Silvertips topple Giants

EVERETT – Michael Wall has had the best seat in the house for the Everett Silvertips’ playoff run. But for Everett’s backup goalie, the life of a spectator has been more like torture than entertainment.

However, Wall finally got his shot Sunday, and his efforts helped carry the Silvertips into the Western Conference finals.

Wall made 35 saves filling in for Jeff Harvey, and the Silvertips closed out their Western Hockey League Western Conference semifinal series against the Vancouver Giants with a 3-2 victory.

“It’s awesome,” Wall said about earning the series-clinching win. “Not playing and sitting on the end of the bench, you kind of get pouty becuase you’re not part of the team, really. But to get this victory was unbelievable.”

Before an appreciative crowd of 6,651 that decided to spend their Easter Sunday at the Everett Events Center, Ivan Baranka, Riley Armstrong and Mark Kress scored goals as the Silvertips clinched the best-of-seven series 4-2.

Everett faces Kelowna, which finished the regular season with the best record in the WHL and also won its series against Tri-City on Sunday, for the conference title. The series is expected to begin Friday in Kelowna, depending on rink availability.

“This feels even more special than the last one,” Everett captain Bryan Nathe said about the series victory. “The farther you go in the playoffs is more special and there’s nothing like it.”

Wall didn’t find out he was starting until five minutes before the warm-up period. Harvey, who has been spectacular in goal throughout the season and the playoffs, showed up to the arena ill. He wanted to give it a try but was unable to, thrusting Wall, who had tallied a grand total of four minutes in the playoffs going into Sunday, into the lineup.

Wall proved equal to the task. He made all the tough saves and limited the number of rebounds. His save from Darren Lynch’s breakaway preserved Everett’s 2-1 lead in the second period, and he was unflappable during the third period, when Vancouver turned up the pressure and outshot the Silvertips 14-3.

And when Wall wasn’t good, he was lucky. Tyson Marsh’s nonchalant flip toward the net which could have tied it at 2-2 got through Wall bounced off the bottom of the crossbar and out, and with a chance tie it at 3-3 early in the third period, Mitch Bartley somehow hit the post on a rebound with the net gaping.

“I thought I played well,” Wall said. The first period I had a few chances which got me right into the game. Not seeing that much action you just want to get into it, make some easy saves, and that gets you ready for the hard ones.”

Everett coach Kevin Constantine felt no trepidation at putting Wall in net.

“He’s won a lot of games for us this year,” Constantine said. “His goals against and save percentage are nearly as sound as Harv’s. He didn’t play as much as Harv this year, but he’s a big reason we ended up where we were as a team. So the idea of him playing for us has never really bothered us. Tonight was just another example that he’s also a very capable guy.”

Offensively, Everett won the game with a pair of shots from the point in the second period.

The score was tied 1-1 early in the second when the puck rolled slowly out to Nathe at the right point. Although Nathe mis-hit his one-timer, the puck sat up for Armstrong right at the blue line. Armstrong unleashed a blast to found the left corner to make it 2-1 at 4:52. It was Armstrong’s fourth goal of the playoffs.

Nathe then got it right 10 minutes later to give the Silvertips a two-goal advantage. The Silvertips passed their way into the Vancouver zone, eventually working the puck to Nathe with a shooting lane at the right point. Nathe’s shot took a slight deflection off Kress and found its way into the far corner to make it 3-1 at 15:17. For Kress it was his third goal of the playoffs.

“They were seeing-eye goals that found their way in, and that’s the type of goals we needed to score and the bounces we needed to get against a team like Everett in order to give us some life,” Vancouver coach Dean Evason said. “The way they play the game is very difficult and we needed something to tell us outside of our work ethic that we were getting rewarded. We didn’t see a lot of that during the series.”

Gilbert Brule scored on a rebound 1:19 after Kress’ goal to hand Vancouver a lifeline, and the Giants threw everything they had at Everett in the third period, forcing the Silvertips to repeatedly ice the puck. But even though the Giants got several shots on goal, none other than Bartley’s rebound attempt troubled Wall.

Marcin Kolusz scored Vancouver’s first goal in the first period, knotting it at 1-1, and Aaron Sorochan made 22 saves in goal for the Giants.

Slap shots: Everett left wing Tyler Dietrich was scratched again Sunday. Dietrich, who hasn’t played since suffering a hit to the head in Game two, missed his fourth straight game. He is considered day-to-day. … Going into Sunday’s games, Harvey was first among goalies in goals against average (1.46), save percentage (.951) and shutouts (three) in the playoffs. Marc Desloges was tied for fourth in playoff goals with six and tied for ninth (with Vancouver’s Adam Courchaine) in points with 10.

At Everett