Final exhibition game tonight
Published 3:10 pm Saturday, September 18, 2010
The Tips complete their preseason schedule tonight when they travel to Ladner to face the Vancouver Giants. Everett is 3-3 so far, so tonight’s game determines whether the Tips finish with a winning or a losing record. A report on the game should be available tonight on the Silvertips website.
After tonight the Tips have some decisions to make before the season begins. Let’s take a quick look at each position:
Forwards (15): Josh Birkholz (19), Clayton Cumiskey (20), Campbell Elynuik (18), Jari Erricson (16), Landon Ferraro (19), Cody Fowlie (18), Tyler Giebel (17), Manraj Hayer (17), Jesse Huhtala (17), Scott MacDonald (19), Tyler Maxwell (19), Markus McCrea (18), D.Jay McGrath (18), Kellan Tochkin (19), Josh Winquist (17).
Fifteen forwards is generally one more than teams carry during the season. However, I have no clue who the odd-man out would be. This will be a tough decision, should the Tips decide to make one more cut, and I suspect Everett won’t make that decision until after the season begins.
Defensemen (9): Gabe Minville (18), Evan Morden (17), Ryan Murray (17), Jeff Regier (19), Rasmus Rissanen (19), Paul Sohor (19), Chad Suer (20), Alex Theriau (18), Nicholas Walters (16).
The Tips will make one move here, and maybe two. The choice probably will come down to whether they want to go with the more experienced/less growth potential option, or the less experience/more growth potential option.
Goaltenders (3): Andy Desautels (16), Luke Siemens (18), Kent Simpson (18).
Either Desautels or Siemens will win the backup job. I suspect it all comes down to whether the Tips believe Desautels is capable of handling the pressure as a 16-year-old, and whether they think Desautels will continue developing with limited playing time behind Simpson.
