Silvertips prove they can score

EVERETT — The Everett Silvertips headed to Kennewick last weekend for the Tri-City Preseason Tournament with a big question mark still surrounding its offense. The Tips returned with that question mark considerably smaller.

Everett had a successful weekend in Kennewick, beating the Seattle Thunderbirds 4-2 on Friday and thrashing the Kootenay Ice 8-2 on Saturday to improve its preseason record to 3-2. But the most significant aspect of the victories was the way the Tips were able to find the net.

“I think the games went well,” overage defenseman Ben Betker said. “The second one especially against Kootenay, we scored a ton of goals, which was really nice to see. That might have been a question mark for our team, but I think now after that game it showed how much we can do offensively.”

Goal scoring is Everett’s biggest concern heading into the 2014-15 season after losing four of its top five scorers from last season. That concern remained following the opening weekend of preseason, as the Tips scored just four goals in their three games at the Holiday Inn Preseason Classic over the Labor Day weekend.

But Everett scored the final three goals in its game Friday to rally past a Seattle team that played a veteran crew on defense and in goal. Then the Tips busted out big-time against a youthful Kootenay team on Saturday, scoring three times in the first six minutes en route to the rout.

“I thought we played really well,” said center Remi Laurenceele, who scored in both games over the weekend and leads the team in preseason goals with three. “Our second game we pretty much dominated and had a really good game. Our forecheck was on and our game was on, and we were lucky enough to score eight goals.”

It wasn’t just that Everett scored 12 goals in the two games, it was the fact that offense was coming from all directions. The eight goals against Kootenay were scored by eight different players, and 10 different players lit the lamp over the two games — Laurencelle and Tyler Sandhu were the only players to find the net twice. Sixteen different players hit the scoresheet in the two contests, with Sandhu, Kohl Bauml, Brayden Low and Ivan Nikolishin all registering three points.

Everett didn’t get much chance to work out the kinks in its power play. The Tips went 1-for-23 with the advantage during their first three exhibition games, but Everett received just four power plays during its two games in Kennewick, converting once.

Therefore, Everett did almost all its damage at even strength.

“I think our forecheck was tremendous this weekend, much improved,” Betker said. “It’s something we talked about the week leading up to the weekend. We were more detailed with the puck in zone as well, so I think those were the reasons.”

Chemistry also comes into play. Everett may have 16 full-time players from last season still with the team, but everyone is having to adjust to new roles, as well as different linemates or defensive partners. After five games some of that chemistry is beginning to develop.

“I think it’s just finding the right guys to play with,” Laurencelle said. “Guys are getting used to playing with each other, we’re making some lines that work together.

“We’re starting to play a lot better and a lot more focused,” Laurencelle added. “We’re starting to play more as at team and we’re all jelling as a team right now. It’s going pretty good.”

The Tips hope the offensive momentum carries into its final two preseason games this weekend, a home-and-home set against Seattle with the team playing Friday night in Everett and Saturday night in Kent.

Check out Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog, and follow him on Twitter at NickHPatterson.

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