Dewar’s 6-point night lifts Silvertips past Thunderbirds

EVERETT— Just a day after his billet brother Bryce Kindopp notched his first career hat trick, Connor Dewar just had to show him up.

The 19-year-old forward tallied four goals in a six-point night to lead the Silvertips in a 7-2 rout over their Interstate-5 rival, the Seattle Thunderbirds, on Saturday at Angel of the Winds Arena to cap a weekend home-and-home series.

“Tonight, we were led by our captain,” Everett head coach Dennis Williams said. “I thought Dewey (Dewar) did a really good job there, especially after the first, leading them and getting them going and playing the game right. If we can get two points against a good opponent, you’ll take it.

“He’s always got an honest performance, so it’s never a lack of effort from Dewey. He puts an honest effort each and every night and it’s a reason why he’s our captain. It was good to see him out there and get them going. Sometimes, I think he puts a little too much pressure on himself, but that’s what good leaders do, they want the pressure and the puck on their stick. He was demanding it out there.”

It’s Dewar’s second career hat trick and his seventh multi-goal game of the season.

The Pas, Manitoba native opened the scoring with a goal with 29.7 seconds remaining in the first period. The 19-year-old forward sliced through Seattle’s defense and waited long enough with the puck so Seattle netminder Cole Schwebius was on his stomach for his save attempt and slid it into a wide open net for his 32nd goal of the season. Wyatte Wylie and Gianni Fairbrother were credited with the assists.

yay! pic.twitter.com/44sIL1qMJC

— Everett Silvertips (@WHLsilvertips) February 3, 2019

Dewar scored again 12 seconds into a power play at the 2:55 mark of the second period, as a shot from the point from Jake Christiansen was redirected midair by Kindopp to the net and Dewar batted in the rebound for his second of the night.

yay x2! pic.twitter.com/3hBJUQHcmB

— Everett Silvertips (@WHLsilvertips) February 3, 2019

“That was all Jake (Christiansen) finding the seam for the stick there,” Williams said. “He’s one of the best at it.”

The Silvertips’ captain sent hats tumbling to the ice at the 11:45 mark of the second, as Dewar took a pass from Gage Goncalves and wristed a shot over Schwebius’ blocker side.

yay x3 hat trick edition pic.twitter.com/Mgx2R3RAKh

— Everett Silvertips (@WHLsilvertips) February 3, 2019

Dewar scored his fourth 28 seconds into the third period, as shot from Fairbrother deflected off him and into the net.

There could be a scoring change on the goal, as Dewar is adament Fairbrother’s shot didn’t graze him before crossing the goal line.

yay x4 ! pic.twitter.com/vpxUYtmJIm

— Everett Silvertips (@WHLsilvertips) February 3, 2019

“It was Fairbrother,” Dewar said. “It didn’t touch me, it should be his goal.”

Dewar assisted on a pair of power play goals 1:17 apart in the third, as Kindopp potted a goal during a 5-on-3 advantage at 11:07 and Wylie at 12:24.

Dewar’s six points on Saturday was one off from the Silvertips franchise record, held by Zach Hamill and Dan Gendur.

“It’s something you don’t really realize until after the game,” said Dewar, who recorded his second career hat trick on Saturday. “But it’s fun to score goals. … I’ll take it.”

Christiansen finished with a goal and three assists for a career-high four points and Goncalves chipped in three assists, also a career-high.

The Silvertips are riding a four-game winning streak after the weekend wins over Seattle and have outscored their opponents 21-5 in their last three games.

“It’s nice,” Dewar said. “Over our three-game skid we had a few weeks ago, it kind of built some characters and now it shows just how resilient we are.”

Dewar’s four-goal outing was the third consecutive game with a hat trick for a Silvertips’ player, after Zack Andrusiak accomplished the feat on Jan. 26 in a 9-1 triumph over Lethbridge with a trio of goals and Kindopp followed suit on Friday at by potting three against Seattle. It’s the first time that’s happened in the franchise’s history.

Seven of those 10 goals attributed belong in the same billet house.

“It must be the food our billets our cooking us, I guess,” Dewar said.

Next up

Everett hosts Medicine Hat for a 7:35 p.m. tilt Friday as the Tigers head west for the first game of a three-game U.S. Division road trip.

Josh Horton covers the Everett Silvertips and AquaSox for The Everett Daily Herald. Follow him on Twitter (@joshhortonEDH) or reach out to him over email (jhorton@heraldnet.com).