EVERETT — The word ‘trust’ is frequently used inside Xfinity Arena.
The Everett Silvertips coaches have to trust the players not only to know their assignments and roles, but also their willingness to consistently work as hard as possible. Players have to trust their teammates to do the same.
Everett center Matt Fonteyne arguably embodies that trust as well as anyone on this 2015-16 Silvertips team.
“Trust boils down to your attention to detail within our system and trust boils down to whether you’re ready to block a shot with five seconds left,” Everett assistant coach Brennan Sonne said. “Playing the game the right way, which is being on the right side of the puck and doing the right thing at the blueline with turnovers. There’s a lot that goes into trust, and in our opinion Matt does all those things very well.”
A bright and articulate 18-year-old who was the Tips’ Scholastic Player of the Year as a rookie, Fonteyne has expanded his role in his third full season. The native of Wetaskiwin, Alberta, centers Everett’s second line, usually flanked by Patrick Bajkov on one side and Graham Millar on the other.
“Just grasping the systems (as a rookie) and being able to play in all the games after Christmas I think helped me a lot to where I am now where I’m a lot more confident when I’m on the ice,” Fonteyne said. “I can try to make plays and not worry that if I don’t make the right pass I’ll be up in the stands. I have a little more freedom on the ice, and being on the power play and penalty kill helps a lot too.”
Fonteyne’s scoring numbers — 13 goals and 30 assists — don’t jump off the screen at you. Then again none of the Silvertips’ numbers do. You have to dig a little deeper to see the impact Fonteyne’s scoring has on his teammates.
As the Tips enter the final three weekends of the regular season Fonteyne has tallied 13 points in his last 14 games. In fact, Everett is 21-6-3-2 when Fonteyne scores a point.
“He’s stepped into that leadership role, and I think he’s kind of a natural at it,” Sonne said. “He’s earned himself all the power play and penalty kill and five-on-five opportunities not only through his trustworthiness and details, but he also has tremendous speed and a shot.”
At 5-foot-10 and 180 pounds Fonteyne isn’t physically imposing. But he has developed a consistency to his offensive game after tallying 11 goals and 15 assists through his first 132 regular-season WHL games prior to this season.
“I’ve coached players that are spectacular because they do spectacular things and I’ve coached players who are spectacular because they never have less than a B-plus grade on everything they do, and Matty for me is that kind of player,” Everett head coach Kevin Constantine said. “You can count on the fact that he’s going to do every single element of the game B-plus, A-minus, A. That, to me, is greatness too. Greatness can be doing every little thing really good, without doing any one thing unbelievable.
“Now I think Matty, this year with confidence, has turned into a guy every where once in a while he gets you out of your seat offensively with a move or a drive to the net or something pretty special,” Constantine added.
Sometimes it’s a timely goal. Other times it’s when he sets up Millar or Bajkov as that duo has combined for 31 goals this season.
“We’ve got a pretty strong chemistry,” Bajkov said. “Coming into this year was the biggest opportunity we’ve had to play with each other. The last two years we played with each other a little bit. At the end of last year it was me and him who played together quite a bit. I think we worked pretty well together.”
Fonteyne is no doubt helped by an NHL pedigree. His grandfather, Val, skated for the Seattle Americans and Seattle Totems before playing 820 games in the NHL with the Red Wings, Rangers and Penguins. Val still watches every Tips game online from his home in Wetaskiwin, and Matt tries to call at least once a week.
“He’s always positive about what’s going on,” the younger Fonteyne said. “He can give me feedback whether we’re winning or losing.”
According to his biography on the “Legends of Hockey” website, Val Fonteyne “was a solid two-way player whose unselfish approach to the game earned him the respect of his teammates.”
In other words, a player his teammates could trust.
Notes
The Tips (36-21-4-2, 78) lead the U.S. Division by a solitary point over tonight’s opponent, the Seattle Thunderbirds (37-23-3-0, 77 points). The T-Birds have won five straight and are 9-1 in their last nine games. However, Everett boasts a 6-1-1 record in the head-to-head series this season.
For the latest Silvertips news follow Jesse Geleynse on Twitter @jessegeleynse.
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