Everett, Wash.
Published: Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Silvertips feel good despite poor finish

Everett lost its last five games of the season and had a controversy with one of its top players, but players say they're confident going into the playoffs.

By Nick Patterson
Herald Writer

 EVERETT -- This isn't exactly the way the Everett Silvertips wanted to enter the playoffs.

The Tips went into the final week of the regular season with visions of home ice in the first round dancing in their heads.

Instead: five straight losses; a controversy swirling around one of the team's top players; and a first-round matchup against the second-best team in the WHL.

The sum total has created an air of uncertainty around Everett going into Friday's Game 1 of their best-of-seven playoff series against the Spokane Chiefs. Many wonder just where the team's psyche is at this point.

However, the Tips themselves feel fine about their current state of mind.

"I think we're at a good mental level," Everett captain Jonathan Harty said. "We're not too high because we're not seeded that high (sixth in the Western Conference), but we're not too low because we know we can beat Spokane (5-3 against the Chiefs during the regular season)."

All the emotions came to a head during last Friday's home game against Seattle. At that point the Tips still had a shot at finishing fourth and earning home-ice advantage in the first round.

But the Tips lost 3-1, with the decisive two goals scored during a third-period five-minute major penalty taken by Kyle Beach. Beach was subsequently criticized publicly by coach John Becanic, and the Tips essentially conceded their final two games to end with the five-game losing streak.

Now with the playoffs approaching the Tips are trying to distance themselves both from the Beach incident and from the losing streak.

"I think what happened against Seattle happened," Beach said. "It's done, it's behind us and we're going to move on.

"I think our guys are all strong enough to know it's the playoffs now and we've got to be prepared," Beach added. "We can't do anything that's going to hurt the team."

As for Beach's teammates, they're hoping the Beach that was a point-per-game performer during the regular season shows up for the playoffs, rather than the one who piled up a team-record 222 penalty minutes.

"Kyle's an unbelievable player," Everett leading scorer Dan Gendur said. "Sometimes he needs to get his emotions in check, just like every other player out there. We need him for the playoffs. He's a top-five (NHL) draft pick in my mind and we need his skill to come through for us in the playoffs."

But it's not just Beach. Becanic is hoping all the Tips are able to maintain cool heads against Spokane.

"The playoffs are a time of emotional control and that's going to be a point of emphasis," Becanic said. "Looking at Spokane's power play over the last 10 games it's at about 36 percent. Discipline's going to be a huge factor for us, and discipline is a byproduct of emotional control."

While the Tips are still concerning themselves with their discipline, they're not concerned at all about the losing streak. Part of that is because Everett rested many of its key players during the final two games, diminishing the import of those two defeats. Another part is because the playoffs are considered a whole new season.

"In the playoffs everything's wiped clean," Gendur said. "Anyone can beat anyone in this league. We have a pretty tall task in beating Spokane, they're an unbelievable team. We're also a good team, maybe not a lot of people know that, but we're a pretty confident bunch."

Becanic, for his part, saw the possibility of some good coming out of the losing streak.

"I hope it makes us hungrier," he said. "It's like an animal stalking its prey, you want the taste of blood and right now we want a taste of winning. You could see it out there in practice, there's a little bit of an edge. We maybe weren't as sharp as we'd like to be, but I like the fact we're a little angry out there now. That's going to have to roll over into Friday, but without penalties."



Nick Patterson's Silvertips blog: www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog
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