A month ago, the Everett Silvertips raised their championship banners to the rafters at Angel of the Winds Arena ahead of the season opener against Portland. The night was a culmination of the prior season, but also a celebration of a moment and a team that was years in the making.
The 2025-26 Everett Silvertips were nothing short of spectacular. Winning 57 games in the regular season, losing just twice in the playoffs and finishing second at the Memorial Cup in Kelowna, they were assuredly one of the best teams the WHL and junior hockey in the United States had ever seen.
Everett had been known for always having strong teams. Whether it be the Western Conference championships in 2003-04 and 2017-18, or the sheer fact of never missing the playoffs a single year in its existence, the Silvertips organization put together a group that allowed for the type of stability and excitement that every other franchise in the CHL dreams of.
The team it assembled this time appeared to be the one capable of finally pushing it over the top. The roster featured NHL prospects Carter Bear and Luke Vlooswyk, plus soon-to-be draftees Brek Liske and Matias Vanhanen. It also featured 2027 top prospect Landon DuPont.
But at the center of it all was Seattle Kraken prospect and forward Julius Miettinen. Drafted in the second round of the 2024 NHL Draft the 6-foot-3, 207-pound centerman from Helsinki, Finland, entered the playoffs riding high after putting up 35 goals and 41 assists during 52 regular-season games.
Miettinen caught up with Sound Of Hockey to relive the championship moments with his former team.
Getting over the hump
The Silvertips started the playoffs with a rematch against the Portland Winterhawks, the team that knocked out Everett in back-to-back years the two seasons prior. Even with a clean four-game sweep, beating their arch-rival gave Miettinen and the team all the confidence in the world.
“Being there the two years before that when we lost [to them in the playoffs], it was a huge relief,” Miettinen said of beating Portland. “I don’t know what it is about them, but they’re a complete team every single year.
“One night you might have 40 shots against them, and they might have 10, but they score 5 out of those 10. It’s just hard to play against them, they’re such a good organization.”
While the Silvertips moved on to Round 2, they would be doing so without captain Tarin Smith, who suffered an injury during the series against the Winterhawks.
Still, it wasn’t anything Miettinen and the team weren’t prepared for. In the 2025 playoffs, the team lost alternate captain Tyler MacKenzie for significant time; the year before, in 2024, the same went for captain Austin Roest. No team wants injuries, let alone to veteran players. But it gives to the next-man-up mentality that coach Steve Hamilton instilled in the group from the beginning.
“We had almost the same main group of guys as we did the year before,” Miettinen said. “And losing guys left and right every year, everyone was quite used to it already. [Steve’s] such a great coach and a mental coach, too. He’s more than a coach for everyone.”
The second round was arguably the biggest speed bump the Silvertips faced during the playoffs.
They went up 3-0 in the series and looked to close it out against the Kelowna Rockets. All appeared to be fine and well, especially when they carried a 3-0 lead into the third period of Game 4. But the Memorial Cup hosts had a valiant third period comeback to win in overtime, sending the series back to Everett for Game 5.
In that one, the Silvertips held a 1-0 lead late in the game until the Rockets tied it with less than a minute to go. The building was silent. Were the cracks finally starting to show?
Energy seemed to be zapped by the time the buzzer sounded and the teams went to the locker room for the intermission. Miettinen spoke of the composed nature the team played with, even when the tasks seemed daunting.
“That round was an emotional rollercoaster for sure,” Miettinen said. “It’s one bounce. We’ve done this the whole year, it’s one more overtime and we’re done with these guys. We just battled through it. It wasn’t always easy, but we were just so tough mentally as a team.”
Miettinen started overtime on the ice. He came off for a change, facing away from the action, when a shot from the point by the prized DuPont found the back of the net, sending the building into euphoria.
“That was a pretty good feeling knowing that we’re going on to the next round after those years that we couldn’t get past the second round,” Miettinen said. “I think the first two rounds were the hardest for us mentally because we knew that we were a contender to win it all, and had that pressure on us.”
The goal clinched the series for the team and moved it to the exact halfway mark in the playoffs. Everett swept aside the upstart Penticton Vees before facing the Prince Albert Raiders in the WHL finals.
Despite being the first home game in the Finals in eight seasons, Everett lost Game 1. It was the first home loss since January (a 20-game streak). Gut-check time.
“It was a gut shot for sure,” Miettinen said. “We knew that we had another game the next night to keep pushing like we had done the whole year.”
A tight Game 3 saw Miettinen score the late game-winner, giving Everett a series lead it would not relinquish. The Silvertips won the next three games in Prince Albert to capture the team’s first-ever Ed Chynoweth Cup. While Everett fell short of the Memorial Cup two weeks later, losing to Kitchener in the final, the memories of winning in Prince Albert will stay with Miettinen and his teammates for the rest of their lives.
“It was probably one of the best feelings I’ve ever had,” Miettinen said. “ It was just a full-circle moment for all of us.”
His playoff-leading 14 goals and 27 points in 18 games was enough to earn him WHL Playoffs MVP, becoming the first Finnish player to receive the honor.
The Next Chapter: On to the pros
Miettinen has since begun his pro career with the AHL Coachella Valley Firebirds, where he scored his first pro goal in a 7-3 loss to the Abbotsford Canucks on Saturday. While the jump from junior to pro can be difficult for any prospect, he hopes the experience and knowledge he gained from long playoff runs in the WHL and helping Finland win silver at the World Juniors will help springboard his career. One day, he hopes that career will be full-time in a Kraken sweater, allowing him to continue making a positive impact on the region.
“I think I still have a pretty good touch on the ice because the year went so far [last year],” Miettinen said. “But now it’s time to go. Time to show off what I have and try to compete for a spot on the team.”
Photo courtesy of Evan Morud and the Everett Silvertips