WHL Everett Silvertips

Heemskerk Leads Everett Past Tri-City

Published on January 8, 2009 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Everett Silvertips News Release


Everett, WA - Thomas Heemskerk makes 30 saves in his first home game as an Everett Silvertip to lead his team to a 3-1 win Wednesday night over U.S. Division leader Tri-City Americans. Zack Dailey took charge of the assist duties tonight adding two to his resume and bringing his point totals to 22 (3G, 19A). Shane Harper added a great backhand goal and an assist on the power play tonight giving him 37 points on the season (17G, 10A). Dale Hunt netted a power play goal for the 'Tips, while Jesse Burt rounded out the Silvertips scoring.

This brings the 'Tips record to 18-16-5-0 with 41 points in 39 games played standing six points behind second place Spokane Chiefs in the U.S. Division. The Silvertips are now 4-5-1-0 in their last 10 games. Everett gets back to action this Friday, January 9th to take on the Prince George Cougars at Comcast Arena for a 7:35 start.

After poor road conditions the scheduled 7:05 pm start was pushed back to 8:30 pm due to the Tri-City bus being delayed. Everett took advantage of Tri-City's bus legs on their first power play of the night. Hunt slammed home his fourth goal of the season after a great pass from a patient Dailey hit Hunt on the back door, giving Everett the quick 1-0 lead at 5:06. The Silvertips continued a strong first period killing off an Americans power play and getting the upper hand of a Cameron Abney/Mitch McColm fight. Heemskerk had a solid first period in his debut at Comcast Arena stopping all 10 shots faced.

The second period of play saw much back and forth action between Tri-City and Everett with both clubs killing off two power plays each. Heemskerk and Brett Martyniuk stopped nine shots each, giving Tri-City a 19-16 advantage in shots after 40 minutes of play.

At 7:13 of the third period Harper was awarded his third penalty shot of the season after being hauled down on a breakaway. Harper, after some good stick-handling, got Martyniuk out of position, but couldn't lift the puck past the Tri-City netminder when Martyniuk got a piece of the puck with his pad. Harper would make up for the missed penalty shot nearly a minute later when, at 8:14, the Everett right winger took a rebound on his backhand and lifted it top shelf for his 17th goal of the season. The Silvertips would add insurance after Burt scored in front of the Americans net on a scrum giving Everett a 3-0 lead at 15:13. Tri-City would respond just 40 seconds later on the power play breaking up Heemskerk's shutout when Mitch Fadden scored on the tip, in front of the Everett net, making the score 3-1. Heemskerk would stop a barrage of shots in the final two minutes of the game when Tri-City had a man advantage on an empty net. Everett would hold off the U.S. Division leaders and take home their first home win of 2009.

The Silvertips come back to Comcast Arena this Friday, January 9th at 7:35 pm to take on the Prince George Cougars! 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

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Western Hockey League Stories from January 8, 2009


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