Silvertips to drop puck on preseason at Holiday Inn Classic

EVERETT — Sean Richards remembers his first trip to Xfinity Arena last season as a Regina Pat.

“I thought it was pretty cool playing here,” said Richards, who will debut with the Everett Silvertips tonight as they play host to the 13th Annual Holiday Inn Classic. “It was a good experience. I just remember winning in overtime and being excited. I thought the crowd was awesome. It was a good atmosphere.”

Richards is one of several new faces acquired this offseason when he was traded from Regina for former Tips captain Dawson Leedahl and the rights to Tyson Jost. The native of St. Albert, Alberta, showed well on the ice as the Tips opened camp last week and adds depth to Everett’s 1998-born draft class.

“I was just going to play my game and show the coaches what I can do,” Richards said. “Just kind of show them I can play here and help the team out as best I can. I just want to show them because they haven’t seen much of me, so I have to play my game and show them how much I can help here.”

The Classic features all four of Everett’s U.S. Division rivals: Portland, Seattle, Tri-City and Spokane — in addition to B.C. Division opponents Vancouver and Victoria. Today’s schedule features Portland and Tri-City at 11:30, Vancouver and Spokane at 3 and Seattle and Everett at 7.

Everett will also play Vancouver at 7 on Saturday and conclude the nine-game event against Portland at 7 on Sunday.

The Tips were forced off the ice Tuesday when Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump came to town. The team used its off-ice time on Tuesday for teaching sessions and a team-building softball game. The Tips returned to the community rink ice the past two days.

“In the last four days we’ve introduced 95 percent of what we do,” Everett coach Kevin Constantine said. “But it’s gotta be verbally repeated three or four times and the players need repetitions up to 100 times, so it takes three to eight weeks to get that in place. But we have introduced every single thing we do.”

Last week’s scrimmages were a chance for the organization to get a glimpse of what the team’s future might look like and an opportunity for free-agent and listed players to make an impression.

Now the level of competition increases for the next phase of Everett’s preseason as the organization looks to trim its roster from 33 to 23 prior to the regular-season opener Sept. 23 against the Vancouver Giants in Langley, B.C.

For the coaching staff the remainder of the preseason is about finding the right players to fit into the Everett systems in addition to identifying individual talent.

“The game is played in a structured team style, so those talents gotta be able to translate into performance,” Constantine said. “You have to be able to take those talents and blend them into a team style. I think we know a lot about some individual talents… (Now) they have to learn team play and we have to learn who can implement the team strategy and still maintain their ability to bring their own talent set to the game.”

In addition to Richards, the Tips also acquired goaltender Lasse Petersen from the Spokane Chiefs and picked up Finnish forward Eetu Tuulola and Slovakian forward Mario Mucka in the CHL import draft. Mucka skated at last week’s scrimmages while Tuulola, a sixth-round pick by the Calgary Flames in this year’s NHL draft, did not arrive until Saturday and skated with his new teammates for the first time Monday.

Several young defensemen to watch are 16-year-olds Gianni Fairbrother and Montana Onyebuchi, as well as 17-year-old Everett native Wyatte Wylie. All three players spent time with the club last season.

Among the younger forwards to keep an eye on are Brett Kemp, Everett’s second-round pick in the 2015 bantam draft, and 2015 sixth-rounder Dawson Butt. Fellow forward Bryce Kindopp, who was Everett’s third-round pick in 2014 is also angling to make the team after appearing in one regular-season game last year.

The Tips continue their preseason slate with games Wednesday and Thursday at the Tri-City Classic.

For the latest Silvertips news follow Jesse Geleynse on Twitter @jessegeleynse.