EVERETT – You can huff and puff and throw your body around as much as you want, but it’s hard to win games when you don’t have the players.
Suffering through an injury crisis on par with most M.A.S.H. units, the Everett Silvertips dropped their second straight, falling 4-2 to the Kootenay Ice on Tuesday night in a Western Hockey League game.
An Everett Events Center crowd of 4,415 watched the Silvertips scratch and claw and nearly come back from a 3-0 deficit. However, Everett was ultimately unable to overcome the absence of five forwards, including its top three scorers.
“Up front we’re challenged,” Everett coach Kevin Constantine lamented. “We have 13 forwards here and we’re missing five, so that puts you down to eight healthy forwards. I don’t think we’ve ever been that way as a franchise.”
Adam Cracknell, Ryan Russell and Nigel Dawes scored goals to give Kootenay (26-13-4-0) a 3-0 lead, and Casey Lee added an empty-net goal for the Ice after Everett (20-14-6-2) had pulled within 3-2.
Shaun Heshka and Mitch Love scored for Everett and Michael Wall made 21 saves.
Everett’s scratch list read more like its starting lineup. Center Torrie Wheat, the team’s leading scorer, was laid up with the flu. Center Zach Hamill and left wing Tyler Dietrich, tied for second on the team in scoring, were each out injured. With center Mark Kress and left wing Brennan Zasitko also injured, Everett was forced to dress nine defensemen, three more than the standard number.
However, despite the missing bodies, Everett outshot Kootenay 29-25, fought back within one with 10 minutes remaining and had quality chances to tie it before Lee put the game away with 3 minutes, 13 seconds remaining, stripping Ivan Baranka and scoring into an empty net.
“The work ethic was such that we could have won based on work ethic,” Constantine said. “You just need to blend a little talent with that and a lot of that’s missing right now. But I thought our guys worked really hard tonight.”
Kootenay can thank goaltender Jeff Glass for preventing the Tips from tying it. Glass made a series of great stops in the third period when Everett poured on the pressure.
“Once we got up 3-0 I think we really took Everett for granted,” Kootenay coach Cory Clouston said. “They’re a very hard-working team. Obviously they were a little short staffed and I think we didn’t prepare quite the way we should have.”
Kootenay took advantage of Everett’s problems at forward by controlling play early, and the Ice were rewarded with a goal 8:41 into the game. Mike Busto wristed a shot from the center point that was sliding wide left. However, Cracknell snuck to the post and redirected the puck into the net, making it 1-0 with his 11th goal of the season.
The Ice were then gifted a goal at 11:50 of the second period. Everett was on the power play when a bad turnover in the right corner allowed Lee to steal the puck and whip a pass out front to Russell, who beat Wall to make it 2-0 with his 15th of the season.
Kootenay tacked on a power-play goal at 14:02, Dawes receiving the puck on the right slot and firing an unstoppable shot in off the underside of the crossbar. His 22nd of the season make it 3-0.
Everett pulled one goal back at 17:20, Heshka receiving a drop pass from Karel Hromas on the break and firing a shot that deflected off Glass’ right pad and in at the near post. Heshka’s sixth of the season cut the lead to 3-1.
The Tips then made it a game at 10:48 of the third period, Love pinching in for the puck in the left corner, skating around the net, fanning on his first shot try, but putting his second attempt under Glass and into the far corner, making it 3-2 with his sixth of the season.
Slap shots: With Everett’s crisis at forward, center Derek Lewis, who was reassigned Monday but remained with the team as a roving associate, received the start. … Dawes faced Everett for the first time in his career. Kootenay’s star left wing missed both meetings last season and the first meeting this season because of international competition. … Former Everett defenseman Stewart Thiessen was released by Vancouver. Thiessen who had one goal and nine assists in 31 games, was the odd man out when the Giants acquired defenseman Brett Festerling from Tri-City.
Ice 4, Silvertips 2
Kootenay121-4
Everett011-2
First Period-1, Kootenay, Cracknell 11 (Busto), 8:41. Second Period-2, Kootenay, Russell 15 (Lee), 11:50 (sh). 3, Kootenay, Dawes 22 (Lee), 14:02 (pp). 4, Everett, Heshka 6 (Hromas, Leavitt), 17:20. Third Period-5, Everett, Love 6 (Harty, Calla), 10:48. 6, Kootenay, Lee 7, 16:47 (en). Shots on goal-Kootenay 9-9-7-25. Everett 7-13-9-29. Power-play opportunities-Kootenay 1 of 3. Everett 0 of 3. Goalies-Kootenay, Glass 16-7-2 (29 shots, 27 saves). Everett, Wall 15-13-5 (24 shots, 21 saves).
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