EVERETT – The Everett Silvertips brass has been impressed with what they’ve seen of the players so far during training camp.
But now they’re eager to see what the players can do against some real competition.
The Silvertips face their first true opponents this weekend with three games at the Everett Silvertips Preseason Tournament. And the coaches and management hope to see an extension of what they’ve seen from the players so far.
“I’ve been very pleased with the entire training camp,” Everett general manager Doug Soetaert said. “I think it’s been one of the smoothest-run training camps we’ve had. The rookie camp was outstanding. The high-tempo and physical aspect of the training camp, it’s a real pro-style game.”
Six other teams Seattle, Portland, Tri-City, Spokane, Chilliwack and Memorial Cup champion Vancouver are coming to town this weekend for games today, Saturday and Sunday. Everett plays the 7:05 p.m. game each night, facing Vancouver tonight, Seattle on Saturday and Chilliwack on Sunday.
These first three exhibition games give coach John Becanic his first chance to see the players in true game conditions. He’s hoping to see more of the same from the players that he saw throughout the week leading in.
“I think we’re going to stay consistent with (looking at) the competitive level and the speed that they play at,” Becanic said. “We pushed it all week with regards to rookie camp and main camp: We want guys playing faster and making plays faster and getting to pucks quicker. We’ve just introduced some system details, so there will be a little on that. But our main emphasis has been play hard and compete hard and show us you can play in the everyday grind of the Western Hockey League.”
With goaltender Mitchell David being reassigned Thursday, a total of 36 players will take part in the tournament 22 forwards, 11 defensemen and three goaltenders. That doesn’t included center Peter Mueller, who is preparing for attending camp with the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes, or center Zach Hamill and goaltender Leland Irving, who are in Russia for the Canada-Russia Super Series.
Most of the players will play twice this weekend. Players headed off to NHL training camps forwards Ondrej Fiala, Dan Gendur and Vitali Karamnov, defensemen Dane Crowley and Taylor Ellington as well as a handful of other veterans will probably play just once.
“We’re trying to get all our young guys in, but by the same token you’ve got to still make some decisions based on this weekend and try and trim your lineup down,” Becanic said. “Once we come up with our lineups I think we’ll try to play them as equally as possible. Everyone will play on the power play and the penalty kill and play the same amount of minutes in every situation.”
Tonight’s game against Vancouver will feature primarily younger players as both teams have agreed to field younger lineups.
The tournament is the next step in determining the final roster. Perhaps the most interesting roster battle involves the final defensive slots. Everett has several strong candidates 18-year-old Paul Levarsky, 17-year-olds Matt Strong, Chris de la Lande and Eddie Friesen, and 16-year-old Paul Sohor battling for two or three spots.
The Tips probably will make more cuts upon the completion of the tournament. However, with players headed off to NHL training camps early next week and with another preseason tournament next weekend at Tri-City, the team wants to make sure it keeps enough bodies around to field full teams for those games.
“We’ll be looking at the big picture,” Soetaert said about the weekend. “We’re down to 36 players and we’ll be re-evaluating after that. We may reassign some players, but the whole weekend is to analyze where these players are. Last year we had a lot of 16-year-olds who just weren’t ready. They worked hard all last year and they’re really close to making our hockey club this year as 17-year-olds.”
This weekend will go a long way toward determining whether they do.
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