EVERETT – No Michael Wall? No problem for the Everett Silvertips.
With the reigning Canadian Hockey League Goalie of the Week in street clothes, Leland Irving picked up the slack, shutting out the Kelowna Rockets 1-0 Wednesday night in a Western Hockey League game.
“I just had to come in and get the job done,” said the 16-year-old Irving, who registered his second shutout of the season. “The team played great again tonight and I didn’t have a whole lot of work, but I came up with the saves when I had to.”
Wall, who had given up just one goal in the previous three games, was serving a one-game suspension for his part in a confrontation during Everett’s 2-0 victory over Seattle on Saturday.
But Irving’s brilliance – along with the shot-blocking defense in front of him – made up for Wall’s absence. Irving finished with just 16 saves, but many of the shots that got through the Everett defense required Irving to be at his best.
“We played good in front of Irv, didn’t give up a lot of shots or scoring chances, but he made his share of big saves too,” Everett coach Kevin Constantine said. “He did his part, for sure.”
Irving and his defense made it so that a burst of speed by Brady Calla and some instinctive positioning by Zach Hamill was all the offense Everett (25-21-6-2) needed to win its fourth straight. With Seattle losing 4-2 to Spokane, the Silvertips also inched within 11 points of the Thunderbirds for first place in the U.S. Division.
Kelowna (31-11-11-2), which came into the game with the most points in the league, is now winless in its last three.
“We’ve got to find ways to generate more offense,” Kelowna coach Jeff Truitt said. “It’s not like we didn’t have opportunities through the neutral zone, we just didn’t execute. And you have to give them a lot of credit, too. They get up a goal and they lock the door real well.”
In a game pitting two of the tightest defensive teams in the league, it’s not surprising that scoring chances were few and far between – the teams combined on just 35 shots on goal.
But it was two more of Everett’s 16-year-olds who found an opening to combine on the game’s lone goal.
Midway through the third period, the puck was played to the left edge of the Kelowna zone. Calla, who’s becoming known for his speed, turned on the jets to beat Kelowna defenseman Colin Joe to the puck. He held Joe off as he turned the corner and tried to stuff the puck past Rockets goaltender Derek Yeomans at the near post. The puck squirted away, but went right to Hamill at the far post, who had an easy tap-in. The goal, at 10 minutes, 6 seconds, was Hamill’s eighth of the season.
“It’s just pure speed, I can’t describe it any other way,” Calla said about the play.
“I saw Zach when I picked it up and I just put my head down and went to the net. It’s a good thing he was there for the rebound.”
From there it was all Irving and the Everett defense. Irving made a great glove save on Tyler Mosienko on a shot that seemed destined for the top corner, and the Tips laid themselves out to block a slew of shots. Everett’s skaters blocked a series of shots in the final seconds, and it was fitting that Alex Leavitt celebrated the victory at the horn by raising his arms from his seat after blocking the final shot.
“We had to kill two penalties in the last 10 minutes and that’s where guys really sacrificed their bodies a lot,” Constantine said. “We had some huge blocks – (Cody) Thoring, (Shaun) Heshka, (Curtis) Billsten – so we paid the price to get the job done.”
Slap shots: Because of Wall’s suspension, fifteen-year-old Chris Ward, Everett’s fourth-round selection in the 2004 Bantam Draft, was called up to serve as Irving’s backup. … Everett center Mark Kress was scratched because of illness. … Kelowna played without right wing Blake Comeau. Comeau, who came into the game tied for fourth on the team in scoring, was serving the second game of a suspension for a hit leveled Friday against a Kamloops player. Left wing Brent Howarth also sat out of the game because of suspension and defenseman Liam Couture was scratched with a broken finger.
Silvertips 1, Rockets 0
Kelowna000-0
Everett001-1
First Period-No goals.
Second Period-No goals.
Third Period-1, Everett, Hamill 8 (Calla, Potuer), 10:06
Shots on goal-Kelowna 5-4-7-16. Everett 5-8-6-19. Power-play opportunities-Kelowna 0 of 3. Everett 0 of 3.
Goalies-Kelowna, Yeomans 21-11-7 (19 shots, 18 saves). Everett, Irving 6-7-1 (16 shots, 16 saves).
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