EVERETT — For most teams in the WHL, the playoffs begin the weekend of March 23.
For the Everett Silvertips, the playoffs begin tonight.
Everett has some work to do to get itself into playoff position, but the Tips receive plenty of opportunities the rest of the way, beginning with this weekend’s two games at Prince George.
Everett still remains at the bottom of the Western Conference standings. But the past two weeks the Tips have crept closer to the race. Everett is now just six points out of the conference’s eighth and final playoff position.
Four teams are vying for the final two playoff berths: Everett, Seattle, Victoria and Prince George. Of the Tips’ remaining 23 games, 10 are against the three teams they’re competing with — this weekend’s two games at Prince George, plus four each against Seattle and Victoria.
Therefore, the sense of postseason has arrived two months early for the Tips.
“Yeah, I think so,” Everett captain Ryan Murray responded when asked whether his team’s playoffs begin this weekend. “We’ve got to beat these teams to make the playoffs. So, we really have to take it to them and have our best effort.”
First up are the games tonight and Saturday at Prince George. The Cougars are the other team currently on the outside looking in. Prince George occupies ninth place in the conference with 32 points, three ahead of the Tips. If Everett can earn a regulation sweep this weekend, the Tips will leapfrog Prince George into ninth.
“They’re huge,” Everett coach Mark Ferner said of this weekend’s games. “Obviously they’re the two biggest games of the year.”
Prince George is an incredibly young and inexperienced team. The Cougars have seven 16-year-olds on their roster, and Prince George traded away its top skater, defenseman Martin Marincin, at the trade deadline. As a result, the Cougars have won just twice in their past 10 games.
However, the Cougars have been resting and waiting for the tired Silvertips. This weekend Everett completes a stretch of four games in five nights — as well as 15 games in 25 days. That includes the long bus ride to Prince George, which required the Tips to depart immediately following Wednesday’s 4-2 home loss to Spokane. They drove to Merritt Wednesday night, then made the rest of their way north Thursday.
Meanwhile, the Cougars haven’t played since completing a three-game trip through the Central Division last Saturday. So, Prince George will be well rested for this weekend’s crunch twinbill.
“We’re not going to think about it,” Ferner said of the travel fatigue. “Everyone does it. We’ll get in at a reasonable hour, make sure we get a good meal and a lot of rest. That’s junior hockey; everyone goes through it. I think emotions and adrenaline will hopefully take over. As much as they may think they’re tired, that’s just a mental thing.”
Everett’s coming off back-to-back losses to Portland and Spokane, The Tips led both games, but were unable to hold on against the U.S. Division powerhouses. Everett was unable to sustain a high level of play in either of those games. Correcting that will be key to coming back from Prince George with four points.
“Everybody’s got to play the same way,” Murray said. “Get pucks deep, get pucks out. Everyone has to work hard, and if we do those small things we’ll be successful.”
Murray gets another “C”
Murray was named one of the captains for Wednesday’s CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game, which takes place in Kelowna, B.C. The Top Prospects Game showcases the top Canadian Hockey League players who are eligible for the upcoming NHL draft. Murray will captain Team Cherry. He is expected to be a top-10 pick in the draft.
Check out Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog, and follow him on Twitter at NickHPatterson.
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