WHL Everett Silvertips

Heemskerk, Froese Knock Off Seattle, 4-0

Published on February 14, 2009 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Everett Silvertips News Release


Everett, WA - Thomas Heemskerk made 24 saves in route to a 4-0 shutout Friday night against the Seattle Thunderbirds. The night's number one star, Byron Froese, led the 'Tips offense with one goal and two assists on the night, moving the rookie forward's point total to 49 on the season. Three Silvertips defenseman had a goal each on the night in the form of Graham Potuer, Mike Alexander and Taylor Ellington. WHL rookie leading scorer Kellan Tochkin set a Silvertips franchise record for points by a rookie adding an assist on the night's first goal bringing his season totals to 62 points. The assist passed Kyle Beach's previous mark of 61 points in the 2006-2007 season. Shane Harper had two assists on the night.

This brings the 'Tips record to 24-25-7-2 with 57 points in 58 games played taking them to sixth place in the Western Conference. Everett stands two points behind fifth place Kamloops Blazers. The Silvertips are now 3-4-2-1 in their last 10 games. The Silvertips come back Saturday night to the Comcast Arena to take on the Tri-City Americans at 7:05!

The Silvertips came out very strong against Seattle producing five shots in the first five minutes of play and keeping most of the play in the Thunderbirds zone. After much back and forth play Everett capitalized on their second power play of the night after a Jim O'Brien roughing penalty. Byron Froese tipped in a great pass in front of the crease after a Shane Harper pass out of the corner to give Everett the 1-0 lead. The goal came at 19:16 and was Froese's 17th of the season. Tochkin's assist on the goal set a franchise record for points by a rookie passing Kyle Beach's previous record of 61.

Special teams continued to favor Everett into the second, as Taylor Ellington scored his fourth of the season on the power play to open up the period. Ellington collected a rebound on top of the slot after Calvin Pickard made a great save on a Daniel Bartek backdoor one-timer. The puck rebounded right to Ellington who increased Everett's lead to two at 1:31. Sena Acolaste's roughing penalty at 16:21 gave Everett their fifth power play of the night, and for the third time the Silvertips would capitalize on the man advantage. Mike Alexander let off a hard wrist shot from the left face-off dot that beat Pickard high glove side at 17:27. Everett ended the second period with a 3-0 lead heading into the third.

Graham Potuer would be the third Everett defenseman to find the back of the net Friday night. Coming out of the box Potuer and Froese would find themselves a 2-0 break, where a great pass from Froese would find Potuer's stick for the tap in past Pickard at 8:56. Heemskerk would stop the remaining shots in the game to help solidify a 4-0 win.

The Silvertips come back to Comcast Arena this Friday, February 13th to take on U.S. Division rival Seattle Thunderbirds at 7:35! Tickets are on sale now at the new everettsilvertips.com and at the Comcast Arena Box Office! For ticket information, including season seats and ticket packages, please call the Silvertips' front office at (425) 252-5100.

As always, radio coverage of Silvertips hockey will be provided by North Sound 1380 KRKO, while highlights of audio broadcast, video packages and relevant multimedia will be provided by the Western Hockey League's website, www.whl.ca.

Check out the Everett Silvertips Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Western Hockey League Stories from February 14, 2009


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central