EVERETT – The Everett Silvertips are mired in the worst stretch in the franchise’s short history. Everett has lost seven of its last eight games – including its first ever regular season four-game losing streak – and the Silvertips’ once-unassailable grip on second place in the Western Hockey League’s U.S. Division has shrunk to insignificance.
So it must be full crisis mode in Everett, right?
Not so, say the Silvertips.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a crisis,” Everett right wing Alex Leavitt said. “We’re just going through a little bit of a tough slide. We have to figure out what’s wrong so we can change it. We’ve played some pretty good games, we just haven’t won.”
Three weeks ago Everett was nine games above .500, nine points clear of third-place Portland and looking at Saturday’s game at first-place Seattle as the key contest of the weekend.
However, after the recent swoon, Everett heads into tonight’s home game against Portland leading the Winter Hawks by a mere two points, and the Silvertips are now just nine points out of last place.
“Obviously after eight games and not going too well, everyone’s down,” Everett left wing Michael Wuchterl said. “But we’re all trying to stay positive. We’re going to get through this together. We’re still a tight group and we’re going to do this as a team.”
There is no one malady that has afflicted Everett throughout this stretch. There have been games where the goaltending has struggled, games where defensive mistake proved costly, games where the Tips were unable to generate offense, games where the effort level wasn’t up to par.
“I’d say we’ve had a below-average effort in every area,” Everett coach Kevin Constantine said about the recent slump. “Whether you’re talking about health, or talking about work ethic, or talking about blocking shots, or talking about team fundamentals, or talking about any part of our game, we’ve been below what is normal for our team. Not any one of those areas have been ridiculously bad, but all those areas have been slightly below what we’re used to.”
Because there’s been no glaring area of deficiency, there’s nothing Everett can focus on to try to turn things around. Instead, the Silvertips talk about getting back to the basics, focusing on the details and doing the small things that make a team better.
“Our belief in fixing the problem is it’s little contributions by everyone in little areas that will add up to making a difference,” Constantine said. “There’s no simple solution. There’s everybody fixing one or two little things in their game and it’s the collective effort of 20 guys doing that that will fix the problems.”
And Constantine isn’t expecting the Silvertips to suddenly make everything right that had been wrong the last few weeks.
“We need to continue to take baby steps forward,” Contantine said. “You don’t build a pit – and we’ve built the biggest pit this team has ever had to wallow in – and just take one giant step and get out of it. You take little steps and do little things better and eventually you turn a losing tide into a winning tide.”
The Silvertips believe they’ve already begun to turn that tide. After subpar performances in losses at Spokane and Kootenay last weekend, Everett improved its play Wednesday at Kelowna, matching the B.C. Division-leading Rockets in effort and scoring chances despite losing 4-1. And players like centers Zach Hamill and Mark Kress, who missed time with injuries, are starting to work themselves back into game shape.
But that doesn’t lessen the importance of this weekend’s games. Back-to-back-to-back contests against division foes present the Silvertips with the perfect opportunity to re-establish their handle on second place.
“I think the game against Portland is the biggest of the season so far, with how close Portland’s gotten because of our slide,” Leavitt said. “This is a game we need to win to stay ahead, it’s a four-pointer.
“With three games in three days, this would be a good time to turn things around and get some points.”
Otherwise, maybe it will be crisis time in Everett after all.
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