Round 1 Vs. Spokane

[Highlander_Yank]

Beach gave his perspective: "I just came off the bench and there was tons of excitement. I was following Hamill and saw a punch go right in his face from Blackwater. The first instinct is to protect (Hamill) and stand up for him, being one of our leading scorers. I gave Blackwater a bump and things just kind of went from there. You hate to see it, but luckily nobody got hurt.

"I didn't think the suspension was exactly warranted," Beach added. "I really only bumped into him once. The league felt it was severe enough for suspension, though. I guess if I hadn't done that none of it would have started. But we'll just take it in stride. Hopefully we can move on and get past it."

Looks like Beach is being pretty philosophical about it, which is a refreshing change from his style from earlier in the season.

As far as moving on goes, all the Tips gotta do is dress a couple of the healthy-scratch forwards for a game or two. My guess is Ius and Burt for tonight; just one of them for tomorrow. We shall see, though!

[Beaner]

Beach gave him a pretty good shot, it was hardly a "bump". But a good attitude about it from Beach.

Think the league did the best they could on these suspensions.

[Tipped Off]

Everett Silvertips are twice too late
Officials rule Tips' goal in first came after time expired and Everett scores twice in third but comeback falls short

By Nick Patterson
Herald Writer


SPOKANE - It seemed rather innocuous at the time, a disallowed goal that would have made the Everett Silvertips' first period just a little less bad.

Little did anyone know that disallowed goal would prove to be the difference in the game.

Brennan Sonne's possible goal was waved off at the end of the first period, and Everett's subsequent comeback came up one goal short as the Silvertips fell 3-2 to the Spokane Chiefs on Tuesday in Game 3 of their Western Hockey League playoff series.

Everett still holds a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series, which resumes tonight in Spokane. But things could have ended up different had that call gone Everett's way.

"We can't rely on controversial goals to try to win or lose hockey games," Everett coach Kevin Constantine said. "But it would have been a difference maker."

Instead, Everett never fully recovered from a disastrous start that saw the Chiefs take a 3-0 lead and chase Tips goaltender Leland Irving after 16 minutes. Derek Ryan, Ondrej Roman and Adam Hobson scored the goals for the Chiefs, then goaltender Dustin Tokarski made 22 saves to make the lead hold up.

"It was huge," Spokane coach Bill Peters said of the victory. "Nobody wants to go down 3-0 in a best-of-seven, that's a big hill to climb. We didn't want to put ourselves in that spot and we responded to the challenge."

Everett rallied in the third period behind a pair of Dan Gendur goals, and David Reekie stopped all 13 shots he saw in relief of Irving. But it wasn't enough for the Tips.

"They came out hard, you've got to give them all the credit in the world," Sonne said. "They competed really hard and they wanted it.

"I thought we came out with some character in the third," Sonne added. "That's how we need to play every game. I don't know what it was tonight, we just didn't get the bounces, and you have to give them credit because they played hard the entire game."

But had perspectives differed slightly at the end of the first period, the outcome may have been different.

As the period came to a close, Sonne jammed at a loose puck at the post and waived his arms in celebration as the horn sounded, and the goal light went on.

The officials had a lengthy discussion, then grabbed a headset to talk to the goal judge. After about a five-minute delay the goal was waved off, the ruling that it came after time expired, and the score remained 3-0.

"I just went in there to the net and it was between his skate and the post," Sonne said. "I banged at it and the second time it went in. It was clearly in the net, but I was watching the puck so I have no idea what time was left on the clock. It was definitely in, it's just unfortunate the call didn't go our way."

Constantine thought the goal should have counted.

"The puck was in and it was in at least three seconds," Constantine said. "There wasn't any question in either case. It was a bad light. They relied on equipment rather than hockey. Tonight the goal judge light didn't go on in time when it has a bad light in it. That's bad news."

But Everett wouldn't have needed that call to go its way had the Tips played better in the first period. Everett's defense looked sluggish at times, and there were times when the Tips tried poking the puck away with their sticks when playing the body would have been the better option.

Irving, who was good in the first two games, was pulled after giving up three goals on five shots. However, Constantine wasn't putting the blame on his goaltender.

" (Spokane's first goal) was a real lucky bounce," Constantine said. "Some nights you get bounces, some nights you don't. I don't really blame anybody, it's just one of those games where pucks went in."

Ryan opened the scoring on the power play 5:09 into the game after a fortunate bounce allowed him to put the puck behind a fallen Irving.

Roman, who was given an eternity to line up his shot from the center slot, made it 2-0 at 13:48 when he put a shot in the top corner.

Hobson added the third Chiefs' goal at 16:05, outfighting two Tips for a loose puck in the neutral zone to create a breakaway, then scoring to send Irving to the bench.

Gendur got the Tips on the board 1:04 into the third period on a rebound goal, then scored again at 18:39 with Reekie pulled for an extra attacker. But Everett never got another good scoring chance.

[Tipped Off]

Let me start by saying I didn't see or hear ANY of this game. I bowl league on Tuesday night and my grand plan of having a radio in my ear to listen while I bowled was foiled when the piece of crap radio I bought didn't get reception in the bowling alley. I got updates via my Blackberry & that's about it.

That being said, I absolutely HATE stories that take this angle. I'm typically a Nick Patterson fan. Not only because we share the same first name, but I really think he has grown as a sports writer right in front of our eyes. I remember some of his first articles about the Tips seemed like he'd never watched a hockey game in his life. His style, education and stories have gotten much, much better.

Again....that being said....stories that take the, "if this would have happened early on, the outcome would have been different angle" never works out. It was CLEAR AS DAY that once Spokane went up 3-0 they were all about protecting that lead. I don't need to watch thte game to know that. If that goal is allowed and the 1st ends 3-1 instead of 3-0, the whole game is different. But that might not be a good thing. Maybe the Chiefs go on the offfensive again and the score ends up 5-1. Maybe the Tips score 3 goals in the 2nd and win 7-3. Who the heck knows. But you absolutely can;t say, if that goal counts this game would have been tied because the final score was 3-2. Ok, if the waived off goal happens at the end of regulation, you could make that arguement, but way too much changes during the course of a game to say that waived off goal would have tied the game in the end.

not having seen it, I can't comment on whether it was good or not. I'd beinterested to hear some takes from Chiefs and Tips fans who either saw it live or on the WebCast.

[ihlemic10]

Saw the webcast, no way I could tell if in or not, but the players did celebrate before the horn...anyway the first period the tips could not really keep it in Spoke's zone for too long and our defense looked flat. Spoke blocked many shots from the point. 2nd period was a normal tips game, kept in their zone a quite a bit more, harder checking still no result. 3rd period it was mostly in their zone, gotta give it to Tokarski keeping the lead for Spoke. Hopefully the tips will snap back from this, no clue as to Irving or Reeks in net tonight.

[old_time_hockey]

Sounds like Irving had a bit of a rough outting last night.

No one wants to get yanked in a playoff game.

[Tipped Off]

There is absolutely no debate here. It is completely a non-issue. I seriously doubt KC is even thinking about it. Irving is in goal tonite. You don't replace your #1 goalie in the playoffs.

[old_time_hockey]

I'm not saying replace him for tonight.

I am talking about last night when he let in 3 goals on 7 shots and they pulled him much the same way Hay did to Sexsmith in game 1 but then came back with him the next night.

[Tipped Off]

Spokane gets even
Controversial goal sparks the Chiefs' rally from a 1-0 deficit in final period

By Nick Patterson
Herald Writer

SPOKANE - The Everett Silvertips just did not catch a break during their time in Spokane.

And as a result, a best-of-seven series has become a best-of-three.

For the second straight night the game's outcome was shrouded in controversy as the Silvertips fell 3-1 to the Spokane Chiefs on Wednesday night in Game 4 of their Western Hockey League playoff series.

Now a series in which Everett held a commanding two-game lead is knotted at 2-2.

"It's unfortunate," Everett goaltender Leland Irving said. "Some nights you get the bounces, some nights you don't. It seems luck isn't on our side in this building. But at the same time, we have to keep working through it and create some luck of our own."

In a game Everett dominated for two periods - only the goaltending of Dustin Tokarski kept the score 1-0 - Spokane caught a break when David Rutherford scored the equalizer after Tips goaltender Leland Irving was knocked out of his net.

Derek Ryan later scored the tie-breaking goal and Chris Bruton added an empty-netter for the Chiefs, who take momentum into Friday's Game 5 in Everett.

"They dominated the early part of the game, no question," Spokane coach Bill Peters said. "I thought we spent a lot of time in our own zone and were fairly poised in the D-zone, but there's no question (Tokarski) made some big saves, and we caught a couple breaks and were able to capitalize."

The biggest break came 3 minutes, 35 seconds into the third period.

Everett was leading 1-0 when the Chiefs came down the ice on an attack. Bodies crashed the net and a Spokane player ran into Irving, knocking Irving out of the crease. Irving remained on the ice for several moments as the Chiefs shot toward the unguarded net. Tips defenseman Jonathan Harty blocked one shot, but he couldn't block Rutherford on the loose rebound.

Everett argued that the goal shouldn't count because of goaltender interference, but to no avail.

"Their player came crashing into me, wiped me right out of the net," Irving said. "Last I checked that was goaltender interference. I think the ref thought one of our D-men pushed him into me, which might have been the case. But it kind of (stinks) to have something like that happen in such a big game."

This came one night after Everett had what it thought was a goal disallowed because of an alleged faulty goal light. Everett ended up losing that game by a single goal.

"There's no doubt they jumped right on top of Irv," said a livid Everett coach Kevin Constantine, who claimed Irving was not allowed to get back up. "It's ridiculous. Last night the goal judge thing, tonight a goalie jumped on.

"We've talked to the league that they interfere with our goalie," Constantine added. "You have to do everything in your power to avoid the goaltender. This has been discussed. What are you left to do when you tell the league it's going on and they do nothing about it?"

Everett tried to recover from the setback, but Tokarski made a fantastic lunging kick save on Jordan Mistelbacher to keep the game tied. Moments later the Chiefs took the lead. Ondrej Roman made a nifty blind backhand pass from behind the net to Ryan, who lifted the puck over Irving to make it 2-1 at 11:00. Bruton tacked on the empty-netter at 17:08.

So despite an improved performance over Game 3, Everett went unrewarded.

"We played with a little more passion tonight, which was good," Constantine said. "We ran into a goalie who did a really good job to keep that game close and didn't get it done in the third."

Tokarski finished with 29 saves. Irving stopped 15 shots.

Everett kept Spokane hemmed into its own zone for most of the first period, but emerged with nothing to show for it. In the best chances, Tokarski stopped Moises Gutierrez all alone out front on the power play, and Brennan Sonne blew around Tokarski only to lose control of the puck at the last moment. Otherwise, Everett's shots whistled wide or were blocked by the Chiefs.

Everett was finally rewarded for its efforts early in the second period. Gutierrez found Mueller with some space in the slot. Mueller played with the puck before putting a shot on goal that was saved by Tokarski. Mueller went for the rebound and although his second attempt was also saved, he forced it in on his third try, giving the Tips a 1-0 lead at 3:31.

The Tips then put the puck in the net again at 8:27, but Mistelbacher was judged to have hit the puck with a high stick. It was the third time this series Everett had lit the lamp, only for the goal to be waived off.

[dondo]

hmm excuses.. excuses..

Everett continues to have a tough time in Spokane.

KC has got to stop his bellyaching about how unfair everything is to him, though. It seems to me every loss the 'Tips have is followed by a litany of excuses. Sometimes teams just lose due to not enough effort or a bit of luck one way or the other. That's why series are seven games long -- it all evens out.

Last time I watched the Silvertips play they used the same tactics.. its called crashing the net and if the player is pushed into the goalie by the D then its no call, or if he has the puck then its valid to continue momentum into the crease, but if the player continued to lay on top of Irving without making an effort to clear the crease then it should have been at least a whistle.

Not having seen the game I cannot make a judgment call one way or the other. However when playing the 'Tips crashing Irving is a valid tactic though because he's so good you have to get into his face, and get the ugly goals past him. As long as the player in question is in a defensible position then Irving has nothing to complain about.