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| 2008-2009 Everett Silvertips Season Recap |
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Silvertips 2008-09 Recap
 The Silvertips 2008-09 season ended when they were eliminated by the Tri-City Americans in five games in the Western Conference Quarter-Finals. While posting the team's first losing season with a record of 27-36-7-2, the Silvertips were also able to unearth a younger generation of intriguing players while experiencing the determined leadership of its three 20-year old veterans.
A Shutout to Remember
Silvertips fans took notice of Kent Simpson following his first round selection in the 2007 WHL Entry Draft, and following an impressive performance in relief by the then-15 year old on the final day of the 2007-08 regular season at Seattle, it appeared that the focused goaltender would have a chance to earn playing time as a 16-year old in 2008-09. Backed by Mike Alexander and Shane Harper goals, Simpson stopped all 28 Portland shots and posted a 2-0 shutout on September 26, 2008, his first career start. He earned his playing time in the first half, marked by wins over Tri-City and Spokane and a gritty 3-2 victory at Swift Current in which the rookie held a strong presence in net in a difficult road environment to conclude a successful two-week trip through the Canadian prairie.
Trial by Fire
The youngest Silvertips team in club history had to do a lot of growing up to do while on a 12-day trip through Central Canada against a talented Western Hockey League East Division. Buoyed by a collective effort in a 4-1 win at Regina in which Daniel Bartek posted a hat trick - two goals of which were scored shorthanded - and 23 saves by Shane Barrie, the tone of the trip was set midway through the second period when three separate Silvertips went down to block rapid fire Colten Teubert slap shots in one of the year's best defensive efforts. Byron Froese, Tyler Maxwell and Kellan Tochkin combined for 11 points in a 5-2 win at Moose Jaw before the Silvertips concluded the long swing led by several jarring Taylor Ellington hits in a physical 3-2 win at Swift Current. With a 3-1-2-0 record and a robust penalty kill, this road trip proved to be a unifying experience for a team that started the season with 13 rookies.
The “Kid Line”
 What started as an experiment with three rookies ended as one of the most accomplished rookie scoring lines in WHL history. Three 17 year olds – Byron Froese, Kellan Tochkin and Tyler Maxwell – became perhaps the brightest crop of rookie forwards currently playing together in the WHL with their emergence as the Silvertips’ most dangerous and consistent offensive threat. It started in an eight-goal outburst in a come-from-behind victory over the future WHL champions, the Kelowna Rockets, and culminated in their inclusion in NHL Central Scouting’s mid-season and post-season draft rankings. Tochkin, a shifty and creative right wing from Abbotsford, BC, became the highest scoring rookie in Silvertips history with 74 points in 72 games en route to receiving the club’s Rookie of the Year award and sharing the Iron Man award. Froese, a hard working two-way center out of Winkler, MB, recorded the 26th hat trick in Silvertips history with three tallies against Red Deer on New Year’s Eve and also played in all 72 games to share the Iron Man Award. Maxwell, a quick skater and dynamic goal scorer from Manhattan Beach. CA, recorded 22 goals in 57 games while also lifting the team to a 3-2 playoff victory at Tri-City in which he scored all three Silvertip goals to mark the first postseason hat trick in club history. The three players formed the perfect jigsaw puzzle of production, combining to post 11 points in a 5-2 win at Moose Jaw in November and a 6-3 win vs Red Deer in December and providing several other offensive outbursts along the way.
Harper’s Heroics
With a 43-point breakthrough season in 2007-08, 19-year old Shane Harper continued his ascendance through the Silvertips scoring ranks by posting 32 goals and 34 assists for 66 points in 72 games with Everett in 2008-09. With his regulation goal at Seattle on March 1, the right wing out of Valencia, California became the fourth player in Silvertip history to record 30 goals in one season, joining John Lammers (38 - 2005-06), Moises Gutierrez (35 - 2006-07) and Zach Hamill (32 - 2006-07). Having tallied 58 goals in his four seasons with the Silvertips, Harper has joined Hamill (87) and Kyle Beach (67) as the only players to record 50 goals in a Silvertip uniform. Harper has missed only one game in the last two seasons and has now suited up in 143 of the team’s last 144 regular season games.
Road Warriors
Though the 2008-09 Silvertips did not find as much success on the road as they did at home, several key road victories were able to help define the team’s efforts away from Everett. By winning in Vancouver in both October and March, the Silvertips finished 2-1 at Pacific Coliseum and posted a winning record in the home of their B.C. Division rivals for the third time in four years. On October 15, two late third period goals in a 1:38 span by Kellan Tochkin tied the game at three before Matthew Ius won the game in the ninth round of the shootout for a 4-3 victory. On March 13, the ‘Tips jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first before the Giants stormed back with three unanswered goals to take a 3-2 lead 36 seconds into the third period. After Tochkin scored to tie it up three and a half minutes later, Byron Froese netted the game winner and Shane Harper provided an insurance tally as Everett knocked off Vancouver 5-3 in front of 12,141 fans at Pacific Coliseum. Following the game, British Columbia native Taylor Ellington signed a three-year contract with the Vancouver Canucks to complete the storybook evening. That win came less than two weeks after a clutch Silvertip performance earned Everett’s first two points at the Thunderbirds’ new arena in Kent. Shane Harper drove to the net on the power play and tucked the puck into the far corner of the net to tie the game at one with 3:29 to play in the game before he provided the shootout’s only goal , a terrific deke that ended with a top-shelf backhand past Calvin Pickard to energize the hundreds of ‘Tips fans that had formed an impromptu cheering section at the Showare Center. It was the Silvertips’ first win on the road against the Thunderbirds since January 27, 2007.
Abney, Froese selected in NHL draft
Every season since 2006, the Silvertips have had at least one player selected in the NHL Draft and the 2009 draft was no different. In the third sound the Edmonton Oilers selected Cameron with the 82nd overall pick and then Byron Froese was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks in the fourth round (119th Overall)
Thank You Taylor, Graham and Daniel
The youth on the 2008-09 Silvertips was well balanced by tested veteran leadership that unified the locker room and defended its teammates on the ice. Twenty year olds Taylor Ellington and Graham Potuer, defensive stalwarts and alternate captains, were among the most relied upon defensemen in the Western Hockey League, often logging upwards of 25 minutes of ice time per game. Whereas Ellington helped set the team’s physical pace as one of the league’s premier hitters, Potuer was also able to find his own physical niche en route to blocking over 2,200 shots in his Everett career. Both Potuer and Ellington finished their WHL careers as five-year veterans of the Everett Silvertips; Ellington’s 287 career games played are the most in club history. Daniel Bartek, acquired prior to the start of the season from the Brandon Wheat Kings, endured several injuries due to the jam in his game and the complete effort he devoted to hockey night in and night out. Another stellar shot blocker, Bartek’s two-way game was evident through his excellence on special teams as he led the Silvertips in shorthanded goals and finished among the leaders in power play goals.
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The Everett Silvertips Hockey Club
2000 Hewitt Ave. • Suite 100 • Everett, Washington 98201
Ph: (425) 252-5100 Fax: (425) 257-0700 info@everettsilvertips.com
Administrative Offices: Mon. - Fri.: 8:30 - 5:00, Weekends (Game Day Only) 10:00 - 2 hours before game time
Team Store: Mon. Tue. & Wed.: 11:45 - 4:00 :: Tue. & Thur.: 10:00 to 4:00
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