EVERETT – It seems like just yesterday the expansion Everett Silvertips were embarking on their incredible run through the Western Hockey League playoffs.
Today the Silvertips begin production of the sequel.
The Silvertips open training camp for their second season today, with the memories of last season’s improbable inaugural year still lingering in their minds.
“Just driving back into town the other day brought back memories,” Everett center Riley Armstrong said. “It felt like we just left, the summer went so fast. Hopefully we’ll do it again. I think we have a great team again this year and I can’t wait for the season to start.”
Last season the Silvertips set just about every WHL record for an expansion team, including wins (35) and points (80). The Cinderella story continued in the playoffs as Everett marched to the Western Conference championship, defeating defending WHL champion Kelowna in a dramatic seven-game series, before finally succumbing to Medicine Hat in the WHL finals.
Now after an offseason shortened because of the lengthy playoff run, the Silvertips are eager to get back onto the ice.
“I think we’re ready to go,” defenseman Mitch Love said. “It was a short summer, but that’s the way you want it as a hockey player. So we’re going to jump right in and try to keep this thing going.”
Training camp begins at 9 a.m. at the Everett Events Center and concludes with the second annual Green vs. White game at 7:05 p.m. Sunday. In between the Silvertips will be running scrimmages and practices from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day. All on-ice sessions are open to the public and free of charge. More than 80 players are expected to participate in training camp.
There will be a different feel at training camp this season. Last year the players entered training camp as castoffs from their previous teams. This year they come into camp as conquering heroes.
However, Everett coach Kevin Constantine doesn’t expect much change in the Silvertips’ disciplined style of play, or in the players’ attitude in the franchise’s second year of existence.
“I don’t think you change very much,” Constantine said. “There’s principles and fundamentals that work in sports. They worked 50 years ago, they work now and they’ll work 50 years from now. It will be a slightly different environment because we have a group of guys coming back who know what we’re all about, and I think that will be helpful. But on the other hand the league knows what we’re all about, too, so that will be challenging.”
The first priority for the Silvertips at training camp is to determine who will fill the empty slots on the roster. Everett is without seven players who were with the team at the end of the playoffs, including the team’s Most Valuable Player in goalie Jeff Harvey, the team’s leading goal scorer in forward John Dahl and the team’s captain in defenseman Bryan Nathe. Those three, along with forward Chad Bassen, were overage players last season and have used up their WHL eligibility.
Also gone is forward Jeff Schmidt, who opted to attend the University of Saskatchewan rather than return for his 20-year-old season; forward Martin Ruzicka, who was released; and forward Devin Welsh, who was traded to Kootenay in exchange for swapping second-round positions in the 2004 Bantam Draft.
Ruzicka’s spot on the roster was taken by 18-year-old forward Karel Hromas, who the Silvertips selected in the first round (37th overall) of the 2004 CHL Import Draft. Hromas, also a fourth-round selection by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2004 NHL Draft, will take one of Everett’s two European-player roster slots. “I think the No. 1 thing to do in the first stage is to evaluate the players,” Constantine said. “We have seven players from last year’s team not with us this year, so we have to find seven guys to replace those players. Then we have to find out which players from last year have grown and are ready to take over those roles. Which returning players step up and which younger players make the team is the primary job of the first weeks.”
Although the Silvertips lost several key players off last year’s team, they appear to have people ready to step in. Goalie Michael Wall played well when spelling Harvey last season and inherits the No. 1 position. Even without Nathe the Silvertips have an experienced defensive core with five returning defensemen. And several forwards, including Marc Desloges, Torrie Wheat and Curtis Billsten, stepped up their games in the playoffs and appear ready to take on greater offensive responsibilities.
“We have a lot of openings and a lot of hungry players looking to fill roles,” Everett general manager Doug Soetaert said. “That’s why we have training camp. We feel good about what we did last year, but this is a new year. We’ll see if we can do it again this year.”
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