Opponent: Seattle Thunderbirds
When: 7:05 p.m.
Where: KeyArena, Seattle
Radio: KRKO (1380 AM, picked up in progress following high school basketball coverage)
Thursday’s practice at the Lynnwood Ice Center included a sight for sore eyes for the Silvertips.
No. 1 goalie Jeff Harvey was back on the ice, moving well and looking like a player ready to step back in the lineup.
“I feel really good,” Harvey said after practice. “It’s my second day of practice this week, it’s been back-to-back days and it feels almost ready to go, I’d say.”
Harvey will at least be on the bench tonight at Seattle and may even get the start.
“There’s a chance he could play tomorrow,” Everett coach Kevin Constantine said. “We’ll just make sure he’s not sore tomorrow and if he’s not sore tomorrow, then we’ll know he’s healthy and we’ll have to make a decision.”
Harvey, who is 21-14-5 with a 2.01 goals-against average (second in the WHL) and a .924 save percentage (fourth in the WHL), has played just once since straining a hip muscle on Feb. 10 against Moose Jaw.
In Harvey’s absence, backup Michael Wall has gone 5-4-1, has joined the league leaders in goals-against average (third at 2.14) and save percentage (third at .925) and backstopped the Silvertips to the record for most wins by an expansion franchise.
“I’m very anxious (to get back on the ice),” Harvey said. “To see the team set the record, something we strived for from day one, and to not be a part of it was probably the toughest thing I’ve had to do as an athlete. But injuries are a part of the game and you’ve just got to come back stronger and make yourself more of a team player because of it.”
Scouting report: Tonight’s game is the first of three against Seattle in Everett’s final six games of the regular season. The Silvertips also play the T-birds on March 12 at home and on March 14 in Seattle. Everett leads the season series 3-2-3.
Seattle (21-28-8-9, fifth in the U.S. Division) is all but eliminated from the playoff race. The T-birds trail fourth-place Spokane by seven points with just six games remaining. Seattle has also struggled lately, losing its past three games and going 3-7 in its last 10.
The T-birds have been unable to generate as much offense as they would have liked this season. Twenty-year-old center Dustin Johner (25 goals, 28 assists) and 19-year-old left wing Tyler Metcalfe (20 goals, 33 assists) are tied for the team lead in points with 53, and 17-year-old forward Aaron Gagnon is the only other player on the team to have cracked 20 goals, having scored exactly 20.
In goal, neither Bryan Bridges (14-18-2, 2.65 goals-against average, .896 save percentage) nor Josh Lepp (6-13-3, 2.90 goals-against average, .888 save percentage), has been able to take charge of the No. 1 spot.
Around the WHL: The Brandon Wheat Kings have fired head coach Mike Kelly. Brandon, considered one of the most talented teams in the WHL, is a disappointing 22-32-9-3 and tied with Regina for third in the East Division. General manager Kelly McCrimmon will serve as head coach for the remainder of the season. … Red Deer’s Dion Phaneuf was voted the top player in the Canadian Hockey League by Prospects Hockey’s Top 35 poll. Phaneuf, an 18-year-old defenseman, was selected ninth overall by the Calgary Flames in the 2003 NHL draft. Portland defenseman Braydon Coburn was also voted among the top five. … Everett moved up two places to seventh in the most recent Western Major Junior Hockey Writers Association poll. Kelowna was first with 15 first-place votes, Moose Jaw was second with two first-place votes and Medicine Hat was third. … Moose Jaw goalie Mike Brodeur was selected the WHL Player of the Week for Feb. 23-29. Brodeur recorded three straight road wins, giving up just one goal. … Lethbridge goalie Logan Koopmans was named the WHL Player of the Month for February. Koopmans was 8-2-2 with three shutouts in the month.
Nick Patterson
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