EVERETT — The Everett Silvertips have exorcized their demons. Now they have an opportunity to dethrone the kings.
Everett, fresh off its first playoff series victory in eight years, now faces the Western Hockey League’s Western Conference juggernaut as the Tips take on the Portland Winterhawks in the second round.
Everett is the higher seed in the best-of-seven series, which begins Friday at Xfinity Arena. However, the Tips face a Winterhawks team that not only took Everett to the wire in the race for the U.S. Division title, but also won each of the past four Western Conference championships.
“They’ve been the Western Conference champions for I don’t know how many years now,” Everett overage defenseman Ben Betker said. “It’s exciting for us, we’re looking forward to the challenge, and I think our group is ready to go.”
Both Everett and Portland completed their first-round series Tuesday in thrilling fashion. The Tips knocked off Spokane 2-1 in triple-overtime in Game 6 of its series, and the Winterhawks beat Seattle 5-4 in overtime in Game 6 of theirs.
Now the teams that went down to the final weekend in the race for the division title go head-to-head in the playoffs. Everett nosed out Portland in that race, but the Winterhawks remain the team to beat until someone knocks them off in the playoffs.
“Are they the champ, and would you like to knock the champ off the pedestal?” Everett coach Kevin Constantine asked. “I don’t know if that’s a good a way to word it. This organization has just had a fairly lengthy dry spell. What we’ve tried to do is try to restore some of the success or pride that was around the first few years when we could hang banners and win playoff series. This has not been a year-long quest to have a winner in this division other than Portland. It’s been more a year-long quest to hang a banner here and see if we can do something in the playoffs. So the challenge for us is to continue to be the best we can be and chase excellence. I don’t know how long that can go, but that’s our thought process.”
Portland presents a unique challenge for any team it faces. The Winterhawks may not be as stacked offensively as they were in years past, but they still have two elite offensive performers in winger Oliver Bjorkstrand and center Nicolas Petan. Bjorkstrand won the league’s scoring title, and Petan helped Canada capture gold at the World Junior Hockey Championships.
“Petan and Bjorkstrand have the skills to take over an entire series, let alone a game,” Betker said. “For us it’s very important to hone in on those guys and make sure we take care of them.”
But the Tips face the challenge of containing Bjorkstrand and Petan while being short on defense.
Everett lost two defensemen, Noah Juulsen and Tristen Pfeifer, to injuries in Tuesday’s victory over Spokane. Constantine said Thursday that Pfeifer is likely out for the remainder of the season. Juulsen did not practice Thursday, but Constantine said Juulsen could return at some point during the Portland series.
In the meantime, Everett is going to face Portland’s high-flying offense with a makeshift defense.
“It’s a challenge no matter who steps on the ice for us,” Constantine said. “They have some guys who can do some pretty special things.
“The playoffs are a grind,” Constantine added. “It’s the nature of playoffs and we have to move forward. There might be a little more ice time and a little more opportunity in it for some players. I think if you’re any player in sports, you just want a chance, an opportunity to play. So now somebody who maybe didn’t play so much in the first series might get a little more ice time if other people are a little banged up. You have to look at it that way.”
Everett is also likely to be without winger Dawson Leedahl for the start of the series. Leedahl sat out the final three games of the Spokane series because of an injury, and he did not practice Thursday. Constantine said Leedahl, like Juulsen, could return at some point during the series.
Meanwhile, Portland appears to be at full strength. The Winterhawks also have the advantage in big-game experience, having played 85 playoff contests the previous four years compared to just 19 for the Tips.
“I think their experience is indicative of how good an organization they’ve been for five years,” Constantine said. “But I also think there’s a great strength in having something to prove. I think there’s also power in that. The thing to prove is if you work hard at something as a group you can accomplish what maybe people didn’t expect, and I think we’re very motivated by that. They have their experience which works in their favor, and we have the motivation to keep trying to make something special of the season.”
Check out Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog, and follow him on Twitter at @NickHPatterson.
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