CHILLIWACK, B.C. – The Everett Silvertips had been riding their luck all weekend.
But a team can only pull so many aces out of its sleeve.
Especially when its premier players are dropping like flies.
Minus offensive catalyst Peter Mueller before Sunday’s game began, Everett lost sniper Kyle Beach early on. With the rest of the team also banged up, the Silvertips succumbed to the expansion Chilliwack Bruins 3-2 in overtime.
Mark Santorelli scored the game-winner in OT as Chilliwack handed Everett the loss that neither Kelowna nor Lethbridge could quite do earlier in the weekend against the reeling Tips.
But Everett lost more than just the game. Already without Mueller because of illness, Everett lost Beach when he was KO’ed during a first-period fight with Cody Smuk. Smuk caught Beach flush on the jaw with a punch, then it appeared Beach hit his head on the ice as he fell. Beach could have a concussion and a jaw injury, which could keep him out an indefinite period.
Beach was originally scheduled to join British Columbia’s U-17 team for the Canada Winter Games following Sunday’s contest. Instead, he returned to Everett to be evaluated by the team doctors and appears unlikely to be headed to Whitehorse, Yukon.
With left wing Brennan Sonne out a month with a spleen injury, as well as a trio of banged up defensemen, Everett went from having a relatively healthy season to being seriously wounded in a hurry.
“That’s the first time all year we’ve had five regulars out of the lineup at the same time,” Everett coach Kevin Constantine said. “This looks like our most banged-up time of the year.”
Ondrej Fiala rescued a point for Everett by scoring both goals, including a power-play tally with less than five minutes remaining to force overtime.
Zach Hamill added two assists and Leland Irving made 20 saves for Everett (46-9-1-2), which has to view the weekend with mixed emotions. The Tips looked underwhelming against what on paper were three teams that should have been easy pickings for the top-ranked team in the Canadian Hockey League. Yet they still managed to come away with five points from a possible six.
“We’re not firing on all cylinders,” Constantine said. “Then again we’re finding ways to win or get points, so we’re battling, which is good. There’s good and bads. We’ve had better stretches of the year, but we’re managing to get points in games.”
Josh Aspenlind and Oscar Moller each had a goal and an assist for Chilliwack (19-37-3-2), which earned a vital victory in its battle to make the playoffs in its first season. The Bruins pulled even with Kelowna for fourth place in the B.C. Division, though they’ve played two more games.
“I don’t think they get any bigger than today,” Chilliwack coach Jim Hiller said about the victory. “We played hard. If you think back to the 8-0 game in Everett a couple months ago, we weren’t feeling very good about ourselves nor were we playing very well. I’m just happy for the players, who have had to experience some of the lows we’ve had, to be on the other side of it in a game like tonight.”
Everett was playing from behind all night. Aspenlind scored a bizarre goal 9:45 into the game when his dump in from the neutral zone short-hopped Irving and bounced into the top corner of the net.
Everett tied the score on Fiala’s first power-play goal at 14:59. Chilliwack regained the lead 1:38 into the third period when Moller put in a rebound on a power play.
Fiala struck again on a power play with 4:59 remaining to be played, rifling a shot from the center point inside the left post.
Chilliwack earned the full points 1:39 into overtime. Moller took the puck up the middle on the break and although his initial shot was saved by Irving, Santorelli swept in to put in the rebound.
Slap shots: With defensemen Jesse Zetariuk (thigh), Graham Potuer (wrist) and Mike Alexander (concussion) still out, 1991-born defenseman Jeff Regier appeared in his third game. With Fiala a game-time decision because of a lower-body injury, 1990-born forward Matt Ius was brought in to serve as insurance. … Though Beach isn’t headed to the Canada Winter Games, defenseman Matt Strong, who was called up during Everett’s injury crisis on defense, is leaving to play for Alberta. … Chilliwack’s lineup included winger Ryan Howse, the first bantam pick in franchise history, who was playing the last of his five allowed games for 15-year-olds.
Bruins 3, Silvertips 2 (OT)
Everett1010-2
Chilliwack1011-3
First Period-1, Chilliwack, Aspenlind 17, 9:45. 2, Everett, Fiala 11 (Harper, Hamill), 14:59 (pp). Penalties-Campos, Everett (cross-checking), 2:25; Beach, Everett (fighting), 9:47; Smuk, Chilliwack (fighting), 9:47; Johnstone, Chilliwack (high sticking), 10:00; Potter, Chilliwack (boarding), 14:19; Meropoulis, Chilliwack (roughing), 19:49.
Second Period-No goals. Penalties-Crowley, Everett (hooking), 3:14; Esposito, Chilliwack (delay of game, served by Howse), 5:35; Fiala, Everett (tripping), 11:34; Gendur, Everett (tripping), 16:37; Holden, Chilliwack (interference), 19:11.
Third Period-3, Chilliwack, Moller 26 (Aspenlind, Lineker), 1:38 (pp). 4, Everett, Fiala 12 (Gendur, Hamill), 15:04 (pp). Penalties-Burt, Everett (roughing), 1:06; Holden, Chilliwack (cross-checking), 2:49; Aspenlind, Chilliwack (elbowing), 14:34.
Overtime-5, Chilliwack, Santorelli 23 (Moller, Lineker), 1:39. Penalties-None.
Shots on goal-Everett 10-4-11-0-25. Chilliwack 8-6-5-4-23. Power-play opportunities-Everett 2 of 7. Chilliwack 1 of 5.
Goalies-Everett, Irving 28-6-1-2 (23 shots, 20 saves). Chilliwack, Esposito 10-12-1-1 (25 shots, 23 saves).
A-4,243.
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