The Everett Silvertips held an early practice today before jumping on the bus to Kelowna where they will take on a fully stocked Rockets team Friday.
The Tips were over at the community rink as Xfinity Arena plays host to a spa show this weekend. Everett has a packed weekend with road games at Seattle and Spokane on Saturday and Sunday to follow Friday’s game against the Rockets.
I wasn’t savvy enough to talk to Penticton native Graham Millar prior to last week’s game at Kelowna, but I rectified that mistake Thursday. Penticton isn’t too far away from Kelowna and Millar had a key game-tying goal in Everett’s 2-1 overtime win against the Rockets last week Wednesday.
“I played a lot of minor hockey there against the Kelowna minor hockey team,” Millar said. “It’s right down the way from Penticton so I spent a lot of time there growing up.
“It was really nice to have my dad and my little brother and a couple of family friends there last time, so it was a lot of fun,” he added.
I would expect there will be Millar fans there again Friday.
Carter Hart was named to the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game scheduled for Jan. 28 in Vancouver, we found out right before today’s practice. In chatting about Hart’s selection with head coach Kevin Constantine, a former goaltender himself, I was curious how much Constantine coaches his own goalies.
Turns out he doesn’t.
“I did through my coaching career work with goalies up until I felt that the position of goaltending had changed significantly where I felt I wasn’t qualified any more,” Constantine said. “In the last 15 years the techniques and the strategies of goaltending have changed significantly. It used to be a game where you stood there and used your athleticism to react. The puck is going there and that’s where I’m going. Now the strategy is to be in the position and allow your positioning to be responsible for most of your saves and then adding a little athleticism on top of some basics. But I’m just not qualified anymore.”
You have to respect his candor. Part of being successful at anything involves knowing your own limitations and yielding to other experts (like Tips goaltending coach Shane Clifford).
If you want to read more about Kelowna from the Rockets perspective you can do so here and here.
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