REFLECTIONS: Tough weekend for Tips ends in fourth straight loss
Published 1:30 am Sunday, January 29, 2017
The Game
The Everett Silvertips got sloppy at times, but they certainly had plenty of scoring chances Sunday evening in a 5-1 loss to the Kamloops Blazers. Everett dominated the shots count early, but the Blazers never trailed as the Tips lost their fourth straight.
Everett’s lead in the U.S. Division is just six points over Tri-City, though the Tips have five games in hand so that’s not really as close as it seems. But the Seattle Thunderbirds are closing in and their 5-1 victory over the Americans Sunday moves Seattle within one point of Tri-City and seven of the Silvertips.
Things don’t get a whole lot easier as the Silvertips have a makeup game at Portland Tuesday, a game at Tri-City Wednesday and then return to Xfinity Arena for games against Portland on Friday and Vancouver on Saturday. They’re continuing to play without defensemen Noah Juulsen and Lucas Skrumeda (both lower body injuries), and forward Riley Sutter (illness). Consequently the Tips again played two 17-year-olds and two 16-year-olds among their six defensemen Sunday.
Juulsen is week-to-week. It sounds like Skrumeda is still on the mend as well, and head coach Kevin Constantine said there is a better chance Sutter plays Tuesday than Skrumeda.
Everett called up 1997-born forward Cal Babych from the Coquitlam Express of the BCHL prior to the game and he played on the fourth line. Babych, the son of 19-year NHL veteran Dave Babych, has played 152 games in the WHL with Calgary, Prince George, Prince Albert and Vancouver. The Tips listed him earlier this season.
The Turning Point
Trailing 3-1, the Tips earned a power play at 4:19 in the second. But that turned in a Lane Bauer short-handed goal to push Kamloops’ lead to three.
Three Stars
1. Kamloops F Lane Bauer: The former Edmonton Oil King had two goals.
2. Kamloops G Dylan Ferguson: The backup netminder had 37 saves.
3. Everett F Connor Dewar: The second-year forward scored Everett’s only goal.
