Offseason Check-in: Micheal Zipp
EVERETT – It’s the time of year when Everett Silvertips players resume the lives of regular teenagers. They are back at home with their parents, finishing school, holding down summer jobs, and hanging out with friends. Silvertips broadcaster Travis Huntington will be touching base with some of the players during the offseason to find out what they’re up to when they’re not spending every day on the Comcast Arena ice.
Travis catches up with 16-year-old defenseman and Edmonton, Alberta native Micheal Zipp for our second summer check-in. Zipp joined the Silvertips from the Alberta Junior Hockey League halfway through his 16-year-old season and ended up skating in 36 games last year, recording 34 penalty minutes and his first career point vs. Victoria on March 16. He played in all six playoff games against Portland, finishing with one assist and a +3 rating.
Travis Huntington: Well Micheal, we’re well into the summer now. The sun has been out quite a bit here in Everett lately; what’s going on this time of year in Edmonton?
Micheal Zipp: We’ve had more nice days lately, but Edmonton was really rainy last month. They’ve had flooding down to the south of us in Calgary and other parts of southern Alberta, so we’re fortunate that didn’t come up north to Edmonton.
TH: So you’ve been back home for quite a while now. What have you been doing?
MZ: Oh, just kind of hanging out. School kept me busy until recently, and now I’m just working out, catching up on some movies on Netflix and just trying to be a kid.
TH: Glad to hear it. Tell me about a good movie you’ve seen on Netflix lately.
MZ: I’d have to say End of Watch. I watched that the other night. It’s a cop one. It was a killer flick.
TH: Did you see the new Superman movie?
MZ: Man of Steel? Oh yeah! That was unreal. I’m a big Superman fan. I like my superheroes and their capes.
TH: Who’s your favorite superhero?
MZ: I’d probably say The Flash. He’s so quick you can’t even see him coming.
TH: So did you try to be like The Flash when you were little, “zipping” around the house all the time? (note the bad pun there…)
MZ: For sure. I had my Flash shoes that I wore all the time.
TH: Have people always used your name to make the pun about you being fast?
MZ: Oh yeah, I’ve gotten that from coaches and teachers especially. They’ll say things like “let’s zip through this next question…”, and mostly stuff like that.
TH: What other movies do you want to see this summer?
MZ: I’ve been meaning to go see Fast and the Furious 6, actually. I’ll try to get to the movies soon to see that. I’ve kept up with all of the Fast and Furious movies. The last one was stellar, so I’ve got high expectations for this next one.
TH: If they’re still making them up to like Fast and the Furious 11, are you still going to see all of them?
MZ: Oh I’ll still be there at Fast and the Furious 21 if I have to.
TH: I appreciate your devotion. So you’ve still been in school most of the time you’ve been at home. Tell us a little about that.
MZ: Yeah, I was going to school at the hockey academy. That way I still get a little taste of the game I love while I’m cracking down on the books and trying to get a little homework done. In the morning I would get up, go to school and get some of my core subjects in, then in the afternoon you have the option of taking extra upper-level classes or taking the hockey academy. I decided to take the hockey academy, so that way it’s a win-win for me while I’m in school.
TH: It’s not easy being the Scholastic Player of the Year, is it? You haven’t had much of a break this offseason.
MZ: Well it definitely keeps you busy, and you’ve got high expectations to meet. Plus it feels like I’m still at the rink almost every day, but it’s a good thing.
TH: So you just recently got out of school, what are you going to do with the rest of your summer?
MZ: Hopefully I’ll get to go lay on the beach somewhere hot for about a week during a little family holiday in Mexico. That would be a first for me. My parents have been there, but they’ve left the kids out of it until now. Also my aunt has a place in BC in the Cranbrook area, so I’ll call my buddy Betker to see if he’s cool enough to meet up and hang out with me.
TH: So you think you’ll call Ben when you’re in town instead of trying to avoid him? You will be seeing plenty of each other this winter, you know.
MZ: Oh, he’s too hard to avoid with his size (laughs). I’m sure I’ll see him kicking around somewhere.
TH: So you mentioned the family vacation in Mexico. What is the makeup of the Zipp family?
MZ: We’ve got my younger sister Katie, who is 11, my older brother Stephen, who is turning 20, and my mom and dad. So I’m right smack in the middle. Being the middle child can be a win-win, but it can also be a lose-lose sometimes.
TH: Give me an example of what’s good about being the middle child.
MZ: Umm… well you can kind of stay out of the fighting and stay out of trouble sometimes. Then you can also either team up with your older brother OR your younger sister, so you get to bond with both of them at different times. It’s kind of sneaky. That’s the benefit of being the middle child.
TH: What else do you have going on during the summer before you come back to Everett?
MZ: I’m been approached about helping out with a couple of hockey camps this summer, so I’m thinking about working those to make a little extra spending money. My brother works at a “Got Junk?” company, so working with him would be kind of cool, but we’ll see about that. Maybe I’ll follow in the family footsteps, but I doubt it. I’m not a big garbage picker-upper, so I’ll probably just stick to the hockey camps.
TH: All hockey all the time, it seems. Anything else we should know about the daily offseason life of Micheal Zipp?
MZ: Let’s see, daily life…. probably just a lot of sleeping. I think I’m still growing, believe it or not. Between workouts and skating there’s a lot of eating and sleeping that goes on.
TH: Well good luck with all of that. Have fun at the movies, remember to wear sunscreen while you’re in Mexico, and we’ll see you here in Everett for training camp.
MZ: Sounds great Trav, thanks. I’ll see you soon!
The Silvertips are currently preparing for our 11th year in the WHL. Season tickets and mini-game packages for the 2013-14 WHL season are available now at the team office. Visit our website or call 425-252-5100 for more information. To keep up with all the latest team news, “like” the Everett Silvertips Hockey Club on Facebook or follow @WHLSilvertips on Twitter.
