EVERETT — The ice may be gone for the summer inside Xfinity Arena, but there’s still plenty of action next door at the Community Ice Rink.
And Everett Silvertips assistant coach Mitch Love is at the forefront of the activity.
Love is currently holding his D-man camp for youth defensemen that began Tuesday and continues through June 8. It’s a chance for local hockey players, many of whom play for Everett Youth Hockey and the Seattle Junior Hockey Association, to learn from the former Tips captain and professional defenseman who has spent the past six seasons as the Silvertips’ assistant coach.
“It’s been pretty cool to watch some of these kids develop over the years,” Love said. “For me, a good camp for them is if they take one thing out of it that is something different than what they’re used to. That for me is a benefit, and I think their moms and dads would say the same thing. Hopefully anyhow. That’s the purpose of doing these camps.”
One of those players Love has seen grow up is 13-year-old Keegan Clark, who attends Olympic View Middle School and plays in the SJHA. Clark has been playing hockey for “seven or eight years” and his family members are longtime Silvertips season-ticket holders.
Clark was one of 14 skaters Wednesday evening on the community rink ice as players went through skating, passing, puck-handling and shooting drills not unlike the ones Love directs at Silvertips practices during the winter.
“It’s not a sport you get to play very often,” said Clark, who also plays lacrosse. “You don’t play it at school so you kind of feel a little bit different from the other kids and it feels great.
“It is very unique.”
The campers had a special opportunity Wednesday as Everett Silvertips defenseman Wyatte Wylie was on hand to assist Love. Wylie, of course, is the ultimate Everett Youth Hockey success story. He grew up learning to skate at Xfinity Arena, played for EYH and became the first Snohomish County native drafted and signed by the Tips.
“I went to all the camps here when (EYH) had them,” Wylie said. “I know when I was doing it if there was anybody (from) a higher level that came out it was awesome no matter if they played for the Tips or just a higher junior team. It was always cool to have them out there.”
That was an aspect not lost on Love who has spent the better part of the past 15 years embedded in the Snohomish County hockey scene, first as a player for the then-expansion Silvertips who won the franchise’s lone WHL Western Conference title, then as a coach for the past half-dozen years.
“I think the parents pay for the instruction and the kids want to see the faces and I think Wyatte is a prime example of a kid coming through this association and making it to junior hockey,” Love said. “So I thought it was important today to bring him out there and tell his story to the kids.”
Wylie is coming off a successful rookie season in which he appeared in 71 games with 10 assists. He said it was far more games than he expected to play as a first-year blueliner, but he became a mainstay on the left side of the third pairing alongside overager Aaron Irving as the Tips once again led the WHL in fewest goals allowed.
“He’s a defenseman that works every day with me throughout the winter and a lot of the stuff we’re teaching here is maybe to a little bit of a lesser degree for these young kids, but the same concepts apply,” Love said. “If you want to be a good defenseman you have to learn these things at some point.”
The goal of EYH and camps such as these is to continue to “grow the game” in Snohomish County. The hope is that one day there will be more players like Wylie — homegrown, locally developed players capable of playing in the WHL and, perhaps in the college and professional ranks.
“They have the same dream I had so it’s cool,” Wylie said. “It is pretty weird. It’s still not registering. But it’s cool and I like it.”
For the latest Silvertips news follow Jesse Geleynse on Twitter.
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