EVERETT — Thomas Heemskerk has someone in his sights, and it’s his own teammate.
The Everett Silvertips goaltender turned away all 36 shots he faced Wednesday night in shutting out the streaking Kelowna Rockets 4-0, and now he’s nipping at the heels of teammate Kent Simpson in the WHL’s goaltending standings.
Heemskerk’s third shutout of the season moved him into second place in the league in both goals against average (2.49) and save percentage (.921). The only goalie still ahead of him is Simpson, who tops both lists with a 2.32 goals against average and .924 save percentage.
“It’s tough, especially so many games into it, to focus on something like that,” said Heemskerk, who’s allowed just 14 goals in nine starts since the turn of the New Year. “But it’s nice seeing both of us on top of the league. We’re always out before practice working, then we’re the last ones off, so for both of us it’s paying off.”
Byron Froese, Zack Dailey, Tyler Maxwell and Chris Langkow scored the goals for Everett (35-18-2-1), which clinched a playoff spot despite still having 16 games remaining in the season. The victory was also Everett’s 10th straight at home and snapped Kelowna’s nine-game winning streak.
Heemskerk was the player most responsible. On a night when Everett wasn’t its sharpest, Heemskerk made sure there still was little drama concerning the game’s outcome. From smothering Shane McColgan’s breakaway in the game’s first five minutes to closing the door on multiple goal-mouth scrambles in the third period, Heemskerk continued to hold up his end of Everett’s goaltending platoon.
“I thought Heemer was really good for us tonight,” said Everett coach Craig Hartsburg, who has alternated Heemskerk and Simpson the past six games. “He made some big saves in scrambles and we found timely goals. Our game was a little bit loose tonight compared to where we’d like it. The effort was there, we were just a little sloppy at times, and Heemer was there when we did make a mistake.”
Adam Brown finished with 30 saves in goal for Kelowna (28-25-2-2), which never really threatened to extend its winning streak to 10. The Rockets were hindered by the absence of star left wing Brandon McMillan (flu) and overage defenseman Dallas Jackson (leg) because of physical ailments.
“I thought when we made a mistake, whether it was our goaltender or one of our players, they capitalized on it,” said Kelowna coach Ryan Huska, who nevertheless lauded his team for playing hard despite its winning streak coming to an end.
“For us, when we were able to catch them in a situation they didn’t want to be in, we didn’t have the finish tonight. Their goaltender played well and we weren’t able to capitalize.”
The victory also allowed the Tips to experience the other side of the a long winning streak being halted. Everett had a 14-game winning streak stopped in Spokane last Wednesday, so the Tips relished the opportunity to reverse roles.
“We know how it felt,” Heemskerk said. “It’s kind of nice, but maybe we’ll start putting some wins together instead of focusing on ending other people’s streaks.”
Everett emerged from an action-packed first period with a 2-0 lead. The Tips survived three early Kelowna two-on-ones, then took control of the period. Froese opened the scoring on the power play at 10 minutes, 15 seconds, snapping a shot past Brown after a nice feed from behind the net by Kellan Tochkin. Everett went ahead 2-0 at 17:28 when Dailey converted a centering feed from Shane Harper.
Everett then went ahead 3-0 14:54 into a scattered second period. Moments earlier the Tips had escaped when the puck rolled across the goal line. Then at the other end Brown played the puck around the boards right to Tochkin, who sent it back toward goal with Brown scrambling. The puck deflected in front and Maxwell cleaned up the garbage.
The Tips put the finishing touch on the victory 6:28 into the third period. Harper stripped a Kelowna defenseman on the forecheck and fed a wide-open Langkow out front, and Langkow made a move around Brown to complete the scoring.
Earlier in the day the Tips announced the signing of goaltender prospect Andy Desautels to a WHL education contract. The 15-year-old Desautels was Everett’s fifth-round pick in last year’s bantam draft.
Silvertips 4, Rockets 0
Kelowna000—0
Everett211—4
First Period — 1, Everett, Froese 22 (Tochkin, Maxwell), 10:15 (pp). 2, Everett, Dailey 8 (Harper), 17:28. Penalties — L. Bloodoff, Kelowna (interference), 9:19; Rissanen, Everett (roughing), 17:37; Chikie, Kelowna (interference), 17:51.
Second Period — 3, Everett, Maxwell 27 (Froese, Tochkin), 14:54. Penalties — Langkow, Everett (goaltender interference), 5:38; Bowman, Kelowna (unsportsmanlike conduct), 11:49; McCrea, Everett (unsportsmanlike conduct), 11:49; Callahan, Kelowna (delay of game), 12:17; Bulmer, Kelowna (fighting), 15:33, Jobke, Kelowna (10-minute misconduct), 15:33; Theriau, Everett (fighting), 15:33; Kulchar, Everett (boarding), 18:17.
Third Period — 4, Everett, Langkow 18 (Harper, Dailey), 6:28. Penalties — Theriau, Everett (roughing), 7:35; Adolph, Kelowna (roughing), 13:15; Harper, Everett (hooking), 14:58; L. Bloodoff, Kelowna (roughing), 15:48; McColgan, Kelowna (slashing), 15:48; Callahan, Kelowna (10-minute misconduct), 15:48; Murray, Everett (roughing), 15:48; Adolph, Kelowna (fighting), 18:35; McGrath, Everett (fighting), 18:35.
Shots on goal — Kelowna 13-12-11 — 36. Everett 15-9-10 — 34. Power-play opportunities — Kelowna 0 of 5. Everett 1 of 5.
Goalies — Kelowna, Brown 25-16-1-2 (34 shots, 30 saves). Everett, Heemskerk 18-9-1-1 (36 shots, 36 saves).
A — 4,119.
Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog: http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog
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