I’ve been doing this a long time.
I was hired by the Herald in 2003 specifically to cover the new hockey team that was about to start play, so I’ve been here from the beginning. I had the good fortune to witness first-hand Everett’s magical inaugural season, as well as the success that followed through the franchise’s first four seasons.
But the last time Everett actually won anything was 2007, when the Tips won both the U.S. Division title and the Scotty Munro Trophy for the league’s best record. In the seven seasons that followed there was nada. No banners, no playoff series wins, nothing.
Then I got to thinking. How many people in the Silvertips organization have actually tasted any kind of success?
Coaches? Sort of. Head coach Kevin Constantine and assistants Mitch Love and Brennan Sonne were a part of Everett’s run from 2003-07. However, Constantine left following the 2006-07 season to rejoin the professional ranks and was gone for six seasons before returning in the summer of 2013. Love and Sonne were both players during that era and were away from Everett for several years, going through all kinds of life milestones in between. None of them had won anything since returning to the Tips.
Players? Not a chance. The senior members of the team this season were Kohl Bauml and Austin Lotz, who both arrived in 2011.
Front office? General manager Garry Davidson didn’t join up until 2012.
As best as I can tell there’s a total of just six individuals in the entire organization who have been with the team continuously since Everett last had success in 2007: owner Bill Yuill, assistant general manager Zoran Rajcic, director of corporate sales and marketing Mike MacCulloch, equipment manager James Stucky and scouts Doug Sinclair and Gary Ryhorchuk. That’s it. No ticket sellers, no education or billeting coordinators, no performance specialists.
That’s why this was such a breakthrough season for the Tips. Those within the organization were pining for any type of success to celebrate, most having never had that chance. But this season Everett checked off a lot of boxes:
– Fulfill its guarantee of finishing no worse than fourth in the Western Conference? Check.
– Win the U.S. Division for the first time since 2007? Check.
– Win a playoff series for the first time since 2007? Check.
Everett desperately needed to break through this psychological barrier. The Tips made progress last season, ending a dire three-year stretch in which they barely grabbed the conference’s eighth-and-final playoff berth. However, they still didn’t actually win anything.
This was the season Everett finally exorcised its demons, and with that now behind them the Tips can set their sights on bigger and better things.
Next: 2014-15 review: The overagers
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