Sports

<< Previous   of   Next >> Jennifer Buchanan / The Herald  (click to enlarge) Everett's Jesse Burt (22) drives Seattle's Lindsay Nielsen into the boards during a game last September.   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Report scores and results to 425-339-3470 or 1-866-6-SCORES (Call after 4:30 p.m.) E-mail information including items for Tuesday's Communities Sports Roundup and Thursday's Outdoor Calendar, to sports@heraldnet.com Kevin Brown, Sports Editor kbrown@heraldnet.com   Published: Friday, March 7, 2008 The Everett Silvertips have transformed into a team that dishes out punishment, instead of one that absorbs it By Nick Patterson Herald Writer There used to be a certain way to describe the Everett Silvertips: Soft. Everett was many things the previous two seasons: A team overflowing in skill and speed; two-time U.S. Division champions, and last season's winners of the Scotty Munro Trophy for the league's best record. But one thing they weren't was a team opponents feared physically. For all of Everett's talent, the question always lingered as to whether the Tips were tough enough for the rigors of the playoffs. Would skill prevail, or would opponents batter the Tips into submission? That's the case no longer. This season Everett's gotten physical, thus transforming itself from the team absorbing the punishment into the one dishing it out. "We definitely like it," Everett captain Jonathan Harty said about the physical style. "When we've got an opportunity we're going to lay the body." Said coach John Becanic: "I thought it was an element we needed to add. You can't always rely on your skill to win hockey games, and I think we're physically a difficult team to play against." In the previous two seasons, when there was a loud crunching sound of bodies flying into the boards accompanied by gasps from the crowd, it was a good bet it was an Everett player on the receiving end of the hit. The best illustrations came when the Tips played the Vancouver Giants, whom they travel to play Saturday. Every time the teams faced off, Vancouver's big and physical forwards would do a number on the Tips, particular to the defensemen. Despite the punishment absorbed, Everett still had enough skill to win all six of its games against the Giants last season. However, while the Tips prevailed on the scoreboard, the Giants prevailed in the trainer's room as Everett was always left nursing bumps and bruises. And while the Tips ended up winning the regular season title, it was the Giants who went on to Memorial Cup glory while Everett was upset in the second round of the playoffs by Prince George. So when Becanic became the head coach at the beginning of the season, he went to school on the Giants. "We've watched them play physical and said, 'Jeez, they're hard to play against,'" Becanic said. "You ask any team in the league who's got the most difficult forwards to play against and in the last two years it's Vancouver. You finish a game against Vancouver and you feel like you've played in a war. "When you see teams be successful you kind of watch what they're doing and try and steal a little bit here and there." But it wasn't all just a case of a change in coaching philosophy. Personnel has played a significant role, too. The past two seasons Everett hasn't had a big-bodied team. Even if a team wants to play physical, it's difficult to do it effectively if the players don't have enough inertia behind their hits simply because they're too small. But this season is a different story. Not only have Everett's holdover players gotten bigger and stronger, newcomers like Jordan Mistelbacher, Matt Ius and Vitaly Karamnov arrived to add some size to the Tips' front line. As a result the Tips are much better equipped to play an aggressive, physical style. The line of Ius, Zack Dailey and Lukas Vartovnik has been particularly effective with its physical play lately, creating the game-winning goal in two of Everett's past four games. The trio of Mistelbacher, Jesse Burt and Tyler Skauge also has stepped it up. Even Everett's skill players have raised their physical intensity. As a result, opponents have found themselves getting worn down late in games. "That's my game so I have no problem with it," said Dailey, who throws his body around with reckless abandon despite his small frame. "I really like it and I get fired up when someone makes a big hit, so I think it's really good for our team to do that." The transition wasn't always a smooth one. Everett spent the entire first half of the season trying to find where the line had to be drawn on its physical play. During the first half, there were many nights when the Tips were plagued by penalties that resulted from their overaggressive physical play. Even now, although the problem has subsided, Everett finds itself among the league leaders in penalty minutes. But the Tips seem to have found a happy medium, and that's played a significant role in Everett being 20-8 over its past 28 games. And the Tips hope the increased physical play serves them better in the playoffs this time around. Slap shots: Defenseman Brenden Stephen has rejoined the team for the remainder of the season. The 1990-born Stephen, a towering presence at 6-foot-7, appeared in three games in early February as an emergency call-up. He's able to join the Tips on a full-time basis because his junior B team, the Princeton Posse, was eliminated from the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League playoffs. ... Stephen's arrival is well-timed as the Tips will be without defensemen Taylor Ellington (foot), Tyler Kieffer (upper body) and Chris de la Lande (leg) for this weekend's games. Kieffer and de la Lande are considered day-to-day, while the Tips hope Ellington is ready to resume skating next week.

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