Everett 4, Prince George 2
Published 10:27 pm Saturday, December 13, 2008
TALKING POINTS
Huge win for the Tips tonight. Everett needed something positive heading into the Christmas break, and the Tips got it tonight. Now the next two weeks will be a little bit easier for the Tips as they avoided stewing over a six-game skid over the holidays.
It didn’t look that way for a while as Prince George took a 2-1 lead midway through the third period. But whereas the Cougars twice erased third-period Everett leads last weekend in Prince George, the Tips managed to turn the tables this time around.
Kyle Beach had his best game in a while, with three primary assists. The Tips also got a good effort from its fourth line. Ryan White scored the all-important tying goal 17 seconds after the Cougars took the lead in the third, with Cameron Abney earning his first career point in assisting White’s goal.
Now for two well-earned weeks of rest for the Tips, who finished the first half 15-13-5-0, better than anyone would have expected heading into the season.
TURNING POINT
Alex Poulter’s goal at 7:26 of the third, on which he beat Everett goaltender Shayne Barrie from an impossible spot down low along the right boards, could have sounded Everett’s death knell. Instead, White scored off the rush from the top of the left circle on the following shift, and the Tips took off from there with help from the crowd.
HIT OF THE DAY
Former teammates reacquainted themselves with one another early in the first period when Everett’s Jordan Mistelbacher decleated Jeff Regier with a crunching hits into the boards.
THREE STARS
First star: Beach. Three assists and no penalty minutes. This is the Beach the Tips want to see every game.
Second star: Shane Harper, Everett. Scored two goals, including the late empty-netter that sealed it.
Third star: Kevin Armstrong, Prince George. Made some unbelievable saves among his 31 to keep the Cougars in it.
The Herald’s honorable mention: White. Scored, hit, even got into his first WHL fight at the end of the game.
LINEUP NOTES
Everett made two changes from Friday’s 6-3 loss to Medicine Hat, with Abney and White returning to the lineup in place of forwards Paul Van de Velde and Markus McCrea, who joined forward Tyler Parker as healthy scratches. Defensemen Shayne Brown (hip flexor) and Trevor Bauer (shoulder) are injured.
Prince George played without leading scorer Dana Tyrell, who is attending Team Canada’s selection camp for the World Junior Hockey Championships. His younger brother, forward Corey Tyrell, is out with a shoulder injury. Defenseman Bruin McDonald was a healthy scratch.
