Silvertips avoid weekend sweep during busiest stretch of season

It looked as though fatigue had caught up with the Everett Silvertips. Playing a brutal stretch of five games in six days, the Tips saw their momentum broken by back-to-back losses, and a three-loss weekend seemed all but inevitable.

However, Everett dug deep Sunday under difficult circumstances, salvaging the weekend with a 6-1 victory over the Wenatchee Wild at Angel of the Winds Arena. The result gave the Tips six of a possible 10 points during their busiest week of the season.

“I thought our guys did a nice job,” Everett coach Dennis Williams said in a text message. “Five in six is not easy or ideal, especially this time of year, and having games one and two on the road made it even that much more challenging.”

Everett came into the week on a roll, having won eight of their past nine, and the Seattle Thunderbirds needed a miraculous 62-save performance from goaltender Scott Ratzlaff to snap the Tips’ season-high eight-game winning streak. But with five games in six days Everett knew it would be difficult to keep that momentum going.

The week started off well enough with a pair of road victories, winning 7-4 at Spokane last Tuesday and 8-2 at Tri-City on Wednesday. All seemed well when Everett returned home Friday for another game against Spokane, as the Tips took a 3-1 lead after the first period. But the Chiefs scored five of the game’s final six goals to win 6-4. Then Everett headed to Vancouver on Saturday, fell behind by three goals, and couldn’t get all the way back as the Tips fell 4-3.

Everett found itself in a tough spot Sunday. Not only were the Tips playing their third game in three days and fifth in six, Wenatchee had the previous night off and was playing for just the second time that week.

But Everett relied on its power play against the Wild. After Wenatchee scored the game’s first goal, the Tips scored six straight, with four of those coming with the advantage. Dominik Rymon’s one-timer on the power play tied it up less than two minutes after the Wild opened the scoring. Everett then struck twice on the power play in the second period as the Tips pulled ahead 5-1 to give themselves a chance to cruise through the third.

“I was really proud of our effort on Sunday,” Williams said. “Given the circumstances (losing Friday/Saturday) Sunday was a must win for our group. To be able to get two points at the end of a five-in-six against a rested team I feel says a lot about our team’s character and leadership.”

After the 3-2 week Everett is 33-17-1-2 (.651 winning percentage), and the Tips remain on something of an island in third place in the WHL’s Western Conference. Portland (.724 winning percentage) and Prince George (.680) continue to top the conference — for seeding purposes it doesn’t matter if the Tips pass the Cougars as Prince George would get the No. 2 seed as the B.C. Division winner — while Wenatchee (.592) and Victoria (.580) are a ways back in fourth and fifth.

Three stars of the week

Third star: Austin Roest. The center in his 19-year-old season tallied four goals and two assists across the five games. He scored three goals in last Tuesday’s game at Spokane as he was the main reason why Everett dug out of a 3-1 hole. It was his second hat trick of the season and third of his WHL career.

Second star: Parker Berge. The overage defenseman dished out seven assists over the week, recording a point in all five games. Berge was acquired in December to provide offense from the blue line, particularly on the power play. He has 14 points in 16 games with the Tips, and his three power-play assists last week gave him seven power-play points since joining Everett.

First star: Rymon. The 19-year-old winger had five goals and two assists in the five games. He was named one of the game’s three stars in three of the contests. Rymon did it all while wearing a cage on his helmet to protect his face after he was high sticked during a game last week.

The week ahead

Everett gets four much-needed days off before resuming play with two games this weekend.

First up is a rematch with the Wild on Friday in Wenatchee. The Wild (27-18-4-0) are battling with Victoria to earn home ice in the first round of the playoffs. Everett is 3-1-1 against Wenatchee this season. The Wild, despite being big sellers at the trade deadline, are staying afloat in large part because of the contributions of 20-year-old defenseman Graham Sward (11 goals, 47 assists) and 19-year-old forward Kenta Isogai (25 goals, 47 assists).

Then on Saturday the Tips return home to once again face off against Spokane. The Chiefs (19-24-4-0) are in pole position for the conference’s eighth-and-final playoff berth. Everett is 3-2 against Spokane this season. Spokane is led by 17-year-old forward Berkly Catton (35 goals, 43 assists), who is expected to be a high first-round pick in this year’s NHL draft, and 20-year-old forward Conner Roulette (32 goals, 38 assists).