Silvertips Continue String of Dominance - Remain Perfect On The Road
RHYS JAMIESON AND JULIUS MIETTENEN COMBINE FOR FOUR GOALS AND IMMEASURABLE GOOD VIBES
In their only game of the weekend, the extremely shorthanded Silvertips did not mess around at Spokane Veterans Arena. The injury-plagued Silvertips scratched Heslop, Busch, DuPont, and Liske to injury, Dufour to the U17 tournament, and Gould who was not in Spokane. That’s a lot of talent not playing - but that wasn’t a problem for the Silvertips who stayed undefeated on the road improving to 9-0 away from Angel of the Winds Arena. Everyone chipped in last night, from rookies to lottery picks, stay-at-home defensemen to team leading forwards.
In a packed arena of 6,583, Everett controlled the entire time and outplayed Spokane in all three phases of the game. The Silvertips also succeeded mightily in special teams, an area they’ve actually struggled in so far this year. With the win, the Silvertips get six days off to rest and recover to hopefully get some guys back from injury. Shea Busch was a surprise scratch today - designated as an upper-body injury. We will know more about the estimated length of injury on Tuesday. Rylan Gould is also expected to make his debut sometime next weekend. Rylan Gould is currently in Everett, but did not make the trip due to minor injuries (he got hurt in his last NCAA game). He should resume skating activities this week and debut at some point in the four games next holiday weekend.
The first goal of the night went to a somewhat surprising candidate on the powerplay - 17 year old rookie Rhys Jamieson. Filling in on the number one unit - the Alberta kid muscled his way to prime position in front of the net and when a puck came lose in front of the goal - had a perfect point blank snap shot over the glove. Miettenen had the primary assist and is who drew the attention and Bear had the secondary assist. The goal was a great play by Jamieson but created by the whole unit who worked a beautiful powerplay for nearly a whole minute with crisp passes and maintaining possession which wore down the Chiefs defense. The second goal of the night would come two minutes later on a “touchdown pass” set play. Tarin Smith gained control of the puck in the back end of the neutral zone and Julius Miettenen put his head down and skated as fast as he could towards the Chiefs net. Smith threw it on goal and Miettenen beat both Chiefs defensemen to the puck for an uncontested rebound that he placed in the net over the right shoulder of Vieillard. The play was reminiscent of the aggressiveness and cherry-picking of Dennis Williams’ style of play. Everett would lose some momentum going into intermission as Spokane forward Coco Armstrong would net a rebound tap-in goal with sixteen seconds left in the frame.
Just under four minutes into the middle period, the Silvertips would score a powerplay goal that was fully thanks to the overagers. Zach Shantz had the puck on the far half wall and patiently waited for the PK to overextend and when they did, he quickly fed it to Pearce at the point who slid it to Chastko. The centerman/defenseman took a couple strides to the top of the circle and whipped a wrister just above the pad of Vieillard and in. Chastko from Pearce and Shantz on the powerplay - the ultimate overager play. But again the Chiefs would answer quickly as less than a minute later Ethan Hughes would bury a beauty of a shot right past LeGall on a two-on-one. Not to be outdone - later in the second period and again on the powerplay, Rhys Jamieson would strike again. Tarin Smith fed Carter Bear working the sides who hesitated and then fired a hard pass horizontally in the zone to RJ who nudged it in with his stick - held firmly on the ice despite Spokane’s best efforts to lift it. Another strong goal from Jamieson off an elite pass from Carter Bear. But Bear’s fantastic passing was not finished in the second period as nearing the final buzzer, after receving a delicate touch pass from Vanhanen Bear took the puck during the cycle from the top of the zone and skated down before laying a perfectly placed pass between two Spokane Chiefs defenders right to Miettenen on the far post who banged it in with six seconds remaining in the period. It was an impressive goal - doubly so considering that the forward line had been on the ice for seemingly two minutes at that point just exhausting the Chiefs line which was waiting for the period to end. The Tips would go into the second intermission up 5-2 with all the momentum.
Bear scored to increase the lead four minutes into the final period with a blistering one-timer to the short side that beat Vieillard to the post. Their fourth powerplay goal of the evening, Tarin Smith had the primary helper from the distributor spot at the top of the zone, with Vanhanen receiving the secondary assist. The final goal of the night was scored by Rylan Pearce who scored on a wrist shot from the point that beat the blocker of Vieillard. Clarke Schaefer’s low shot from the circle rebounded all the way over to the top of the other circle to Pearce who took two strides and took a quick release wrist shot. Schaefer did a great job of screening the goalie who never saw the puck. The game would end 7-2, and the young players on both forward and defense got to start double-shifting towards the game’s conclusion.
One of the best things to see in last night’s game was Detroit Red Wings prospect Carter Bear finally fully click. Unlike most NHL guys who attend Tips training camp and preseason before headed to NHL camp - Bear was held out of all on-ice Silvertips activities and so when he returned from NHL camp six games into the season - he had lost some chemistry with his line-mates and was used to the Red Wings system. But the rust was fully shaken off last night as he looked every bit the part of a Lottery Pick with one goal, two assists, eight shots, and a rating of +2. His passing looks to have improved since last season and he continues to be a good agitator, winning puck battles, laying hits, and doing the dirty work.
Rhys Jamieson has found himself on the bubble all season - only playing in his seventh game last night out of fifteen possible. He had proven to be a willing and capable hitter this year to go along with his good positioning. But last night he really showed his hockey IQ and physical strength scoring two powerplay goals filling in for the injured Shea Busch. Still just 17, the rookie now has 3 goals on the season and is more physical than some of the other players on the bubble (Caffey, Rudolph, etc). For a Tips team that has made a point to get bigger and tougher since Mike Frazer and Steve Hamilton took over - I wonder if Jamieson has made his case to stick on the starting 18 moving forward.
Raiden LeGall played solid, AGAIN. The 19 year old Bemidji State commit has been as consistent as one can be in net so far this year and is firmly entrenched as a WHL Goalie of the Year candidate 15 games in. He stopped 33 of 35 shots today and did a great job of controlling rebounds and absorbing shots to the ribs and chest.
And that’s it, enjoy your Sunday everyone, hope you all enjoyed the extra hour of sleep. Midweek article coming to you this week and then a huge 4-game Weekend Preview on the docket as the Tips play Friday, Saturday, Monday, Tuesday this holiday weekend. Good opponents on the way as well as the BC Division and Central Division leaders come to AOTW and Everett travels to Kamloops and Langley. Remember that the detailed and in-depth preview articles offer commentary, research, and game previews which have probable goalie starters, injury reports, important opposing players, and keys to victory. Available to PAID subscribers.
Remember to follow @TheTipsJar on Instagram and Threads, and on Twitter/X if you want live tweeting, breaking updates and news, pregame notes and scratches, + more!