It was up and down regular season for the Everett Silvertips and a quick over and out in the playoffs.

For the fifth consecutive season, the Silvertips made the Western Hockey League (WHL) playoffs, but for the first time they were eliminated in the first round.

The Silvertips seemed to be either on a winning streak or a losing streak all season long. They opened the season with four straight losses and lost five in a row three times. The longest winning streak was six games and they won at least five in row three times.

The season ended with five straight losses in the regular season, a losing streak that reached nine with the 4-0 playoff defeat by the Spokane Chiefs.

"It was a roller-coaster," Everett general manager Doug Soetaert said. "We had a number of players who didn't play up to expectations early in the season, but then we got stronger in the second half. To end up with 39 wins is a pretty decent season."

Becanic took over this season after four seasons as an assistant in Everett when Kevin Constantine left to coach in the minors in the offseason. The streaks left him feeling the season was a disappointment.

"It's kind of unfortunate, but those streaks are what identified our team," Becanic said. "I don't think there was that much difference in our play, but we ran into a few injuries and there were some really good teams in our division and others that helped us build winning streaks."

Becanic met with each player early this week after Everett was eliminated by Spokane on Friday.

"The kids are resilient, but the feeling of disappointment never goes away for coaches until training camp begins," Becanic said. "We worked hard and we fell short of what we wanted to do."

The early exit from the playoffs marked the end of the WHL careers of Dan Gendur, Dane Crowley and Clayton Bauer, and there are question marks whether some other top players will return.

Goaltender Leland Irving, a first-round pick of the Calgary Flames, and Zach Hamill, a first-round pick of the Boston Bruins, are eligible to return. Both are expected to play in the National Hockey League or the minors.

"Both will definitely start the season at a different level and hopefully they'll be able to succeed," Soetaert said. "We don't foresee them coming back."

Even with all the new faces who will play in Everett next season, Soetaert doesn't believe the Silvertips will be in a rebuilding mode next season.

"I don't think we have to have a rebuilding year," Soetaert said.

"We're not going to gut our hockey team. Our goal from day one was to be competitive every year and to win every year. We'll do what we have to do to make the playoffs. We'll be a younger club next year, but we have guys who can come in and play."

Even after Peter Mueller didn't return (he made the Phoenix Coyotes roster at age 19), expectations were especially high for this season mainly because of Irving; Hamill, the defending league-scoring champion; and Kyle Beach, who came into the season after winning the league rookie-of-the-year award.

"All three didn't have their best years and that happens, guys go through spurts," Becanic said. "We had a lack of consistency from our top performers. It's always disappointing when you don't hit the standard that you set for yourself."

Becanic knows the standard won't be lowered for next season even with so many new faces in the Everett lineup.

"The standard here is so high that it's hard when 39 wins is considered a bad year," Becanic said. "There are a lot of teams who would love to have 39 wins in a bad year."

Becanic said there were several good performances throughout the season, mentioning Jonathan Harty, Matt Ius, Zack Dailey, Shayne Barrie and Jordan Mistelbacher.

"I'm proud of what we accomplished through a lot more adversity than people realized," Becanic said. "We had a lot of injuries. Harty was an unbelievable leader for us. He was only healthy about a quarter of the season and he just played right through it."

While the season ended earlier than he'd have hoped, Becanic said there were a lot of positives to take into next season.

"We had great chemistry in our locker room, and this may have been the closest team we've ever had," Becanic said. "We're going to have a young team next season and we're going to need that."