Player of the week, Gendur dwells on his weak spots
Published 10:05 pm Monday, January 28, 2008
EVERETT — Dan Gendur was named the Western Hockey League Player of the Week on Monday.
And yet the things the Everett Silvertips sniper remembers most about the previous week are the few things he did wrong, not the many things he did right.
“It’s pretty exciting,” Gendur said about his first career player of the week honor. “It’s nice to know the week I had was the best in the WHL, given the number of players in the league. But there’s a little bit of a damper on it because of the way I played against Seattle (on Saturday). I played a good first period in Seattle, but after that things fell apart a little bit.”
Even with the Seattle game the 20-year-old right wing from Victoria, B.C., was a scoring machine last week, tallying three goals and nine assists in Everett’s three games. He had a hand in all six of Everett’s goals in a 6-0 victory at Prince George on Wednesday, added three assists and a shootout game winner in a 5-4 victory over the Cougars the next day, then had a goal and two assists as the Tips fell to Seattle 4-3. It’s the first time this season an Everett player has earned player of the week honors.
As good as the week was for Gendur, it was merely an extension of the way he’s been playing for about a month. Beginning with Everett’s 6-1 victory over Moose Jaw on Dec. 29 Gendur has 32 points (12 goals, 20 assists) and a plus-12 rating in his past 14 games. Numerically it’s the greatest month-long stretch in Silvertips history — Peter Mueller had 31 points in a 14-game stretch last season, though those 14 games spanned more than a month.
“I can’t think of another time when we had a player going through a stretch like this,” Everett coach John Becanic said. “(Zach) Hamill was pretty consistent last year (when he won the league scoring title). Good for Dan. He’s trying to earn a pro contract (with the Vancouver Canucks, who drafted him last year) so it’s great for him individually, and if it helps us then even better.”
Said Gendur: “I’m playing with a lot of confidence. It seems like every time I touch the puck it’s helping the team.”
All except two times against Seattle.
Twice Saturday the Tips gave up short-handed goals to the T-birds, and Gendur was the last player back in both instances. On Seattle’s second short-hander he coughed up the puck deep in his own zone, leading to Seattle’s game-winning goal. Following the game he took full responsibility for the loss.
“Looking back at the game, yes his mistakes were bad and maybe we would have won without them,” Becanic said. “But it’s unfair to put it all on Dan Gendur’s back. We were outworked and outcompeted, and without Dan we might not have had any goals.”
Beach update: Everett right wing Kyle Beach is still recovering from his concussion and will not play tonight in the Tips’ home game against Prince Albert. Beach, who was Everett’s leading scorer at the time, suffered the concussion in the post-game bust-up on Jan. 16, when following Everett’s 2-1 victory in Spokane Chiefs captain Chris Bruton flattened him with a punch. Beach is also expected to miss Wednesday’s game in Kelowna. The Tips are hoping he’ll be ready to go Saturday when Everett plays host to Vancouver.
Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog: cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet/silvertipsblog
