Everett Advances to Next Round of WHL Playoffs
Published on April 6, 2005 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Everett Silvertips News Release
After a nail-biting game 7 and a spectacular series, the first round of the Western Hockey League Playoffs is over with the Everett Silvertips coming out on top of the Portland Winterhawks 4-3. In tonight's decisive game, the Silvertips hung on to a 3-2 margin to win the game.
In each game this series the team who scored first won the hockey game and tonight was no different. Everett was first on the board at 13:55 of the first period. With the puck in Portland's zone, Curtis Billsten sent a pass to Mark Kress who was streaking towards the net and Kress easily dropped it behind Blake Grenier.
Portland tied it up early in second on a power play when Everett was called for having too many men on the ice. Garrett Festerling scored his only goal of the post season with assists from Braydon Coburn and Brendan Mikkelson. At 9:47 the Silvertips once again pulled into the lead. Zach Hamill got the puck at the blue line on a Portland turnover and sent a pass to Kyle Annesley who quickly put the puck on net. Grenier made a kick save but sent the puck right to Alex Leavitt, who fired again and this time found the hole to make it 2-1.
Leavitt struck again at 10:17 of the third period on a breakaway. This was Everett's first shot of the period but that was all the Silvertips needed. With about three minutes left in the game, the Winterhawks pulled Grenier and sent an extra attacker out onto the ice. After two minutes of relentless firing by Portland, Coburn found the additional goal at 19:01, but enough time wasn't left to score again and send the game into overtime. Cody McLeod and Brandon Dubinsky tallied the assists on the Winterhawks' last goal.
The final battle between Mike Wall and Blake Grenier ended with Wall topping Grenier 4-3. Wall stopped 36 of 38 shots, 16 of 17 in the last period alone, to secure a Silvertip win. Grenier made 18 saves on 21 shots and ends his post season 3-4. On the power play both teams scored on one of four chances. In the game Portland out shot Everett 38-21 with 17 coming in the last period compared to Everett's 4.
It's not over for Everett. Everett advances to the next round where the will face off against the Kootenay Ice in Cranbrook, BC. The first two games are in Cranbrook on Friday, April 8th and Saturday, April 9th. The series comes back to the Everett Events Center on Monday, April 11th and Tuesday, April 12th. Game times for the BC games are at 6pm Pacific Standard Time. Everett's home games start at their regularly scheduled time of 7:05pm. Tickets are on sale now.
Western Hockey League Stories from April 6, 2005
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- Isolated Mistakes Overcome Dynamic Effort, Winter Hawks' Season Ends, 3-2 - Portland Winterhawks
- Everett Advances to Next Round of WHL Playoffs - Everett Silvertips
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