Quick notes

Published 5:00 pm Thursday, February 14, 2008

There’s not much to report today, and I don’t have a lot of time to post anyway (such is Valentine’s Day). But there is one thing worth noting. This weekend is parents weekend for the Tips. The players’ parents have already started trickiling in — a handful attended practice today — and will be on hand for tomorrow’s game against Spokane and Saturday’s against Seattle.

Also, defenseman Graham Potuer will play tomorrow. Potuer sat out the previous four games with the flu. Fellow defensemen Taylor Ellington (foot) and Mike Alexander (shoulder) are both still a couple weeks away.

Oh, one last thing. Everett, with 59 games, has played more than any other team in the Western Conference (actually tied with Portland). As a result, the Tips haave a bit of a break here with just six games over three weeks. Turns out that was by design, as coach John Becanic revealed:

“You don’t always control the schedule. Zoran (Rajcic) and Doug (Soetaert) and I talked before they went to the scheduling meeting that we used to play so many games over this last stretch. Last year we played seven in nine going into March and it’s just a grind. It wears you down. I think it’s somewhat by design, as much as you can control it — you don’t control your away games. But we were right at the top of the league all year with most games played and that’s never been the case for Everett.”