EVERETT — Everett Silvertips head coach Kevin Constantine calls himself a “little bit of a dreamer.”
You have to think his players are, too, and that’s a big reason the 2015-16 Silvertips overachieved, yet again, en route to a second consecutive appearance in the Western Conference semifinals where they ultimately fell to the Seattle Thunderbirds in five games.
“You can’t not have high expectations, and yet you realize on paper maybe what you’ve got, so you try to mix all that together and chase dreams,” Constantine said. “But you’ve got to dream to be able to have something good happen.”
While simply making it past the first round of the playoffs might not sound like much of a dream for a fanbase that experienced so much success so early in the franchise’s history, consider this: the 2014-15 U.S. Division title and first-round playoff victory were each firsts for the Tips since the 2007-08 season.
Few expected Everett to be much of a factor in this season’s division race. The Tips were unable to convince three standout offensive draft picks to come to Everett as Auston Matthews went to play professionally in Switzerland, Tyson Jost remained in the BCHL with Penticton and Patrick Khodorenko stayed with the U.S. National Team Development Program before recently committing to Michigan State.
In addition general manager Garry Davidson was unable to work the same trade magic he did a season ago when he acquired Nikita Scherbak to jumpstart an offense that set a team scoring record in the 2014-15 season.
Yet, buoyed by a standout goaltender in Carter Hart and collective belief in Constantine’s program the Tips led the division for most of the season’s second half before ultimately being caught by preseason favorite Seattle and settling for second place.
“This team, the work ethic and the sticking to the details of what we needed to do to be successful, was the most consistent at doing those things,” Constantine said. “That group in there got more out of themselves than really anyone who considers themselves an expert thought would happen from that group. They should be proud of themselves. They accomplished a lot more than people thought they could.”
It took gritty performances from players like Remi Laurencelle, a one-time Lethbridge Hurricanes castoff who made the most of his second chance with the Silvertips. Laurencelle made a habit of “going to the hard areas” — digging the puck out of the corner or crashing hard to the front of the net — and wound up leading the team in goals (28) and points (58) as an overager.
“I think a lot of people doubted us,” Laurencelle said. “I think we proved to everyone that we could be somewhere compared to everyone thinking we weren’t going to be a contender or weren’t going to make the playoffs, right? I don’t think they even expected us to be in first place for most of the season.”
Adding offensive depth were veteran Carson Stadnyk (21 goals, 28 assists), and 18-year-old linemates Matt Fonteyne (16 goals, 32 assists) and Patrick Bajkov (18 goals, 28 assists).
Yet even with those performances the Tips finished with the second-fewest goals scored in the WHL regular season (182). The Tips overcame it by allowing the second-fewest goals (172).
Montreal Canadiens 2015 first-round pick Noah Juulsen was a big reason for Everett’s defensive success, and it’s no coincidence that the loss of both Juulsen and Stadnyk following Game 2 of the Seattle series was a big reason the Tips bowed out in five to the Western Conference final-bound Thunderbirds.
And of course, the player who had the best view of all was another key cog in Everett’s defensive juggernaut. Hart, expected to be one of the top goaltenders taken at this year’s NHL draft in Buffalo, N.Y., led the league in wins (35), was second in goals-against average (2.14), shutouts (6), games played (63) and minutes played (3,693) and sixth in save percentage (.918) while being named the top goalie in the Western Conference.
“Not many people predicted us to do as well as we did or make it as far in the playoffs as we did,” Hart said. “We proved a lot of people wrong this year and that’s because of great coaching and 20 guys who were willing to buy into the system and work hard every night.”
While the Tips didn’t get that division champion banner to raise at next year’s home opener they did sweep nemesis Portland out of the playoffs in the first round. Then came a tough five-game set with Seattle in which the final two games were one-goal affairs before the T-birds ultimately prevailed.
“There’s been some culture created over the last three years,” said Constantine, who returned for his second stint behind the Everett bench prior to the 2013-14 season. “I think what we have right now is we have a very strong culture of doing things a certain way. I hope that culture continues to grow in terms of people being able to carry the culture from year to year.”
For the latest Silvertips news follow Jesse Geleynse on Twitter @jessegeleynse.
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