Off-day notes: Butt, Ralph, the mumps and the ThunderTips podcast
Published 1:30 am Monday, March 13, 2017
The Everett Silvertips didn’t skate Monday following a late arrival back in town following Sunday’s 4-3 loss at Portland that capped a three-in-three.
We won’t rehash Sunday’s disappointing final six minutes. You can check it out on yesterday’s blog post if you need refresher.
The Tips are set to leave Tuesday afternoon for Kelowna and will take on the Rockets Wednesday to begin a regular-season-ending set of four-in-five. The Tips still control their own destiny, but have left themselves no margin for error. The Tips have one game in hand of the T-Birds who play Spokane and Vancouver – two teams already eliminated from playoff contention – and Portland to close out the regular season.
The Tips made a roster move Monday as they announced that forward Dawson Butt has joined the team for the remainder of the season. He played this season for the Everett Junior Silvertips 16-U squad of the NAPHL.
A native of Buckley, Wash., and the son of former WHLer Jamie, Butt skated in a pair of games with the Silvertips. He was originally selected by the Silvertips in the sixth round (118th overall) of the 2015 WHL Bantam Draft.
Butt tied for the club lead in playoff scoring with six points in four games as the Junior Tips advance to the regional finals in the postseason. The 6-foot-1 and 200 pound winger led the Junior Tips with 29 points and 18 goals in 22 regular-season games.
In other news:
– Monday’s big WHL news is that T-Birds star center Mathew Barzal might have the mumps. Gregg Drinnan, the dean of WHL and Canadian junior hockey sports writers posted it on his blog “Taking Note” Sunday night and by Monday it had made the rounds on the internet. Barzal ducked out of Friday’s pre-game National Anthem prior to Seattle’s 3-2 win over the Tips at ShoWare Center and did not play Friday or Saturday.
Sea GM Russ Farwell on Barzal: "We are being careful but will not know for 3 days. We are treating it as mumps until we learn otherwise."
— Andy Eide (@AndyEide) March 13, 2017
The mumps have been going around the WHL for the past month or so. Everett plays a home-and-home with Victoria this weekend and the Royals were recently afflicted with the illness.
– You might remember a blog post last week when I mentioned former Silvertip Brandon Ralph’s standout overage season with the Fort McMurray Oil Barons. Well, you should check out this Sportsnet piece that goes far more in-depth about the Oil Barons turnaround season and how it has impacted a community devastated last year by wildfires.
– The WHL on Monday named its Player and Goalie of the Week. Portland’s Cody Glass earned Player of the Week honors while Regina’s Tyler Brown was the Goalie of the Week.
– The eighth episode of the ThunderTips Hockey Podcast dropped Monday night. You can listen to it below:
