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<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   TODAY'S GAME Opponent: Vancouver Giants When: 7 p.m. Where: Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver, B.C. Radio: KRKO (1380 AM) Scouting report Tonight is the final meeting of the season between Everett and Vancouver. The Giants have controlled the season series, winning four of the previous five contests, including a 5-2 victory in Everett when the teams last met on Feb. 2. Vancouver (45-14-2-6 going into Friday night’s home game against Seattle) is right in the hunt for the WHL regular-season title. Going into Friday the Giants had 98 points, tied with Tri-City for the most in the league, although the Americans had played one fewer game. Vancouver is also one of the league’s hottest teams, having gone 8-1-0-1 over its previous 10 games. The Giants are paced by 19-year-old right wing Spencer Machacek (33 goals, 43 assists), who was named the league’s Player of the Month for February. He and 19-year-old left wing Michal Repik (25 goals, 33 assists) give Vancouver a pair of elite offensive talents, and the Giants have a plethora of other forwards capable of contributing. Vancouver features the league’s stingiest defense, having allowed a league-low 144 goals in 67 games. Eighteen-year-old defenseman Jonathon Blum (15 goals, 42 assists) is one of the league’s best, and 18-year-old Tyson Sexsmith (40-10-2-6, 1.91 goals against average, .911 save percentage) became just the 17th goaltender in league history to notch 40 wins in a season. Nick Patterson, Herald writer   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: Saturday, March 8, 2008 Tips hold off struggling Portland, 2-1 Herald staff PORTLAND, Ore. -- For the second time in a week the lowly Portland Winter Hawks gave the Everett Silvertips all they could handle. And for the second time the Silvertips did just enough to consign the Winter Hawks to further misery. Lukas Vartovnik and Clayton Bauer scored goals, and Everett held on to defeat Portland 2-1 Friday night, extending the Winter Hawks' losing streak to 22 games. Shayne Barrie earned the win in goal with 31 saves as Everett (39-25-0-3) won its fifth straight despite playing without leading scorer Dan Gendur. Gendur did not make the trip because of the flu. It was also Everett's 11th straight victory in Portland. The Tips remained in fifth place in the Western Conference. Everett stayed four points behind fourth-place Seattle, which won 5-2 in Vancouver. The Tips moved three points ahead of sixth-place Kelowna, which was idle. Colin Reddin scored and Kurtis Mucha made 20 saves in goal for Portland (9-55-2-1), which lost 4-3 in overtime in Everett last Saturday. The Winter Hawks outshot the Tips 32-22. Everett grabbed the lead 3 minutes, 3 seconds into the game. With one second remaining on a Tips power play, Vartovnik one-timed a faceoff win by Zack Dailey into the top of the net, giving Everett a 1-0 lead. Portland then took the game over in the second period, at one point outshooting Everett 12-1, and the Winter Hawks just missed tying it up when Radim Valchar hit the post on the power play. However, despite being outplayed, Everett doubled its lead late in the period. Zach Hamill created a turnover to start an odd-man rush, then fed Bauer trailing the play. Bauer snapped a shot past Mucha to make it 2-0 at 17:15. Portland got on the scoreboard 7:13 into the third period. On the power play, Tristan King's centering pass got held up in front, and Reddin was able to put the puck past Barrie to pull the Winter Hawks within one. The Winter Hawks had several chances to tie it late in the game, at one point even lighting the lamp. However, the goal was waived off by the officials, and the Tips held out. Silvertips 2, Winter Hawks 1 Everett 1 1 0--2 Portland 0 0 1--1 @5. NHL box :First Period--1, Everett, Vartovnik 11 (Dailey), 3:03 (pp). Penalties--Ehrhardt, Portland (slashing), 1:04; Potuer, Everett (holding), 5:10; Schmermund, Portland (slashing), 5:33; N. Dietrich, Portland (tripping), 17:15. Second Period--2, Everett, Bauer 25 (Hamill), 17:15. Penalties--Beach, Everett (interference), 6:23; Vartovnik, Everett (roughing), 14:09; Montgomery, Portland (boarding-roughing), 14:09. Third Period--3, Portland, Reddin 2 (Walker, King), 7:13 (pp). Penalties--Karamnov, Everett (holding), 6:07. Shots on goal--Everett 12-6-4--22. Portland 8-13-11--32. Power-play opportunities--Everett 1 of 4. Portland 1 of 3. Goalies--Everett, Barrie 12-4-0-0 (32 shots, 31 saves). Portland, Mucha 7-35-1-1 (22 shots, 20 saves). A--5,624.

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