KENT — The last time the Everett Silvertips left the ice at ShoWare Center they exited in jubilation, serenaded with a standing ovation from the fans who made the trek from Everett.
This time the skate off was more like a funeral procession, shellshocked looks of bewilderment upon the players’ faces. And the only reaction from the Everett fans in attendance was a few catcalls for the coaches.
No, this wasn’t the way to end a season.
In a campaign that’s seen more than its share of humiliating losses, the Silvertips saved the worst for last, getting thrashed 10-0 Sunday evening in their final regular season game.
“It’s tough you know, a tough game to play and a tough game to watch from the bench when I wasn’t on the ice,” Everett defenseman Graham Potuer said. “It’s just a learning experience and we have to take from it what we can and get better in the areas we need to get better in.”
Sunday’s defeat was just the latest — and worst — in a series of lopsided losses that have characterized Everett’s second half of the season. Since Jan. 24 the Tips have lost once by seven goals, twice by eight, and now by 10. The 10-goal loss is the worst in the franchise’s six seasons, and it’s also the first time the Tips have allowed an opponent to reach double digits.
So what happened?
“I haven’t watched the video yet, I’ll have to watch it again,” a somber Everett coach John Becanic replied. “We’re not going to put a lot of emphasis on today. You can’t fix today.
“They were sharp, we weren’t.”
The Tips, who finished the season 27-36-7-2 for the first losing season in franchise history, may have been caught looking ahead to the playoffs. Everett already was locked into playing Tri-City in the first round, which opens Friday in Kennewick.
Jeremy Boyer scored a hat trick and Devon LeBlanc added a goal and four assists to lead Seattle (35-32-1-4). Call-up goaltender Kyle Jahraus, making his first appearance of the season, stopped all 27 shots he faced for the shutout.
Kent Simpson absorbed the entire beating in net for the Tips. He finished with 34 saves.
When asked why Simpson, usually the backup to Thomas Heemskerk, wasn’t pulled, Becanic declined to elaborate beyond saying, “There’s a reason behind it.” He gave the same response regarding defenseman Taylor Ellington, who was grimacing at the end of the second period then didn’t play in the third, though he was on the bench.
The last time Everett was in Kent the Tips came away with a thrilling 2-1 shootout victory on March 1 to snap a five-game losing streak. At the time it looked like the Tips may have turned a corner.
But the only direction the Tips turned Sunday was south. Everett may have had nothing to play for and may have rested a couple veterans, but the Tips were inadequate in every facet. Simpson struggled, and he wasn’t given any help by a defense that resembled a sieve. Offensively, the Tips put no pressure on the inexperienced Jahraus until well into the third period, and by that point the Tips were trailing 8-0.
The only thing Everett did consistently was give up goals. The Tips gave up three in the first period, three in the second and four in the third.
“It’s the last game of the year, I guess guys weren’t focused and weren’t prepared for the game.” Potuer said. “Seattle played a really good game, they’re tough to play against, especially in this building. We came out flat and never could recover after that first period.
“We have to get our energy up and compete,” Potuer added. “We can’t sit back and wait for something to happen, wait for someone else to do something. We’re playing a really good team in the first round in Tri-City and we have to come out and compete like them.”
The carnage began at the 8-minute, 14-second mark of the first period, a goal that encapsulated Everett’s night. The puck came out to Seattle defenseman Stefan Warg, who was completely unmarked ghosting in from the right point and Warg, who hadn’t scored a goal all season, put a shot past Simpson’s stick side.
And the floodgates opened as the T-birds’ secondary players padded their stats. Luke Lockhart scored at 18:01 just as a power play expired, and Simpson could only get a piece of LeBlanc’s shot off the rush with 56.2 seconds remaining in the period, a goal Simpson would want back.
Any semblance of a contest ended early in the second period when the T-birds scored twice in the first two minutes to go up 5-0. Boyer tipped a Jeremy Schappert blast from the point in off the crossbar 48 seconds in, then David Richard scored on a nice feed from LeBlanc at 9:58.
Thunderbirds 10, Silvertips 0
Everett000—0
Seattle334—10
First Period—1, Seattle, Warg 1 (Cloud, LeBlanc), 8:14. 2, Seattle, Lockhart 5 (Wells), 18:01. 3, Seattle, LeBlanc 14, 19:03.
Second Period—4, Seattle, Boyer 19 (Schappert, Scott), 0:48. 5, Seattle, Richard 10 (LeBlanc), 1:39. 6, Seattle, Boyer 20 (Scott), 9:58. Penalties—Elynuik, Everett (fighting), 2:14; Ellington, Everett (roughing-roughing), 2:14; Fleming, Seattle (fighting), 2:14; Lund, Seattle (game misconduct), 2:14; Burt, Everett (elbowing), 16:18; Acolatse, Seattle (croass checking), 18:47.
Third Period—7, Seattle, Haber 2 (Boyer, Parker), 3:26 (pp). 8, Seattle, Schappert 3 (Richard), 3:46. 9, Seattle, Boyer 21 (LeBlanc), 11:47. 10, Seattle, Cloud 15 (Richard, LeBlanc), 13:14. Penalties—Abney, Everett (roughing), 1:29; Warg, Seattle (roughing), 1:29; Bartek, Everett (hooking), 2:23; Van de Velde, Everett (high sticking), 4:26; Boyer, Seattle (goaltender interference), 9:36; Tochkin, Everett (roughing), 14:52; Cloud, Seattle (butt ending-butt ending-roughing), 14:52.
Shots on goal—Everett 5-7-15—27. Seattle 16-11-17—44. Power-play opportunities—Everett 0 of 4. Seattle 1 of 7.
Goalies—Everett, Simpson 8-11-3-1 (44 shots, 34 saves). Seattle, Jahraus 1-0-0-0 (27 shots, 27 saves).
A—5,018.
Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog: http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog
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