Tips Week in Review: Everett drops two on road, wins twice at home

In a clash between the top two teams in the WHL U.S. Division, the Everett Silvertips had their 11-game point streak snapped with a 3-2 loss to the Spokane Chiefs on Jan. 22. After following that up with an overtime loss on the road, the Silvertips closed out the weekend with two straight home wins.

The Silvertips (34-6-4-3, 75 points) remain atop the WHL standings, 13 points ahead of second-place Medicine Hat (30-15-2-0, 62 points).

Spokane 3, Everett 2

In a ‘Wednesday Night in the Dub’ matchup between the top two teams in the U.S. Division, the Chiefs came out on top thanks to a last-minute power-play goal in the second period.

Spokane opened the scoring at 12:36 of the first period with a goal from Coco Armstrong, but Silvertips winger Dominik Rymon tied it at 15:30, punching home a center pass from defenseman Rylan Pearce, who rushed down the right side and had to stretch out his right arm and swipe the puck into the middle to make the play.

The Silvertips took a 2-1 lead at 12:15 of the second period with a power-play goal from winger Carter Bear, his 30th goal of the season, but Spokane tied it less than three minutes later with a goal from Rasmus Ekstrom.

That's ✌️ for the Swede tonight!

Rasmus Ekström nets his second goal of the period to with his family in town to make it 3-2 Chiefs 🥹#GoChiefsGo pic.twitter.com/GyDj5JcaJD

— Spokane Chiefs (@spokanechiefs) January 23, 2025

After the Chiefs allowed four power-play opportunities in the second period, with Bear’s goal being the only one Everett capitalized on, they had a chance to break the tie when Pearce went to the box for slashing at 17:43. With less than a minute left in the period, the puck swung out to WHL points co-leader Andrew Cristall in the right circle, who fed it to Ekstrom inside. Silvertips goalie Jesse Sanche made the initial stop, but it rebounded out to Ekstrom, who tucked it away for a 3-2 lead.

Everett outshot Spokane 12-7 in the third period, but neither side scored as the Chiefs held on to win.

Wenatchee 3, Everett 2 (OT)

On the road again Friday, Everett had another one-goal lead erased by a power-play goal. After a scoreless first period, the Wild’s Reid Andresen scored at 5:48 of the second. Silvertips winger Jesse Heslop leveled it with a power-play goal at 16:54.

Bear scored a go-ahead goal for the second game in a row at 6:27 of the third period, but Wenatchee’s Evan Friesen tied it 2-2 at 10:35 on the power play to eventually force overtime, where Dawson Seitz sealed the win at 1:55, slipping around Silvertips defenseman Kaden Hammell and beating goalie Raiden LeGall with a backhand.

DAWSON SEITZ, YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS WITH THAT SHOT.

They're going wild in the Wolves' Den with the OT winner!#PowerOfThePack pic.twitter.com/r14g9QhL8p

— Wenatchee Wild (@WHLwild_) January 25, 2025

Everett 6, Seattle 1

Back at home against Seattle, the Silvertips stormed to a 3-0 lead in the first period with goals from defenseman Tarin Smith, winger Shea Busch and Bear, and never looked back.

Smith scored his second power-play goal of the night at 10:50 of the second period to make it 4-0. The Thunderbirds got on the board at 3:13 of the third period with a goal from Matej Pekar to spoil the shutout bid for Sanche, who finished with 32 saves.

Seattle got Sanche'd… and Smitty'd.

📽️ ROLL THE HIGHLIGHT FILM!#ForEverett | @walottery pic.twitter.com/CUnFqETFso

— Everett Silvertips (@WHLsilvertips) January 26, 2025

“It’s a super fun [defensive] corps to play with,” Hammell said to reporters after Saturday’s win. “I’ve been saying that all year, I mean, we’ve got something special back there. And obviously with the offense side of things, I think that we do a good job taking care of the D-side, but adding the offense is always fun.”

Goals from Hammell at 6:04 and Heslop at 13:48 put the cherries on top of a 6-1 beatdown. Four different Silvertips skaters had multi-point games: Smith (2 goals, 2 assists), Hammell (1g, 2a), Bear (1g, 1a) and Rymon (2a).

Everett 2, Tri-City 1 (OT)

After a five-goal win on Saturday, things were much closer at Angel of the Winds Arena on Sunday in a tight goalie battle. Both Sanche (38 saves) and Americans goalie Ryan Grout (37 saves) faced 39 shots, with Rymon’s overtime winner making the difference.

“It’s a long week when you play four games in five nights like that,” Sanche said to reporters after Sunday’s win. “The bodies are definitely feeling it a little bit, but if we had one game this weekend and that was it, you wouldn’t be able to tell, so it’s a great effort from everyone.”

Sancher holds the line, Bobby brings it home in OT.

📽️ ROLL THE HIGHLIGHT FILM!#ForEverett | @walottery pic.twitter.com/n2z8lE7bxP

— Everett Silvertips (@WHLsilvertips) January 27, 2025

Center Lukas Kaplan opened the scoring at 11:16 of the second period, zipping into the high slot and unleashing a shot through traffic for his third goal of the season.

Tri-City’s Jake Sloan tied it 1-1 at 14:53 of the third period to force overtime, where Rymon scored the winner. Moving in on a 2-on-1, Rymon went forehand-to-backhand to get around a sliding defender and fed Smith in front. Smith’s shot went wide, but with Grout lunging out of the crease to face the shot, the net was left exposed for Rymon to retrieve the puck from behind the net and tuck it in.

“It’s been a hot minute since we’ve won in overtime (Nov. 24 against Kelowna, 0-0-3-2 in games past regulation between then and Sunday),” Silvertips coach Steve Hamilton said. “So that was good for the guys and I thought we played it well, possessed the puck well in overtime, but it was kind of a bit of a grind game for both sides, I’m sure.”

Three Stars of the Week:

First Star: Dominik Rymon. The 20-year-old winger had two multi-point games and scored the overtime winner Sunday to cap off the week. With two goals and three assists in four games, Rymon is up to 23 goals and 33 points on the season.

Second Star: Jesse Sanche. The 18-year-old goalie rebounded from allowing three goals in the loss to Spokane on Wednesday with back-to-back 30-plus-save, one-goal games on Saturday and Sunday. In four games, Sanche had a .946 save percentage and 1.66 goals-against average.

Third Star: Tarin Smith. The 18-year-old’s four-point game on Saturday highlighted the individual skater performances this week, and he had the secondary assist in Sunday’s overtime winner from Rymon.

The week ahead:

The Silvertips will be featured in this week’s ‘Wednesday Night in the Dub’ matchup again this week, this time against Eastern Conference-leading Medicine Hat. It will be their first and only meeting with the Tigers this season. After a break Thursday, Everett will have another three-game weekend slate, first against Kelowna on the road, followed by two home games against Spokane and Kamloops. The Silvertips won all three previous matchups against Kelowna and both matchups against Kamloops this season. They are 1-1-0-1 against Spokane.