Tips sweep series

Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, March 24, 2004

SPOKANE — As the final horn sounded, Jeff Harvey stood in front of his goal, jumping up and down in jubilation.

Harvey already had experienced the disappointment of being on the wrong side of a first-round playoff sweep. Now he knew what it felt like to be on the right side.

Harvey posted has second shutout of the series, and the Everett Silvertips swept the Spokane Chiefs out of the Western Hockey League playoffs, winning 3-0 Wednesday night before a crowd of 3,920 at the Spokane Arena.

With four straight wins, the Silvertips became the first WHL expansion team to win a playoff series.

"It’s total redemption," said Harvey, who was Swift Current’s goalie when the Broncos were swept in the first round by Medicine Hat last season.

"Last year I got swept out in the first round so I know exactly how they’re feeling over there. It’s the worst feeling in the world. This year, to win four straight is the best feeling I’ve had in hockey in my career so far."

Harvey stopped 34 shots and held Spokane at bay long enough for Bryan Nathe to score the go-ahead goal in the first minute of the third period. Chad Bassen and Marc Desloges later added insurance goals for the Silvertips, who by sweeping the best-of-seven series gave themselves a week off before the second round. Everett plays the winner of the Vancouver-Kamloops series.

"It’s pretty impressive," Nathe said when asked to reflect on Everett’s sweep.

"I couldn’t have imagined we were going to do that in the first round of the playoffs. It helps us out. It’s going to give us a week of rest here and we’ll prepare for the second round, whoever we have to play."

Added Harvey: "I don’t think one guy in the room thought we’d sweep. It could have been a seven-game series. If we hadn’t tied it up in Game 1 (when the Silvertips came from behind to win 2-1), that was the turning point and we just kind of steamrolled from there. We’re a confident group right now."

And no one is more confident than Harvey.

Harvey, who was held largely responsible for Swift Current’s first-round flop last season, was equally responsible for Everett’s first-round triumph this season. He was particularly sharp during the first period Wednesday, stopping 14 shots as Spokane came out like a team determined to salvage some pride. The pick of the saves was a reaction kick save on Jeff Lucky from point blank.

"I thought the first period was our worst of the playoffs so far, and I thought Jeff Harvey was the only reason we were in the game after one," Everett coach Kevin Constantine said. "He made some unbelievable saves. I thought we played better the rest of the game. We kind of rose a bit with our game and met them in the middle and it was anybody’s game after that."

And Everett was the team that grabbed control.

Fifty-five seconds into the third period of a scoreless game, Desloges ripped off a shot from the slot that Spokane goalie Jim Watt was able to parry. However, the puck rebounded out to the right circle to Nathe, drifting in unmarked. Nathe lined up his shot and fired into the far-upper corner to give the Silvertips the lead.

"The puck was kind of rolling so I just settled it down and put it home," Nathe said. "I was picking out the left side. I wasn’t trying to go high, I just wanted to go far side because (Watt) was coming out and challenging me pretty good. I figured if I picked that far side I’d probably put it in. Luckily I did."

Spokane again turned up the pressure and Harvey had to make a pair of blind saves on Brad Schell before Bassen made the Everett lead safe.

Nathe intercepted a pass in the neutral zone and fed Bassen, who was streaking through an opening up the middle. Bassen skated in alone and fired into the upper-right corner to make it 2-0 with 3:58 remaining. It was Bassen’s third goal of the playoffs.

Desloges then polished off the victory, scoring into an empty net with 52.3 seconds remaining. It was also Desloges’ third goal of the playoffs and the third straight game in which Desloges scored a goal.

Slap shots: In an effort to shake things up, Spokane broke up it’s No. 1 line of Schell, Chad Klassen and Joff Kehler. Rookie Derek Ryan joined Klassen and Kehler while Schell played with Lucky and Doug Auchenberg. Schell, Klassen and Kehler reunited after Everett took the lead in thee third period. … Everett welcomed defenseman Ivan Baranka back to the lineup Wednesday. Baranka sat out the previous game because of the flu. … Spokane’s Scott Lynch, voted the team’s top defenseman, returned to the ice. Lynch was suspended for the previous two games for a hit on Jeff Schmidt that separated Schmidt’s shoulder. … Although Spokane came into Wednesday’s game down 3-0, the Chiefs took some heart in knowing that the last team to overcome a 3-0 series deficit in the WHL was Spokane, which came back to defeat Portland in the first round in 1996. That was the only time in WHL history that a team has won a best-of-seven series after losing the first three games.