The Everett Silvertips are an American major junior ice hockey team based in Everett, Washington. The team plays in the U.S. Division of the Western Conference of the Western Hockey League (WHL), and hosts games at Angel of the Winds Arena. The Silvertips joined the WHL as an expansion team ahead of the 2003–04 season. The team has not missed the playoffs in its 21-year history; Everett twice advanced to the league championship playoff series, but has not won the Ed Chynoweth Cup.
The city of Everett, with plans to build a new downtown arena complex, applied for a WHL franchise and was awarded conditional approval for an expansion franchise from the league in 2001.[2] With the new team falling within the territorial rights of the Seattle Thunderbirds, Seattle ownership was given right of first refusal to purchase the new team; Bill Yuill decided to sell the Thunderbirds in order to take over the new expansion club.[3][4] The new multi-million dollar complex, the Everett Events Centre, was completed ahead of the team's inaugural season, offering a seating capacity of 8,200.[5] In 2003, the team hired former National Hockey League coach Kevin Constantine to be its first head coach.[6]
Beginning play in the 2003–04 season with a roster built through an expansion draft, the Silvertips rapidly established themselves as the best expansion team in league history. By January, Everett posted its 19th win of the season, breaking the previous expansion record of 18 wins posted by the 1995–96Calgary Hitmen.[7] The team would go on to win 35 games and finish atop the U.S. Division standings. In the playoffs, the Silvertips advanced all the way to the league final, upsetting the defending champion and heavily-favored Kelowna Rockets in the Western Conference final, with defender Mitch Love opening the series with an overtime goal.[8] The team faced the Medicine Hat Tigers in the championship series, losing four straight games to fall short of the title. By the end of the year, the Silvertips, who earned a reputation as a disciplined defensive team, had set new records for an expansion team in every category.[3][8] Constantine was named the league's coach-of-the-year.[9]
Three seasons later, the Silvertips won the Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy for the best regular season record after its 54-win, 111-point season, before losing in the second round of the playoffs.[10] That season, the team's first ever bantam draft selection, Zach Hamill, became the first Silvertip to lead the WHL in scoring.[11]
The team's success on the ice translated into fan support, and the Silvertips earned a reputation for drawing strong crowds—more than a decade into the team's history, the Silvertips were in the top half of the league in attendance.[3][12]
Everett established itself as a perennial playoff team, and in 2017–18, led by goaltender Carter Hart and coach Dennis Williams, the Silvertips made a second run to the league championship series.[13] After a 47-win season, the team's best since 2007, Everett faced the Swift Current Broncos in the playoff finals, ultimately losing the series in six games.[13][14] Hart's dominant season—he was named the league's best player, on top of being named its best goaltender for a third straight season[15]—added to the team's historic reputation for exceptional goaltending.[16] After Hart turned professional, Dustin Wolf was named top goaltender two years in a row.[17]
Ahead of the 2024 playoffs, it was announced that long-time coach and manager Williams would be leaving the Silvertips after the season.[1]
Rivals
The Silvertips have formed an enduring rivalry with the nearby Seattle Thunderbirds. The teams have met regularly in the playoffs, including a three-year stretch between 2016 and 2018 where the winner of the series between the two made it all the way to the championship series.[12]
Name and logos
Logo unveiled for the Silvertips' 15th anniversary in 2017–18.
The team adopted the "Silvertips" name after the grizzly bears of the Pacific Northwest.[5] The team opted for a green and silver color-scheme. Ahead of their inaugural season, the team introduced a bear mascot, Lincoln, named after the aircraft carrier USSAbraham Lincoln, which was stationed at Naval Station Everett at the time.[18]
Season-by-season record
Manraj Hayer played for the Silvertips between 2010 and 2014.Ceremonial face-off ahead of a Silvertips home game in 2008.
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime losses, SOL = Shootout losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior hockey in Canada, alongside the Ontario Hockey League and Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League. Teams play for the Ed Chynoweth Cup, with the winner moving on to play for the Memorial Cup, Canada's national junior championship. WHL teams have won the Memorial Cup 19 times. The WHL is composed of 22 teams divided into two conferences of two divisions. The Eastern Conference comprises 11 teams from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, while the Western Conference comprises eleven teams from British Columbia and the American states of Washington and Oregon.
Kevin Lars Constantine is an American ice hockey coach who previously served as the head coach of the Wenatchee Wild of the Western Hockey League (WHL). The Wenatchee Wild’s first coach in franchise history was suspended on Sept. 24, 2023, after the league received a complaint regarding his conduct and began an investigation. Constantine has coached hockey teams in the NHL, WHL, IHL, AHL and numerous major junior hockey leagues. He was also the former head coach of HC Ambri-Piotta in the Swiss National League A. He also coached the North Iowa Huskies for a brief time. From 2022 to 2023, he was the head coach of the Hungarian national ice hockey team. He left that position despite having a valid contract in summer of 2023.
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The Medicine Hat Tigers are a Canadian major junior ice hockey team in the Western Hockey League (WHL) based in Medicine Hat, Alberta. Established in 1970, the team has won the second most Ed Chynoweth Cups as league champion with five, and has gone on to win two Memorial Cup titles. The Tigers also have seven Division titles. Since 2015, the Tigers play at Co-op Place after forty-five seasons at the Medicine Hat Arena.
The Swift Current Broncos are a Canadian major junior ice hockey team based in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. Founded in 1967, the Broncos relocated to Lethbridge, Alberta in 1974, and were known as the Lethbridge Broncos, before returning to Swift Current in 1986. The team plays in the Central Division of the Western Hockey League's Eastern Conference, and hosts games at Innovation Credit Union iPlex. Swift Current is the smallest city with a team in the WHL, and the second smallest across the entire Canadian Hockey League. The Broncos are three-time WHL playoff champions, and won the 1989 Memorial Cup. Before any of their championships, the Broncos were known for a 1986 team bus crash that resulted in the deaths of four players.
The Tri-City Americans are an American major junior ice hockey team playing in the Western Hockey League and based in Kennewick, Washington. Founded in 1966 as the Calgary Buffaloes, the team settled in Kennewick in 1988 after a number of relocations. The team plays its home games at Toyota Center, which was purpose-built for the team. The team has won one Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy as regular season champions and have played in one league playoff final; however, the Americans have not won a playoff championship.
The Spokane Chiefs are an American major junior ice hockey team based in Spokane, Washington. The Chiefs play in the U.S. Division of the Western Hockey League's Western Conference, playing home games at Spokane Arena. The Chiefs are two-time Memorial Cup champions, winning the title in 1991 and 2008. Spokane hosted the first outdoor game in WHL history on January 15, 2011, at Avista Stadium.
Turner Ladd Stevenson is a Canadian former professional ice hockey right winger who played 13 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Montreal Canadiens, New Jersey Devils, and Philadelphia Flyers. He won the Stanley Cup with New Jersey in 2003.
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Zachary Robert Hamill is a former Canadian professional ice hockey centre. Hamill was drafted in the first round, eighth overall by the National Hockey League (NHL)'s Boston Bruins in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft. Prior to turning professional, Hamill spent his entire Western Hockey League (WHL) career with the Everett Silvertips.
Angel of the Winds Arena is a multi-purpose sports arena complex in Everett, Washington, United States, designed and developed by the Everett Public Facilities District. It opened in October 2003 and primarily serves as the home of the Everett Silvertips of the Western Hockey League. The arena has 8,149 seats in its ice hockey configuration and 10,000 for concerts and other events. The naming rights to the venue were sold to Comcast in 2007 and subsequently to Angel of the Winds Casino Resort in 2017. The venue has hosted a variety of concerts and other performances, including the Ringling Brothers Circus, Disney on Ice, the Harlem Globetrotters, and Sesame Street Live.
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Mitchell Ryan Love is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who is currently serving as an assistant coach with the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League (NHL).
Carter John Hart is a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender for the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League (NHL).
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