Silvertips notebook: Wolf earns gold with U.S. at world juniors

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, January 6, 2021

Dustin Wolf is coming home with a shiny new piece of hardware.

The Everett Silvertips goaltender was part of the U.S. team that defeated Canada 2-0 Tuesday night to claim the gold medal at the World Junior Hockey Championship in Edmonton, Alberta.

Wolf, a 19-year-old California native who now resides in Lake Stevens, served as the backup netminder to Spencer Knight in the championship game. Wolf appeared in two of the U.S.’s seven games during the tournament, stopping all 21 shots he faced, including a 10-save shutout in the U.S.’s 11-0 victory over Austria in round-robin play.

Wolf wasn’t the only Silvertips player to come away with a medal. Defenseman Kasper Puutio was part of the Finland team that earned the bronze by defeating Russia 4-1 in Tuesday’s third-place contest. The 18-year-old finished with two assists in seven games. Both assists came in the 4-3 semifinal loss to the U.S., in which Puutio was named Finland’s Player of the Game.

One other Everett player participated in the tournament. Eighteen-year-old forward Michal Gut appeared in three games without registering a point for the Czech Republic before missing the team’s final two games because of what was reported as a minor injury. The Czech Republic placed seventh in the 10-team tournament.

13 Silvertips in NHL camps

Thirteen current and past Silvertips players are on rosters for NHL training camps, which began last week.

The current Silvertips on training camp rosters are Wolf (Calgary) and forward Gage Goncalves (Tampa Bay).

The former Everett players on rosters are defenseman Jake Christiansen (Columbus), forward Connor Dewar (Minnesota), forward Byron Froese (Calgary), defenseman Radko Gudas (Florida), goaltender Carter Hart (Philadelphia), defenseman Noah Juulsen (Montreal), forward Jujhar Khaira (Edmonton), defenseman Ryan Murray (New Jersey), forward Garrett Pilon (Washington), forward Riley Sutter (Washington) and defenseman Wyatte Wylie (Philadelphia).

Training camp rosters are smaller this season because of the coronavirus pandemic. The season is scheduled to begin next Wednesday.

Tips sign prospect defenseman

Everett signed 17-year-old defenseman Brady Van Herk to a WHL Standard Player Agreement. The 6-foot-3 Van Herk, who hails from Nanaimo, B.C., was passed over in his draft year and later added to Everett’s 50-player protected list. Last season Van Herk had two goals and 12 assists in 40 games with the North Island Silvertips of the B.C. U18 league.

WHL draft moved, renamed

The WHL draft has a new name and new date. The 2021 WHL draft, which was formerly called the bantam draft, was originally scheduled for May. Now it will now take place in December in an effort to extend the period in which draft-eligible players can be evaluated by the league’s scouts. The 2021 WHL draft will disperse the rights to players from western Canada and the western U.S. who were born in 2006 among the WHL’s 22 teams.