EVERETT — This weekend’s games are just exhibitions, but there’s plenty of anticipation as the Everett Silvertips play host to the Delta Hotels Preseason Classic at Xfinity Arena.
Much of that excitement stems from the offseason coaching change as Dennis Williams takes over behind the bench for the 15th season in franchise history. The Stratford, Ontario, native joins long-time Tips assistant Mitch Love as the team transitions from three full-time coaches to two this year.
“It’s been an exciting first week (and) it’s been a long time coming,” Williams said. “I thought the guys had a good training camp and we’ve gone after it pretty hard this week with two-a-days and testing. The results were strong so that’s always promising throughout a summer when players come back. You hope they stay true to their workouts and they did a great job on it.”
Everett opens the annual event at 7 p.m. Friday against the Tri-City Americans. The Tips continue with 7 p.m. games against the Seattle Thunderbirds Saturday and the Portland Winterhawks Sunday. All five U.S. Division teams and the Vancouver Giants take part in this weekend’s tournament.
Williams and Love spent most of the initial weekend of training camp as active observers. This week they’ve been on the ice demonstrating systems as the camp roster was trimmed from nearly 100 to less than 30.
“We try to cram in as much as we can without giving them too much for this weekend,” Williams said. “We want them to be hockey players out there. Pretty simple systems for the weekend that we’ll throw at them, but more than that, we just want them to go out there and play.”
Everett returns a strong overage trio in forwards Matt Fonteyne and Patrick Bajkov, and defenseman Kevin Davis, in addition to 19-year-old and two-time defending WHL Goaltender of the Year Carter Hart.
The Tips are also looking for big things out of forward Riley Sutter, who jumped from one goal as a rookie to 20 last season and is entering his draft year.
“This week was kind of a learning path,” Sutter said. “Just trying to learn the systems and get the hang of it and then obviously after this week we’ll do a little bit more each week and get the full grasp on everything.”
Tips acquire Regina defenseman
On Thursday Everett announced it had acquired defenseman Riley Bruce from the Regina Pats for a conditional pick in the 2018 bantam draft.
“Riley is a defenseman with experience, size, and a reputation for a hard-nosed approach,” Everett general manager Garry Davidson said in a press release. “He is a player we saw potential in and kept our eye on, leading up to his selection in the bantam draft. We’re looking forward to welcoming him to the Pacific Northwest.”
A 6-foot-2, 190-pound blueliner, the 18-year-old Bruce is a Winnipeg native who had three points in 18 games with the Pats. He also had four points in 14 games with the Steinbach Pistons of the MJHL.
Bruce was a fifth-round pick of Regina in the 2014 bantam draft.
Everett inks second-rounder
Later Thursday the Tips announced they had signed forward Jackson Berezowski to WHL standard player agreement.
Berezowski is a 2002-born native of Yorkton, Saskatchewan, and was Everett’s second-round pick in the 2017 bantam draft.
“Jackson’s offensive credentials and proven ability made his signing a high priority,” Davidson said in a press release. “We’re excited to have him officially as a Silvertip. He’s a terrific individual with a great attitude and enthusiasm for the game. We’re expecting his time in Yorkton, this season, to be extremely productive and provide him the experience to make the step to Western Hockey League in the very near future.”
Berezowski took the league scoring title at the Saskatchewan Bantam AA level in 2016-17 with 87 points in 30 games and was fourth with 41 goals for the Yorkton Terriers.
For the latest Silvertips news follow Jesse Geleynse on Twitter.
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