Is this year’s Everett Silvertips reminding you of the 2003-2004 squad?
It’s a comparison colleague Nick Patterson briefly alluded to before and I had to ask head coach Kevin Constantine about it after the Tips swept Portland Wednesday night.
“I know what you’re going to say,” he said with maybe just a hint of a knowing smirk. “There are comparisons in the teams in that we weren’t a high-scoring team then and it was a pretty tight U.S. Division that year, and a sweep in the first round. I understand that. But it was 13 years ago and you’re so focused on what you’re doing right now you don’t sit around and make analogies like that too much.”
That’s fair. Things like analogies and comparisons and streaks are good for sports writers and fans because it gives us a storyline to follow. It’s the way we make sense of how a team that had such difficulty scoring during the season just completed a four-game sweep of a former powerhouse in the Portland Winterhawks.
And it brings some nostalgia for the fans, many of whom fell in love with the Tips during that magical first season that saw the organization win its first and only Western Conference title.
But for the players and coaches thinking about those things doesn’t help them “stay in the moment” while “focusing on the next shift,” to borrow Everett parlance. Therefore it’s up to sports writers and fans to make those analogies.
So, because we’ve got five days before the second round begins, let’s go ahead and make some comparisons:
– The 2003-04 expansion Silvertips won a tightly contested U.S. Division with a record of 35-27-8-2 and 80 points (worth noting the ‘8’ represents ties, which were still a thing back then. The ‘2’ represents overtime losses and there were no shootouts). This year’s team finished 38-26-5-3 and had 84 points, but lost out on the division title to a Seattle team that ended the year on a hot streak.
– The 2003-04 Tips scored the fewest goals it the Western Conference (157) but allowed a U.S. Division-low 153 goals. The 2015-16 Tips scored a conference-worst 182 goals, but allowed just 172, which was the second-fewest in the league behind Scotty Munro Trophy-winning Victoria.
– The Kelowna Rockets (47-21-4-0, 98 points) were the 2003-04 Scotty Munro champs and blew a three games to one lead in the Western Conference finals to Everett. That Rockets squad allowed a league-low 125 goals and wasn’t particularly high-scoring as it tallied 185 goals. This year Victoria scored a conference-best 281 goals to go along with the league-low 166 goals against.
– The Tips swept Spokane 4-0 in the first round of the 2004 playoffs. Then the field was reseeded and Everett beat the Vancouver Giants 4-2. Vancouver was the No. 2 seed from the B.C. Division, but had a worse record than Everett and likely wasn’t favored. The 2015-16 Tips will be the underdog against Seattle despite holding a 6-2-1-1 mark against the Thunderbirds.
We’ll leave it there for now.
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