Hamill sinks Blazers in OT

From The Daily News of Monday, Feb. 11, 2008 . . .

Not 15 minutes after looking like they were skating in quicksand, the
Everett Silvertips were alive and full of pith and vinegar, the music from
their locker room as loud as what fans were treated to in the pregame
warmup.
Such is the power of an overtime goal.
Centre Zach Hamill, the WHL’s defending scoring champion, had just scored
such a goal, this one on the power play at 3:46 of extra time to give the
Silvertips a 2-1 victory over the Kamloops Blazers on Sunday at Interior
Savings Centre.
The Silvertips now have won three in a row, which comes on the heels of a
five-game losing streak. They were playing their fourth game in five nights
— they beat the visiting Prince George Cougars 4-2 and 5-1 on Friday and
Saturday nights — and didn’t arrive in our city until 4:45 a.m.
“We’ve had a long couple of days with travel and everything,” Hamill, a
19-year-old from Port Coquitlam, said. “It wasn’t a pretty win but we got
the job done with some good goaltending, a late penalty kill and a good
4-on-3 goal.”
The Blazers actually were presented with a tremendous opportunity to win
this one when Everett centre Vitaly Karamnov was fingered for tripping
centre Scott Wasden just 27 seconds into overtime.
But, despite getting off five shots on the ensuing power play, Kamloops
couldn’t beat goaltender Leland Irving, who finished with 30 saves.
And then, at 3:33 of OT, Kamloops winger Brady Calla was called for
high-sticking Everett winger Kyle Beach off a faceoff in the Silvertips’
zone.
The Silvertips quickly gained possession and worked the puck around until
Hamill came free off the left post. The play went from defenceman Jon Harty,
the team captain who was a horse in this one, to right-winger Dan Gendur to
Hamill, who banged in his 20th goal of the season.
“We were actually in the wrong spots on the setup but it worked out,” said
Hamill, who has 248 points in 238 career regular-season games. He was
Everett’s first draft pick, taken third overall in 2003.
As Hamill came free on the backside, he was hopeful Gendur would spot him.
“I didn’t want to yell too much because I didn’t want them to know I was
there.” Hamill said. “(Gendur) had some good vision and saw me at the
backdoor and I put it in and got us two points.”
Just as important, however, was the work his teammates had done on the
earlier penalty kill.
“(Zack) Dailey winning those faceoffs, that’s huge,” Hamill said. “Without
him and Irving and (defenceman Dane) Crowley and Harty and those guys . . .
we don’t win this hockey game.”
The Silvertips continue to be without veteran defencemen Graham Potuer
(flu), Taylor Ellington (foot) and Mike Alexander (shoulder). They are
hopeful all three will be back for the run to the playoffs.
“That will be a key for us,” Hamill said. “They’re a big part of our team.
Hopefully, we’ll get those guys back but, at the same time, injuries are no
excuse.”
Knowing the Silvertips were hurting on the back end, the Blazers mounted a
fierce forecheck for most of the night. They just weren’t able to beat
Irving often enough to win the game.
Slovakian centre Lukas Vartovnik, whose parents arrived in Everett this
weekend for a visit, scored his ninth goal late in the second period to give
the visitors a 1-0 lead.
Right-winger Juuso Puustinen got that one back for the Blazers at 7:45 of
the third period, taking a pass from port-sider Shayne Wiebe, who burst down
the wing and drove to the net.
Wiebe skated alongside Puustinen and Alex Rodgers, with Ivan Rohac, the
regular left winger on that line, being moved to a unit with C.J. Stretch
and Kenton Dulle.
“They haven’t been playing bad but they weren’t clicking like they were,”
Kamloops head coach Greg Hawgood said. “(The Silvertips) have two real good
lines and Ivan and Juuso are very talented and make their linemates better.
“So we decided before the game that maybe we could have each one of them on
a line and maybe get more scoring.”
The Rohac-Rodgers-Puustinen line had combined for 49 points in the Blazers’
previous 12 games.
Meanwhile, Beach, the highly touted Everett winger from Kelowna, didn’t do
much all game, other than earn the wrath of the crowd and draw the
game-deciding penalty, that is.
Three times Beach went to his bench with apparent injuries. The last time,
after trying, and failing, to draw a penalty following a bump with Kamloops
defenceman Sasha Golin, Beach was followed to the bench by vociferous
booing.
That was as loud as the joint got all night; most times it was so quiet you
could hear the traffic light changing at 3rd and Lansdowne.
JUST NOTES: Referees Saad Al-Jadir and Graham Skilliter, who it is hoped
will have better nights, gave the Blazers six of 10 minors. . . . Everett
was 1-for-6 on the power play; the Blazers were 0-for-2. . . . Blazers G
Justin Leclerc was strong again, although he only faced 25 shots — 21 of
them through 60 minutes. It was only the second time in 23 post-Christmas
games that the Blazers didn’t surrender at least 30 shots. . . . Attendance
was announced as 4,277, the 10th smallest home crowd since September 2003. .
. . The Blazers have just six home games left in this regular season.