EVERETT — It’s a rivalry that would receive Charles Dickens’ blessing.
It’s a true tale of two cities.
OK, so maybe Everett and Kennewick don’t carry the same literary weight as London and Paris. But when it comes to the Everett Silvertips and Tri-City Americans, it seems location makes all the difference.
Everett and Tri-City square off for the third time in six nights when the Tips and Americans take the ice Wednesday at Xfinity Arena, and history suggests the game taking place in Everett is a big advantage for the Tips.
“That’s something we talked about,” Everett overage defenseman Ben Betker said. “For whatever reason they tend to outplay us in their rink and we tend to outplay them in ours. I guess it’s a good time for it to be in our building because we need these points.”
There seems to be some sort of magic portal on I-82 somewhere between Everett and Kennewick that causes the Tips and Americans to step through the looking glass. Consider the following:
— In Everett this season the Tips are 3-0 against Tri-City. All three of those wins were by two or more goals. Everett also dominated play in those contests, nearly doubling up the Americans in shots on goal at 111-56, which is an average of 37.0-18.7.
— When the teams played in Kennewick, Everett is 1-3. Every single one of those games were decided by a single goal, with two requiring shootouts. The shot totals are also dramatically different as the teams are essentially even at 115-109 (an average of 28.8-27.3). So Everett’s shot advantage shrinks by nearly 17 per game at Tri-City.
This isn’t a one-season phenomenon, either. Last season Everett won all four games in Everett, three of those by two or more goals. Meanwhile, every game but one in Kennewick was decided by one goal, with Tri-City winning twice.
“They’re a very good team in their building,” Everett coach Kevin Constantine said of the Americans. “I speak of that over the six years I’ve been in the league, not this particular year. That’s a six-year statement. Whether it’s the building, the elevation, the crowd, the atmosphere or their culture, they’ve always been a tough team to play in their building.”
So why the discrepancy in the nature of the games between the two buildings? Even Constantine is stumped.
“There are teams that are always good at home,” Constantine considered. “You can play a similar game (to your home game), but it’s a factor that they just play well. At the same time, we’re trying to take a good look at that and find out if it’s a bit of us not really playing in Tri-City the way we can play. If you look at our team in general we’ve been a pretty decent road team, we have a pretty decent road record. But I don’t think that’s true when we go into Tri-City. We’re trying to look at why we’re a pretty good road team that’s not a good road team in Tri-City. We’re certainly questioning that ourselves.”
Neither team solved the riddle recently. The games went exactly to script over the weekend. Everett won 4-1 at home last Friday, outshooting Tri-City 34-20. The next night in Kennewick the Americans dominated the second period en route to a 4-3 victory. The Tips even made sure it ended up a one-goal game, rallying in the third period after falling behind 4-1.
“I think we played them perfectly in our building, and we got away from our game on Saturday in Tri-City,” Betker said. “So we definitely know what we need to do (Wednesday): play the same way as Friday.”
But while the Tips would seem to have the upper hand for Wednesday’s game in Everett, they’re not going to count on history carrying the day.
“We have to make sure we don’t take anything for granted at home, because you can do that,” said Constantine, noting that Everett has played just five of its past 20 games on home ice. “You can think, ‘Well, now we’re at home and it will be easier.’ That’s never the case in hockey. So we have to re-establish our identity as a team here at home.”
Or at least for one more night, the Tips want to re-establish the pattern of home-ice advantage in the rivalry between Everett and Tri-City.
Slap shots
Everett winger Logan Aasman returned to practice Tuesday. Aasman hasn’t played since Nov. 30 because of a concussion, and he spent more than a month recovering at home following the Christmas break. However, Aasman returned to Everett last week, and Tuesday he was a partial participant in practice as he wore a no-contact jersey. Constantine said the Tips are taking every precaution with Aasman, but if his recovery continues to go as planned he may return to the lineup within a couple weeks. … Tri-City is expected to have key winger Brian Williams back in the lineup for Wednesday’s game. Williams missed the two games over the weekend because of a lower-body injury. However, there’s question marks surrounding leading scorer Parker Bowles, who left Monday’s 3-0 loss at Kamloops with an apparent arm injury and did not return.
Check out Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog, and follow him on Twitter at @NickHPatterson.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
