Silvertips prepare for Friday’s playoff opener

Published 1:30 am Monday, March 20, 2017

EVERETT — Sunday’s regular-season finale didn’t go according to script for the Everett Silvertips.

In fact there was no script, with Everett having already clinched the U.S. Division title in an emotional 5-2 victory over the Victoria Royals the night before. So the Tips rested their top line, their top defensive pair and top goaltender Sunday and still nearly beat the Tri-City Americans before surrendering two late goals that allowed Tri-City to eventually prevail 6-5 in overtime.

It mattered little as the Tips go back to work this week in preparation for Friday’s playoff opener against Victoria. The script calls for intense discipline and notorious attention to detail, and Everett’s strict adherence during the regular season resulted in a division banner in what most thought would be a rebuilding campaign.

“You always hope,” Everett forward Matt Fonteyne said in the aftermath of Saturday’s win. “We have a great group of guys in there, and at the start of the season we had a lot to work on. We had a lot of young guys.

“Everyone bought in and right now it’s paying off. It’s awesome that the young guys are buying in and everyone got together as a group, and it just goes to show when 24 guys are working as hard as they can day-in and day-out.”

The Tips dealt with some challenging travel and untimely injuries and illnesses early in the year. At times four of their six starting defensemen were 17 or younger, yet they weathered it all en route to a double-digit first-place lead in the division at the mid-season break.

Propelled on the back end by goaltender Carter Hart and defenseman Noah Juulsen, the Tips got breakout offensive seasons from defenseman Kevin Davis and forward Patrick Bajkov. Early-season acquisition Dominic Zwerger from Spokane helped make Everett’s offense more dynamic, while the trade deadline pickup of overage Aaron Irving from Edmonton solidified Everett’s back end.

“When we just kept winning in the first half I think we knew we could be something special,” Davis said.

Then came the seven-game winless skid, a stretch that included seven games in nine nights and with Juulsen and defensive partner Lucas Skrumeda out due to lower body injuries. At the same time Seattle caught fire and reeled in the Tips as the teams jockeyed for first place in the division for the remainder of the season.

“Every team is going to go through a bad stretch,” Fonteyne said. “I think the main thing is to try and find your way out of it and just try to focus on the main things, focus on your game and not worry too, too much about the down stretch. Like I said, every team goes through it. It’s probably better you go through it at the start of the year than at the end.”

Everett righted itself by going 5-1 on its swing through the East Division in mid-February and managed to avoid any other long periods of extended losses. According to Silvertips head coach Kevin Constantine, it was that consistency that stood out about the team’s regular season.

“Usually a team will go through two or three of those little swings and we had one,” Constantine said. “And if you take that little stretch out of it, they were pretty consistent. They didn’t have long down stretches. I think when you talk about consistency, it can only come from being dedicated. Otherwise you’re going to go through that. They were pretty dedicated to what we needed to do as a group all year to get it done.”

Yes, the Silvertips achieved their initial goal of winning the division, but now the “second season” begins in short order. Everett has advanced to the second round each of the past two seasons, but hasn’t reached the conference final since 2006.

While the Tips are assured of raising one banner when the 2017-18 season begins this fall, they still have an opportunity to do what no Everett team has done in the franchise’s first 13 years: raise a banner commemorating an Ed Chynoweth Cup title as WHL playoff champions.

That’s Everett’s script now, and Opening Night is Friday.

For the latest Silvertips news follow Jesse Geleynse on Twitter @JesseGeleynse