KENT—The Everett Silvertips fell, 4-1, to Seattle in Kent, their first loss to the Thunderbirds in seven regular season meetings.
Here are the three takeaways:
Travel as an excuse? Nah ah.
Everett is undoubtedly amidst a difficult stretch. The Silvertips’ matchup with the Thunderbirds was their third in three nights in the middle of a five-games-in-six-days stint. On Sunday, the lone off-day during that stretch.
As noted in Saturday’s game story, Everett outshot Seattle 47-28 and controlled the game for the majority of the second and third periods, outshooting the Thunderbirds 34-16 despite falling behind 3-0 on the scoresheet. Thunderbirds’ netminder Roddy Ross stood on his head for stretches and Seattle’s defense was resilient when it needed to be. It wasn’t a lack of energy or effort. Everett wasn’t significantly outplayed by Seattle.
There was some unlucky circumstances, or “puck luck” as hockey people normally call it, for Everett and Seattle capitalized on their chances. Sometimes, there isn’t a ton to dissect.
“We don’t use travel as an excuse ever,” Silvertips assistant coach Louis Mass said. “We don’t make excuses for play. Discipline was a big factor tonight. They were able to capitalize on their chances and we had plenty of opportunities to score. There goaltender played well and they played well in front of them. Simple as that.”
Go to your room
*Oprah voice: “You get a 10-minute misconduct, and you get a 10-minute misconduct”*
Some odd circumstances took place toward the end of the game, as Robbie Holmes and Tyrel Bauer attempted to drop the gloves behind Seattle’s net with 13 seconds left. It concluded not only with corresponding roughing penalties an additional check to the head penalty on Holmes, but every player on the ice, despite not being involved in a physical altercation, was sent to the room early and given a 10-minute misconduct.
“It’s just (the referees) way of trying to manage the game,” Mass said. “I’ve seen that before, yeah.”
Vancouver in driver’s seat in West
Everett’s loss to Seattle surrendered control of the Western Conference standings to the Vancouver Giants, who entered Saturday two points back of the Silvertips and a game in hand, defeated Kelowna, 2-0, on Saturday and are in control of the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.
The two teams do not play again this season after splitting a four-game regular season series.
The implications of this could be significant. The No. 1 seed is likely destined for a matchup with either Kamloops or Seattle, the second wild card team, while the No. 2 seed would most likely play Tri-City or Spokane — Tri-City is at 65 points with a game and hand while Spokane is at 66.
The Silvertips are 6-1-0-0 against Seattle and 4-0-0-0 against Kamloops, while they’re 4-3-0 against Tri-City and 4-0-2 against Spokane.
Horton’s three stars
1. Roddy Ross: The Silvertips couldn’t solve the lanky 6-foot-4 netminder, who made 47 saves.
2. Matthew Wedman: Was a dynamic presence on the ice, with a key power play goal and two assists.
3. Jarret Tyszka: Scored a goal on a blistering slapshot from the point for the game-winning goal.
Josh Horton covers the Everett Silvertips and AquaSox for The Everett Daily Herald. Follow him on Twitter (@joshhortonEDH) or reach out to him over email (jhorton@heraldnet.com).
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
