Kelowna 3, Everett 2
Published 10:58 pm Saturday, February 21, 2009
TALKING POINTS
Good effort by the Tips tonight. With so many key forwards injured Everett ran out a patchwork lineup against a Kelowna team that has as much offensive talent as any team in the Western Conference. I think most would have expected a blowout, but the Tips played hard, led 2-0 after one period and were right in it at the end.
But Kelowna showed its quality in the second period, and there was only so much a team with nine skaters aged 17 or younger — only two of whom have played regularly this season — could do to combat that. Indeed, the Tips are playing some good games against the conference’s top teams, but not getting much to show for it. Everett is 0-8-2-0 against the quartet of Vancouver, Tri-City, Spokane and Kelowna over the past six weeks.
One positive for Everett is I think the extended playing time is really helping some of the younger forwards. When these guys were getting five shifts a night they weren’t very effective. Now that they’re playing a regular shift they’re starting to do some positive things (some specifics listed below).
TURNING POINT
Whatever Kelowna coach Ryan Huska told his team during the first intermission did the trick. The Rockets were a different team after that and overcame that 2-0 deficit.
HIT OF THE DAY
Everett’s Markus McCrea had two big hits in two minutes early in the third period. First he put a heavy shoulder charge on Curt Gogol to send Gogol tumbling to the ice, then he railed Tysen Dowzak into the boards.
THREE STARS
First star: Tyler Myers, Kelowna. Scored both the tying and game-winning goals with shots from the point, also skated the puck out of the Kelowna zone well.
Second star: Thomas Heemskerk, Everett. Had 43 saves and was unbelievable during the many scrambles in front of the Everett goal.
Third star: Adam Brown, Kelowna. Stopped all 24 shots he faced in relief of a subpar Mark Guggenberger.
The Herald’s honorable mention: Cameron Abney, Everett. Stood toe-to-toe with the league’s top heavyweight Ryley Grantham, after which the Kelowna players heard footsteps every time he approached.
LINEUP NOTES
Everett’s forwards are beginning to resemble a MASH unit with Daniel Bartek (hand), Tyler Maxwell (knee), Paul Van de Velde (shoulder) and Dale Hunt (concussion) all out injured. Hunt, who took a vicious legal hit from Tri-City’s Brett Plouffe on Friday is not expected back for a while. Incidentally, all four of those guys went down while playing left wing on the kid line alongside Byron Froese and Kellan Tochkin. McCrea was drafted into that hazardous duty tonight and came away unscathed. With so many veteran forwards out defenseman Drew McDermott was forced into centering duties. Call-up Campbell Elynuik was again in the lineup, his final game before returning to his midget team in Calgary. Defenseman Paul Sohor was a healthy scratch.
Kelowna was without right wing Kyle St. Denis because of a concussion. Despite a spot opening up on Kelowna’s top two lines because of St. Denis’ absence, left wing Brandon McMillan continued to skate as a defenseman — that’s got to be nice, when a third-round NHL draft pick is considered surplus, even when a team has injuries. Defenseman Aaron Borejko was a healthy scratch.
