Silvertips face Eastern Conference foe for 1st time in over 2 years

Published 1:30 am Monday, October 10, 2022

Two years, seven months, 18 days.

That was the length of time the Everett Silvertips went between facing an opponent from the WHL’s Eastern Conference. That stretch finally came to an end Friday when the Tips hosted the Medicine Hat Tigers at Angel of the Winds Arena, a game Everett lost 6-3.

”It was definitely different,” Everett coach Dennis Williams said. “It was nice. It was unlike how we play against teams in the Western Conference, where we know the other teams’ rosters better than our own. Obviously it’s different when you see different guys coming over the boards.”

Typically, Everett plays each Eastern Conference team once each season. The Tips will travel to face all the teams in one of the conference’s two divisions — the East Division or Central Division — then entertain all the teams from the other division at home. The divisions swap the following season.

The coronavirus pandemic threw that all out of whack. The end of the 2019-20 regular season and playoffs were canceled when the pandemic first broke out. The 2020-21 season was shortened to a 24-game developmental season played entirely within divisions. When the full 68-game schedule returned for 2021-22, teams were allowed to play opponents outside their divisions, but stayed within their conferences.

Therefore, the last time Everett faced an Eastern foe was Feb. 19, 2020, when the Tips topped the Moose Jaw Warriors 6-0 at home.

It was a rough reintroduction to the Eastern Conference for Everett on Friday. Medicine Hat scored the game’s first three goals, and although the Tips twice pulled within one and finished the game with a 37-23 shot advantage, they still suffered their first defeat of the season.

“Give them credit, they played a really good hockey game,” Williams said, adding that he didn’t think the Tips started well. “They played a really good hockey game, they’re built with speed. They went through rebuilding last year (the Tigers finished with the worst record in the WHL), but you can definitely see that they’re going to be a good club this year. It was nice to see a different opponent, it just wasn’t the result we wanted.”

Everett bounced back the following night, beating the Prince George Cougars 6-4 to improve to 4-1-0-0. The Tips are tied for second place in the U.S. Division, two points behind the undefeated Portland Winterhawks.

Three stars of the week

Third star: Ryan Hofer. The 20-year-old center amassed three assists over Everett’s two games the past weekend, all three coming in Saturday’s victory over Prince George. He’s an invaluable presence at center at both ends of the ice.

Second star: Austin Roest. The 18-year-old center scored three goals, including a beauty of a shot against Prince George. With four goals and four assists over five games, he’s looking like a big breakout candidate for Everett this season.

First star: Dominik Rymon. The 18-year-old rookie winger from Czechia scored the first two goals of his WHL career against Prince George and added an assist in Friday’s loss to Medicine Hat. The Tips need Rymon to help replace the lost offensive production from last season, and so far he’s coming through.

The week ahead

It’s a busy week for Everett as the Tips play four games in five nights beginning Wednesday, including the first chance to see how they stack up against the U.S. Division favorites.

The week begins at home against defending WHL champion Edmonton (1-4-1-0), which lost almost every significant player from its title-winning team. Gavin Hodnett, a 16-year-old forward, leads the team in scoring with four assists. That game is followed by Everett’s first road game of the season when the Tips travel to Kelowna (2-2-1-0), which just got star 19-year-old forward Colton Dach back from the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks to join leading scorers Andrew Cristall (five goals, six assists) and Gabriel Szturc (four goals, seven assists).

Then comes the big one, the first meeting of the season against Seattle (4-0-0-0) on Saturday at Angel of the Winds Arena. The Thunderbirds are the defending Western Conference champions, have the bulk of their team back, added a high-impact rookie in 17-year-old forward Gracyn Sawchyn (three goals, three assists) and now have all their players back from NHL camps, including 18-year-old defenseman Kevin Korchinski (one goal, two assists in two games), who was selected seventh overall in this year’s NHL draft.

The weekend wraps up with a home game against Spokane (2-3-0-0), which is led by 19-year-old goaltender Mason Beaupit (0-3-0-0, 4.13 goals against average, .838 save percentage).