Time for the Silvertips to jump, jive and wail

Published 11:25 pm Thursday, February 14, 2008

EVERETT — For the Everett Silvertips to have any hope of having home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs, they need to make their move now.

There’s still some heavy lifting to do if they want to host a first-round playoff series, but with home games in five of their next six contests, this stretch is the Tips’ best chance to catch the teams ahead of them.

“Yeah, we’ve got to make our move now,” Everett goaltender Leland Irving said. “I feel like this group of guys in particular plays a lot harder and a little more consistent at home. We’re full of energy and our crowd gets the boys up and gets them going with how loud it is in our building. It seems to give our boys that extra bit of jump they need.”

Everett has 13 games total remaining and currently finds itself in sixth place in the Western Conference. Just the top four teams host first-round playoff series.

The Tips are within reach of fourth. They find themselves just four points behind fourth-place Kelowna and one point behind fifth-place Seattle, a gap that appears manageable.

However, Everett has played two more games than Kelowna and three more than Seattle, making the difference larger than it appears.

Therefore, in order to gain ground Everett needs to take advantage of these five home games over the next three weeks, two of which are against Seattle (the Tips have no games remaining against Kelowna). Everett is 17-11-0-1 at home this season versus 15-14-0-1 on the road.

“I think there’s a good chance,” Tips captain Jonathan Harty said about Everett’s hopes for home ice for the first round. “Thirteen games is a lot (of time) to make up four points. We control our own destiny against Seattle, and we have to hope for some luck against Kelowna. We can just play the games we can and hopefully some other teams help us out.”

Especially important for Everett are the head-to-head matchups with Seattle. The Tips have four games total remaining against the T-birds, including the two home games during this stretch. Everett can therefore counter Seattle’s games in hand by winning the head-to-head contests.

However, Everett has had zero success against the T-birds this season as Seattle has won all six encounters.

Indeed, during this stretch Everett doesn’t have much in the way of gimmes. Three of the six games are against Spokane, which was the top-ranked team in the entire Canadian Hockey League before hitting a snag last weekend.

“It’d be nice to come away with at least four (victories from these six games),” Irving said when asked what the Tips need to do over this stretch to have a realistic chance at home ice. “But these are the top teams in the league and we have to bring our best game in order to beat teams like that.”

And the Tips would certainly love to begin the playoffs at home.

“I think it’s pretty big,” Harty said. “If you get up by two games early (in a playoff series) it gives you some confidence and puts the other team on shaky ice. We’re going to play hard and if we don’t get home-ice advantage we’re still in the playoffs and have to battle.”

Everett coach John Becanic figures fourth place will go down to the final weekend between Everett, Kelowna and Seattle. But while he admitted home-ice advantage is a goal, it’s not his primary source of motivation.

“No matter who we play in the first round it is going to be a tough team,” Becanic said. “It’d be great to have home-ice advantage, but it’s only going to be for one round anyway. I’m more excited about our guys getting healthier and looking like they have a lot of jump.”

Slap shots: Defenseman Graham Potuer has been cleared to return to action tonight. Potuer missed the past four games because of the flu. … This weekend is parents weekend for the Tips. The players’ parents already have begun to arrive — a handful attended Thursday’s practice — and will attend this weekend’s games. … The Tips are holding a food drive during Saturday’s game against Seattle. All nonperishable food items and cash donations will go to Volunteers of America of Snohomish County.

Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog: http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog