EVERETT – Last season the Everett Silvertips were the quintessential overachievers. Not only did they do just about everything right, they did it all far better than anyone could have expected, and the result was the greatest expansion season in Western Hockey League history.
Given the Silvertips’ accomplishments, there’s little to criticize. But if there was one aspect of the game the Silvertips never solved, it was the power play.
However, now Everett appears to be figuring the power play out, and that improvement is a big reason why the Silvertips are surpassing the achievements of a year ago.
“It’s light years ahead of what we were doing last year,” said Everett captain Mitch Love, who has scored three power-play goals this season from his defensive position. “I’ve always been a firm believer that special teams in this league are a huge part of the success of your team, and I think a little bit of our success this year has been because of our power play.”
At times last season, watching Everett’s power play was like taking a trip to the dentist’s office for root canal work: painful. Often the Silvertips struggled to set up in the opponent’s zone. Sometimes Everett even had trouble getting the puck out of its own zone. As a result, the Silvertips finished 18th out of 20 teams in power-play efficiency, converting just 13.5 percent of their chances.
But this season has seen a dramatic improvement in Everett’s power play. Going into Tuesday night’s games, Everett ranked fifth in the WHL in power-play efficiency, scoring on 31 of its 152 opportunities for a success rate of 20.4 percent.
“I’m very happy with our power play,” Everett coach Kevin Constantine said. “I think any time you’re at 15 percent or better in today’s hockey your power play is doing pretty good.”
So what’s been the catalyst for the Silvertips’ improvement?
“We’re teaching the same concepts,” Constantine said. “I think the difference this year is we just have a little more offensively-gifted players. I think it shows up in our five-on-five scoring average, which is better than last year, and it shows up in our power play.”
Two newcomers have had significant impacts on Everett’s power play. Zach Hamill, Everett’s talented rookie, has helped open up the ice with his passing skills. Karel Hromas, with his hard work and tenacity, has helped make things happen in front of the net, chipping in with four power-play goals.
In addition, a healthy Tyler Dietrich, who missed much of last season with a variety of injuries, provides yet another skilled weapon on the power play.
And Everett’s power play has been even better since the Silvertips traded for forwards Alex Leavitt and Kyle Annesley. In the six games in which the duo has played Everett is 10-for-30 on the power play, a success rate of 33.3 percent.
Leavitt in particular has been a welcome addition to Everett’s power play. With Leavitt and Hamill added to the mix, the Silvertips are able to move the puck on the power play with the type of speed and accuracy they couldn’t last season.
“It was frustrating at times (last season),” Love said. “I think we had the personnel to put the puck in the net, and some games we did and some games we didn’t. I think this year we’re more consistent at it. We work on it a lot more in practice and that makes a huge difference.”
The Silvertips’ power play also looks better this season than last, though it still has a way to go before it reaches the aesthetic levels of the Wayne Gretzky-led Edmonton Oilers of the 1980s. Many of Everett’s power-play goals come on rebounds or deflections from shots from the point.
But the lack of flash doesn’t take anything away from Everett’s success.
“At the end of the day the key to a power play is to score no matter what happens,” Leavitt said. “So if it looks good and goes in, that’s just a bonus. But if we’re just getting shots and getting guys to go to the net and finding ways to score, that’s all that really matters.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
