EVERETT – Stage one of the Everett Silvertips’ preseason preparations is complete.
Stage two begins tonight.
The Silvertips see their first action against an actual opponent tonight on the opening day of the second annual Everett Silvertips Pre-Season Tournament.
Everett is joined by Seattle, Portland, Spokane, Vancouver and Kamloops in a six-team tournament that features nine games over three days at the Everett Events Center. The Silvertips play the 7 p.m. game each night, facing Vancouver tonight, Seattle on Saturday and finishing off against Portland, the team Everett faced in the first round of last season’s Western Hockey League playoffs.
The Tips’ tournament will play a large role in determining who will be with the team when it travels to Kamloops for its season opener on Sept. 24.
“Our approach for this weekend is to continue to evaluate our team and our players and who should make our final roster,” Everett coach Kevin Constantine said. “Then when we get to our last two exhibition games ot the year we’ll use those to get ready for the season.”
Everett has 35 players available for the tournament. Constantine said he’d try to give every player two games, with tonight’s game primarily featuring younger players.
Most importantly, after a week’s worth of playing against one another, the Silvertips now get a chance to show what they can do against real opposition.
“It’s one thing scrimmaging against yourself to evaluate players, but it’s an additional stage when you have to go up against another team,” Constantine said. “That’s an important part of the evaluation process.
“This week we put a little team teaching in,” Constantine continued. “So there’s two additional things guys are being graded on now that they weren’t graded on in the intrasquad games and that’s: Can you start to put a team style of play into place, can you play within that concept? And how do you play when there’s real opposition? Those are two important things we’ve got to try to look at.”
Everett will be without left wing Karel Hromas, who has already left for the Chicago Blackhawks’ rookie training camp. However, Everett’s other NHL camp invitees – goaltender Michael Wall, defensemen Shaun Heshka and Randy King and left wing John Lammers – are here the entire tournament.
One player who won’t be present at the tournament is Vancouver superstar Gilbert Brule. Brule, who finished tied for third in the league in scoring last season with 87 points and was drafted sixth overall by Columbus in this year’s NHL Draft, already has left to attend the Blue Jackets’ training camp.
In addition to players trying to make their respective teams, also on display will be the WHL’s new shoot-out tiebreaker. Every game in the Tips’ tournament will conclude with a shoot-out, regardless of the final regulation score, so athe new tiebreaker rulle can be evaluated by the teams, officials and arena personnel. The results of the shoot-outs will not be included in the final scores.
Hurricane relief: The Silvertips are holding a fundraiser for the Red Cross Relief Fund throughout the tournament. Fans who donate will be entered in a drawing for a gift donated by Erickson Furniture. All proceeds go toward the victims of Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast.
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