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<< Previous   of   Next >> Darren Breen / The Herald  (click to enlarge) Everett goaltender Leland Irving defends against Tri-City in a March 12 game at Comcast Arena. Irving's play is key to Everett's playoff chances.   ADVERTISEMENT   Related Stories • Silvertips Fan Quiz 3/21/08 • Audio slideshow: Sights and Sounds of the Silvertips 3/21/08   CONTACT THE HERALD Report scores and results to 425-339-3470 or 1-866-6-SCORES (Call after 4:30 p.m.) E-mail information including items for Tuesday's Communities Sports Roundup and Thursday's Outdoor Calendar, to sports@heraldnet.com Kevin Brown, Sports Editor kbrown@heraldnet.com   Published: Friday, March 21, 2008 Silvertips: Everett's playoff chances depend a lot on goaltender Leland Irving, one of the WHL's best. Nick Patterson Herald Writer The Everett Silvertips face an offensive juggernaut. The Spokane Chiefs' forwards come in waves, with three lines capable of putting the puck in the net. Spokane's top line is arguably the best in the WHL's Western Conference. The Chiefs scored 251 goals during the regular season, the fourth most in the league, and even when they're not scoring, Spokane's forwards create headaches with their ability to control time of possession. It's almost enough to make a Silvertips supporter concede the series to the Chiefs before it begins. However, that's without accounting for one man. Everett has one player who stands between Spokane and the back of the net, and he's no ordinary man. Goaltender Leland Irving spent the second half of the regular season re-establishing his status as one of the best junior goaltenders in the world, and he's Everett's best chance at a first-round upset. n n n Flashback to Christmas. Everett had just completed an indifferent first half of the season, and some of the fingers were being pointed toward the goaltending. Irving, Everett's golden boy the previous two seasons, suddenly appeared human. The 19-year-old native of Swan Hills, Alberta, who compiled astronomical numbers the previous two seasons and was taken in the first round of the NHL draft, suddenly found himself looking up in the league goaltender rankings. Even Hockey Canada was beginning to agree. The heir apparent to backstop Canada's team at the World Junior Hockey Championships after serving as the backup the year before, Irving was instead passed over. There were even grumblings amongst the fanbase that the Tips should have kept overage casualty David Reekie instead of Irving. No one's making those claims anymore. Irving's play snapped back in a big way during the second half of the season. During the bulk of the second half Everett won 21 of 29 games and Irving was the primary reason for that success. "Leland's standards are so high for himself and he's such a hard-working guy, I know he's a little disappointed with his first half of the season." Tips MVP Dan Gendur said. "But I feel he was the MVP for our team this season. He really carried the load toward the end of the season." Irving didn't finish with a sub-2.00 goals against average like in previous seasons, but he did get it down to a respectable 2.45, and he worked his save percentage to .919 to rank third in the league. "I had a bit of a rough start," Irving admitted. "Part of it I think was just getting my timing back. Maybe there was a little jet lag and stuff from the summer (when he participated in the Canada-Russia Super Series). But I'm happy with the way things have progressed." It didn't help that Irving kept jumping from team to team during August and September. He started with Team Canada, then went to training camp with the NHL's Calgary Flames before returning to Everett. Each stop brought different coaches and different philosophies. But Irving continued to work with Tips goaltending coach Shane Clifford throughout the season, and Irving gives Clifford a lot of the credit for the turnaround. "The main thing would be confidence," Irving said about his improvement. "But I feel my timing's a little better and I made a few adjustments in my stance that allows me to move better." Perhaps the most remarkable part about Irving's second-half surge is that he did it while the Tips severely depleted on defense. Taylor Ellington, Graham Potuer and Mike Alexander all missed significant time because of injuries, yet the Tips didn't miss a beat. They can thank Irving for that. And when Irving's feeling confident, so are the rest of the Tips. "He's a major, major reason why we had such a good second half," Everett coach John Becanic said. "Our guys certainly have a lot more confidence going into games when they see Irv playing the way he's playing." n n n Back to that offensive juggernaut known as the Spokane Chiefs. Against every other team in the league Spokane averaged 3.7 goals per game. Against Everett the Chiefs averaged 2.1. Spokane outshot the Tips in every single matchup this season, sometimes doubling up Everett's shot total. But Irving, playing every single minute in goal against the Chiefs this season, finished 5-2-0-1 with a 1.96 goals against average and an obscene .944 save percentage. "He was the difference," Becanic said about Everett's success against the Chiefs. Irving's explanation: "For whatever reason, I don't know, the puck just seemed to hit me. They created all sorts of offense, I know they hit a few posts in there, so whether it was luck or skill I don't know. But we'll take it any way we can get it." It's possible Irving's success against Spokane during the regular season may give him a mental advantage over the Chiefs. "Should we be fortunate enough to come up with a good game in the first game and he's solid, as the opposition you think, 'Man, we can't beat him,'" Becanic suggested. "I remember the year we played Vancouver (in the 2006 Western Conference finals), with (Giants goaltender Dustin) Slade it just seemed like everything hit him and mentally you start to go, 'Jeez, we just can't get it by him.' So hopefully that has a little bit off an advantage for us." And Irving knows he has to have a good series for the Tips to prevail. "In the playoffs the goaltender has to be good," Irving said. "That's always been a factor, and likewise in this series I'm going to have to be good. "I think all goaltenders feel a little extra pressure in the playoffs," Irving added. "It's something you can't let get to you. In the big picture it's still just another game and that's the way I'm going to approach it." And if Irving remains at the top of his game the Tips might just find themselves marching into the second round. Nick Patterson's Silvertips blog: http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog

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