There’s something empowering about being an underdog.
The Everett Silvertips were well-aware the hockey world expected them to be little more than a four-game tune-up and sacrificial lamb for the vaunted Portland Winterhawks. The regular season champion Winterhawks cast a rather big shadow in the Western Hockey League this season, but through two playoff games, it’s not big enough to consume the Silvertips.
"We’re one of the biggest underdogs probably in the CHL this year and we thrive off of that and we love that," said Silvertips goaltender Austin Lotz. "We’re just so excited for the opportunity to try and beat this team."
The Silvertips’ confidence and enthusiasm for this series is hardly justified given the circumstances. The Winterhawks weren’t only the Western Conference’s top seed, they finished with 60 more points than their first-round opponent.
Portland’s lineup is potent, laden with talented and experienced veterans in search of the team’s first championship since capturing the 1998 MasterCard Memorial Cup. The league’s top three scorers – Brendan Leipsic, Nicolas Petan and Ty Rattie – are all Winterhawks. As is Seth Jones, the potential first-overall pick by an NHL team this summer.
And yet, after two games, the Silvertips have already done something no one outside their locker room thought they could in winning a game against the Winterhawks. Now they want more.
"We haven’t tried to dwell on the fact we are certainly a big underdog in this series," head coach and general manager Garry Davidson said. "We’ve just talked about if we show up and play a good, solid team game from front to back, we have the potential to have success here."
The Silvertips overcame a 58-31 shot deficit in the first game of the series to win it 4-3 on Friday. That gave confidence and justification to the message Davidson delivered to his players that his young team could hang with the league’s best prior to the series’ start.
"He just wants us to believe we can beat anybody," Lotz said. "Especially being a young team. It can be intimidating when you look at their lineup, but we tried our best to just focus on our game and he’s really preached that to us."
The Winterhawks appeared frustrated in the Silvertips’ series-opening victory. After breezing through the regular season with much ease, the Winterhawks found an opponent willing to compensate for a lack of talent with its dogged determination and work ethic.
"I’m sure it was a wake-up call for them," Davidson said. "Your opposition is only as good as you let them be and if we come out and play with lots of energy and work hard and outwork them and battle, I think we can have some more positive results."
Much of Everett’s success can be traced to the play of its goaltender. Lotz, a sophomore ranked No. 11 on the North American list of goaltenders eligible for the draft, stopped 85-of-92 shots through two games.
"He was certainly dialed in for the first two games," Davidson said. "I think Austin has potential to really grow and develop into a top-notch goalie. He’s very competitive and I’m starting to really see this good mental side to his game."
After making many acrobatic saves in Game 1, his teammates rallied to keep the shot count lower in Game 2.
"I think the guys were just sacrificing their bodies a little more," Lotz said. "They were playing smart in keeping (the Winterhawks) to the outside for the most part and they were blocking shots like crazy, which really got the job done."
Now that the series shifts to Everett for the next two games, the ‘Tips can assume home-ice advantage in what is now a best-of-five. The 24-hour rule was in effect after their win on Friday, and Davidson emphasizes looking only at the next game.
"If you look at the history of best-of-sevens," he said, "Game 3 can be a pivotal game in the series… we’re going to go out and give it our best shot at winning that game and getting a 2-1 lead in the series."
Lotz finds comfort in a quote from the movie Coach Carter. He tweeted part of an inspirational speech from the movie on Monday:
"It’s just always been a quote that kind of stuck in the back of my mind because I’ve always kind of been on an underrated team and an underrated guy," he said. "It goes into really just trying to believe in myself and believing in my team that we can surprise people."
Lotz and his teammates could be realizing their deepest fear.