The Silvertips aren’t skating today – it’s a team bonding activity day, so I’ll be back up at practice tomorrow a day ahead of Everett’s match-up with Prince George.
In chatting with head coach Kevin Constantine Tuesday after practice, it sounds like the coaching staff felt positive after last week’s 1-1-0-1 showing against Brandon and Portland. Everett had 38 shots in Friday’s 2-1 loss to Portland and followed with 30 in a 2-1 win Sunday. That came on the heels of Wednesday’s shootout loss to Brandon in which Everett was out-shot 40-22.
“We liked that we got a point from a very good Brandon team and we liked our overall games both nights,” Constantine said. “We would have loved more points out of the whole week and we’ll do what we need to do to solve the issues that need to get solved.”
Constantine also noted Portland goaltender Adin Hill has had a series of extremely good games en route to back-to-back WHL Goaltender of the Week nominations and Goaltender of the Month honors. Unfortunately for Everett the Silvertips have played Portland five times in 11 games.
That changes beginning Friday when the Cougars come to Xfinity Arena.
Prince George has won two straight and is 7-3 in its past 10 games. The Cougars also made a splash on the trade market Wednesday when it was announced they had acquired 18-year-old goaltender Nick McBride from Prince Albert for a 2017 second round bantam pick. McBride was selected 23rd overall by the Prince Albert Raiders in the 2012 WHL Bantam Draft. The 6-3, 185-pounder had a record of 25-25-1-2, a GAA of 3.22 and save percentage of .900.
McBride has been at home in Maple Ridge, B.C., since early October awaiting a trade. He finally got his wish and will join a Cougars goaltending crew that includes 20-year-old Mack Shields and 19-year-old Ty Edmonds.
Prince George GM Todd Harkins told the Prince George Citizen “[t]his is not because we’re unhappy with our goals, this is setting up our organization for the future.”
McBride isn’t expected to be in Everett this weekend, but Everett could see him when PG returns to Xfinity Dec. 4.
Saturday the Tips play host to Vancouver. As I alluded Tuesday night the Giants are a mess and had two players quit Tuesday and have had five quit this season. The Vancouver Province’s Steve Ewen has this look at the Giants who have lost six straight and nine of their last 10.
Former Silvertip Ivan Nikolishin had a solid night for Red Deer with game-winner and had two assists as the Rebels came back from a two-goal deficit to beat Seattle 4-3 on Tuesday.
Follow Silvertips writer Jesse Geleynse on Twitter @jessegeleynse.
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