New goaltender saves the day
Published 9:00 pm Saturday, October 14, 2006
EVERETT – Goaltender David Reekie made sure his first impression was a winning one.
Reekie, the Everett Silvertips’ newest addition, backstopped the team to victory in his first appearance for the team, and Everett held off the Portland Winter Hawks 3-2 Saturday night at the Everett Events Center.
Reekie, who arrived via a trade with Regina earlier in the week, made 19 saves, including a few difficult ones in the second period with the Tips clinging to a 1-0 lead.
“It was fun,” Reekie said. “It’s a good organization to come to and I was excited to show what I could do here. There were a little nerves coming to a new team, but after the first shot or two it calmed down and I just got back into it.”
Kyle Beach had a goal and an assist, Peter Mueller and Jason Fransoo also scored, and Zach Hamill had two assists for Everett (6-1-0-1), which rebounded after an ugly 5-2 loss at Spokane the previous night. The Tips were also strong on the penalty kill, killing off all 12 Portland power plays.
However, not everything was perfect for the Silvertips. Everett dominated early, but was unable to sustain that domination. After taking a 3-0 lead after two periods, the Tips allowed the Winter Hawks to score twice early in the third and had to sweat out the final 12 minutes.
“I thought we were better than (against Spokane), but we still really played in spurts,” Everett coach Kevin Constantine said. “The first 10 minutes of the second period were real poor, the first few minutes of the third were real poor. Overall we were better, but there’s still lots of inconsistencies we need to work on.”
Colton Sceviour and Viktor Sjodin scored for Portland (3-4-0-0). Kurtis Mucha made 27 saves in goal for the Winter Hawks.
“I thought we showed Everett way too much respect in the first period,” Portland coach Mike Williamson said. “We showed some spunk by sticking our nose in and coming back. But you can’t play the last half of hockey games and win in this league. Hopefully it’s another lesson. We’ve had quite a few in the books already and we need to start learning from them.”
Reekie was brought to Everett to provide some experience behind No. 1 goaltender Leland Irving as the 19-year-old spent last season as Regina’s starter. In the second period he showed why.
After an uneventful first period in which he faced just three shots, Reekie was called into service several times in the second. The pick of the saves came midway through the period when, with Everett leading 1-0, he made a tremendous glove save, reaching back to rob Sceviour and preserve Everett’s lead.
“I thought he did a real good job,” Constantine said about Reekie. “In the second period when the game was still very much in question he made some great saves.”
Mueller scored on a nice feed from Beach at 13 minutes, 42 seconds of the second period, and Fransoo scored on a shot from the point during a five-on-three power play with 5.7 seconds remaining in the period, giving Everett a seemingly safe 3-0 lead.
However Sceviour needed just 13 seconds in the third period to get the Winter Hawks on the board, winning the puck in the corner and skating free in front of the net to put it around Reekie. Sjodin then scored on a rebound after a Frazer McLaren shot got through Reekie and touched off the post at 7:24 to create a frantic finish.
Slap shots: Hamill’s assists gave him points in all eight of Everett’s games this season. … Everett right wing Brady Calla was back in the lineup after missing Friday’s game with the flu. The Tips gave the night off to defenseman Graham Potuer and left wing Shane Harper, with defenseman Tyler Hlookoff and right wing Jesse Burt inserted into the lineup. … Portland played without defenseman Cameron Cepek, who missed his third straight game with an undisclosed injury.
