Everett 4, Tri-City 2
Published 10:14 pm Friday, September 4, 2009
TALKING POINTS
So the Craig Hartsburg regime opens with a victory. Everett scored twice in the first five minutes and led 4-0 going into the third period before the Americans scored twice late to make it look close.
But were Tips actually that much better than the Americans? Not really. Tri-City outshot Everett 34-26, but the Tips received excellent goaltending from Kent Simpson and were sharper with their finishing. Indeed, I’d have to say that for one game the Tips looked a lot like they did last year, with good moments interspersed with moments of confusion.
Everett’s power play, however, was dangerous. It scored twice, and if Tyler Maxwell was out there with his buddies Kellan Tochkin and Byron Froese it might have been two more. The Tips also fielded a very young defense (one 19, two 18s, a 17, 16 and 15) and managed to hold up.
In case anyone was wondering, Zack Dailey was still sporting the “C” on his jersey.
In the day’s earlier games, Seattle beat Prince George 3-2 and Portland topped Spokane 3-2.
TURNING POINT
The game might have been different if Simpson doesn’t make a big-time save to deny Jordan Messier on a two-on-one early in the first period while the Tips led 2-0.
HIT OF THE DAY
The Tips threw several good hits tonight, but I don’t think any were as ferocious as when Tri-City’s Neal Prokop blindsided Cameron Abney while Abney was holding off another player in the first period.
THREE STARS (picked by me)
First star: Simpson. 32 saves and he already looked in midseason form.
Second star: Ryan Murray, Everett. One assist, he had one slip in the game’s final minute, but otherwise it was like having another Tochkin on the blue line.
Third star: Prokop. Has a big body and was using it, also flashed a heavy shot.
LINEUP NOTES
Everett lineup: Van de Velde, Froese, Tochkin, Hunt, Dailey, Harper, McCrea, Poulter, Abney, Iwanski, Winquist, White, Theriau, Sohor, Murray, de la Lande, Walters, McDermott, Simpson, Siemens.
Scratches: Maxwell, Elynuik, Parker, McGrath, Tyrell, Gudas, Morden, Minville, Rissanen, Scherger, Heemskerk. Loose and Desautels are not on the roster for the tournament.
Tri-City lineup: Moline, Moser, Reddick, McPhee, Macek, Hughesman, Wilgosh, J. Messier, Rankin, Lazo, Feser, Prokop, Dow, Humphries, McIntosh, Yuen, Plouffe, Werbowski, Owsley, Martyniuk.
Scratches: M. Messier, Olstad, Holland, Shinnimin, Asuchak, Adamyk, Drozd, Sutherland, Schmidt, Toll, Danyluk, Pechurski.
