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<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   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: Sunday, November 15, 2009 Freak goal helps sink Silvertips By Nick Patterson Herald Writer EVERETT — It was a moment that defied belief. The Everett Silvertips versus the rival Seattle Thunderbirds. A packed house at Comcast Arena. A scoreless game in the second period, with the Tips on the power play. The crowd was tense, but eager in anticipation of a possible Everett goal on the advantage. And then time froze. The 8,347 fans could only gasp in horror as the puck slid slowly into an unguarded Everett net. The scorer of the goal? Tips goaltender Kent Simpson. Simpson inexplicably scored into his own goal to break the deadlock, and the T-birds went on to defeat the Tips 4-0 Saturday night. “That’s unfortunate for Simmer,” Everett coach Craig Hartsburg said. “It’s a mistake by him, there’s no other way of saying it, but up to then I thought he was really good. It’s an unfortunate play for a young goaltender.” That unfortunate play occurred early in the second period. The Tips were midway through a power play when the T-birds cleared the puck down the ice. Simpson went into his right corner to play the puck, and under no pressure from a Seattle player he attempted to pass to defenseman Rasmus Rissanen on the other side of the goal. However, Simpson’s aim went awry, and the pass found just the right trajectory to beat the tight angle and slip inside the far post, giving Seattle a shock lead at 6 minutes, 11 seconds. Seattle’s Brendan Rouse, who cleared the puck from his own zone, was credited with the goal. The closest T-bird to the play was Prab Rai, who was at least 20 feet away and veering away from Simpson. “I went to play the backhand and it flipped up and went flat on my stick,” Simpson explained. “I followed through and it was still on my stick when I followed through. It’s just fluky.” The Tips had not played well to that point, and Simpson’s play in net was the only reason it was scoreless at that point. But after the goal the Tips came unhinged, skating in a daze for the next 10 minutes as they tried to process what had just happened. Seattle scored twice more in the next six minutes, both on the power play after unnecessary Everett penalties, making it 3-0 and ending the game as a contest. But while the opening goal was the seminal moment of the game, Hartsburg didn’t think it should have been the decisive one. “It’s obviously not a reason to let down,” Hartsburg said. “Our goaltending has been so good and has bailed our players out on a lot of nights, so there’s not reason for us not to try and bail him out. But we didn’t.” Sena Acolatse, Lindsay Nielsen and Jonathan Parker scored the other goals for Seattle (7-12-1-3), which has rebounded well from its slow start to win its last three by a combined score of 15-3. Calvin Pickard stopped all 29 shots he faced in goal for the T-birds, recording his second shutout of the season. “Before, not everyone was on the same gameplan,” Rai said about Seattle’s resurgence. “Guys were trying to do their own thing. Now we realize that as a team we’re better than individual play. We can still play with skill, but use each other and stick to the basic things.” Simpson finished with 22 saves in goal for the Tips (12-6-1-0), who have yet to produce the same type of effort at home that the team showed while going 5-1-1-0 during its recent seven-game road swing. “It’s a wake-up call for us,” Hartsburg said. “We were outworked pretty much for the whole game. We got outcompeted and they played a good team game, and we didn’t do any of that stuff. We had guys on their own program who were trying to cheat to score and play an easy game. That’s what happens in this league when you don’t have the right attitude. “We saw some of this (in Friday’s 4-2 victory over Kelowna),” Hartsburg continued. “When we were on the road we stayed with the plan. Now we’re home and they’ve got everyone telling them how good they are. They have to get back to the reality that they have to work. If you want to be a good team you have to work.” After surrendering the fluke first goal, the Tips couldn’t do anything right. Dan Iwanski’s tripping penalty in the offensive zone three minutes later put Seattle on the power play, and the T-birds scored when Acolatse blasted a one-timer from the point past Simpson at 9:15. Less than two minutes later Everett’s Kellan Tochkin picked a fight with Colin Jacobs and was given an instigator, putting the T-birds back on the power play. A Jeremy Schappert stretch pass caught the Tips napping and released Seattle on a two-on-zero break. Charles Wells fed Nielsen, who fired into the top corner to make it 3-0 at 11:48. Thunderbirds 4, Silvertips 0 Seattle 0 3 1 — 4 Everett 0 0 0 — 0 First Period—No goals. Penalties—Chaffin, Seattle (holding), 9:32; Maxwell, Everett (roughing), 10:07; Maxwell, Everett (slashing), 12:38; Nielsen, Seattle (holding), 17:18; Langkow, Everett (unsportsmanhlike conduct), 20:00. Second Period—1, Seattle, Rai 10, 6:11 (sh). 2, Seattle, Acolatse 6 (Jacobs, Rouse), 9:15 (pp). 3, Seattle, Nielsen 2 (Wells, Schappert), 11:48 (pp). Penalties—Chaffin, Seattle (holding), 4:46; Rai, Seattle (roughing), 8:48; Iwanski, Everett (tripping-roughing), 8:48; Jacobs, Seattle (fighting), 11:08; Tochkin, Everett (instigator-fighting-10-minute misconduct), 11:08; Lockhart, Seattle (hooking), 19:08. Third Period—4, Seattle, Parker 11 (Acolatse, Rouse), 17:07. Penalties—Schappert, Seattle (interference), 12:22; Abney, Everett (unsportsmanlike conduct), 15:06. Shots on goal—Seattle 11-5-10—26. Everett 9-7-13—29. Power-play opportunities—Seattle 2 of 6. Everett 0 of 5. Goalies—Seattle, Pickard 6-8-1-3 (29 shots, 29 saves). Everett, Simpson 4-4-0-0 (26 shots, 22 saves). A—8,347. Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog: http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog

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