Coach C sends Stern Message
Constantine sends stern message after ugly loss to Tri-City
By Nick Patterson
Herald Writer
EVERETT - A schizophrenic weekend for the Everett Silvertips concluded with a pointed message sent by the coaching staff.
Following an ugly 5-0 loss to Tri-City on Sunday night at the Tri-City Preseason Tournament, Everett coach Kevin Constantine had his team remain in its gear for both the post-game meal and the four-hour bus ride home from Kennewick.
"We just had them take off their skates and get on the bus," Everett coach Kevin Constantine said. "We were frustrated after the game and wanted to get out of town."
Playing without several key players because of either NHL training camp invitations or injuries, Everett went 1-1 at the tournament.
Everett beat Portland 5-4 in a shootout on Saturday with Brandon Campos, Cody Thoring, Zach Hamill and Jonathan Harty scoring goals. The Silvertips outshot the Winter Hawks 42-18 and led 4-2 late before Portland scored two late goals to force Everett to eventually win it in the shootout.
But Sunday's lackluster effort was a disaster. Tri-City goaltender Chet Pickard had to make just 20 saves for the shutout as Everett fell to 2-3 in the preseason.
"I thought we were OK against Portland," Constantine said. "I think we were a little better against Portland than the score, Portland was acceptable. I thought the next night kind of left a bad taste in our mouths. Sunday was not acceptable for the organization. Yes there's details and systems and line combinations that everyone has to work out, but to have no emotion or passion is not something that's easy to swallow. We were real disappointed."
As a result of Sunday's performance, the coaches decided they needed to take drastic measures to get their point across.
"I think the message to the players was that it's got to be better than that," Constantine said. "You have to at least show up and have some passion and interest in playing."
Everett has one exhibition game remaining - Saturday against Seattle at Kent View Ice Centre - before opening the season Sept. 23 at Chilliwack. In the wake of Everett's cuts Monday, the focus of the work will shift from individual evaluations to team preparations.
"We've probably been about 70 percent evaluating players and 30 percent working on team issues," Constantine said. "I think there will be a flip flop, with 70 percent going toward how we play as a team and 30 percent still in evaluating players. We still have one or two more cuts we need to make, but we have to know who should be our power-play and penalty-kill guys."
On the health front, center Zack Dailey, who sat out all of training camp and Everett's three previous exhibition games recovering from wrist surgery, played at Tri-City. Also, center Kyle Beach, who's missed all of preseason with a shoulder injury, is scheduled to resume full practices this week.
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