GAME DAY: Tips vs. Seattle
EVERETT SILVERTIPS (4-3-0-0) vs. SEATTLE THUNDERBIRDS (7-1-1-0)
Saturday, October 24, 2015
TIME: 7:05pm
SITE: XFINITY Arena
TICKETS: Click here | TONIGHT’S PROMOTION: Pink The Rink
LIVE STREAM: WHL Live
RADIO: Fox Sports 1380
TWITTER: @WHLSilvertips
LIVE STATS: WHL.ca
TONIGHT’S MATCHUP
The Silvertips host the Seattle Thunderbirds in the first of nine meetings this season and the seventh annual “Pink The Rink” game. The Silvertips are 58-50-14 lifetime in the head-to-head series and last season went 5-3-0-2 against the Thunderbirds. The game will feature two NHL first round draft selections, Noah Juulsen (Montreal) of Everett and Matthew Barzal (NY Islanders) of Seattle. The Silvertips are 0-1-0-0 in a four game homestand, which opened last night against Portland.
TONIGHT’S GUEST
The Silvertips welcome Rob Ramage, player development coach of the Montreal Canadiens, to XFINITY Arena.
HEAD-TO-HEAD: BIRD BITS
The Seattle Thunderbirds, who play out of ShoWare Center in Kent, Wash., are led by head coach Steve Konowalchuk (a former NHL forward of 13 seasons with Washington and Colorado). The Thunderbirds finished third in the U.S. Division last season with a record of 38-25-4-5 and were led by Ryan Gropp’s 58 points in in 67 games. Logan Flodell enters tonight third in league goals-against-average with a 1.90 mark. The last time the two teams met was 3/14/15 at XFINITY Arena, a 3-1 victory before 8,345 fans. The Silvertips went 3-1-0-1 last season at home against Seattle.
LAST 3 GAMES:
POR 2 – EVT 0 (10/23/15): Adin Hill recorded 31 saves for his second shutout of the season, lifting the Portland Winterhawks over the Everett Silvertips, 2-0 before 3,623 fans at XFINITY Arena on Friday. The Silvertips, who entered tonight with the least amount of games played in the WHL this season (and played just four times in the last 26 days), dropped their second straight loss despite a 25 save effort from Carter Hart.
POR 5 – EVT 1 (10/16/15): Evan Weinger scored twice and the Portland Winterhawks broke a tie game with four unanswered goals, skating by the Everett Silvertips, 5-1 before 4,586 fans at Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Friday night. The Silvertips (4-2-0-0) had their three game winning streak snapped, logging their only goal on the power play with a Patrick Bajkov finish in the second period. Adin Hill stopped 33 shots for Portland and counterpart Carter Hart stopped 36 shots, replaced late in the game by Mario Petit (5 saves).
EVT 5 – PA 2 (10/11/15): Noah Juulsen scored the eventual game-winning goal in his regular season debut, while Devon Skoleski buried the first two goals of his WHL career and Carter Hart made 34 saves to lift the Everett Silvertips to a 3-1 victory over the host Portland Winterhawks, before a crowd of 9,581 at Moda Center on Saturday. Everett (2-1-0-0, 4 points), sending the Winterhawks to their third straight loss to start the season, spoiled their home opener with three unanswered goals while Jake Christiansen and Sean Mallonee, each playing in just their second game of their career, gathered their first WHL points.
- Patrick Bajkov has 5 points in 7 games
- Remi Laurencelle has 12 points in 14 games (dating back to last season)
- Noah Juulsen has 5 points (2g-3a) in 5 games
MILESTONE TRACKER
- Remi Laurencelle is 2 games away from 100 in his Silvertips career and 200 in his WHL career
- Dawson Leedahl is 19 games away from 100 in his WHL and Silvertips career
- Patrick Bajkov is 31 points away from 100 in his WHL career
ABOUT TONIGHT’S EVENT
PINK THE RINK: The seventh annual event at XFINITY Arena designed to support fundraising for breast cancer treatment programs, the Silvertips have raised nearly half of a million dollars and will host a jersey auction tonight for game-worn jerseys utilized in the last two days. Proceeds from ticket sales will support the Providence General Foundation. The Silvertips will give away glow sticks to the first 5,000 fans in attendance.
ALUMNI UPDATE: BYRON FROESE
Byron Froese (2008-10) was recalled on Friday to the Toronto Maple Leafs of the NHL. With the Silvertips, Froese earned 118 points in 142 games before moving onto the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL – where he had 80 points in 83 games and an Eastern Conference title. Last season, Froese collected 42 points in 46 games last season with the Marlies, and 3 goals in 4 games this season. Should he make his debut in the NHL tonight vs. Montreal, Froese will become the 14thSilvertips alumni to make his NHL debut.
HART OF STONE
Silvertips goaltender Carter Hart, entering his second full season of play in the WHL, ranks among the league’s leaders in several goaltending categories since beginning his career with the Silvertips. Entering today, Hart leads the WHL in goals-against-average for the last two seasons.
WHL GOALS AGAINST AVERAGE LEADERS*, SINCE START OF 2014-15 SEASON:
|
RANK |
PLAYER |
TEAM |
GAA |
SV |
W |
L |
OTL |
SOL |
|
1 |
Carter Hart |
EVT |
2.43 |
1309 |
29 |
13 |
0 |
5 |
|
2 |
Jake Morrissey |
VAN |
2.45 |
366 |
8 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
|
T3 |
Taran Kozun |
SEA |
2.50 |
1687 |
35 |
21 |
0 |
5 |
|
T3 |
Logan Flodell |
SEA |
2.50 |
405 |
8 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
|
5 |
Michael Herringer |
KEL |
2.54 |
604 |
19 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
* Minimum 500 minutes played
PROSPECT UPDATE
BRETT KEMP (F): selected by the Silvertips in the second round (41st overall) in the 2015 WHL Bantam Draft. Kemp, 15, was selected to Team Saskatchewan for the 2015 Western Conference U16 Challenge Cup, beginning October 28 in Calgary. Kemp was selected among the highest-rated players in the Under-16 category representing the four Western Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Kemp was third in his league’s scoring last season with the Yorkton Terriers (Saskatchewan Bantam AA Hockey League) with 79 points (37g-42a) in 30 games.
THE KEVIN CONSTANTINE FILE
Kevin Constantine returns for his seventh season overall as head coach of the Silvertips, ranking as the club’s all-time leader in wins (248) and posting a record of 248-141-48 in his Everett career. All four of the Silvertips’ division titles have been achieved with Constantine as head coach, most recently last season which was Everett’s first since 2006-07. He was the recipient of the Dunc McCallum Trophy (WHL Coach of the Year) in 2003-04, when the Silvertips broke nearly every WHL expansion record and became the first expansion team in WHL history to win a division title. Constantine has coached in the NHL over the course of seven seasons with San Jose, Pittsburgh and New Jersey, helping guide all three clubs to an appearance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
