Tipped Off
11-22-2006, 11:36 AM
How the Silvertips shine
By JIM RILEY
The Seattle Times
A few days after General Manager Doug Soetaert had selected the players who would make up the first edition of the Everett Silvertips in June 2003, he got a phone call.
It was another Western Hockey League general manager, calling to congratulate him.
"He said he thought we did a pretty decent job and figured maybe we could win about 15 games," Soetaert said, taking the last laugh. "I think we exceeded everyone's expectations."
The Silvertips won 35 games in the regular season to take the U.S. Division championship. They added 12 more wins in the postseason to gain the Western Conference title before losing to Medicine Hat for the WHL championship.
Not only did the Silvertips win that year, but even more remarkable is that they are still winning now. Such a success story was considered impossible before Soetaert and the Silvertips shattered the expansion mold three seasons ago.
Everett has used that remarkable first season as a springboard all the way to the top of the 56-team Canadian Hockey League.
The Silvertips have the best record in the WHL so far this season at 18-2-0-1, an accomplishment that can be traced back to Soetaert's original blueprint for a hockey team that always works hard and often wins.
It all begins with the scouts
Before Everett was officially awarded a Western Hockey League franchise April 19, 2002, teams entering the league seemed to have only two ways to go:
Play a young team, get clobbered and build for the future. Or play veterans, try to be competitive early and pay the price later.
Soetaert, the man trusted by owner Bill Yuill to build the franchise, had another idea.
"With a new building and in a new market, we wanted to be as competitive as possible right away," Soetaert said. "But we also knew we'd be better down the road."
The Vancouver Giants, the last expansion franchise, went the young route in the 2001-02 season and finished 33 games under .500. It paid off when the Giants won the WHL championship last season.
That was an option Soetaert couldn't stomach.
He spent an entire year traveling the Canadian prairies, scouting current WHL players and younger ones coming up.
Soetaert noticed a curious thing, and it quickly became the trademark for the organization.
"I could see that night in and night out in the WHL, it wasn't the team with the most talent, but the one that worked the hardest that usually won the game," Soetaert said. "Our game plan was to pick players who competed hard every night."
Soetaert hired Doug Scoville to lead a team of six part-time scouts who obsessively scouted thousands of games.
"We covered every inch," Soetaert said. "If there was a kid playing hockey, we not only knew about him, but we had seen him. We needed to know 1,000 players in the WHL alone."
Each of the 19 existing teams was allowed to protect 15 of its 50 players, with Everett then allowed to select anyone else from each team.
Soetaert turned down all deals from teams hoping to trade two and even three players in exchange for Everett's pick.
"We knew nobody was going to do us any favors," Soetaert said. "We wanted to make them guess about what we were going to do. Everyone on our staff knew the game plan to pick the hardest-working players, and there were no leaks."
Plenty of top players available
As the draft drew near, Soetaert wrote the names of all 50 players on each team on a large board. The 15 he would have protected were written in red ink, the others in blue.
On draft day, each WHL team faxed in its protected list to the league, and it was forwarded to Everett.
The Silvertips had six hours to select their team and got the job done in less than five.
"There was always at least one red player in red ink available from each team," Soetaert said. "There were some pretty big surprises."
Soetaert, a goaltender for 12 seasons in the National Hockey League who helped the Montreal Canadiens win the Stanley Cup in 1986, knew his top priority was a quality goaltender.
Just after the draft, Soetaert traded to get Jeff Harvey, a journeyman who had already played in both Kootenay and Swift Current.
"I saw him play several times, and we knew we wanted him," Soetaert said. "A good goaltender can make an average team good, and an average goaltender can make a good team average. We knew Jeff could be good."
Right coach, right time
Soetaert also interviewed several head-coach candidates during his scouting trips but decided to wait until he got a feel for what his new team would be like before making a decision.
He first heard from Kevin Constantine when the former NHL coach called to recommend John Becanic and Jay Varady for the job.
A few weeks later, Constantine called back and said he also might be interested in returning to coaching.
"I knew Kevin and what he brought to the table," Soetaert said. "He was the type of coach who could take a group of hockey players who weren't very skilled and make something out of them."
Constantine accepted the job just before the expansion draft was held, and Becanic and Varady agreed to join him as assistants.
The trio is still together in Everett, although Becanic and Varady are mentioned every time there is an opening for a head coach in the WHL.
Rocky start transformed
into winning culture
Harvey, the goaltender, showed his skill in training camp but fell flat when the regular season began and Everett started with three straight losses.
"He was very average, and we didn't have a backup," Soetaert said.
"So we traded for Michael Wall."
Wall was in net for the team's first point, in a tie at Seattle, before the Silvertips played their first game at the new Everett Events Center.
Harvey, like everyone else, assumed he would get the start in that historic first home game.
"We had to send a message that guys had to earn their playing time," Soetaert said. "We weren't very happy with Jeff, and he wasn't happy with us, but that decision defined the culture of our hockey club."
Harvey, whose parents were in town, was crestfallen. He later admitted he considered leaving the team but swallowed hard and watched from the bench as the Silvertips lost to Prince George 3-1.
With the team now 0-4 with one tie, the entire season turned upon Everett's next home game.
Outshot 42-12, Everett escaped with a 2-1 win over Seattle when Harvey stopped 41 shots to collect Everett's first win and write the first chapter of Everett's storybook season.
Harvey, who played in the minors for two seasons after leaving Everett, is now playing college hockey at the University of Saskatchewan.
"We built the foundation for winning for the organization for years to come," Harvey said after he had removed his Everett jersey for the last time. "I'm just proud to say I was there during the inaugural season and was a part of such a great thing."
Constantine, selected the league's top coach in his first season with the Silvertips, admitted it was hard to believe how much that first team accomplished.
"Many people go through their whole hockey careers and don't go through something as special as that," Constantine said. "Our players put their heart and soul into it. I still can't believe what we accomplished."
Bantam-draft gamble
pays huge dividends
While that first season built a foundation, it was the bantam draft June 9, 2003, that has ensured the Silvertips' long-term success.
The Silvertips had the third pick in the draft and then the first pick in each succeeding round.
Soetaert went to bed June 8 having decided Peter Mueller would be the team's first pick.
"We had Mueller and Zach Hamill No. 1 and 1A," Soetaert said. "We were going to take Peter in the first round. But then I slept on it and was worried we might not get either of them. We weren't sure if Mueller would come, and we knew Hamill wouldn't be there in the second round."
Mueller had already declared that he was going to the University of Minnesota, but Soetaert made one last phone call to Mueller's home in Bloomington, Minn.
"We talked to Peter's parents, and they promised us they would come see our facility and educate themselves about the WHL," Soetaert said. "I thought that if we had a little luck, we could get both of them."
Mueller was still available when Everett opened the second round with the 22nd pick, and they quickly announced his name.
"We knew Peter wanted to play in the NHL," Soetaert said. "So we put together a study that showed the WHL is the fastest way to get there."
Mueller, last season's WHL rookie of the year, may have been the steal of the draft, but the good news for Everett didn't stop there.
In addition to both Hamill and Mueller, the Silvertips picked seven other players who eventually made the team.
That group, which features current players Leland Irving, Taylor Ellington, Graham Potuer and Jonathan Harty, is now 18 and could make its mark as the most successful bantam draft in the history of the league.
They represent the core of a team with the best winning percentage in the WHL, one that appears ready to write the next chapter in what is already a storied franchise.
Attendance
The Everett Silvertips have been a big hit ever since the Everett Events Center opened in 2003. Here's a look at the attendance for each season in the center, which has a capacity of 8,149 for hockey. The number of games varies depending on the number of home playoff games each season.
Season G Total Avg.
2003-04 46 273,830 5,975
2004-05 41 255,244 6,225
2005-06 44 265,467 6,033
2006-07 10 57,704 5,770
By JIM RILEY
The Seattle Times
A few days after General Manager Doug Soetaert had selected the players who would make up the first edition of the Everett Silvertips in June 2003, he got a phone call.
It was another Western Hockey League general manager, calling to congratulate him.
"He said he thought we did a pretty decent job and figured maybe we could win about 15 games," Soetaert said, taking the last laugh. "I think we exceeded everyone's expectations."
The Silvertips won 35 games in the regular season to take the U.S. Division championship. They added 12 more wins in the postseason to gain the Western Conference title before losing to Medicine Hat for the WHL championship.
Not only did the Silvertips win that year, but even more remarkable is that they are still winning now. Such a success story was considered impossible before Soetaert and the Silvertips shattered the expansion mold three seasons ago.
Everett has used that remarkable first season as a springboard all the way to the top of the 56-team Canadian Hockey League.
The Silvertips have the best record in the WHL so far this season at 18-2-0-1, an accomplishment that can be traced back to Soetaert's original blueprint for a hockey team that always works hard and often wins.
It all begins with the scouts
Before Everett was officially awarded a Western Hockey League franchise April 19, 2002, teams entering the league seemed to have only two ways to go:
Play a young team, get clobbered and build for the future. Or play veterans, try to be competitive early and pay the price later.
Soetaert, the man trusted by owner Bill Yuill to build the franchise, had another idea.
"With a new building and in a new market, we wanted to be as competitive as possible right away," Soetaert said. "But we also knew we'd be better down the road."
The Vancouver Giants, the last expansion franchise, went the young route in the 2001-02 season and finished 33 games under .500. It paid off when the Giants won the WHL championship last season.
That was an option Soetaert couldn't stomach.
He spent an entire year traveling the Canadian prairies, scouting current WHL players and younger ones coming up.
Soetaert noticed a curious thing, and it quickly became the trademark for the organization.
"I could see that night in and night out in the WHL, it wasn't the team with the most talent, but the one that worked the hardest that usually won the game," Soetaert said. "Our game plan was to pick players who competed hard every night."
Soetaert hired Doug Scoville to lead a team of six part-time scouts who obsessively scouted thousands of games.
"We covered every inch," Soetaert said. "If there was a kid playing hockey, we not only knew about him, but we had seen him. We needed to know 1,000 players in the WHL alone."
Each of the 19 existing teams was allowed to protect 15 of its 50 players, with Everett then allowed to select anyone else from each team.
Soetaert turned down all deals from teams hoping to trade two and even three players in exchange for Everett's pick.
"We knew nobody was going to do us any favors," Soetaert said. "We wanted to make them guess about what we were going to do. Everyone on our staff knew the game plan to pick the hardest-working players, and there were no leaks."
Plenty of top players available
As the draft drew near, Soetaert wrote the names of all 50 players on each team on a large board. The 15 he would have protected were written in red ink, the others in blue.
On draft day, each WHL team faxed in its protected list to the league, and it was forwarded to Everett.
The Silvertips had six hours to select their team and got the job done in less than five.
"There was always at least one red player in red ink available from each team," Soetaert said. "There were some pretty big surprises."
Soetaert, a goaltender for 12 seasons in the National Hockey League who helped the Montreal Canadiens win the Stanley Cup in 1986, knew his top priority was a quality goaltender.
Just after the draft, Soetaert traded to get Jeff Harvey, a journeyman who had already played in both Kootenay and Swift Current.
"I saw him play several times, and we knew we wanted him," Soetaert said. "A good goaltender can make an average team good, and an average goaltender can make a good team average. We knew Jeff could be good."
Right coach, right time
Soetaert also interviewed several head-coach candidates during his scouting trips but decided to wait until he got a feel for what his new team would be like before making a decision.
He first heard from Kevin Constantine when the former NHL coach called to recommend John Becanic and Jay Varady for the job.
A few weeks later, Constantine called back and said he also might be interested in returning to coaching.
"I knew Kevin and what he brought to the table," Soetaert said. "He was the type of coach who could take a group of hockey players who weren't very skilled and make something out of them."
Constantine accepted the job just before the expansion draft was held, and Becanic and Varady agreed to join him as assistants.
The trio is still together in Everett, although Becanic and Varady are mentioned every time there is an opening for a head coach in the WHL.
Rocky start transformed
into winning culture
Harvey, the goaltender, showed his skill in training camp but fell flat when the regular season began and Everett started with three straight losses.
"He was very average, and we didn't have a backup," Soetaert said.
"So we traded for Michael Wall."
Wall was in net for the team's first point, in a tie at Seattle, before the Silvertips played their first game at the new Everett Events Center.
Harvey, like everyone else, assumed he would get the start in that historic first home game.
"We had to send a message that guys had to earn their playing time," Soetaert said. "We weren't very happy with Jeff, and he wasn't happy with us, but that decision defined the culture of our hockey club."
Harvey, whose parents were in town, was crestfallen. He later admitted he considered leaving the team but swallowed hard and watched from the bench as the Silvertips lost to Prince George 3-1.
With the team now 0-4 with one tie, the entire season turned upon Everett's next home game.
Outshot 42-12, Everett escaped with a 2-1 win over Seattle when Harvey stopped 41 shots to collect Everett's first win and write the first chapter of Everett's storybook season.
Harvey, who played in the minors for two seasons after leaving Everett, is now playing college hockey at the University of Saskatchewan.
"We built the foundation for winning for the organization for years to come," Harvey said after he had removed his Everett jersey for the last time. "I'm just proud to say I was there during the inaugural season and was a part of such a great thing."
Constantine, selected the league's top coach in his first season with the Silvertips, admitted it was hard to believe how much that first team accomplished.
"Many people go through their whole hockey careers and don't go through something as special as that," Constantine said. "Our players put their heart and soul into it. I still can't believe what we accomplished."
Bantam-draft gamble
pays huge dividends
While that first season built a foundation, it was the bantam draft June 9, 2003, that has ensured the Silvertips' long-term success.
The Silvertips had the third pick in the draft and then the first pick in each succeeding round.
Soetaert went to bed June 8 having decided Peter Mueller would be the team's first pick.
"We had Mueller and Zach Hamill No. 1 and 1A," Soetaert said. "We were going to take Peter in the first round. But then I slept on it and was worried we might not get either of them. We weren't sure if Mueller would come, and we knew Hamill wouldn't be there in the second round."
Mueller had already declared that he was going to the University of Minnesota, but Soetaert made one last phone call to Mueller's home in Bloomington, Minn.
"We talked to Peter's parents, and they promised us they would come see our facility and educate themselves about the WHL," Soetaert said. "I thought that if we had a little luck, we could get both of them."
Mueller was still available when Everett opened the second round with the 22nd pick, and they quickly announced his name.
"We knew Peter wanted to play in the NHL," Soetaert said. "So we put together a study that showed the WHL is the fastest way to get there."
Mueller, last season's WHL rookie of the year, may have been the steal of the draft, but the good news for Everett didn't stop there.
In addition to both Hamill and Mueller, the Silvertips picked seven other players who eventually made the team.
That group, which features current players Leland Irving, Taylor Ellington, Graham Potuer and Jonathan Harty, is now 18 and could make its mark as the most successful bantam draft in the history of the league.
They represent the core of a team with the best winning percentage in the WHL, one that appears ready to write the next chapter in what is already a storied franchise.
Attendance
The Everett Silvertips have been a big hit ever since the Everett Events Center opened in 2003. Here's a look at the attendance for each season in the center, which has a capacity of 8,149 for hockey. The number of games varies depending on the number of home playoff games each season.
Season G Total Avg.
2003-04 46 273,830 5,975
2004-05 41 255,244 6,225
2005-06 44 265,467 6,033
2006-07 10 57,704 5,770