EVERETT – The Everett Silvertips are the reigning sovereign.
The Tri-City Americans are the aspiring usurper.
Tuesday night they engaged in their first battle for U.S. Division supremacy.
And the sovereign showed the usurper it’ll take a little more to wrest the crown away.
In an early battle for first place the Silvertips scored an emphatic victory over the Americans, prevailing 4-1 at the Everett Events Center.
Brandon Campos scored two goals to lead Everett (8-1-0-1), which controlled the game between teams ranked in the top 10 in the entire Canadian Hockey League.
Everett now leads the Americans (7-2-0-0) by three points for first place in the division, and the Tips stated they don’t intend to surrender their position atop the division easily.
“Every game is a statement, and hopefully every game we can come out with the same outcome,” Campos said. “It was even bigger today because Tri’s been playing some really good hockey lately, and so have we. We came out with a win, so hopefully that sets the tone for the next couple of games against them. It should be a great rivalry the rest of the year.”
Zach Hamill added a goal and an assist and Kyle Beach also scored for Everett. Leland Irving made 26 saves in goal for the Tips.
Colton Yellow Horn scored and Carey Price finished with 26 saves in goal for Tri-City.
The crowd of 4,567 included a number of people, mostly kids, who took advantage of the Gear Up and Get In Free promotion and showed up in full hockey equipment. The promotion was a take off on the preseason busgate incident, when after a poor effort at Tri-City Everett coach Kevin Constantine had the players ride the bus home in their gear. One group of geared-up kids came with a sign shaped like a bus, complete with windows which they peered through.
Everett was everyone’s preseason favorite to win the U.S. Division, while not much was expected from Tri-City. However, the Americans got off to a blistering start and came into Tuesday’s game riding a seven-game winning streak.
But Everett, playing its fourth game in five nights, took control in the second period when Tri-City gave the Tips seven power plays. Everett took advantage twice and led 3-0 going into the third, Campos scoring twice. Hamill’s goal midway through the third period put the game away, rendering Yellow Horn’s tally with less than five minutes remaining inconsequential.
“Playing four in five nights I thought there was just a teeny bit of fatigue in our game,” Constantine said. “But the fact that Tri-City is very good and it was a first-place contest, I think that helped us get a little energy even though we were a little tired.”
Everett also had a distinct edge on specialty teams. The Tips finished 2-for-10 on the power play, the Americans went 0-for-7.
“They were more composed than we were,” Tri-City coach Don Nachbaur said. “A lot of their guys have been through this before and have the experience of being in that first-place game. Tonight was a shocker for us. But it’s one hockey game, there’s a lot left.”
Historically, games between the Silvertips and the Americans have taken a distinct flavor, with Everett trying to finesse its way around the Americans, and Tri-City trying to overpower the Tips. However, after being on the receiving end of most of the physical play early, Everett started dishing out hits of its own and by the end of the game the physical battle was a draw.
“We just tried to match their physical play,” said Everett center Zack Dailey, who despite being the smallest guy on the ice dished out one of the biggest hits of the night when he leveled Yellow Horn. “They’re a great team, they’re real physical and they like to lay the body, so we just came out and tried to match their physical play.”
Campos opened the scoring with a power-play goal 2 minutes, 16 seconds into the second period, scoring into an unguarded net after a nice feed from Lukas Vartovnik. He scored again at 11:59, sneaking a shot from the left slot past Price at the near post.
Beach made it 3-0 with another power-play goal at 14:35, tipping in a shot from the point by Peter Mueller.
Tri-City never again threatened the lead.
Slap shots: Hamill has points in all 10 of the Tips’ games this season. The 10-game point streak matched the club record set by Mueller and Torrie Wheat last season. … Everett was back to playing its first-choice lineup – minus injured left wing Ondrej Fiala – as left wing Shane Harper returned after being held out the previous two games. He replaced right wing Jesse Burt in the lineup.
At Everett Events Center
Tri-City001-1
Everett031-4
First Period-No goals. Penalties-Broda, Tri-City (holding), 4:49; Gillen, Tri-City (interference), 6:14; Kaye, Tri-City (roughing), 10:37; Vartovnik, Everett (roughing), 10:37; Harty, Everett (holding), 11:31; Everett bench (too many men, served by Harper), 18:15.
Second Period-1, Everett, Campos 2 (Vartovnik, Harper), 2:16 (pp). 2, Everett, Campos 3 (Dailey), 11:59. 3, Everett, Beach 6 (Mueller, Hamill), 14:35 (pp). Penalties-Boogaard, Tri-City (elbowing), 0:57; Aldred, Tri-City (goaltender interference), 4:35; Swaby, Tri-City (interference), 6:44; Gillen, Tri-City (tripping), 7:19; Vartovnik, Everett (charging), 7:45; Tri-City bench (too many men, served by Toll), 12:57; Kaye, Tri-City (cross-checking), 15:08; Yellow Horn, Tri-City (roughing), 15:58; Kaye, Tri-City (roughing), 17:42; Vartovnik, Everett (checking from behind), 17:42; Fransoo, Everett (hooking), 19:48.
Third Period-4, Everett, Hamill 6 (Calla, Doyle), 7:28. 5, Tri-City, Yellow Horn 6 (Toll, Scurko), 15:12. Penalties-Potuer, Everett (hooking), 2:44; Thoring, Everett (elbowing), 3:21; Sonne, Everett (clipping), 8:06; Toll, Tri-City (holding), 11:22.
Shots on goal-Tri-City 10-3-14-27. Everett 11-13-6-30. Power-play opportunities-Tri-City 0 of 7. Everett 2 of 10. Goalies-Tri-City, Price 4-1-0-0 (30 shots, 26 saves). Everett, Irving 7-1-0-1 (27 shots, 26 saves).
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