One last go around at KeyArena

Published 5:26 pm Thursday, October 23, 2008

Interesting weekend on tap for the Silvertips. Everett, of course, is coming off a fantastic week when the Tips went 3-0. However, this weekend presents a different kind of challenge as both games are on the road, whereas last week saw two of the three games at home. Everett has won just once on the road so far this season.

And this weekend’s road games aren’t your typical road contests, either. Friday’s game is at Tri-City, one of the best teams in the league. Then Saturday’s game is at Seattle, and KeyArena hasn’t exactly been friendly to the Tips in the past.

Speaking of KeyArena, provided everything goes as scheduled, this will be Everett’s final game there as the T-birds move into their new home in Kent in late December. I think I can sum up Everett’s feelings about the end of KeyArena in two words: good riddance. The Tips have never had a losing record in franchise history. Everett’s record in KeyArena all-time? 4-18-0-1 with three ties. And a lot of those losses were ugly, ugly, ugly. I can’t count how many third-period Everett leads I’ve seen evaporate at the Key.

So in honor of the end of the KeyArena era, I thought it would be appropriate if people shared their favorite (or least favorite) memories of the Key. For me, I’ll always remember that after writing my story and leaving the arena, I’d invariably be walking out the door just as the tuba-playing guy was packing up to head home himself.

How about yours?

Oh, and one quick update. Defenseman Shayne Brown is out this weekend with a hip flexor injury. However, left wing Jordan Mistelbacher should be back after missing three games with an ankle injury.