Tip-ology 101: Your cheat sheet to the playoff ride
Published 9:00 pm Friday, April 6, 2007
If you have not yet contracted playoff fever, you may be wondering what all the fuss is about.
Why are your friends and neighbors running around wearing green hockey sweaters with names such as “Hamill” and “Mueller” printed on the back? And why does everyone seem to be ringing cowbells?
The answer is that the postseason has begun for the Everett Silvertips hockey team and, while the Tips have been regular playoff participants since their inception in 2003, the expectations this year are even higher than usual. The Silvertips are the No. 1-ranked team in the entire Canadian Hockey League and are favored to reach, if not win, the Memorial Cup.
What? You’ve never heard of the Canadian Hockey League or the Memorial Cup?
Well, fear not. The Herald is here to help. Just take a couple minutes to read the following Q&A and you’ll know enough about the Silvertips and their quest for glory to carry on a coherent conversation with your puck-crazed next-door neighbor.
Once he stops banging on that cowbell.
The Tips are ranked No. 1 in the Canadian Hockey League? I thought they were members of the Western Hockey League. You’re right on both counts. The Canadian Hockey League is the umbrella organization that oversees all 59 teams in the three major junior hockey leagues in North America – the Western Hockey League, the Ontario Hockey League and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
How old are the players? They range from 16 to 20.
How did the Silvertips qualify for playoffs? They won the U.S. Division of the WHL with a 54-15-1-2 regular-season record (wins, losses, overtime losses and shootout losses). There are five teams in the division and the top four make the playoffs.
How did the Tips do in their first-round playoff series? They defeated Spokane in a best-of-seven matchup, four games to two.
Who are they playing now? The Prince George Cougars. Game 1 of the best-of-seven series was Friday night.
What happens if the Tips win this series? They play the winner of the Vancouver-Seattle series for the WHL’s Western Conference championship.
Then what? The champion of the Western Conference plays the champion of the Eastern Conference for the WHL title and a berth in the Memorial Cup.
What is the Memorial Cup? The Memorial Cup brings together the champions of the three major junior hockey leagues in North America plus the host team for a two-week tournament. Think of it as the Final Four of major junior hockey.
Where is the Memorial Cup played? It moves around North America. This year it’s scheduled for May 17-28 in Vancouver, B.C. The Vancouver Giants are the host team, so they get the automatic berth.
What if Vancouver wins the WHL title? Then the league’s runner-up gets the Memorial Cup berth.
Have the Silvertips ever been to the Memorial Cup? No.
Who are the Tips’ star players? Center Peter Mueller and goalie Leland Irving were first-round picks in last year’s National Hockey League draft. Center Zach Hamill led the WHL in scoring during the regular season and is eligible for this year’s NHL draft.
So what’s up with the cowbells? The cowbells caught on during the Silvertips’ inaugural season in 2003-04. It began when the team repeatedly watched the Saturday Night Live” skit “More Cowbell” during a road trip to Prince George, B.C. The players adopted “more cowbell” as their mantra, and the fans ran with it. If you’ve never seen the skit, you can find it on youtube.com.
