EVERETT — After a rough weekend, Everett Silvertips coach John Becanic had a message for his team:
No more Mr. Nice Guy.
In response to a weekend which saw the Tips do little right during a pair of ugly losses, Becanic doled out the consequences, gathering the team Sunday morning for a little extra conditioning.
“We had a little bit of a skate Sunday morning,” said Becanic, who was noticably more stern with the players during Tuesday’s practice. “We took 21 penalties, so we did 21 bag skates. It wasn’t for losing, it was just for being undisciplined. So we had a skate Sunday morning at 9 after getting in late the night before; tried to get my point across that way.”
Everett is coming off its worst weekend of the season. The Tips managed a paltry 12 shots on goal in a 2-1 home loss to Seattle on Friday, then were completely outclassed in a 7-0 defeat at Vancouver on Saturday. The seven-goal deficit was the worst in franchise history.
With the Tips having now lost five straight, Becanic decided it was time to get the players’ attention.
“We know coach is serious,” Everett captain Jonathan Harty said. “No one wants to be skated. Working hard for 60 minutes is way easier than working hard for a couple days straight getting bag skated. It’s simple.
“We got our punishment, it could have been way worse,” Harty added. “We haven’t been playing well and the punishment we got we definitely deserved. We’ll take it in stride and try to avoid it (tonight).”
Despite the lackluster effort and the complete absence of offense, it was the penalties that set Becanic off. Everett allowed eight power plays against Seattle and 11 against Vancouver.
Discipline has been a problem beyond just last weekend’s games. Everett is the most-penalized team in the league with 626 penalty minutes in 30 games. That’s a far cry from the Everett’s first three seasons in the league, when the Tips were easily the least-penalized team in the league.
“With penalties there’s not much more you can do but be stern,” Becanic explained. “We were a really undisciplined team last year and we never seemed to fix it. We tried various methods, and this is just another one of those. Any time you’re undisciplined or selfish you have to be stern.”
Many of the penalties, at least against Vancouver, stemmed from trying to be too physical. Following Friday’s anemic offensive display, Becanic implored his team to be more physical against the Giants in an effort to create more offense. But the results weren’t exactly what Becanic was hoping for. Instead of turnovers created, Becanic got Kyle Beach dropping the gloves off the opening faceoff followed by four quick Vancouver power plays. The Giants scored on two of those, and the game was essentially over after the first period.
“The game starts with work ethic,” Harty said. “When you stop working you take penalties, and when you take penalties you get tired quicker. One thing leads to another and it snowballs, and Vancouver didn’t let up so we didn’t have a chance.”
While penalties have definitely been a problem for Everett, it’s just one of the symptoms of the underlying illness: The Tips have yet to find any consistency this season. Everett started out terrible, losing five of six, then won 10 of the next 12. Since then the Tips have losing streaks of four and five games sandwiched around a three-game winning streak.
“Consistency is the biggest thing we’re lacking,” Becanic said. “We’ve beat all the top teams, we’ve lost to all the top teams. We’ve lost to the teams at the bottom and we’ve beaten them.
“For the younger guys the biggest difference is playing consistent on an every night basis, and for the older guys it’s the same things,” Becanic added. “When you’re a go-to guy, you’ve got to be a go-to guy all the time, not just when you want to.”
So has Becanic’s message sunk in?
“I think it’s pretty simple,” Everett center Zach Hamill said. “We’ve got to compete harder, work harder and play pretty simple. If we stick to our gameplan, finish our hits and finish our scoring chances every game, we should be fine.”
Slap shots: Although Everett defenseman Dane Crowley was not suspended for his hit Saturday that knocked Vancouver’s Michal Repik unconscious, Becanic was not thinking about the possible repercussions to Crowley: “His suspension one way or the other was irrelevant to me personally because of the injury. It was a good hit and it’s unfortunate Repik got injured. As a parent you first and foremost want to make sure the kid’s all right, because it’s just a game.” … Everett forwards Beach and Dan Gendur, who were held out of the third period against Vancouver because of lingering effects from injuries, are expected to play tonight. However, right wing Matt Ius and left wing Tyler Eskesen are out because of concussions.
Check out Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog: http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog
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