Homecoming
Friday was a special night for long-time Silvertips fans as former star and fan favorite Dan Gendur was on hand to drop the ceremonial first puck. I spoke with him during the first intermission and I’ll have more on that in a day or so.
We love you, @dangendur71. Welcome home. ??? pic.twitter.com/cVP33AA5nG
— Everett Silvertips (@WHLsilvertips) December 31, 2016
The feeling was mutual:
What a great evening for my family. Thanks to @TipsAlumni @mlovehockey @KlcCoach and entire @WHLsilvertips organization #tips #pureclass
— Dan Gendur (@dangendur71) December 31, 2016
The Game
If you had told Kevin Constantine prior to the season that the Everett Silvertips would beat the Prince George Cougars three out of four times – including a two-game sweep up north – he would have taken it.
As it stands the Tips were once again on the verge of the season sweep and even took a 3-2 lead in the third period before Prince George battled back with two goals in the final 16 minutes to salvage the final regular-season meeting between the teams.
Yes, that regular-season qualifier is intentional. You get the sense that these two teams could meet once again down the road with perhaps the Western Conference title at stake. Both head coach Kevin Constantine and forward Matt Fonteyne described the game as having a “playoff atmosphere” particularly given the physicality with which the Cougars play.
I didn’t bother asking Constantine if he could foresee a potential playoff matchup between the teams (even if he has thought about it I doubt he’d admit it).
But I did ask Fonteyne and the 19-year-old center seemed to entertain the idea briefly before responding with the “right” answer:
“It’s too far in the future,” Fonteyne said. “We’ll just worry about the second half. It was a really good first half, but we kinda have to forget about that. It’s pretty much a whole new season the second half so we just need to focus on that and go from there.”
Some of the faces from tonight's Everett Silvertips vs the Prince George Cougars game #Silvertips #Hockey pic.twitter.com/YI6uYJ6yXj
— Chris Mast (@MastImages) December 31, 2016
Despite the loss the Tips are once again tied with the Cougars atop the Western Conference. Everett’s 25-5-6-0 record is the second-best record through 36 games in franchise history. The 2006-07 team that went on to claim the Scotty Munro Trophy as regular-season WHL champion was 30-5-1-0 at the halfway point.
The Turning Point
Josh Curtis took advantage of a strange bound at 14:16 in the third to score the game-winner as the Cougars snapped a two-game losing streak.
Three Stars
1. PG D Brendan Guhle: Guhle had a goal and an assist to finish plus-three for the game.
2. PG F Jansen Harkins: Harkins had two goals and an assist en route to a plus-three evening.
3. Everett D Kevin Davis: The veteran blueliner assisted all three Everett goals and finished plus-one.
Honorable mention: PG F Brad Morrison (two assists, plus-three), PG F Kody McDonald (two assists, plus-three), Everett F Matt Fonteyne (two goals).
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