The Everett Silvertips will raise two banners into the rafters at XFINITY Arena when the 2017-18 regular-season opens.
However, Kevin Constantine, the head coach who was behind the bench as the team finished atop the Western Conference and U.S. Division, won’t be there.
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| Kevin Constantine no longer is the head coach of the WHL's Everett Silvertips. (Photo: Everett Silvertips) |
The Silvertips announced Tuesday that they won’t be renewing his contract when it expires on May 31.
“They just told me they weren’t going to rehire me,” Constantine told Jesse Gelenyse of the Everett Herald. “There wasn’t any discussion of (why). It was just ‘You’re not being rehired.’ It was a very short conversation.”
The futures of assistant coaches Mitch Love and Brennan Sonne, and goaltending coach Shane Clifford, weren’t addressed yesterday. Their contracts also are up on May 31.
Garry Davidson, the Silvertips’ general manager, said in a news release that the organization now will focus on the May 4 WHL bantam draft, then will look at hiring a head coach.
The Silvertips are owned by The Monarch Corporation, a private investment company that is headquartered in Medicine Hat and is under the control of Bill Yuill, its chairman and CEO.
The Silvertips just completed their 14th season in the WHL. Constantine has been the head coach for eight of those (2003-07, 2013-17).
The Silvertips have never missed the WHL playoffs; they also have two 100-point regular seasons to their credit, both of them under Constantine.
This season, they finished 44-16-12, for 100 points. They took out the Victoria Royals in a six-game first-round series, then were swept by the Seattle Thunderbirds. A year ago, Seattle won a second-round series from Everett in five games. In the spring of 2014, Everett lost a first-round series to Seattle in five games.
Constantine’s Everett teams always have had strong defensive games — this season, the Silvertips allowed 169 goals, the best in the WHL by 29 goals. However, their offence — 229 goals — was 15th.
It is believed that Everett management would like to see its team play a more wide-open game in the hopes of improving attendance.
Davidson left the Portland Winterhawks — he was their director of player personnel — to take over as Everett’s general manager on Feb. 15, 2012. He hired Constantine in time for the 2013-14 season.
It is evident that there were philosophical differences between Constantine and Davidson.
“I think I said when I came here we were at the opposite end of the spectrum,” Davidson told Gelenyse, “so that hasn’t changed. I hoped we would grow more together (but) I don’t think we ever did very much.”
Despite finishing atop the Western Conference, the Silvertips experience the lowest regular-season average attendance (4,865) in their 14 seasons. They play out of the 8,149-seat XFINITY Arena.
Their average attendance peaked at 6,460 in 2006-07, but has been under 5,000 in three of the past four seasons.
In looking for a coach who likes an up-tempo game you wonder if the Silvertips might consider Kyle Gustafson, who has been on the coaching staff of the Portland Winterhawks for 12 seasons, 10 as an assistant coach and two as associate coach. He has spent the brunt of that time working alongside general manager/head coach Mike Johnston, who loves that kind of game.
Having worked with the Winterhawks and with being in the same division, Davidson will be quite familiar with Gustafson’s work.
As a WHL head coach, Constantine, a 58-year-old native of International Falls, Minn., has 326 regular-season victories, good for 21st spot on the all-time list.
Constantine also has bead-coaching experience in the NHL, with the San Jose Sharks, Pittsburgh Penguins and New Jersey Devils.
There now are two WHL teams without head coaches.
The Spokane Chiefs announced on March 30 that Don Nachbaur, the third-winningest head coach in WHL history, was being relieved of his duties. Nachbaur had one year left on his contract.
Gelenyse’s complete story is right here.
Well, we ran into a communication problem on Wednesday.
The Portland Winterhawks have hired Karl Taylor as their new assistant coach and moved Matt Bardsley from director of hockey operations to assistant general manager. . . . The moves were necessitated when Travis Green, their assistant GM/assistant coach, took on the head coaching job with the AHL’s Utica Comets. . . . Taylor, a native of North Bay, Ont., spent six seasons (2005-11) as a head coach in the ECHL. In 2011-12, he was an assistant coach with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves. . . . As well, Kyle Gustafson, who has done a lot of the club’s video work, will get more responsibilities as an assistant coach and will be on the bench during games. He spent the last half of last season on the bench with Green after GM/head coach Mike Johnston was suspended by the WHL. 
assistant coach Kyle Gustafson and Rich Campbell, the athletic trainer and strength and conditioning coach. All three now are signed through 2014-15.
was a fifth-round selection in the 2012 bantam draft and is an interesting study. He is a native of Moosomin, Sask., but played this season for the Eagan Wildcats, a high school team in Minnesota, putting up 47 points, 15 of them goals, in 28 games. Because Gabrielle played all of his minor hockey in Moosomin, perhaps the Minnesota high school people won’t look at this as another defection, but, then again, maybe they will. . . . Gabrielle practised with the Wheat Kings on Tuesday and could make his debut on Friday against the visiting Edmonton Oil Kings or Saturday when the Swift Current Broncos are in the Wheat City.
According to a tweet from his major midget team, the Red Deer Rebels have signed G Taz Burman, a second-round selection, 30th overall, in the 2012 bantam draft. Burman was drafted from the North Shore Winter Club, then played this season with the Greater Vancouver Canadians of the B.C. Major Midget League. This season, Burman was 12-10-1 with a 2.64 GAA in 24 games with the Canadians.
D Martin Gernat of the Edmonton Oil Kings will miss the final six games of the regular season as he has, according to the team, returned to Slovakia to “complete exams.” . . . Gernat, 19, has 13 points in 22 games after missing the bulk of the season as he recovered from shoulder surgery.
In Swift Current, F Levi Bews scored twice and added two assists as the Blazers doubled the Prince Albert Raiders, 6-3. . . . Bews has 20 goals this season. . . . F Colby Cave also reached the 20-goal for the Broncos as he scored twice. . . . Broncos G Eetu Laurikainen stopped 33 shots. . . . The Broncos moved into a tie for sixth with the Medicine Hat Tigers in the Eastern Conference. Each has five games remaining. . . . The Raiders now are four points behind the fourth-place Red Deer Rebels. . . . 
In Red Deer, F Rhyse Dieno drew three assists to help the Rebels beat the Kootenay Ice, 6-4. . . . Dieno, 19, now has 54 points, including 28 assists, in 44 games. . . . F Tyson Ness scored twice for Red Deer, giving him 15. . . . Red Deer D Mathew Dumba broke a 3-3 tie at 14:12 of the second period as he scored his 14th goal. . . . Ness added insurance at 17:53. . . . F Jaedon Descheneau had two goals, giving him 24, and an assist for the Ice. . . . The Rebels appear headed to a first-round matchup with Prince Albert, and Red Deer would hold home-ice advantage. . . . 
In Prince George, G Mac Engel turned aside 22 shots to lead the Cougars to a 3-0 victory over the Tri-City Americans. . . . Engel has two shutouts this sason and seven in his career. . . . The Americans had won 6-3 in Prince George on Monday. . . . Last night, Cougars F Troy Bourke scored the game’s first two goals in his 200th regular-season game. He’s got 13. . . . F Zach Pochiro had two assists. . . . F Connor Rankin, who scored two goals Monday, was scratched by the Americans for this one. . . . The Cougars, who had lost five straight, are six points out of the Western Conference’s last playoff spot. They have seven games left to play, but must play six of those on the road. . . . The Americans remain fourth in the conference, a point ahead of the idle Spokane Chiefs. . . . 
In Kamloops, F Kale Kessy had two goals and two assists, for his second career four-pointer, as the Blazers dumped the Victoria Royals, 6-0. . . . Kessy has 19 goals. . . . F Colin Smith, F Tim Bozon and D Sam Grist each had a goal and two assists. . . . Kamloops G Cole Cheveldave stopped 14 shots in recording his sixth shutout of the season and 10th of his career. . . . He shut out the visiting Kelowna Rockets 3-0 on Sunday. The last Blazers goaltender with back-to-back shutouts? Cheveldave did it to the Prince George Cougars in January 2012. . . . The Royals were again without F Alex Gogolev, their leading scorer who is out with an undisclosed injury. He is back skating and it’s hoped he will get into a game or two next week and then be ready for the first round of playoffs. . . . Victoria F Logan Nelson hobbled off the ice at 19:10 of the third period. He appeared to be favouring his left leg. . . . The Cougars had F Matthew Campese in their lineup. Campese, a third-round selection in the 2012 bantam draft, is the son of Bruno Campese, the Prince Albert Raiders’ general managre. Matthew plays at the Okanagan Hockey Academy in Penticton. Campese came close to scoring at 7:10 of the first period when Cheveldave stopped his redirection. That may have been Cheveldave’s best save. . . . The Blazers are a point behind the B.C. Division-leading Kelowna Rockets, who hold two games in hand and will play host to Victoria tonight. . . . The Royals appear headed to a sixth-place finish in the Western Conference. . . . 
In Saskatoon, F Cody Sylvester had a goal and five assists and was plus-6, leading the Calgary Hitmen to a 9-5 victory over the Blades. . . . Sylvester moved past F Ryan Getzlaf and into eighth place on Calgary’s career scoring list. Sylvester has 217 points. . . . After the game, Brad Curle, the radio voice of the Hitmen, tweeted that Sylvester had a goal and six assists, which would be a franchise record, so perhaps a scoring change is coming. . . . The Blades have followed an 18-game losing streak with two loses. They had been 18-0-1 in their last 19. . . . The Hitmen, who had lost four in a row, now have one more point than the Blades, who lead the East Division so are the second seed in the Eastern Conference. . . . Sylvester has 34 goals. . . . F Brady Brassart added two goals, giving him 30, and three assists for Calgary, while F Jake Virtanen scored twice, giving him 14. . . . Calgary scored nine goals on 38 shots, driving Saskatoon G Andrey Makarov to the bench in the process. That mean backup Alex Moodie got into a game for the first time since Dec. 30. . . . Calgary D Jaynen Rissling had a goal and two assists, and was plus-5. . . . Saskatoon lost F Michael Ferland, 20, late in the first period. He has an undisclosed injury and is to be re-evaluated today. . . .
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