EVERETT — It’s as if someone reached down from the heavens and placed a mirror between the years 2007 and 2008.
The Everett Silvertips and Spokane Chiefs are once again meeting in the first round of the playoffs. But this time the roles are reversed.
Last year, the Tips entered the playoffs as the top-ranked team in the entire Canadian Hockey League, and the Chiefs were the unsung upstarts charged with the unenviable task of unseating the league’s top dog.
This year, it’s the Chiefs who go into the series as the heavy favorite, being ranked second in the CHL and coming a single victory away from winning the Scotty Munro Trophy for the league’s best record.
And the parallels don’t end there. Last year, despite losing just 18 games all season, Everett finished just 4-4 against Spokane. This year the Chiefs lost just 22 games, yet Everett won the season series 5-3.
Last year’s playoff series ended up being highly competitive despite the discrepancy in the standings, Everett eventually winning the best-of-seven series 4-2.
With the eerily familiar lead-in, everyone is expecting another hotly-contested series again this year.
“There’s a lot of similarities,” Spokane coach Bill Peters said. “They won the U.S. Division last year and we kind of had their number during the regular season. This year we had a good regular season and they had our number. It’s two evenly-matched teams, so it should be a good series.”
It doesn’t appear that evenly-matched based on overall records. Spokane is perhaps the most-accomplished No. 3 seed in the history of the WHL. The Chiefs finished 50-15-1-6 and set a franchise record for points with 107. Spokane finished a single point behind U.S. Division and WHL regular season champ Tri-City, the difference between the two determined when the Americans won a head-to-head, winner-takes-all game last Saturday.
“Spokane’s a great team,” Everett captain Jonathan Harty said. “They’ve got high offense, great goaltending. It’s definitely going to be a challenge.”
Meanwhile, Everett had a somewhat disappointing season. The Tips were picked by many during the preseason to win the division. However, Everett finished 39-30-0-3, a whopping 27 points behind Tri-City, and the Tips still have yet to find the consistency they’ve been seeking.
Nevertheless, the Chiefs aren’t taking the Tips lightly.
“Everett’s a great team,” Spokane captain Chris Bruton said. “They have a lot of talent up front and a world-class goalie, so they’re an all-around solid group.”
The wild card in the matchup is the head-to-head results. Everett often found the answer against Spokane, with goaltender Leland Irving saving some of his best performances for the Chiefs.
However, Peters believes part of the reason for Everett’s success against the Chiefs during the regular season is correctable.
“A couple times we went in there (Comcast Arena) and didn’t play with enough discipline,” Peters said. “The first time we were short-handed 11 times, and in another game there we gave up four power-play goals. We can’t be giving them those type of opportunities. Discipline’s going to be something that’s key in this series for both teams.”
For their part, the Tips feel good about their position based on the regular season series, especially since some of that success came when the team was short-handed on defense, and the Tips expect to be back to full health for Friday’s Game 1. But do they believe that gives them the advantage?
“I think it gives us some confidence, but in the big picture it’s pretty irrelevant,” Irving said. “It doesn’t say a whole lot. When that puck drops our records coming into the game don’t matter, all that matters is that next game.”
And the Tips, upset by Prince George in the second round last season, seem comfortable with the reversal or roles with Spokane from a year ago.
“We’re coming in as the underdog,” Irving said. “Things didn’t go so well for us last year with the high expectations, so I don’t mind where we stand now.”
Slap shots: The Tips will pick ninth overall and ninth in each subsequent round of this year’s bantam draft, the league announced Wednesday. That is the earliest the Tips have picked since the 2003 draft, which took place before Everett had ever played a game. Red Deer won the draft lottery and will pick first overall. … The league also announced the Eastern Conference all-star teams and awards finalists. The first-team all-stars include forwards Steve DaSilva (Kootenay), Tyler Ennis (Medicine Hat) and Jordan Eberle (Regina), defensemen Karl Alzner (Calgary) and Logan Pyett (Regina) and goaltender Linden Rowat (Regina). Rowat was nominated for Goaltender of the Year, Alzner for Defenseman of the Year, Ennis for Most Sportsmanlike Player, Brayden Schenn (Brandon) for Rookie of the Year and Michael Dyck (Lethbridge) for Coach of the Year. The Western Conference all-stars and award nominees will be announced today.
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