Published: Sunday, September 13, 2009
Tips end preseason with win
Everett beats Seattle 3-0 in final exhibition warmup
KENT — Based on their preseason record, the Everett Silvertips appear more than ready for the 2009-10 WHL season to begin.
New Tips head coach Craig Hartsburg isn’t quite so sure.
Everett finished off a successful exhibition season by shutting out the Seattle Thunderbirds 3-0 Saturday night at ShoWare Center.
Shane Harper scored twice, Kent Simpson stopped all 28 shots he faced, and the Tips dominated play for large stretches, despite playing their third game in three nights against a well-rested foe.
And yet, Hartsburg wasn’t quite ready to deem the Tips ready for the start of the season, which comes next Friday back in Kent.
“We’re making progress, but it’s still so early,” Hartsburg said. “These games we’re playing half lineups (because of NHL training camps), we’re playing against teams with half lineups. Every game you try to keep in perspective and we’re making some progress in the way we’re thinking. But we still have a long ways to go.”
Corey Tyrell also scored for Everett, which won all three of its games this weekend to finish 5-1 in the preseason.
And Saturday’s game showed a marked improvement from the previous weekend in implementing Hartsburg’s ideas. The Tips were particularly effective during the second period, when they outshot Seattle 14-6 and kept the T-birds pinned in their own zone, scoring twice to make it 3-0.
“I thought it was one of our strongest preseason games yet,” Harper said. “Some of the things we’re working on now are winning battles, getting to loose pucks and chipping the puck out of our zone. Today I think we were pretty good at those things.”
Added Hartsburg: “There were some good things. Every night we’re trying to work on certain parts of our game. I thought tonight, for three in three, we worked pretty hard. Everyone contributed by trying to play hard and play smart.”
Calvin Pickard stopped 36 shots in goal for Seattle, which finished the preseason 2-3.
Everett spent the preseason in transition mode, with the Tips trying to pick up Hartsburg’s style following two seasons under previous coach John Becanic. Everett didn’t seem to have Hartsburg’s style down last weekend during the Everett Silvertips Preseason Tournament, despite winning two of its three games. But Saturday the Tips looked more like a team adhering to a gameplan, making better and quicker decisions with the puck.
“You definitely can see improvement,” Harper said. “Some of the systems are new and it took us a few games to figure them out, but I think we’re definitely coming around and I think by Friday we’ll be ready.”
It took a while before Everett was able to grab a stranglehold on Saturday’s game. Play was even for much of the first period, with the game going end to end. But Everett grabbed the lead at 17 minutes, 41 seconds when Harper tipped a Ryan Murray shot from the point past Pickard to make it 1-0. Harper nearly doubled Everett’s lead in the waning seconds when he rang the crossbar.
The Tips came out and dominated the second period, increasing the lead to 3-0 on a pair of power-play goals. Tyrell scored at 2:20, sweeping home a rebound when Alex Theriau’s shot from the point got hung up on traffic. Then Harper scored his second at 11:25, poking the puck in after a mad scramble in front.
The Tips then salted away the third period with little difficulty to head into the regular season on a winning note.
Slap shots: Everett played without six key players. Forwards Kellan Tochkin (Vancouver), Byron Froese (Chicago) and Tyler Maxwell (Los Angeles), defenseman Radko Gudas (Los Angeles) and goaltender Thomas Heemskerk (San Jose) remain at NHL training camps. Forward Cameron Abney (Edmonton) and defenseman Rasmus Rissanen (Carolina) returned from their NHL camps, but Rissanen still hasn’t been cleared to resume playing. ... Seattle was missing forward Prab Rai (Vancouver), defenseman Stefan Warg (Anaheim) and goaltender Jacob DeSerres (Philadelphia) to NHL camps. Also, Russian forward Mikhail Sentyurin has yet to receive his international clearance.
Silvertips 3, Thunderbirds 0
Everett 1 2 0—3
Seattle 0 0 0—0
First Period—1, Everett, Harper 1 (Murray, Dailey), 17:41. Penalties—Lund, Seattle (cross-checking), 5:07; Tyrell, Everett (interference), 11:15; Crema, Seattle (holding), 13:28.
Second Period—2, Everett, Tyrell 1 (Theriau, Sohor), 2:20 (pp). 3, Everett, Harper 2, 11:25. Penalties—Lund, Seattle (boarding), 1:48; Jacobs, Seattle (roughing), 3:01; Everett bench (too many men, served by Abney), 4:06; Sohor, Everett (roughing), 5:12; Dillon (roughing), 5:12; Pickard, Seattle (tripping, served by Muth), 10:24; Theriau, Everett (holding), 12:30; McCrea, Everett (roughing), 18:40; Dillon, Seattle (roughing-unsportsmanlike conduct), 18:40.
Third Period— Penalties—Parker, Seattle (checking from behind), 3:56; Harper, Everett (holding), 8:07; Haber, Seattle (roughing), 10:27; Lockhart, Seattle (tripping), 12:07; Schappert, Seattle (10-minute miscondcut), 12:07; Sohor, Everett (fighting-game misconduct), 15:40; Lund, Seattle (fighting-game misconduct), 15:40; Theriau, Everett (fighting-game misconduct), 19:45; Haber, Seattle (fighting-game misconduct); Doty, Seattle (instigator-fighting-game misconduct), 19:45.
Shots on goal—Everett 14-14-11—39. Seattle 13-6-9—28. Power-play opportunities—Everett 2 of 10. Seattle 0 of 4.
Goalies—Everett, Simpson 1-0 (28 shots, 28 saves). Seattle, Pickard 0-1 (39 shots, 36 saves).
Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog: http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog
New Tips head coach Craig Hartsburg isn’t quite so sure.
Everett finished off a successful exhibition season by shutting out the Seattle Thunderbirds 3-0 Saturday night at ShoWare Center.
Shane Harper scored twice, Kent Simpson stopped all 28 shots he faced, and the Tips dominated play for large stretches, despite playing their third game in three nights against a well-rested foe.
And yet, Hartsburg wasn’t quite ready to deem the Tips ready for the start of the season, which comes next Friday back in Kent.
“We’re making progress, but it’s still so early,” Hartsburg said. “These games we’re playing half lineups (because of NHL training camps), we’re playing against teams with half lineups. Every game you try to keep in perspective and we’re making some progress in the way we’re thinking. But we still have a long ways to go.”
Corey Tyrell also scored for Everett, which won all three of its games this weekend to finish 5-1 in the preseason.
And Saturday’s game showed a marked improvement from the previous weekend in implementing Hartsburg’s ideas. The Tips were particularly effective during the second period, when they outshot Seattle 14-6 and kept the T-birds pinned in their own zone, scoring twice to make it 3-0.
“I thought it was one of our strongest preseason games yet,” Harper said. “Some of the things we’re working on now are winning battles, getting to loose pucks and chipping the puck out of our zone. Today I think we were pretty good at those things.”
Added Hartsburg: “There were some good things. Every night we’re trying to work on certain parts of our game. I thought tonight, for three in three, we worked pretty hard. Everyone contributed by trying to play hard and play smart.”
Calvin Pickard stopped 36 shots in goal for Seattle, which finished the preseason 2-3.
Everett spent the preseason in transition mode, with the Tips trying to pick up Hartsburg’s style following two seasons under previous coach John Becanic. Everett didn’t seem to have Hartsburg’s style down last weekend during the Everett Silvertips Preseason Tournament, despite winning two of its three games. But Saturday the Tips looked more like a team adhering to a gameplan, making better and quicker decisions with the puck.
“You definitely can see improvement,” Harper said. “Some of the systems are new and it took us a few games to figure them out, but I think we’re definitely coming around and I think by Friday we’ll be ready.”
It took a while before Everett was able to grab a stranglehold on Saturday’s game. Play was even for much of the first period, with the game going end to end. But Everett grabbed the lead at 17 minutes, 41 seconds when Harper tipped a Ryan Murray shot from the point past Pickard to make it 1-0. Harper nearly doubled Everett’s lead in the waning seconds when he rang the crossbar.
The Tips came out and dominated the second period, increasing the lead to 3-0 on a pair of power-play goals. Tyrell scored at 2:20, sweeping home a rebound when Alex Theriau’s shot from the point got hung up on traffic. Then Harper scored his second at 11:25, poking the puck in after a mad scramble in front.
The Tips then salted away the third period with little difficulty to head into the regular season on a winning note.
Slap shots: Everett played without six key players. Forwards Kellan Tochkin (Vancouver), Byron Froese (Chicago) and Tyler Maxwell (Los Angeles), defenseman Radko Gudas (Los Angeles) and goaltender Thomas Heemskerk (San Jose) remain at NHL training camps. Forward Cameron Abney (Edmonton) and defenseman Rasmus Rissanen (Carolina) returned from their NHL camps, but Rissanen still hasn’t been cleared to resume playing. ... Seattle was missing forward Prab Rai (Vancouver), defenseman Stefan Warg (Anaheim) and goaltender Jacob DeSerres (Philadelphia) to NHL camps. Also, Russian forward Mikhail Sentyurin has yet to receive his international clearance.
Silvertips 3, Thunderbirds 0
Everett 1 2 0—3
Seattle 0 0 0—0
First Period—1, Everett, Harper 1 (Murray, Dailey), 17:41. Penalties—Lund, Seattle (cross-checking), 5:07; Tyrell, Everett (interference), 11:15; Crema, Seattle (holding), 13:28.
Second Period—2, Everett, Tyrell 1 (Theriau, Sohor), 2:20 (pp). 3, Everett, Harper 2, 11:25. Penalties—Lund, Seattle (boarding), 1:48; Jacobs, Seattle (roughing), 3:01; Everett bench (too many men, served by Abney), 4:06; Sohor, Everett (roughing), 5:12; Dillon (roughing), 5:12; Pickard, Seattle (tripping, served by Muth), 10:24; Theriau, Everett (holding), 12:30; McCrea, Everett (roughing), 18:40; Dillon, Seattle (roughing-unsportsmanlike conduct), 18:40.
Third Period— Penalties—Parker, Seattle (checking from behind), 3:56; Harper, Everett (holding), 8:07; Haber, Seattle (roughing), 10:27; Lockhart, Seattle (tripping), 12:07; Schappert, Seattle (10-minute miscondcut), 12:07; Sohor, Everett (fighting-game misconduct), 15:40; Lund, Seattle (fighting-game misconduct), 15:40; Theriau, Everett (fighting-game misconduct), 19:45; Haber, Seattle (fighting-game misconduct); Doty, Seattle (instigator-fighting-game misconduct), 19:45.
Shots on goal—Everett 14-14-11—39. Seattle 13-6-9—28. Power-play opportunities—Everett 2 of 10. Seattle 0 of 4.
Goalies—Everett, Simpson 1-0 (28 shots, 28 saves). Seattle, Pickard 0-1 (39 shots, 36 saves).
Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog: http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog
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