The Everett Silvertips will host games one and two of the WHL Playoffs next weekend at Xfinity Arena in downtown Everett. Last night the ‘Tips won their 5th U.S. Championship after topping the Victoria Royals. Here’s the recap.
Aaron Irving, Dominic Zwerger and Kevin Davis each collected multi point games and the Everett Silvertips slammed three power plays, cruising past the Victoria Royals in a 5-2 victory and clinching their fifth U.S. Division title before a crowd of 7,989 at XFINITY Arena on Saturday in WHL action.
Earning their third straight win in four days, the Tips authored a four game sweep against Victoria this season. As the clock expired and the horn sounded, the Tips were informed of the Portland Winterhawks 4-1 victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds, delivering pandemonium inside XFINITY Arena to celebrate.
The Silvertips captured their second division title in three seasons.
The Tips had a solid start in the first period and controlled a majority of the play throughout the 20 minutes. At 9:45, Brandson Hein got the scoring going with help from Kevin Davis and Jake Christiansen. Shortly after the goal, Vladimir Bobylev took a tripping penalty at 11:25 to give the Tips their first power play of the game.
Five seconds into the power play, Patrick Bajkov extended the Tips’ lead to 2 with a power play goal; he received assistance from Kevin Davis and Dominic Zwerger. With the goal, the Victoria Royals went back to full strength but took another penalty 12 seconds later, giving the Tips their second power play of the evening.
At 13:19, Cal Babych netted his second goal of the season, giving the Tips a 3-0 lead, thanks to helpers from Noah Juulsen and Aaron Irving. Keith Anderson took an interference penalty at 16:14, giving the Royals their first power play of the evening. The Tips looked sharp on their penalty kill and were able to get through the two minutes with ease.
Ryan Gagnon took a cross checking penalty at 19:12 to give the Tips their third power play of the evening. The Tips ended the period with 12 shots versus Victoria’s 9 shots.
The second period was a solid continuation of the impressive play in the first period. The Tips put a lot of pressure in the offensive zone and kept pucks at the perimeter, stopping the Royals from making clear zone attempts. At 10:06, Carter Folk took a tripping penalty, giving the Silvertips their fourth power play of the game. Less than a minute later, Riley Sutter got the tap in goal with assistance from Dominic Zwerger and Kevin Davis at 11:03 making the score 4-0 Everett.
Shortly after the power play goal, Wyatte Wylie took a tripping penalty at 11:28, giving the Royals their second power play of the game. Special teams for the Silvertips continued to be the story of the night this evening as they killed the penalty with ease and kept the Royals off the scoresheet once again.
Matt Fonteyne then beautifully redirected a laser beam of a feed by Aaron Irving at 19:46, making the score 5-0 Everett with 13.8 seconds to play in the second period.
At the end of the second period, two fights ensued which delivered the following penalties: Blake Bargar earned two minutes for roughing, Spencer Gerth had two minutes for roughing and five minutes for fighting, Marsel Ibragimov had five minutes for fighting, Aaron Irving had five minutes for fighting, Brian King had five minutes for fighting and a game misconduct, and Wyatte Wylie drew two minutes for roughing.
Due to the penalties of the second period, the Tips began the third period with a two minute power play.
Unfortunately the Tips were unable to capitalize on the man advantage and the score remained 5-0. The Tips continued to put pressure on the Royals throughout the third, resulting in the Royals being kept without a shot on goal for the first nine minutes of the third period. At 9:35, another fight broke out, this time between Keith Anderson and Ryan Gagnon; each player received five minutes for fighting and Anderson received an additional penalty for roughing, giving the Royals a two minute power play.
Special teams continued to dominate and left Victoria without a goal or quality scoring chances.
At 15:01, Vladimir Bobylev broke Carter Hart’s shutout, making the score 5-1. At 18:15, Ethan Price doubled the Royals’ score, making it 5-2.
But the Royals were shut down for the rest of the night, leading to the Silvertips end of the evening in celebration on Fan Appreciation Night.
Carter Hart’s counterpart, Dylan Myskiw, made 28 saves.
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March 19, 2017
Everett Sports