Against the Vancouver Giants, the line of Torrie Wheat, Mark Kress and Curtis Billsten was unstoppable.
The trio caused no end of distress to the Giants in the second round of the Western Hockey League playoffs. They flew around the ice, they punished the Giants physically and they scored a slew of important goals.
Yes, Wheat, Kress and Billsten were an offensive force that Vancouver was unable to handle.
Wait a minute. Isn’t this supposed to be the Everett Silvertips’ CHECKING line?
Perhaps. But calling them the checking line is inadequate because during the playoffs they’ve been so much more.
"We’re a hard-working line," said Kress, who centers the line. "We like to work hard and that’s how our goals come. They’re not very pretty, but we get them in the net."
Wheat, Kress and Billsten were Everett’s most effective line in the Silvertips’ 4-2 series victory over Vancouver. They shut down Vancouver’s top offensive players and also chipped in with a combined five goals and eight assists.
"If you take the last three weeks of the regular season and the two playoff series, you’d have to say they’ve been our best line," Everett coach Kevin Constantine said. "Against Spokane they played a lot against Spokane’s top line, not so much against Vancouver, though quite a bit. So they’ve played against other good players in this league and have done a good job with that part of the game, and then they’ve chipped in a goal or two.
"It’s kind of how the playoffs go sometimes," Constantine continued. "Playoffs sometimes take a little different feel than the regular season. Different guys step up in the playoffs sometimes and right now those guys are going great. We just hope they can keep it going."
The Silvertips have had to shuffle their checking line throughout the playoffs. Jeff Schmidt, who was on the left wing most of the season, suffered a shoulder injury in the first game of the first round. Marc Desloges filled in the remainder of the first round and performed well. Then Billsten slotted into the spot against Vancouver and the line has been even better.
The addition of the 17-year-old Billsten, the team’s biggest player at 6-foot-3 and 212 pounds, gave the line a pair of big, strong, hard-hitting wings — the recently-turned 19-year-old Wheat measures in at 6-2, 180 pounds. With the pesky and speedy 18-year-old Kress buzzing around in the middle, the Silvertips created a lethal balance.
"I think our line, we’re just a very good line down low," Billsten said. "Controlling the puck in the corners is one of our strong points. Other than that, hard work seems to be doing it for us, and each of us kind of plays like that."
That’s something the Giants discovered, much to their chagrin. Vancouver didn’t score a single goal when Wheat, Kress and Billsten were on the ice and the teams were at full strength. And it’s not like that trio was playing against the Giants’ fourth line. Wheat, Kress and Billsten were constantly matched up against Vancouver’s offensive superstars, Adam Courchaine and Gilbert Brule. Kress finished the series with a plus/minus rating of plus-6, Wheat and Billsten were each plus-5.
"We go out and we don’t worry about scoring," Wheat said. "We just focus on shutting down the other team’s line. That’s why the plus/minus thing is what I’m most happy about. It shows that even strength we’ve been doing really well against other teams’ lines. When you’re not focusing on scoring so much as working down low, working hard and getting pucks to the net, things will happen."
The offensive production has been a major bonus during the playoffs. In the regular season none of the three was much of an offensive threat. Wheat was ninth on the team in scoring with 21 points, Billsten was tied for 10th with 20 and Kress was 15th with 11.
So what’s been the secret in the playoffs?
"They just started finding a little bit of offense towards the end of the year, and I think they’ve just done their job defensively and not tried to do anything different offensively," Constantine said. "They just happen to have taken advantage of their offensive opportunities. They’re just trying to play good two-way hockey and when they get their offensive chances, they try to do what they can with them. I don’t think they’ve tried to be more offensive or tried to create more offensively. I think they’ve just been fortunate enough to take advantage of their opportunities."
With Schmidt returning from his shoulder injury faster than expected, it’s uncertain whether Wheat, Kress and Billsten will remain together in the Western Conference finals against Kelowna.
Nonetheless, they way they’re playing, Kelowna should have its hands full with Everett’s checking line, no matter who lines up on the left.
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