LYNNWOOD – So far, Kyle Beach’s rookie year in the Western Hockey League has been far from perfect.
The Everett Silvertips winger has been on the wrong end of confrontations with opponents.
He’s had difficulties staying focused.
He’s taken the occasional questionable penalty.
But one thing cannot be ignored about Beach: He’s scoring at a clip rarely seen for a 16-year-old.
Beach has had an immediate offensive impact that belies his youth, and as a result he’s quickly become one of Everett’s most-dangerous offensive players.
“He shows amazing offensive things,” Everett coach Kevin Constantine said following Thursday’s practice, held at the Lynnwood Ice Center because of the home show at the Events Center. “Vision, scoring, sense, power-play screening, they’ve all been absolutely fantastic. On the other hand, he’s been equally bad about being sharp mentally every practice, every day. He has the brilliance of a superstar and the inconsistency of a 16-year-old, but we love him.”
Beach has six goals and six assists in 10 games. That’s more than a point per game, which is a primary benchmark of offensive excellence.
Former Vancouver Giants star Gilbert Brule didn’t do that as a 16-year-old. Neither did Kootenay’s Nigel Dawes. Guys like Troy Brouwer, Eric Fehr and Tyler Redenbach, the WHL’s leading scorers the past three years, didn’t even come close.
Even Everett’s own Zach Hamill, who led all 16-year-olds in scoring during a excellent rookie campaign in 2004-05, was well behind the point-a-game pace, posting 33 points in 57 games. Two years later, Hamill’s averaging nearly two points per game.
And Beach is well worth his points, too. Far from racking up points via second assists on the power play, Beach has been right in the mix, scoring his share of impressive goals and producing a number of highlight-reel set-ups.
His 12 points are twice as many as any other 16-year-old in the league.
All of which indicates how special Beach’s offensive performance has been for such a young player.
“I don’t think of myself as a 16-year-old,” Beach said. “I just think of myself as one of the players. I can’t think of it as if I’m a 16-year-old because then I’m going to play like one. Most of the 16-year-olds in this league are just trying to get into the lineup. I’ve moved past that now and I’m trying to help the team win every game.”
Beach’s early success isn’t a shock. Last season Beach looked right at home during cameos as a 15-year-old call-up. He had two goals and an assist in four games during the regular season, at times looking like Everett’s best player. Then he added a goal and three assists during nine playoff games.
Based on those performances, the hope was that Beach would put points on the board immediately, and so far he’s done that.
Now that Beach has the offensive side down, he needs to shore up the rest of his game.
“I think his inconsistencies are on focus,” Constantine said. “It’s kind of to be expected because he’s 16. But I think he’s the kind of kid who is capable of looking at that and figuring out how to be more consistent. When you talk to him you find he really studies and analyzes the game, kind of thinks ahead of his age in terms of how he sees the game and thinks about it. The only little cloud hanging over his head right now is just mental focus on an every-shift, every-day basis.”
Said Beach: “I’ll have a really good physical game, then the next game I’ll come out soft and make a lot of mistakes. I have to fix that because when we get to the final stretch, we can’t have inconsistency. We have to have 100 percent good games every night, day-in and day-out, and I’m working on that.”
The good news for the Tips is there’s empirical evidence Beach is capable of figuring things out. Beach has the well-earned reputation as a trash talker. That trash talk has a habit of antagonizing the opposition, which can be beneficial at times. But it got him in trouble earlier in the season when the Kamloops Blazers decided to retaliate, knocking Beach out of the game.
However, since that Kamloops game, Beach has had better control of his mouth, and as a result there have been fewer scenes of players from opposing teams trying to knock Beach silly.
“I’ve changed my way of playing a little bit, haven’t been talking to the other team as much,” Beach said. “We’ll keep going with that. In order to stay healthy I’m not going to be able to take that every night, so I like how it’s been going lately.” And if he keeps up the pace, Beach’s numbers will say more than enough for themselves.
Slap shots: Everett left wing Ondrej Fiala is back participating in practice and is no longer listed on the injury report. However, that doesn’t mean the goal-scoring 19-year-old, who’s rehabilitating a knee injury, is expected back soon. Constantine targeted Nov. 4 in Regina for Fiala’s return to the lineup. … Goaltender Matt Esposito, who lost the backup job when the Tips traded for David Reekie, was reassigned to Sherwood Park of the Alberta Junior Hockey League. The 17-year-old Esposito is expected to be called back up in December when starter Leland Irving goes to Canada’s tryouts for the World Junior Hockey Championships.
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