Former Vipers Head Coach-GM Ferner Not Happy With Silvertips:

Former Vernon Vipers head coach-gm, Mark Ferner isnt satisfied with where his team stands as the Silvertips pre-season ended over the weekend. Everett finished the pre-season with a 4-1 win over Seattle Saturday and a 3-4 exibition record. Ferner spent the last four seasons with the Vipers (2007-2010) before joining the Silvertips this summer.

This was in Fridays Everett Herald Newspaper:

Ferner not happy with Silvertips

Published: Friday, September 16, 2011

By Nick Patterson, Herald Writer

EVERETT -- Less than a week remains until the opening of the 2011-12 Western Hockey League season, and Everett Silvertips coach Mark Ferner is not satisfied with where his team stands.

The Vancouver Giants were all over Everett early and late in Friday night's preseason game, eventually defeating the Tips 4-2 at Comcast Arena.

Vancouver dominated play during the first and third periods, finishing with a 36-19 shot advantage. Now Everett has just one preseason contest, tonight's game in Kent against Seattle, to try to right things.

"They came in here and flat out outworked us, and that is unacceptable," Ferner said. "They were committed to the things that are important, the details. We tried to play a perimeter game, tried to be fancy and be something that we're not."

Dalton Sward scored twice, including the tie-breaking goal with 5 minutes, 18 seconds remaining in regulation to lead Vancouver (3-0-2-0). Jackson Houck and Jordan Martinook also found the net for the Giants. Brenden Jensen earned the win in goal with 17 saves.

Jesse Mychan and Nick Walters scored for Everett (2-4-0-0). Luke Siemens stopped 32 shots in net for the Tips.

"We came out hitting and sticking to our game plan, but we tend to get away from that and that's got to change," Mychan said. "We're a hard-working hockey club and we've got to finish each and every period."

Both teams played with depleted lineups as each team's top players were unavailable because of NHL training camps. In addition, the Tips rested their captain, defenseman Ryan Murray.

It was rough going for Everett early as the Tips hardly touched the puck during the first 16 minutes. Still, the Tips escaped the first period tied 1-1, and it was 2-2 going into the third.

However, the Giants took control again in the third, out-shooting the Tips 17-4. Everett was able to hold out for 14 minutes, but at 14:42 a missed swipe at the puck at the blue line by Tips defender Ryan Chynoweth gave the Giants a 3-on-1. Sward deflected the puck past Siemens to give Vancouver the lead.

Now Everett has just one opportunity to recover before the games begin for real next Friday at Portland.

"We need to see a better effort," Ferner said. "We had 19 turnovers in the first period. Give Vancouver credit for that, they took time and space away. But at the same time we had opportunities to move the puck and we didn't. We had opportunities to move our feet and didn't. To be quite honest I'm not sure what we were thinking as far as our compete level. We're not nearly where we need to be to compete at this level."

The Giants took the lead at the 6:12 mark of the first period, Sward backhanding a loose puck over Siemens' shoulder from in close.

The Giants eventually built their shot advantage to 12-1, but Everett found a way to tie the game at 16:53. Good pressure in the neutral zone presented the Tips with an attack, and Jari Erricson found Mychan open in the far slot to knot it 1-1.

The second period was played almost exclusively on special teams, and the teams traded what were essentially power-play goals. Everett took a 2-1 lead at 3:55 when Walters carried the puck in deep and his tight-angle shot deflected off Jensen, off a defender and into the net. Vancouver tied it at 10:37 just after a power play expired, Houck tipping James Henry's shot around Siemens.

After Sward's second goal broke the tie, the air was taken out of the endgame when Walters was given a major penalty for checking to the head less than a minute later, with fellow d-man Dominik Bittner called for slashing on the same play. Martinook banged in a rebound during the five-on-three at 15:45, and the Giants salted away the rest of the game on the power play.