A history of Everett’s big head-to-head contests

First off, the news of the day:

– Everett goaltender Carter Hart was named the CHL Goaltender of the Week. The 16-year-old rookie made three starts last week, going 3-0 with a 0.98 goals against average and .965 save percentage, to congratulations to him.

– Everett defenseman Tristen Pfeifer, who’s missed the past four games because of an upper-body injury, did not practice Tuesday. Therefore, it seems unlikely he’ll be back for Wednesday’s showdown with Portland.

– Silvertips prospect Alex Astasiewicz has arrived in Everett and will be spending the next couple weeks with the team. Astasiewicz, a 16-year-old defenseman, was a third-round pick in the 2013 bantam draft. He had a solid season with Golden of the junior B KIJHL, notching five goals and 20 assists in 46 games.

Now on to the trip through history.

Everett plays a huge game against Portland on Wednesday at Xfinity Arena. With two weeks remaining in the season the Tips lead the Winterhawks by four points in the standings, with Portland having two games in hand. Therefore, Wednesday’s game will likely have a large say in which team winds up with the U.S. Division banner.

Everett has had a handful of huge late-season head-to-head games against division rivals over the years, games in which everything was at stake. Here’s a look at what I consider to be the three biggest of those. I had the good fortune of attending all three of these (even though two were on the road), so I’m going to tack on some of my memories as well, as well as links to the stories I wrote about those games.

March 13, 2004, Everett at Tri-City

Three teams — Everett, Tri-City and Portland — entered the final weekend of the regular season with a chance to claim the division title. The Tips had a two-point lead on Tri-City when the teams met in Kennewick on the second-to-last day of the regular season. Mark Kress scored the first of his two goals less than a minute into the game, then scored his second to break a 1-1 tie with less than a minute remaining in the second period. Everett made that lead hold up to win 2-1, with Jeff Harvey earning the win in goal with 19 saves. The victory clinched the division title for the Tips for yet another milestone in Everett’s record-breaking inaugural season.

Recollections: What I remember about this game was that is was a last-minute assignment. It was a Saturday game, and the plan was for me to go to Tri-City only if Everett had a chance of clinching the division title. For that to be possible Friday’s results had to play out just right, and they did. So I raced to Kennewick on Saturday afternoon, covered the game, and drove back home afterwards. I’m not sure I’m physically capable of that anymore.

Also, this was my first real taste of Livin’ On a Prayer. That expansion season the players celebrated wins by singing the Bon Jovi hit as a group in the locker room. You couldn’t hear when they did it in Everett, but it came through loud and clear from the visiting locker room at Tri-City. So that was my first true experience of that phenomenon.

Feb. 26, 2010, Tri-City at Everett

Tri-City spent much of the second half of the season comfortably in first place in the division. However, buoyed by a 14-game winning streak that included a perfect January, Everett closed the gap to three points with nine games remaining. What ensued was a wild game with a wild finish. The Tips trailed 2-0 going into the third period when they scored three straight, with Scott MacDonald seeming to complete an unlikely comeback by giving the Tips the lead with 1:32 remaining. But the Americans, who could have packed it in after giving up the lead, instead conjured up a tying goal from Brendan Shinniman with 30.5 seconds remaining, and Tri-City ended up winning in a shootout. The Tips made one final push, winning six of their next seven, but Everett lost 3-2 at Spokane on the final day of the regular season to fall one point short.

Recollections: What I remember most about this game was just how emotional it was at then Comcast Arena after Everett scored that third goal to take the lead. There have been some legendary third-period comebacks over the years, but given the magnitude of the game I think the emotions were higher in this one.

And even though Tri-City came back and won in a shootout, I don’t remember there being much in the way of disappointment, either from the fans or from the Tips. Even though the game swung three points in the final minute, ultimately deciding the division race, it really felt more like a point gained by the Tips than two points lost.

March 17, 2012, Everett at Seattle

It was essentially a winner-takes-all game. Everett and Seattle entered the final Saturday of the regular season tied for the Western Conference’s last playoff spot. The game was Everett’s last of the season, while Seattle had a game at Portland the following day, so the Tips needed to win to keep their season alive, and even a win meant the Tips would have to wait for Sunday’s result to know if a one-game playoff was required. Everett fell behind four times in the game, but all four times the Tips tied it back up. Then Cody Fowlie gave Everett its first lead with 4:49 remaining, and a late empty-net goal secured a 6-4 victory for the Tips. Seattle had nothing left in the tank and lost 8-2 at Portland as Everett claimed the final playoff berth.

Recollections: I don’t think I’ve ever been in an arena where the tension was as palpable as it was that night. Even though this game was strictly for the right to get throttled by Tri-City in the first round of the playoffs, there was a ton at stake. Seattle hadn’t made the playoffs the previous two seasons, the team’s first two full seasons at ShoWare Center, and this was the T-birds’ last kick at the can with star goaltender Calvin Pickard. Meanwhile, Everett was in danger of seeing its streak of making the playoffs in every season of franchise history end in its ninth campaign. The game was a nail-biter from start to finish, so the tension never did ease until Ryan Harrison scored the empty netter.

While Seattle ended up missing the playoffs, the T-birds wound up winning the draft lottery and earning the right to draft Mathew Barzal. So it was a pretty good consolation prize for Seattle.