Tips drought continues

Published 9:00 pm Friday, March 25, 2005

PORTLAND, Ore. – Three hours, 34 minutes, 47 seconds.

That’s how long it’s been since the Everett Silvertips last put the puck into the net.

Everett heads into tonight’s Game 2 of its first-round Western Hockey League playoff series against Portland in a major offensive drought, and if the Silvertips have any hope of returning home with a split of the first two games, they need some sort of breakthrough.

“It’s very frustrating,” Everett’s top playmaker, Alex Leavitt, said. “Three games with no goals is probably some type of Silvertip record.”

The last time the Silvertips scored was at the 10:13 mark of the second period in their 2-2 home tie against Tri-City on March 18, their third-from-final game of the regular season.

Since then Everett lost 3-0 at Tri-City and 2-0 at Seattle to end the regular season, then lost 3-0 in Game 1 on Friday night.

The Tips aren’t panicking just yet – Everett played the final two games of the regular season short-handed because of injuries, and the Tips did have a handful of decent chances Friday – but they are getting a little anxious to see a notch on their side of the scoreboard again.

“We’re not going to hit the panic button right now,” Everett center Zach Hamill said. “We’re going to play hard, and we’ve been scoring goals all year. So if we take care of our own end we’re going to score some goals.”

Everett’s main problem Friday was getting shots on net. The Tips put their shots wide of the target on many of their best scoring chances. Other times Everett players passed up shooting opportunities, choosing instead to try for the killing feed to a teammate. As a result, the Tips managed just 20 shots on Portland goaltender Kevin Grenier.

“I think we tried to get in positions too close to the net to score,” Leavitt said. “I think we just have to shoot anywhere in the zone and crash the net. I don’t know if we’re trying to be too fancy or too cute with the puck. We just have to get back to getting it in the zone, throwing it on net, crashing the net and getting some ugly goals.”

Portland had something to do with it, too. Portland’s tall defenseman caused Everett a few problems with their long reach on their poke checks. And although Grenier faced few tests, he did make the big saves when necessary, most notably robbing Karel Hromas point blank in the second period when the game was still scoreless.

Leavitt believes the Tips need to make Grenier’s job more difficult.

“I think Grenier’s been able to see the puck too easily,” Leavitt said. “I think we need to get some bodies in front, especially on the power play, where’s he’s seeing the shot clearly from the point. .So I think if we get some guys in front of him and make it more difficult for him to see the puck – because he is a smaller goaltender – I think that will help us.”

Everett coach Kevin Constantine showed a willingness to tinker in an effort to generate more offense. Friday night Hamill, who was Everett’s most-creative player, saw considerable time on a line with leading scorer Torrie Wheat and Karel Hromas.

It remains to be seen whether Constantine continues to play around with his line combinations. But the Tips are hoping they Constantine doesn’t have to.

“We had a number of good chances,” Leavitt said. “If we’re not getting the chances I think that’s when we should get worried. But we’re getting the chances, so hopefully they’ll start going in.”