Silvertips win franchise’s first WHL Championship in Game 5 blowout

Published 11:00 pm Friday, May 15, 2026

Steve Hamilton said it would be the hardest game of the season.

A winner of two WHL Championships as an assistant coach, the Everett Silvertips bench boss knew firsthand just how difficult it is to close out the series, which Everett had the opportunity to do entering Game 5 of the WHL Championship against the Prince Albert Raiders at Art Hauser Centre on Friday.

Except the Silvertips, as they have all season, made it look incredibly easy.

It took just 68 seconds for Everett to get on the board before going up 2-0 by the end of the first period, holding Prince Albert to just five shots on goal.

After fending off a Raiders push early in the second period, the Silvertips surged to a 7-2 win and secured their first Ed Chynoweth Cup in franchise history. Dominant from start to finish, the 2025-26 Everett Silvertips secured their legacy as one of the WHL’s all-time great teams.

“We knew what was on the line,” Silvertips defenseman Landon DuPont told The Herald over the phone on Saturday. “We dug in, and we really came out with a strong push in the first, and then just kept it going. I think (Prince Albert) is a great team, but they just couldn’t handle us.”

Shea Busch was robbed of experiencing most of Everett’s historic 57-win season when he sustained a wrist injury in late October after scoring 13 goals in his first 12 games. The 18-year-old forward missed the rest of the regular season, but he maintained a positive attitude trying to get ready for the postseason.

After months of waiting, he returned midway through the first-round series against Portland on March 31, and he saved his best for last: With a hat trick that included the opening goal on Friday and two more late to put Game 5 out of reach, Busch effectively opened and shut the title-clincher.

“That was awesome,” Silvertips coach Steve Hamilton told The Herald following the team’s return to Everett on Saturday. “Quite a journey he went on through the course of the year. I mean, that was a special moment for this organization, and he played a huge part in probably the biggest game in Silvertips history so far.”

As special as the moment was for Busch, he only wanted to focus on the team, which had numerous key contributors behind him.

Zackary Shantz had three assists, and Jesse Heslop (two assists) and Brek Liske (one goal, one assist) each had multi-point nights. Goaltender Anders Miller made 22 saves to complete a stellar postseason run with a 16-1-1 record to go with a .932 save percentage and 1.91 goal-against average. Julius Miettinen was named playoff MVP after leading the postseason field with 27 points (14 goals, 13 assists) in 18 games.

“We are such a hard-working team,” Busch told The Herald over the phone. “We do it for each other, and I’m just so happy we got it done last night.”

Busch opened the scoring at 1:08 of the first period. Shantz picked up a cross-ice pass from Luke Vlooswyk off the boards while entering the offensive zone and centered it to Busch, who crashed in at the right post.

It set the tone for a dominant opening frame, in which Everett did not allow a shot from Prince Albert until 5:11. With a strong forecheck, the Silvertips limited the Raiders’ time on the puck and kept the action in their zone. Halfway through the period, Everett held a 7-2 shots on goal advantage.

The Silvertips easily could have pulled ahead by three at the 13:30 mark, but Heslop and Bear each sent a shot off the post nearly a minute apart. Heslop’s came off a feed from Shantz with the net fully exposed around 12:30 during an Everett power play.

Ultimately, Mattias Uyeda let them both off the hook. After Prince Albert goalie Michal Orsulak made a sprawling save on Rhys Jamieson at the net-front, Jamieson retrieved the puck and sent a backhand pass to Uyeda from behind the net, and the 19-year-old defenseman deked in behind the left circle and ripped a shot through to push it to 2-0 at 15:57.

“Not going to lie, there (were) a couple of moments where literally we all kind of took a look at each other. Couldn’t believe that we missed those,” Hamilton said. “Those are not pucks we miss. But it all balanced out, I think, in the end. Best thing is when guys miss a shot like that, everybody on the bench picks him up.”

The Raiders had an opportunity to even things up with two power plays late in the first and at the beginning of the second, respectively, but Miller and the penalty kill were up to the task.

While Prince Albert came up empty on the man-advantage, it picked up enough momentum to push back. The Raiders matched their shot output from the first period (5) in just 3:38 of the second, which is when Brayden Dube cut it to 2-1 with a net-front rebound.

Prince Albert generated a handful of offensive zone turnovers in the following minutes, threatening to tie it up multiple times, but Miller shut the door. His biggest save came against Jonah Sivertson with a point-blank glove stop at 9:56 after another turnover.

“I think we just needed to take a breath and realize that we were still in a good spot,” DuPont said. “They did have a little push there, but we just kept doing what we were doing, and they ran out of gas and we just kept shoving it down them.”

Bear went off the post on an open net again around 11:40, but Liske made it a non-factor by restoring the two-goal lead at 14:51 with a fantastic solo effort.

Drifting back towards the blue line in the offensive zone, the 2026 NHL Draft prospect cut the brakes and spun away from Max Heise into the left circle, where he utilized a Miettinen screen in front and slipped a wrister through to make it 3-1.

Everett received its second power-play opportunity of the night on a Dube roughing call at 17:41, and Busch cashed in for his second goal with 43.5 seconds left in the frame to extend it to 4-1, trickling a shot into Orsulak’s pad and off Prince Albert defender Linden Burrett’s skate into the net, all but putting the game out of reach heading into the second intermission.

Busch completed his hat trick at 6:17 of the third period with a shot off the faceoff from the right circle.

“It was kind of a blank space for me,” Busch said. “I was obviously pretty pumped, but I didn’t really realize kind of what it was until after the game.”

Overager Nolan Chastko pushed it to 6-1 at 7:07 with a hack from behind the left circle, and while Raiders captain Justice Christensen cut it to 6-2 at 11:04 with a 4-on-3 power-play goal, it was far too late. DuPont kicked in the extra point at 15:50 of the third on a give-and-go with Shantz for the 7-2 final.

It did not take long for the celebration to start. The players stood with their arms around each other on the bench well before the final buzzer, spilling onto the ice to celebrate when the clock finally hit 0:00. Amid the on-ice celebration, Hamilton hugged each player before getting into the handshake line.

With his arm in a sling, injured Silvertips captain Tarin Smith accepted the Ed Chynoweth Cup from WHL Commissioner Dan Near before the rest of the leadership group — Bear, DuPont, Heslop and Jaxsin Vaughan — brought the Cup to the rest of the team.

“Just watching how long those guys stayed on the ice together and celebrated with their families and their friends, and some billets were there, I mean, I just don’t think they wanted that moment to end,” Hamilton said. “I think that kind of has been very emblematic of our entire year. Guys have always been in it together, and that was a team win and team celebration. I have to tell you, it was pretty emotional watching those guys.”

With the WHL title in tow, Everett will prepare for the Memorial Cup in Kelowna, with its first game set for May 23. After flying to Vancouver and taking a bus back to Everett on Saturday, when they were greeted by a gathering of Silvertips fans in front of Everett High School, the team will take Sunday off before getting back into preparation mode on Monday.

Until then, the players plan to soak in the moment they fought hard to achieve just a little longer.

“You always talk about it and try to picture what it’s going to be like,” DuPont said. “But now that it’s finally here, it’s a whole different emotion. You can’t prepare for something like this to happen because the last day and a half, I’ve just been speechless. Just been trying to look around and take it all in with the teammates, coaches… It feels so good to see how much it meant to (the fans) today, and to see all their smiles and some happy tears, it was truly surreal, and I’m just glad that we get to share it with them.”