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Originally published Friday, March 21, 2008 at 12:00 AM

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WHL Playoffs | Silvertips' Leland Irving is steady in the net

Leland Irving is well aware of the pressure of being a goaltender in the playoffs, and he's ready to shoulder the burden for the Everett...

By Jim Riley

Special to the Seattle Times

Everett vs. Spokane

What: Everett Silvertips vs. Spokane Chiefs in best-of-seven opening round of the Western Hockey League playoffs.

When: Tonight and Saturday at 7 p.m. in Spokane, Wednesday at 7:05 p.m., Friday at 7:35 p.m. and, if necessary, Saturday at 7:05 p.m. in Everett. If necessary, April 1 and 2 in Spokane.

Tickets: Available at the Comcast Arena, online at www.everettsilvertips.com or by calling 425-322-2609.

Regular season: Spokane finished third in the Western Conference with a 50-15-1-6 record. Everett was sixth at 39-30-0-3.

Season series: Everett won the eight game season series 5-2-0-1.

Leading scorers: Drayson Bowman led Spokane with 40 goals and 82 points. Four others had 60 points or more for the Chiefs. Dan Gendur, a second-team Western Conference all-star, led Everett with 89 points and Zach Hamill had 26 goals and 49 assists.

Goaltenders: Dustin Tokarski finished with a 30-10-0-3 record and tied with Seattle's Jacob DeSerres with the league's best save percentage at 92.2. Everett's Leland Irving was third at 91.9 percent.

Streaks: Spokane won eight of its last 10, one loss a 2-1 defeat by Tri-City that cost the Chiefs a chance to finish with the most points in the WHL. Everett dropped its last five games to lose a chance to earn home-ice advantage.

EVERETT — Leland Irving is well aware of the pressure of being a goaltender in the playoffs, and he's ready to shoulder the burden for the Everett Silvertips.

Irving, the first round draft pick of the Calgary Flames in 2006, knows he'll have to be on top of his game for the Silvertips to upset the Spokane Chiefs in the opening round of the Western Hockey League playoffs that begin tonight in Spokane.

Even though the Chiefs finished with 26 more standings points than Everett in the regular season, the Silvertips won the season series.

"I'm definitely happy with my game right now," Irving said after a second half resurgence. "My confidence has been where I want it to be since Christmas."

Irving will try to keep his game simple against the Chiefs.

"I don't want to overcomplicate things. I just want to keep letting the puck hit me like it has over the last few months," Irving said.

"We had a good turnaround in the second half and we know when all our guys are going we can compete with anybody."

Everett was the hottest team in the WHL for most of the second half of the season but dropped its last five games in a row, a factor Irving said won't matter in the first-round series.

Everett coach John Becanic said his team will need Irving at the top of his game.

"If Irv is really good, we have a lot of confidence," Becanic said.

Rather than see that as pressure, Irving sees it as a confidence-booster.

"It's no secret in the playoffs, especially in the NHL, that the team that wins the Stanley Cup usually has the top goaltender," Irving said. "In the playoffs you have to grind it out, keep working hard and have a good goaltender."

The two teams also met in the first round last season with Everett going in as the big favorite. The Silvertips won 4-2 in a very competitive series before being upset by Prince George in the second round.

Due to the NCAA women's basketball tournament being played at the Spokane Arena, the series will have a 2-3-2 format with the Silvertips able to close out the series at home if they can get a split in the first two games in Spokane.

Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company

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