Tips Week in Review: Everett clinches top spot in West
Published 9:00 am Wednesday, March 4, 2026
For the second year in a row, the Everett Silvertips will have home ice advantage in the WHL Playoffs as they aim for the franchise’s first league title.
Everett clinched the top seed in the Western Conference on Sunday in a 6-4 win against Wenatchee. It marked the club’s third win in as many days. At 50-7-2-1 (103 points), the Silvertips remain atop the WHL standings ahead of Eastern Conference leader Prince Albert (45-9-5-1, 96 points), Medicine Hat (43-9-5-3, 94 points), and Penticton (39-13-4-4, 86 points).
Everett 8, Kamloops 3
It took just 30:55 of game time for Julius Miettinen to record a hat trick on Friday, as the 20-year-old forward finished the night with five points to lift the Silvertips to a decisive home victory. The Blazers jumped out to leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in the first period, but both were short-lived as Everett managed to find the tying goals within two minutes of each.
Kamloops forward Josh Evaschesen opened the scoring at 8:22, but the Silvertips’ top line of Miettinen, Matias Vanhanen and Carter Bear worked together to tie it up at 9:50. Then once Cooper Moore put the Blazers ahead 2-1 at 13:05, it took just 20 seconds for Miettinen to tie it up 2-2 with a sick backhand shot to the top of the cage while skating in along the goal line.
Miettinen struck again to put Everett ahead 3-2 on the power play at 18:11, and the Silvertips outscored Kamloops 5-1 over the next two periods to pull away. Miettinen completed the hat trick at 10:55 of the second with another power-play goal to make it 5-2 after Bear pushed it to 4-2 at 4:24 with his 32nd goal of the season.
Amid the high-scoring night for the Silvertips, defenseman Luke Vlooswyk scored his first goal of the season, and his first with the franchise after arriving on Jan. 2 in a trade with Red Deer. Vlooswyk extended it to 6-3 at 19:22 of the second before Vanhanen and Lukas Kaplan scored in the third period.
Everett 3, Seattle 2 (OT)
It was the usual suspects that saved the day in Kent after the Thunderbirds carried a 1-0 lead into the third period.
Miettinen tied it up 1-1 at 1:25 of the third, with defenseman Kayd Ruedig’s shot from the high slot bouncing off the post and onto Miettinen’s stick before falling into the cage. Matej Pekar restored the lead for Seattle just 18 seconds later from inside the right circle, but Landon DuPont and Vanhanen set up Bear on the power play at 5:48 to ultimately force it to overtime.
Miettinen called game 3:05 into the extra period, taking a pass from defenseman Tarin Smith in the neutral zone and skating through three Thunderbird defenders before beating goalie Marek Sklenicka in the slot
Everett 6, Wenatchee 4
Skating in their third game in as many days on Sunday, the Silvertips were pushed to the brink in Wenatchee when the Wild took a pair of one-goal leads in the second period, with the latter carrying late into the third period. Still, Everett found a way yet again.
Boston Tait put Wenatchee ahead 3-2 at 7:31 of the second period, but the Silvertips responded quickly with a goal from DuPont, who fired a one-timer from the right circle off a behind-the-net pass from Rylan Gould at 7:57 to tie it back up 3-3.
The Wild went back ahead 4-3 at 14:46 of the second with a tap-in from Luka Shcherbyna on the power play, and the lead lasted until just over five minutes left in regulation.
Who else but Miettinen? He continued his hot streak with a one-timer on the power play to notch his 30th goal of the season and tie it up 4-4 at 14:40 of the third. Everett jumped in front at 17:29 with a third-chance rebound opportunity from Vanhanen with Wenatchee goalie Tobias Tvrznik still flat on the ice after making stops on Miettinen and Mattias Uyeda.
Gould secured the comeback victory with an empty-netter at 18:51.
Three Stars of the Week:
First Star: Julius Miettinen. The 20-year-old forward put together three straight multi-goal games – including the OT winner on Saturday and tying goal on Sunday on top of Friday’s hat trick – to finish the week with seven goals and 11 points, putting him at an even 30 goals and 40 assists through 45 games this season.
Second Star: Matias Vanhanen. The 18-year-old forward had an incredibly productive week to remain atop the Silvertips scoring list this season. With at least three points in each game, Vanhanen totaled seven assists and 10 points this weekend to reach 80 on the season, which ranks fifth in the WHL.
Third Star: Landon DuPont. The 16-year-old defenseman had two assists in each of the three games this weekend and added a goal on Sunday to finish with seven points in three games. Now at 61 points (16 goals, 45 assists) through 55 games this season, DuPont surpassed Tarin Smith (60 points) as the top scoring defenseman on the team, and he ranks sixth among all defenseman in the WHL.
The week ahead
Everett has a home-and-home against Portland this weekend, with the Winterhawks coming to Angel of the Winds Arena on Friday before the Silvertips go down to Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Saturday.
Everett has not yet defeated Portland this season, going 0-1-1-1 across three matchups. The Winterhawks have knocked the Silvertips out of the WHL playoffs in each of the past three seasons, so Everett will look to get the monkey off its back with the postseason approaching.
