Are the Everett Silvertips back in the playoff race?
All season long the Tips have insisted their goal is to make the playoffs, despite going through a rebuilding process. Everett has made the playoffs in all eight of its previous seasons, and the Tips want to keep that streak intact. But as the season progressed and Everett fell further and further into the WHL’s basement, talk about making the playoffs seemed more like lip service or wishful thinking. At one point the Tips were 10 points behind everyone else in the Western Conference.
However, after taking seven points from their past six games, the playoffs are starting to look like a realistic goal again. Everett still has the worst record in the league at 10-28-1-8. But the Tips have pulled their winning percentage above .300, and they’ve pulled within six points of the conference’s eighth and final playoff berth.
“We still believe we can make it,” Tips leading scorer Josh Birkholz said. “There’s 24 guys in that locker room who have no doubt we can make it. It’s something our minds have been on and that we’re working toward, especially the past couple weeks.”
Everett has played better of late. Not only are the Tips getting results, they’re no longer being dominated on the shot clock like they were during the first half of the season.
It also helps having a healthy Ryan Murray back in the lineup. Everett’s captain and defensive lynchpin missed 26 of Everett’s first 37 games because of a combination of injury and international duty. The Tips’ recent improved stretch coincides with Murray getting back up to speed with the team.
“We’re playing better hockey,” Everett coach Mark Ferner said. “Our guys are understanding what the expectations are and the level of commitment that needs to be put in. From day one we’ve been singing the same songs about how we need to be. Until they taste a little bit of success from it they kind of look at a little differently. It’s just nice for them, they’ve worked extremely hard and for them to have some success is great.”
As significant as Everett’s improved play has been to the team’s playoff chances, it has been the misfortune of its rivals. Three other teams are lingering toward the bottom of the conference standings: Seattle, Victoria and Prince George. All three teams traded away their top skater at the trade deadline, and all three have been backing up since the beginning of January. Victoria and Prince George are both 2-8 in their past 10 games, while Seattle is 1-9.
The schedule also favors Everett’s efforts. Of the team’s remaining 25 games, 10 come against the three teams the Tips are chasing. Everett still has four games remaining against both Seattle and Victoria, as well as next weekend’s two-game road trip to Prince George. Therefore, there are plenty of chances for the Tips to make up ground.
There is still a lot of work to be done. Everett not only needs to make up six points, the Tips need to pass two of the teams ahead of them. But for the first time in a long time, it actually seems like a possibility.
Around the WHL
Seattle goaltender Calvin Pickard became the league’s all-time leader in career saves during the T-birds’ 3-2 loss to Vancouver on Sunday. The 19-year-old, who’s in his fourth season in the league, now has 6,959 career saves. That eclipsed the previous record of 6,958 set by former Seattle netminder Danny Lorenz from 1986-90. … The league came down hard on Moose Jaw’s Dylan McIlrath, giving the 19-year-old defenseman an eight-game suspension for a checking-to-the-head major penalty and game misconduct against Victoria last Wednesday. … Edmonton’s Michael St. Croix was named the WHL Player of the Week. The 18-year-old forward had six goals and four assists as the Oil Kings went 3-0.
League leaders
Points — Ty Rattie (Portland), Jordan Weal (Regina) 81; goals — Rattie 42; assists — Weal 51; penalty minutes — Cody Beach (Moose Jaw) 160; wins — Mac Carruth (Portland) 28; goals against average — Ty Rimmer (Tr-City) 2.13; save percentage — Rimmer .930.
Check out Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog, and follow him on Twitter at NickHPatterson.
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