%) and tied for 1st in Shutouts (3) among all WHL netminders in the 2006 WHL Playoffs.


LONGEST GAME IN SILVERTIPS HISTORY

Game #5 in Kelowna on Friday, April 14 marked the longest game in Silvertips franchise history when the Rockets defeated the Silvertips 3-2 in double overtime. The game lasted 87 minutes and 50 seconds.


SILVERTIPS HISTORY IN PLAYOFF OVERTIME

The Silvertips are 7-4 all time in franchise history in playoff overtime. Everett is currently 1-1 in the extra session in the 2006 WHL Playoffs.


SILVERTIPS VS. GIANTS WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS SCHEDULE

GAME 1: Friday, April 21, Everett Silvertips @ Vancouver Giants, 7:30 p.m. (Pacific Coliseum)

GAME 2: Saturday, April 22, Everett Silvertips @ Vancouver Giants, 7:00 p.m. (Pacific Coliseum)

GAME 3: Tuesday, April 25, Vancouver Giants @ Everett Silvertips, 7:05 p.m. (Everett Events Center)

GAME 4: Thursday, April 27, Vancouver Giants @ Everett Silvertips, 7:05 p.m. (Everett Events Center)

GAME 5: Saturday, April 29, Everett Silvertips @ Vancouver Giants, 7:00 p.m. (Pacific Coliseum) If Necessary

GAME 6: Monday, May 1, Vancouver Giants @ Everett Silvertips, 7:05 p.m. (Everett Events Center) If Necessary

GAME 7: Tuesday, May 2, Everett Silvertips @ Vancouver Giants, 7:00 p.m. (Pacific Coliseum) If Necessary


TICKETS ON SALE NOW FOR GAME #3 AND GAME #4

Tickets for Game #3 and Game #4 at the Everett Events Center are on sale by logging onto www.everettsilvertips.com or by calling the Everett Events Center Box Office at 1-866-332-8499. The Everett Events Center Box will be open from 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. For groups of 10 or more, contact the Silvertips office at (425) 252-5100.

[Tipped Off]

Vancouver’s support for Giants grows

By Greg Meachem
Apr 18 2006

The Vancouver Giants have the west coast hockey crowd all to themselves.
The Giants moved on to the WHL Western Conference final with a 2-0 win over the visiting Portland Winter Hawks on Sunday, three days after the Canucks were eliminated from the NHL post-season race.

The Giants advanced to the third round of the playoffs for the first time in their five-year history.

“This is a very special moment for our organization, but it's just one step towards fulfilling our goal,” team captain Mark Fistric told the Vancouver Sun.
“We know we're going to be facing better teams as we keep going here, but right now this team has a lot of confidence.”

Vancouver, which dropped Game 1 of the series at home, outscored Portland 16-6 over the five games with 10 different players contributing at least one goal.

Meanwhile, netminder Dustin Slade has recorded three shutouts in this year’s playoffs.

The Giants — who averaged close to 8,000 fans at Pacific Coliseum during the first round of the playoffs but only 7,000 in the second round — have witnessed an increase of more than 3,000 ticket sales since Thursday, when the Canucks were rubbed out of the NHL playoff picture.

Vancouver will host the Everett Silvertips in the first two games of the Western Conference final Friday and Saturday.

● Losing is always difficult, but when success is all that you’ve known, it’s doubly disappointing.

“We’ve been so successful in the last four seasons,” Kelowna Rockets veteran Troy Bodie told the Kelowna Daily Courier following Sunday’s season-ending 6-2 loss to Everett.

The setback dashed the Rockets’ hopes of securing a third league title in four years and a shot at winning a second Memorial Cup.
“The way we’ve been playing, the way we’ve gone, going out in the second round is tough for us,” Bodie added.

“I don’t want to sound greedy, or anything like that, but I guess you gotta be.”

● Former Red Deer Rebels forward Blair Jones has racked up a team-leading 13 playoff points (6-7) for the Moose Jaw Warriors.

Jones scored once and set up another goal in the Warriors’ 3-1 win over the Calgary Hitmen in Game 6 of their Eastern Conference semifinal on Sunday. The deciding game is set for tonight at the Saddledome.

“Now it’s Game 7. It’s the same scenario for us as it was tonight, but now it’s the same for both teams,” Jones told the Moose Jaw Times-Herald. “We just have to keep doing what we’ve been doing to get here.”

Warriors forward Troy Brouwer, who won the WHL scoring race this season with 102 points (49-53), hasn’t played since Game 2 due to a knee injury and is listed as doubtful for Wednesday.

Meanwhile, defenceman Jesse Zetariuk, another former Rebel toiling for the Warriors, missed part of Game 5 with an eye injury he incurred during a fight, but was back in action on Sunday with his eye taped open.

•‑The Medicine Hat Tigers are waiting for their Eastern Conference final opponent and as head coach Willie Desjardins suggested when talking about the Warriors and Hitmen, it’s a matter of picking your poison.

“They are maybe noted for different things,” Desjardins told the Medicine Hat News. “But they have the ability to do it in both ends of the rink.

“Moose Jaw has forwards as good as there are in the league, but in the playoffs they’ve been getting great goaltending (from Joey Perricone) and their defence has come up big.”

The Hitmen continue to rely on netminder Justin Pogge and their top-ranked defence.

“They’ve been No. 1 in the league,” said Desjardins. “Their focus is not giving up a lot, but at the same time they’ve proved that they can score. We know we’ll play a really good hockey team and we’re prepared for that.”

• Everett netminder Leland Irving is the WHL player of the week.

He recorded a 1.57 goals-against average with a .950 save percentage in three wins and a double-overtime loss in the Western Conference semifinal between the Silvertips and the Kelowna Rockets.

The Silvertips won the series 4-2.

Irving, a 17-year-old native of Swan Hills, is eligible for the 2006 NHL draft.

[Tipped Off]

Tips hope to contain Giants' offensive star


By Nick Patterson
Herald Writer


EVERETT - The Everett Silvertips just got done shutting down one of the WHL's offensive stars. Now they have to deal with yet another.

Fresh off rendering Kelowna's Justin Keller impotent in the second round of the playoffs, Everett has the unenviable task of trying to do the same to Vancouver's Gilbert Brule in the Western Conference finals, which begin Friday in Vancouver.

"We would hope the results are the same," Everett coach Kevin Constantine said.

"One would hope we could maybe slow Brule down. Stop him? That's impossible. We'll have to try and slow him down a little bit."

Slowing Brule down might seem an impossible task. But then going into the Kelowna series, the same could have been said about shutting down Keller.

Keller was the league's leading goal scorer (51) during the regular season. However, the Tips shut out Keller in six second-round games, keeping his offensive output to a mere three assists and never more than one in a game.

"I don't know how we shut him down," said Cody Thoring, who as a right side defenseman had to deal with Keller on a regular basis.

"We didn't zone in on him, we played our game against everybody. It just so happened he wasn't able to put the puck in the net."

Keller did manage to get into good scoring position on a number of occasions. However, he never did manage to beat Everett goaltender Leland Irving, and many of Keller's shots ended up going wide rather than requiring a save.

"We wanted to make sure we finished every hit against him," said Shaun Heshka, another right side defenseman. "We knew if he didn't have the puck he wouldn't be able to score.

"Irving had a number on everyone, especially Keller," Heshka added. "He made some key saves and their confidence kind of went down. I think Irving had a huge impact on all their goal scorers."

It will more difficult containing Brule. While Keller is an exceptional goal scorer, Brule is an offensive prodigy.

The 1987-born center was selected sixth overall by Columbus in the 2005 NHL Draft and began the season with the Blue Jackets, where he had two goals and two assists in seven games before injuries forced him back to juniors. He had 23 goals and 15 assists in just 27 regular-season games with the Giants, then recorded seven goals and four assists in Vancouver's first 10 playoff games.

"Both (Keller and Brule) are hard-working players who can shoot the puck," Thoring said. "I'd say Brule has a little more grit."

That grit is perhaps one area of Brule's game the Tips can exploit. Along with his offensive gifts, Brule also has a bit of a short fuse. In 165 career regular-season games, Brule has 309 penalty minutes, and he had 24 penalty minutes in the first two rounds of the playoffs.

"I think we've just got to play him tight," Heshka said. "He's one of those guys who if you give him a little ice to work with, he can do miraculous things with the puck. If we can frustrate him, maybe get him to take a few penalties, that might take him off his game a bit. If he's on his game you can't stop him."

Tougher loss: Two years ago the Silvertips pulled off the impossible. Everett upset Kelowna in the Western Conference finals - despite being an expansion team; despite Kelowna's status as both defending league champion and best team during the regular season; and despite the Rockets taking a 3-1 series lead.

Everett's second-round victory over Kelowna this year wasn't nearly the shock it was two years ago, although the Tips were again the underdog. However, in some ways this year's loss had a greater impact on the Rockets than the one two years ago.

"I think this one hurts more because we don't have a bye into the Memorial Cup this year," Kelowna right wing Blake Comeau said. "It's tough. It's never easy to lose, especially after you get the taste of winning."

As the host team Kelowna received a bye to the 2004 Memorial Cup, which it eventually won.

Slap shots: Irving was honored again Tuesday, being named the Canadian Hockey League goaltender of the week. Irving won three of his four starts, notching a 1.57 goals against average and .950 save percentage. ... Everett center Zach Hamill is the leading playoff scorer among players whose teams are still alive. Hamill has 14 points (three goals, 11 assists) in 11 games. The only player ahead of Hamill is Portland's Brandon Dubinsky (15 points), whose team was eliminated in the second round by Vancouver. ... The Tips are preparing for Vancouver at the Lynnwood Ice Center. The Everett Events Center is unavailable because of the home show.

[Tipped Off]

Deep bench key to Silvertips' playoff victory
By Jim Riley

Special to The Seattle Times

Related

Silvertips statistics
Under the Helmet

In the last analysis, the majority ruled.

The Everett Silvertips were able to dethrone the mighty Kelowna Rockets because they had more players contribute valuable minutes in what became a fast-paced series of intense, exhausting hockey.

Players such as Damir Alic, Jesse Smyke and Zack Dailey got plenty of ice time for the Silvertips and more than held their own, something that eventually caused the Rockets to fizzle with fatigue.

The Silvertips dethroned the defending Western Hockey League (WHL) champion Rockets with a 6-2 win Sunday to wrap up the Western Conference semifinal series four games to two.

Now in the league's final four, the Silvertips won't find their task any easier when they face the Vancouver Giants for the Western Conference title.

The Giants have the home-ice advantage thanks to their 47-19-0-6 record in the regular season. The series will open Friday with a 7:30 p.m. matchup in Vancouver. Game 2 is in Vancouver on Saturday and Games 3 and 4 at the Everett Events Center on Tuesday and April 27.

"We're going from playing the best over the last four years to the best over the last four months," Everett coach Kevin Constantine said of Kelowna and Vancouver. "When Gilbert Brule came back to Vancouver, they went from being one of the best to the best."

Round 3


Schedule

Game 1: 7:30 p.m. Friday at Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver, B.C.

Game 2: 7 p.m. Saturday at Vancouver.

Game 3: 7:05 p.m. Tuesday at Everett Events Center.

Game 4: 7:05 p.m. April 27 at Everett.

*Game 5: 7 p.m. April 29 at Vancouver.

*Game 6: 7:05 p.m. May 1 at Everett.

*Game 7: 7 p.m. May 2 at Vancouver.

*If necessary

Tickets

Tickets for Games 3 and 4 at the Everett Events Center are available at 866-332- 8499 and www.everettsilvertips.com.The events- center box office is open from noon to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. For groups of 10 or more, call 425-252-5100.
Brule started the season playing in the National Hockey League for the Columbus Blue Jackets. He had two goals and four assists in seven games but after two injuries was returned to the Giants.

Since Brule has been back, he has scored 23 goals and 38 points in 27 regular-season games and leads the Giants with 11 points in 10 playoff games.

The Giants, the B.C. Division champions, dispatched both the Prince George Cougars and Portland Winter Hawks in five games.

Constantine said he won't do anything special to try to slow down Brule, who plays with a physical edge and has a knack for finding the puck.

"We know we can't stop him — that's impossible," Constantine said. "All we can do is slow him down a little bit."

The Silvertips were able to do that to Kelowna's Justin Keller, who had 51 goals in the regular season but had no goals and two assists in the six games against the Silvertips.

The Silvertips, meanwhile, had 15 players score a goal in the playoffs, the most in the WHL.

Zach Hamill leads a balanced Silvertip attack with 14 points in the playoffs. Shaun Heshka has 13, Peter Mueller 12, John Lammers 11, Torrie Wheat nine and Ondrej Fiala eight.

Hamill ranks second in the WHL in scoring in the playoffs, one point behind Brandon Dubinsky of Portland, and Heshka's points lead all defensemen.

Mueller leads the team with seven goals and is the first to appreciate how much everyone on the roster is contributing.

"It makes it a lot of fun when everyone is producing," Mueller said. "We just kept on rolling and had everyone clicking."

Even after knocking off the Rockets, the Silvertips will go into the series against Vancouver as underdogs again.

"They [the Rockets] were the champions, and we were just the little guys coming into town and trying to take a whack at it," Mueller said. "We were hungry. Our fans deserved to be a part of it."

Irving honored

Silvertips goaltender Leland Irving, who leads the WHL in playoff shutouts with three, was named the league's Player of the Week.

Irving posted a 3-1 record during the week and has an 8-2-1 record with a 94.4 save percentage while allowing 1.48 goals a game.

Everett's Mueller won the same honor last week.

Notes

• In the playoffs so far, Everett is 5-1 at home and 3-2 on the road. The Silvertips have outscored the Tri-City Americans and Kelowna Rockets by a total of 33-17.

• Everett has been in eight playoff series in its history and is 6-2.

In its expansion season, Everett beat Spokane 4-0, Vancouver 4-2 and Kelowna 4-3, and lost to Medicine Hat 4-0. Last season, Everett beat Portland 4-3 and lost to Kootenay 4-0.