EVERETT — It’s taken a month, but the Everett Silvertips’ schedule is finally getting up to full speed.
Unfortunately for the Tips, it just happens to coincide with Everett’s first player shortage of the season.
Everett plays its first weeknight game of the 2014-15 Western Hockey League, hosting the Spokane Chiefs on Wednesday night at Xfinity Arena. However, the Tips will be short up front as winger Dawson Leedahl has been ruled out because of a long-term knee injury.
The 18-year-old Leedahl, a key defensive forward who’s in his third season with the Tips, suffered the injury during Saturday’s 3-2 overtime victory at Spokane.
“It was a hit where he just caught a piece of a guy and hit the boards at the same time,” Everett coach Kevin Constantine said. “It may have been the contact with the player, but it might have been the contact with the boards itself, and I don’t know if he caught a rut or what.”
Leedahl struggled back to the bench and did not return. He underwent an MRI on Tuesday and the Tips were still awaiting the results. But whatever the scan shows, Leedahl, who was wearing a large brace on his right knee Tuesday, will be sidelined for a while. The best-case scenario has Leedahl needing rest and sitting out four-to-six weeks. The worst-case scenario has Leedahl needing surgery and being sidelined four-to-six months.
That’s a significant loss for the Tips. Leedahl’s contributions go far beyond his numbers (one goal, three assists in nine games).
“There’s a need on a hockey team for a variety of types, whether it’s penalty killers or goal scorers or physical guys,” Constantine said. “Dawson was on our power play as a strong net-front presence, he was one of our top two penalty killers, and in his five-on-five role he’s pretty trustworthy defensively and he brings a physical edge to our team. There’s a lot of different parts of the game that Dawson is contributing to, and it will be a tough loss whether it’s short-term or long-term.”
Leedahl’s injury came two days before the Tips traded winger Tyler Sandhu to Red Deer. That means Everett heads into a busier stretch of the schedule with just 12 forwards available.
Everett had the lightest schedule in the WHL through the season’ first five weeks.The Silvertips never had more than two games in a week, and all nine games came on the weekend. As a result, Everett is tied with Spokane for the fewest games played in the league. Every other team in the U.S. Division has played at least 11.
The Tips’ schedule normalizes beginning Wednesday. WHL teams play an average of three games a week during the regular season, and Everett plays three games in three of the next four weeks.
“It’ll keep us more involved,” center Kohl Bauml said. “Taking the week off the past four weeks, we got out of the game a little bit. We had long weeks and guys’ minds weren’t into is as much. It’s going to be nice getting into more of a normal pattern, get the routine going better.”
Constantine has used the light weeks early in the season to focus on Xs and Os, getting the Tips more attuned to the way he wants the team to play. However, he’s ready for more frequent games, too.
“There’s good and bad,” Constantine said about playing more games. “One of the goods of not playing many games is we’ve been healthy. The more you play and the more tired you play, the more chance there is for injury.
“I’m looking forward to playing more games,” Constantine added. “The off weeks are nice because you can get a lot done from a systems standpoint, but that gets tedious after a while. The general rule for me my whole career has been anything more than three days of practice gets monotonous for players. The idea that we’re going to play in a little better rhythm, I’m actually excited about that.”
While the timing of the increase in games could have been better for Everett, the Tips are confident they can handle it.
“It obviously sucks to lose Dawson,” defenseman Ben Betker said. “But it’s just an opportunity for younger guys to step in and show what they’ve got. I think we have a great pool of younger talent here, so it’ll be interesting to see how they handle it.”
With Sandhu gone and Leedahl laid up, rookie wingers Gunnar Wegleitner and Nik Malenica will see more action. It’s also possible the Tips, who are carrying eight defensemen, will use a defenseman at forward on occasion.
Check out Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog, and follow him on Twitter at @NickHPatterson.
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