I was hired full-time at the Everett Herald in September of 2003 specifically to cover the new WHL hockey team in town, the Everett Silvertips, who began play that season. I was brought on not so much because of my hockey background — I’d attended exactly one hockey game in my life prior to taking over the Tips beat — but because I’d worked for sports editor Kevin Brown previously at the Skagit Valley Herald, and I was available to start on short notice.
Little did I know I’d be treated to the most amazing experience of my sports-writing career, getting a front-row seat on the wild ride that saw the Silvertips go from completely-dismissed expansion team to Cinderella Western Conference champions. It also meant I was on hand for the 2004 WHL championship series between Everett and the Medicine Hat Tigers, and with the Tips making their first return to the finals since then I thought I’d share my memories from 14 years ago.
First, here’s the box scores from the games as Medicine Hat won in four straight. I also included my game story from Game 1, the only one I could locate online:
Game 1: Medicine Hat 4, Everett 1 (Herald game story)
Game 2: Medicine Hat 3, Everett 0
Game 3: Medicine Hat 3, Everett 0
Game 4: Medicine Hat 4, Everett 2
As for my memories from the series, I have to admit that I remember almost nothing about the hockey. I remember being impressed by the depth of the Tigers’ offensive skill, as Medicine Hat had a large group of quality forwards, led by future NHLers Clarke MacArthur and Ryan Hollweg. But I remember few details about the games themselves.
But I remember a lot about the experience of covering that series. Here’s a taste:
– None of us expected the Tips to beat Kelowna in the Western Conference finals. However, just in case, the plan was for me to fly to Calgary, rent a car, then drive to Medicine Hat to cover the first two games of the WHL finals. But as I was driving back from Kelowna after Game 7 — my fourth drive between Everett and Kelowna in six days — I received a call from the office telling me the plane ticket was too expensive, so photographer Michael O’Leary and I would be making the 14-hour drive from Everett to Medicine Hat. I just about opened the driver’s-side door and flung myself onto the Trans-Canada Highway.
– When we arrived at the hotel in Medicine Hat, we discovered that it contained an indoor water slide right in the center, with all the room doors opening to the courtyard where it was located. Apparently this is a common thing at hotels in the Canadian prairies.
– When we arrived at the Medicine Hat Arena for Game 1 we had no idea where the media entrance was. So we just walked up to the unattended front door, found it unlocked, let ourselves in, then spent several minutes wandering the concourse looking for someone to tell us whether we belonged there or not. There were plenty of fans tailgating in the parking lot, but none seemed interested in entering the arena for a sneak peek. Let’s just say security was a little different there.
– The old Medicine Hat Arena, which the Tigers moved out of in 2015, was truly unique. The benches were on opposite sides of the ice, and the Tigers were masters of using the unusual configuration, which included longer benches, to their advantage — they’d have players go off the ice on one side of the bench and hop onto the ice from the opposite end to gain territorial advantage. Also, the media were set up in a box high above one end zone, so it was an different vantage point from which to watch a game.
– When Everett goaltender Jeff Harvey was pulled after one period in Game 2, I asked Tips coach Kevin Constantine why he made the change. Constantine went into a lengthy answer describing the various reasons why teams pull goaltenders. When I followed up by asking him which one of those reasons it was this time, you should have seen the look on his face. I didn’t get the answer.
– Tips owner Bill Yuill lives in Medicine Hat, so I caught up with him over the course of the first two games so I could write a story about him to use as an advance to Game 5, which was to be played back in Medicine Hat. However, the series never made it back to Medicine Hat, so the story never ran. Bill, if you’re reading this, I still have the text of that story sitting around somewhere if you want to read it.
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