EVERETT — It wasn’t so long ago that games between the Everett Silvertips and Vancouver Giants at Comcast Arena were the most intense, heated and competitive the WHL had to offer.
Those days appear to be long gone.
The chasm that now exists between these once bitter rivals was hammered home Wednesday night by Vancouver’s 8-0 thrashing of Everett.
Garry Nunn scored three goals as Vancouver served up yet another whupping to the Tips. There was no mistaking which team was the contender and which the pretender Wednesday.
“You prepare for a team like that and hope you’re going to be competitive,” Everett coach John Becanic said. “For 20 minutes we were, then every time me made mistakes it was way too costly. Under duress our guys just seemed to panic. Good teams do that to you, though.”
From 2005-07, Everett and Vancouver battled for supremacy in the Western Conference, and when fans attended a game between the two teams, they knew they were going to witness a war. The games were always tightly-contested affairs where emotions ran high and often boiled over.
But these days, it’s not so much a war as it is a firing squad. Everett thought it had taken Vancouver’s best shot when the Giants blasted the Tips 7-0 the last time the teams met on Jan. 24 in Vancouver. However, the Giants one-upped themselves Wednesday, handing the Tips a defeat that matched Everett’s worst in franchise history.
“I don’t know why that is because Everett competes very hard,” Vancouver coach Don Hay said about the gulf that now exists between the two teams. “Our team has to be prepared to play Everett because of their work ethic. I just think we’ve gotten some bounces at important times that have really helped us.”
Craig Cunningham and Adam Basford each added two goals and James Wright also scored for Vancouver (51-7-1-3), which has outscored Everett 22-3 in four meetings this season, including three shutouts.
Vancouver goaltender Tyson Sexsmith made 29 saves — few of them difficult — to extend his WHL record for career shutouts to 26.
Both Everett’s goaltenders, Thomas Heemskerk and Kent Simpson, saw their fill of the Giants. Heemskerk gave up five goals on 28 shots before departing midway through the second period, and Simpson allowed the final three goals on 21 shots. The Tips also lost yet another forward to injury. Tyler Parker was shaken up by a second-period hit from Craig Schira and did not play in the third. Everett already was hamstrung by four injured forwards.
The Tips (25-28-7-2), much to their chagrin, get another dose of the Giants at home Saturday, and they seem at a loss on how to be more competitive.
“They’re a good team,” Becanic said. “They do everything well, they’re deep at every position. Their 12th forward has 12 goals and 13 assists. Right now on our team that would put him in the top four forwards. Their depth up front is outrageous, their depth on the blue line is the best in the Western Hockey League and Sexsmith is a goalie who won a Memorial Cup. If everybody knew how to figure them out, they would have lost more games by now.”
Everett actually played the Giants tough through one period, yet still found themselves trailing 2-0 thanks to Nunn’s blind backhander 5 minutes, 22 seconds into the game, followed by his power-play rebound at 18:49. At that point the shots were 13-11 in favor of Vancouver, and only that because of a lengthy five-on three advantage that the Tips killed off.
The Tips then received an early power play in the second period with a chance to make it a contest again. But instead, Vancouver’s Brent Regner stripped the puck from Taylor Ellington, then made a great feed under pressure to Cunningham out front, who slipped it under Heemskerk to make it 3-0 at 6:02.
It all fell apart for Everett after that as Vancouver romped the rest of the way.
“I think that short-handed goal was a key point in the game,” Hay said. “We were able to get that third one there and that kind of changed the momentum of the game.”
Though there were few highlights for Everett, Becanic praised the play of 16-year-old call-up forward D. Jay McGrath, who was making his WHL debut.
Giants 8, Silvertips 0
Vancouver233—8
Everett000—0
First Period — 1, Vancouver, Nunn 20 (Kane), 5:22. 2, Vancouver, Nunn 21 (Kane, Pierro-Zabotel), 18:47 (pp). Penalties — Kane, Vancouver (high sticking), 10:14; Parker, Everett (high sticking), 14:08; Dailey, Everett (hooking), 14:35; White, Everett (elbowing), 18:26.
Second Period — 3, Vancouver, Cunningham 26 (Regner), 6:02 (sh). 4, Vancouver, Cunningham 27 (Maschmeyer), 9:45. 5, Vancouver, Wright 18 (Barnett, Schira), 12:34. Penalties — Manning, Vancouver (holding), 5:23; Alexander, Everett (delay of game), 18:02.
Third Period — 6, Vancouver, Nunn 22, 10:27. 7, Vancouver, Basford 11 (Henry, Schira), 11:29. 8, Vancouver, Basford 12 (Kudrna, Henry), 18:49. Penalties — Kane, Vancouver (boarding), 0:58; Manning, Vancouver (cross checking), 3:33; Ellington, Everett (10-minute misconduct), 3:33; Abney, Everett (roughing), 12:22.
Shots on goal — Vancouver 13-21-15 — 49. Everett 11-9-9 — 29. Power-play opportunities — Vancouver 1 of 5. Everett 0 of 4.
Goalies — Vancouver, Sexsmith 36-6-1-2 (29 shots, 29 saves). Everett, Heemskerk 14-16-3-3 (28 shots, 23 saves), Simpson (21-18).
A — 4,941.
Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog: http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog
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