Tips Slap Moose Jaw

[Tipped Off]

Silvertips slap Moose Jaw for sixth straight victory
Lammers scores two goals in 4-2 victory

By Nick Patterson
Herald Writer


EVERETT - The most-potent offense in the Western Hockey League streaked into the Everett Events Center on Saturday night.

And the Everett Silvertips shut it down like a nuclear power plant on the verge of meltdown.

Everett held the league's highest-scoring team to next to nothing, and the Silvertips defeated the Moose Jaw Warriors 4-2 before a crowd of 6,785.

"We're definitely happy with that," Everett defenseman Jason Fransoo said. "They were probably a little rusty, but they also have two solid lines, and their third line is pretty good, too. So it was good.

"We just continued doing the details we work on every day in practice," Fransoo added. "We just sharpened up a little from our last game against Tri-City."

John Lammers had two goals and an assist and Zach Hamill and Ondrej Fiala each added a goal and an assist for Everett (23-14-1-0), which won its sixth straight.

Cole Simpson and Blair Jones scored for Moose Jaw (21-12-2-2).

Moose Jaw came into the game leading the WHL in goals per game at 3.75. When Simpson gave the Warriors the lead a mere 14 seconds into the game, it looked as if Moose Jaw was off to the races.

However, the Everett defense clamped down. The Tips held the Warriors to just 17 shots on goal, and Moose Jaw's second goal was a fluke.

"We're real happy," Everett coach Kevin Constantine said. "We talked about how good they are and how sharp we'd have to be, then we gave them a goal 15 seconds into the game. Thank God that kind of woke us up, and then we started playing pretty hard."

It certainly didn't hurt the Tips' cause that they caught the Warriors at the right time. Moose Jaw not only was playing its first game following the Christmas break, a span of 14 days, the Warriors were also playing the first game of their long road trip through the U.S. Division.

"I thought Everett did a lot of the things we expected them to do," Moose Jaw coach Steve Young said. "They're a very structured hockey club. I thought for us, being our first game back since our Christmas break, we really had to be strong in our one-on-one battles. It got better as the game went on, but to start with we weren't as strong as I felt we should have been."

Everett showed no letdown after Moose Jaw scored so early in the game. Led by an inspired Lammers, the Tips quickly wrested control of the game back from the Warriors, taking the lead with a pair of power-play goals three minutes apart later in the period.

First, at 6:08, Torrie Wheat's crossing pass from the left corner found Lammers open at the right circle, and Lammers rifled a shot into the far-upper corner to tie the score at 1-1.

Then, at 9:04, Wheat again made a pass from the corner, this time finding Hamill in front of the net. Hamill's first attempt was stopped by Moose Jaw goaltender Josh Lepp, but Hamill stuck with it and poked the rebound through to give Everett the lead.

Lammers added to Everett's lead at 8:38 of the second period. Hamill centered a pass to Lammers, who one-timed his shot into the net while being knocked to the ice, making the score 3-1.

"I felt I had a bad first couple of shifts and that kind of made me mad," Lammers said. "It got me motivated. Then Wheatie made a great pass on the power play, I got a good shot and it ended up going in, and that always fires me up."

Moose Jaw was thrown a lifeline 1:07 into the third period when a puck being sent around the boards took a bad hop and bounced right in front of the Tips' goal, with Everett goaltender Leland Irving watching the other side waiting for the puck to come around. Jones capitalized by tapping the puck into the unguarded net to make it 3-2.

Everett again struck back quickly with a power-play goal. This time Lammers fed Fiala down low and Fiala's sweeping shot forced the puck in at the near post, restoring Everett's two-goal lead at 3:24.

Slap shots: Everett defenseman Jonathan Harty returned to the lineup Saturday. He missed 14 of the previous 15 games because of a groin injury. Also, left wing Brennan Sonne made his debut for the Tips. ... Both teams had a player score in Saturday's U.S.-Canada game at the World Junior Hockey Championships, won by Canada 3-2. - Everett's Peter Mueller scored for the U.S. and Moose Jaw's Dustin Boyd scored for Canada. ... Simpson's goal was the fastest Everett has surrendered in franchise history.

Silvertips 4, Warriors 2

Moose Jaw 1 0 1 - 2

Everett 2 1 1 - 4

First Period-1, Moose Jaw, Simpson 5 (McArdle), 0:14. 2, Everett, Lammers 18 (Wheat, Fiala), 6:08 (pp). 3, Everett, Hamill 8 (Wheat, Kress), 9:04 (pp). Penalties-Smyke, Everett (high sticking), 1:23; McArdle, Moose Jaw (cross-checking), 4:57; McKenzie, Moose Jaw (high sticking), 7:16; Ellington, Everett (boarding-roughing), 10:21; Smith, Moose Jaw (roughing-10-minute misconduct), 10:21; Henry, Moose Jaw (high sticking), 16:26.

Second Period-4, Everett, Lammers 19 (Hamill, Calla), 8:38. Penalties-Gillen, Moose Jaw (hooking), 2:30; Brouwer, Moose Jaw (slashing), 10:52; Thoring, Everett (hold stick), 14:25; Hamill, Everett (tripping), 19:30; Brouwer, Moose Jaw (diving), 19:30.

Third Period-5, Moose Jaw, Jones 17, 1:07. 6, Everett, Fiala 5 (Lammers), 3:24 (pp). Penalties-Holzapfel, Moose Jaw (holding), 2:22; Gillen, Moose Jaw (roughing), 8:49; Harty, Everett (roughing), 8:49; Gillen, Moose Jaw (hooking), 17:24.

Shots on goal-Moose Jaw 4-5-8-17. Everett 9-12-12-33. Power-play opportunities-Moose Jaw 0 of 3. Everett 3 of 7.

Goalies-Moose Jaw, Lepp 6-6-1-1 (33 shots, 29 saves). Everett, Irving 21-13 (17 shots, 15 saves).

[Tipped Off]

Silvertips stifle Moose Jaw star
By Jim Riley

Special to The Seattle Times

EVERETT — The Moose Jaw Warriors were among the invited guests to the New Year's Eve party at the Everett Events Center, but it didn't take the Everett Silvertips long to show them the door.

Moose Jaw's not-so-subtle strategy of hitting everything that moved led to three Everett power-play goals and an eventual 4-2 victory for the Silvertips.

The win allowed a crowd of 6,785 to celebrate Everett's sixth win in a row and moves the Silvertips to 23-14-1-0 and first place in the U.S. Division.

The loss was a bad start to a road trip through the U.S. Division for Moose Jaw and drops the Warriors to 21-12-2-2 and second in the East Division.

Everett kept Troy Brouwer, the Western Hockey League's leading scorer, off the scoresheet for only the eighth time this season.

Brouwer, who had 55 points in his first 36 games this season, had chances but was shut down by an aggressive Everett defense that held the high-scoring Warriors to only 17 shots.

John Lammers scored twice and had an assist, and Zach Hamill had a goal and an assist for the Silvertips, but this was a victory that can be credited to the defense.

"They really have a lot of offensive talent so we just wanted to shut down their top two lines and go from there," Everett defenseman Jason Fransoo said. "They may have been a little rusty after the break, but they are really a team with a lot of skill."

Things didn't start well for Everett as Moose Jaw's Cole Simpson wired in a wrist shot only 14 seconds into the game. The Warriors also went to a very physical style of play that momentarily put the Silvertips back on their heels.

"They pretty much tried to run us out of the building," Lammers said. "We had to match their physical play and go as hard as we could."

Lammers said the early Moose Jaw goal, the fastest scored against Everett in franchise history, served as a wake-up call.

"That was an eye-opener," Lammers said. "I felt like I had a bad couple of shifts and that really got me motivated. It's always nice to win, especially when you have a week off to think about it. We really wanted to end the year on a good note so this feels good."

Lammers and Hamill both scored power-play goals to give the Silvertips a 2-1 lead after the first period. It was Hamill's third goal in two games since returning after missing 18 games with mononucleosis.

"We talked about how good they were and then gave them a goal in the first 15 seconds of the game," Everett coach Kevin Constantine said. "It's very hard to keep the offense going when there's a long break and we were very fortunate that we caught them in a rusty mode."

In games when Brouwer hasn't scored a point, the Warriors are 0-8.

"We didn't have a specific plan to stop him," Constantine said. "We just talked about how as a team they can really score."

SILVERTIPS 4, WARRIORS 2

Moose Jaw 1 0 1 — 2
Everett 2 1 1 — 4
First — 1. Moose Jaw Simpson 5 (McArdle) :14. 2. Everett Lammers 18 (Wheat, Fiala) 6:08 (pp). 3. Everett Hamill 8 (Wheat, Kress) 9:04 (pp). Second — 4. Everett Lammers 19 (Hamill) 8:38. Third — 5. Moose Jaw Jones (unassisted) 1:07. 6. Everett Fiala 5 (Lammers) 3:24 (pp). Shots on goal by: Moose Jaw 4-5-8 — 17. Everett 9-11-13 — 33. Power plays (goals, chances) — Moose Jaw 0-2, Everett 2-7. Goaltenders — Moose Jaw: Lepp (6-6). Everett: Irving (21-13). A — 6,785.