EVERETT – There’s an old adage in the Western Hockey League. It states that a team can’t win in the playoffs with a young goaltender.
Jennifer Buchanan / The Herald
There’s a certain logic behind the adage. Talent can take a player or team a long way. However, in the playoffs the pressure is ratcheted up several notches, and conventional wisdom says that experience is the best foil for pressure. In hockey, no position faces more pressure than the goaltender.
As a result, teams that consider themselves championship contenders tend to turn toward a veteran in net.
For the Everett Silvertips, it’s up to their own version of Clark Kent to prove that adage wrong.
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Leland Irving has all the characteristics of a comic book superhero. Mild mannered and reserved in his alter ego – he even sports the obligatory spectacles off the ice – he is nonetheless capable of leaping tall buildings in a single bound when he dons his hockey costume.
But those who know the 17-year-old only through his even-keeled off-ice demeanor may mistake Irving for a future accountant rather than one of the best goaltenders in the WHL.
“He’s just a relaxed and calm guy,” Everett right wing Brady Calla said about Irving’s demeanor. “He’s a very poised individual and he’s a very nice overall.”
Relaxed and in control both on and off the ice, Irving has caused fits for opponents this season. Irving compiled numbers that belie his age. In his first season as Everett’s No. 1, Irving went 37-22-1-3 and finished third in the league in both goals against average (1.91) and save percentage (.925). He was named the Western Conference second-team all-star goaltender and is considered a potential first-round pick in the upcoming NHL draft.
Not bad for a player who comes from humble goaltending roots. He discovered goaltending while growing up in Swan Hills, Alberta, simply because he and his older brother, Kirk, were forced to take turns in goal while the other one took shots. And Irving didn’t take to goaltending right away.
“I just liked the equipment,” Irving said with a chuckle. “But I prefered to be in the center of the action.”
As time passed Irving realized he was a better goaltender than a skater, and he progressed to the point where Everett used a modest fifth-round Bantam Draft pick on Irving in 2003.
Irving served capably as Michael Wall’s backup last season as a 16-year-old rookie. The Tips then showed their faith in Irving when they traded Wall before this season began. Irving took over as the No. 1 and the Tips didn’t skip a beat, with Irving maintaining his calm demeanor throughout.
“I’d say my personality is very representative of how I play,” Irving said. “I try to keep an even keel. In the heat of a game you can’t allow yourself to get too high after a great save, and you can’t get too low if they do score.”
But just like superheroes, looks can be deceiving.
“I think there’s some deception there,” Everett coach Kevin Constantine said. “I think anybody who competes as hard as he does isn’t necessarily laid back. I think underneath a calm exterior is a pretty competitive kid.”
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Flash back to opening night. Everett had just lost 6-4 at Kamloops. Kamloops Daily News sports editor Gregg Drinnan, in his postgame questions, asked almost exclusively about Irving and whether Constantine was comfortable with a 17-year-old in goal.
“Coaches simply don’t have confidence in young goaltenders, no matter whether they are 16 or 17 or even, in some cases, 18,” Drinnan, the dean of WHL sportswriters, explained. “Any time a team begins a season with a 17-year-old goaltender, and if that team looks to have a shot at being competitive, I always look for a trade.”
Teams with championship aspirations simply don’t choose youth in goal, with good reason: Young goaltenders don’t win titles. Over the past 10 years, only one WHL champion rode a young goaltender – In 2000 Kootenay was backstopped by 16-year-old Dan Blackburn. Among the other nine champions, three had 20-year-olds in goal, three had 19-year-olds and three had 18-year-olds.
Therefore, Irving and the Tips are up against history.
“I think teams like to go with a guy who’s proven himself through the regular season and playoffs,” Irving said. “I guess you could say we took a risk this year by trading Wallsey and going with me. But the coaches had confidence in me, and that gave me the confidence that I could take the load, even being as young as I am.”
By this point Irving isn’t your ordinary 17-year-old. He’s already played 90 games in the WHL. This season he led the league in minutes played and started 66 of the Tips’ 72 games. By all rights he can be considered a veteran.
And although youthful championship goaltenders are a rarity, Irving needn’t look far to find a young goaltender who came close. Last season Brandon’s Tyler Plante, then a 17-year-old, carried the Wheat Kings all the way to the WHL finals.
“We definitely have the utmost confidence in him,” Everett defenseman Shaun Heshka said of Irving. “He’s been here all year, he’s played a lot of games and he knows what it takes to win. I don’t have a worry in my mind that he’s not going to come out ready.”
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Everett is not considered a favorite to win the WHL championship. Though the Tips finished first in the U.S. Division, a half-dozen teams are considered better candidates to raise the WHL championship banner. Popular belief is that Everett’s time will come the following two seasons – with a playoff-tested Irving in goal.
But when the Tips have been fully healthy this season, they’ve been as competitive as anyone. And Everett is nearly back to full health heading into the playoffs. They’re not of the mindset to be satisfied with reaching the second round.
But for Everett to prove the prognosticators wrong, the Tips will have to play beyond their years.
And Irving will have to prove one of the WHL’s most-revered beliefs untrue.
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