Only a few games remain before teams in the WHL begin their winter hiatus, and for the Everett Silvertips, there’s no place like home for the holidays.
Everett Silvertips
Everett began a home-and-home with the Vancouver Giants over the weekend, with both teams hosting their annual teddy-bear tosses. Dominik Rymon released the bears on Friday for the Silvertips, sparking the Silvertips to a 4-1 win over the Giants.
Saturday’s pendulum swung back and forth all night, with the Silvertips tying a franchise record with five power-play goals in a game, that being before Ben Hemmerling’s game-winner in the dying minutes sealed a thrilling 8-7 victory. Despite the win, the Silvertips lost co-captain Austin Roest due to a heavy wall collision. He will miss some time.
Fewer goals were scored the following Sunday night with Portland in town. Despite two early goals from the Silvertips, a natural hat trick from James Stefan lifted the Winterhawks, 6-3.
Attempting to avenge the loss the following Wednesday, Everett welcomed the top-ranked Prince George Cougars to Angel of the Winds Arena. While the Cougars did jump out to an early lead, the Silvertips got contributions from everyone, including co-captain Hemmerling, a Vegas Golden Knights prospect, who has had 10 points in his previous four games. Even while missing Roest to injury, and Rymon to the World Junior Championship camp for Czechia, the Silvertips continued their home dominance, winning 5-2 and improving to 13-3-1 at home this season
“Every time we get to play here it’s always amazing,” Kraken prospect Kaden Hammell said. “We feel we need to give our fans the best show possible, and their support helps us day in and day out.”
Hemmerling wasn’t short on praise for his team’s tenacity, despite missing some key contributors, “There’s no denying we have a depleted lineup right now, so to knock a team off like Prince George is huge for us going forward.”
Seattle Thunderbirds
Seattle took on Tri-City and Portland over the weekend, where the scoring woes continued to follow the Thunderbirds around. They only mustered three goals on the weekend and were taken down twice, 4-1 to Tri-City and 7-2 to Portland.
The T-birds did get back in the win column on Wednesday night in Spokane, as Vancouver Canucks prospect Sawyer Mynio had two goals and one assist and helped lift the Thunderbirds to their first road victory since Oct. 24, 5-3 over the Chiefs.
Kraken prospect highlight
Doubling up with Kaden Hammell this week, I asked the 2023 sixth-round pick for Seattle if being drafted by the Kraken set him up for one of the most ideal development paths possible. “Not many players get to play as close (to their NHL team) as I do here,” Hammell said. “With Seattle being right down the road from Everett, anything that I have needed, they’ve been amazing with.”
Hammell showed off some of his physicality on Wednesday, including a fight early in the contest.
World Junior Championship update
Rosters began to finalize this week for the IIHF World Junior Championship, set to begin on Dec. 26 in Gothenburg, Sweden. Team Canada announced its team on Wednesday, where Kraken prospect Carson Rehkopf was included among the players heading to Sweden.
Jagger Firkus and Ty Nelson received selection camp tryouts as well but didn’t make the cut for the final team. Firkus’ exclusion came as a surprise to many, as he is among the leading point getters in the WHL this season.
Among those selected for Team Canada was Buffalo Sabres prospect and current Seattle Thunderbirds netminder Scott Ratzlaff.
The week ahead
The Silvertips and Thunderbirds will meet one more time before the winter break on Saturday, then they will finish up each of their respective first halves on Sunday, as Everett heads to Wenatchee for the first time and Seattle heads to in Langley, British Columbia, to take on the Vancouver Giants.
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