Silvertips fight back, win in a shootout

Published 11:39 pm Wednesday, November 18, 2009

EVERETT — The Everett Silvertips resembled a cross country runner Wednesday night. Time after time they found a burst to catch up to the leader, only for the leader to pull away once more.

However, the Tips kept huffing and puffing and finally caught up one last time, then nudged ahead at the finish line.

Everett came from behind three times against the Kamloops Blazers and then prevailed in a shootout for a 4-3 victory at Comcast Arena.

Tyler Maxwell scored twice, including the third tying goal in the third period, as Everett overcame a strong performance by Kamloops goaltender Jon Groenheyde.

“There’s a saying that good teams find a way to win,” Maxwell said. “That’s what we’re trying to focus on and build on.”

Dan Iwanski added a short-handed goal, Thomas Heemskerk made 25 saves in net and Radko Gudas laid out yet another gigantic hit for the Tips (13-6-1-0), who found an answer each time Kamloops scored. The Tips replied within five minutes after each Blazers goal.

“Sometimes it takes 65 minutes and a shootout to get it,” Everett coach Craig Hartsburg said. “We hung in there and got it.

“I thought we played a lot better (than in Saturday’s 4-0 loss to Seattle),” Hartsburg added. “I thought we were more on our game. We pressured. The first two periods we didn’t get a lot of rewards in the offensive zone, I thought their goalie was really good. But we played a lot better. I think we got what we deserved in the game.”

Jimmy Bubnick scored twice for the Blazers (10-12-2-1), who have been struggling mightily. Kamloops had lost three straight and 10 of its previous 12 coming into the game.

Mark Hall also scored for the Blazers and Groenheyde finished with 40 saves, some of which were highway robbery.

“We didn’t get the win, which is unfortunate, but I was happy with the effort we put forth,” Kamloops interim coach Scott Ferguson said. “Obviously, we haven’t had a whole lot of luck lately, haven’t been working very hard. But tonight was a solid effort from the guys for 65-plus minutes. It’s something positive to build on.”

While Everett managed to dig out of a deficit three times, the biggest key for the Tips was avoiding falling behind a fourth time. The score was knotted 3-3 late in the third period when Alex Theriau and Gudas were whistled for penalties 1 minute, 19 seconds apart, giving the Blazers a substantial five-on-three advantage with Everett’s top defensive pairing in the box.

Ferguson called a timeout to gather his troops, and the Blazers came out and created chances, both on the five-on-three and the following five-on-four. But Heemskerk made saves, a couple pucks slid just wide, and the Tips survived to take the game into overtime and subsequently a shootout.

“That was huge for us,” Iwanski said. “If they score there we’re down. So obviously it was huge for us to kill that five-on-three and it was a big reason why we won.”

In the shootout, the Tips again fell behind, when Maxwell had his attempt saved and C.J. Stretch converted for Kamloops. However, Kellan Tochkin and Shane Harper each scored on their attempts with nifty moves to their forehands, and Heemskerk denied attempts by Bubnick and Shayne Wiebe to give Everett the full two points.

It looked like Kamloops was going to pull it out when Bubnick scored his second goal of the game 2:21 into the third period, digging a loose puck out from a faceoff and snapping a shot past Heemskerk at the near post.

But Maxwell, who was denied on multiple occasions by Groenheyde, scored his second power-play goal of the night at 6:40 to tie it back up, banging in a rebound after a Byron Froese jam attempt.

Slap shots

In what’s becoming a regular event Gudas laid a tremendous open-ice hit on an opponent and immediately was jumped. This time Gudas nailed Kamloops’ Brendan Ranford in the neutral zone midway through the third period, prompting Blazers captain Tyler Shattock to instigate a fight with Gudas. … The Tips collected 4,460 pounds of food during their emergency food drive during last Saturday’s game. The amount, which went to the Volunteers of America food bank, was more than triple that raised by any other food drive held by the team.

Silvertips 4, Blazers 3 (SO)

Kamloops1110—3

Everett1110—4

Everett won shootout 2-1

First Period — 1, Kamloops, Hall 1 (Trask, Lipon), 13:44. 2, Everett, Maxwell 13 (Froese, Rissanen), 17:08 (pp). Penalties — Caron, Kamloops (tripping), 1:20; Lyon, Kamloops (fighting), 8:03; Sohor, Everett (fighting), 8:03; Nyren, Kamloops (slashing), 9:01; Wiebe, Kamloops (high sticking), 10:04; Lyon, Kamloops (cross checking), 15:11; Ranford, Kamloops (boarding), 20:00; Stretch, Kamloops (roughing), 20:00; Caron, Kamloops (unsportsmanlike conduct), 20:00; Gudas, Everett (roughing), 20:00; Everett bench (unsportsmanlike conduct, served by Winquist), 20:00.

Second Period — 3, Kamloops, Bubnick 7 (Maschmeyer), 5:57 (pp). 4, Everett, Iwanski 4, 7:33 (sh). Penalties — Gudas, Everett (elbowing), 4:18; de la Lande, Everett (hooking), 5:57; Bene, Kamloops (roughing), 8:34; Tochkin, Everett (high sticking), 13:07.

Third Period — 5, Kamloops, Bubnick 8 (Hall), 2:21. 6, Everett, Maxwell 14 (Froese, Tochkin), 6:40 (pp). Penalties — Bene, Kamloops (hooking), 5:47; Shattock, Kamloops (instigator-fighting-10-minute misconduct), 7:33, Gudas, Everett (fighting), 7:33; Bene, Kamloops (roughing), 11:27; Iwanski, Everett (roughing), 11:27; Theriau, Everett (tripping), 13:22; Gudas, Everett (hooking), 14:41.

Overtime — No goals. Penalties — none.

Shootout — Everett 2 (Maxwell NG, Tochkin G, Harper G), Kamloops 1 (Stretch G, Bubnick NG, Wiebe NG).

Shots on goal — Kamloops 5-11-12-0 — 28. Everett 14-12-11-6 — 43. Power-play opportunities — Kamloops 1 of 5. Everett 2 of 8.

Goalies — Kamloops, Groenheyde 3-4-1-1 (43 shots, 40 saves). Everett, Heemskerk 9-2-1-0 (28 shots, 25 saves).

A — 3,842.

Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog: http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog