EVERETT — Bill Yuill sat in the owner’s suite at center ice on the concourse level at Xfinity Arena, taking in the spectacle last Friday as the Everett Silvertips played host to the visiting Kamloops Blazers.
Yuill, a lifelong native of Medicine Hat, Alberta, took a calculated risk in 2002 when he sold the Seattle Thunderbirds to start the expansion Everett Silvertips just 30 miles north of KeyArena, where the T-Birds played at the time.
Everett had no hockey tradition and Yuill was surprised about the lack of hockey knowledge in the community.
“One guy asked me how come there were only three quarters,” Yuill quipped with a chuckle.
Now in their 13th season, the Tips average 4,785 fans, good for third in the U.S. Division and eighth in the WHL, and it’s safe to say that Yuill’s calculated gamble has paid off.
“We hoped it would be (successful), with a big building like this,” Yuill said. “You always want to get as many people as you can. It was a struggle in the early days — a bit of a struggle. But we were pretty competitive that first year and that surely helped.”
Yuill’s various business interests keep him quite occupied. He is the chairman and CEO of the Monarch Corporation, which has four divisions — one of which is in sports properties and operates as CSH International, Inc.
In addition to the Silvertips, CSH International, Inc. operates the USHL’s Bloomington (Ill.) Thunder, the NAHL’s Amarillo (Texas) Bulls, the NA3HL’s North Iowa Bulls and the Medford Rogues of the West Coast Collegiate Baseball League. Yuill is also the director of Shaw Communications in Calgary and Western Financial Group of High River, Alberta.
With all that going on Yuill is not a micro-managing owner who meddles in the day-to-day operations. He’s content to let CSH International/Silvertips president Gary Gelinas and the Tips front office staff do their jobs, but Yuill does follow the team and tries to make it to town when his schedule allows.
“I’ve been kind of busy lately so I haven’t been here,” he said. “I think the last time I was out here was before Christmas, so it’s been a while, but the playoffs are coming up, so hopefully we’ll get out here a little more often.”
Ah yes, the playoffs. The Tips have led the U.S. Division since the new year began and play host to second-place Seattle on Friday. The Thunderbirds trail the Tips by only one point in the standings.
This team has drawn comparisons to that expansion season when the Tips obliterated the record book for first-year teams en route to their only Western Conference title. Both were full of gritty, hard-working players, and Kevin Constantine coached both that team and this one.
Yuill isn’t surprised by the success the current Silvertips are experiencing.
“When you get a good bunch of kids together and you get coaching behind them it’s amazing how these kids react,” Yuill said. “And it’s a pretty young team so they should be all right as they grow and develop over the next couple of years. But I think they’re out-performing expectations.”
Not unlike the way the entire organization has out-performed the expectations many had for the gamble back in 2002.
For the latest Silvertips news follow Jesse Geleynse on Twitter @jessegeleynse.
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