The players are gone, having returned to homes as close as rural Snohomish County and as far away as Innsbruck, Austria. The general manager is in Calgary prepping for the bantam draft. The head coach longs for the return of this week’s earlier weather so he can head out to the San Juan Islands. And the broadcaster is on the golf course.
It may be a good walk spoiled, but it’s also a five-course meal for the famished soul. pic.twitter.com/lkhc75Awmf
— Mike Benton (@Benton_Mike) April 22, 2016
Me? I’m in a north Seattle coffee shop anticipating the impending April shower and pondering how to put the 2015-16 Everett Silvertips season in perspective both for you and for me.
My predecessor, Nick Patterson, had virtually no hockey experience when he began covering the Silvertips in their inaugural season of 2003-04. Moreover, then-head coach Kevin Constantine and then-general manager Doug Soetaert were also new to the league and couldn’t provide any context for Nick.
In that sense I had a leg up when I took over the beat in late August. Not only is there more than a decade of Tips history carefully preserved by the organization and a coach in his second tour of duty, but also a treasure trove of information and advice available with Nick, who moved on to the Herald’s Seattle beat.
Like Nick, I had little experience covering hockey when I took over and thus entered the season without many expectations. All I had to go on was the speculation of those who had watched the league far longer than me.
The scouting report was that this Tips team had a good defense and a good goaltender, but couldn’t score and might struggle to keep its 12-year playoff streak intact. The team did indeed struggle to score, but the defense was so good the Tips managed to lead the U.S. Division for much of the second half of the season before the Seattle Thunderbirds surged past to ultimately take the division crown.
“Overachievers” was the biggest label bestowed on this team by virtually everyone you talked to. How else can you explain a team nearly winning the division and advancing to second round of the playoffs when on paper it should have struggled? Yet, as I wrote in Friday’s Herald, eventually the organization hopes to shed the “over” part from the label and simply become “achievers.”
Perhaps the most positive sign is that the Tips did not take a significant step backward this season from their division-winning 2014-15 campaign despite what many prognosticators thought.
– They finished with a 38-26-5-3 record and second in the division after leading for much of the season’s second half
– The defense was as good as advertised in allowing just 172 goals, the second-fewest in the league behind regular-season champion Victoria
– Carter Hart played even better than he did as a rookie, demonstrating the Tips will continue to have one of the top goalies in the league for at least two more seasons
– Second-line forwards Matt Fonteyne and Patrick Bajkov showed significant improvement in goal-scoring ability and should improve even more heading into their respective fourth seasons this fall
– Connor Dewar showed flashes of brilliance as a 16-year-old while scoring 11 goals and earning key special teams minutes
Hart is expected to go in the second round of the NHL draft although some think he could jump into the late first round. Bajkov is ranked No. 113 among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting and could also be taken in the draft.
I also anticipate general manager Garry Davidson will try to bolster the offense either via trade or the Euro draft.
So, despite not having the Auston Matthews Watch and the Tyson Jost Watch to occupy us until August, it still figures to be an interesting summer.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
