Matchup: Victoria Salmon Kings at Idaho Steelheads. Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, 7 PM, at Qwest Arena.
Remember last year? The Salmon Kings swept the Steelheads out of the ECHL’s National Conference playoffs last April. Both team’s rosters have seen significant turnover, but the head coaches are the same: Idaho’s Derek Laxdal and Victoria’s Mark Morrison. Whether they outwardly talk about it or not, you can bet both remember Idaho’s early exit.
Get to know… For Victoria? Just about everyone. The S-Kings got off to a miserable start in October and early November, prompting Morrison to jettison a lot of players. How rough has it been north of the border? Through ten games, the S-Kings had two players – Chad Painchaud and Olivier Latendresse – who had more than four points. Through its first eleven games, Idaho had ten players who had surpassed four points.
Improving Kushniruk: When the season started, rookie forward Brandan Kushniruk was looking for a role with Idaho. Once he broke into the lineup in Alaska at the end of October, he found it – a hard-working, energy player on Idaho’s top line. He doesn’t have the gaudy stats of players like Tyler Spurgeon, Marty Flichel, or Evan Barlow, but he plays hard and does a lot of the little things that go unnoticed to help Idaho win games.
Welcome back, Rej: Goaltender Rejean Beauchemin returned to Idaho last week after being loaned to a team in the American Hockey League. He’s among the ECHL leaders in multiple categories. But you know who else is? Idaho’s other netminder, Richard Bachman. The Steelheads are in very capable hands, no matter which player starts in goal on a given night.
The Idaho Steelheads (11-3-1) saw their three-game winning streak come to a close as they were defeated at home by the Victoria Salmon Kings (4-10-0). The loss was the first of the year suffered by Idaho goalie Rejean Beauchemin. In the losing effort, Ketchum, Idaho’s Cody Lampl picked up his first points in a Steelheads uniform with a pair of assists.
Wes Goldie scored the first goal of the game on an early Victoria power play at the 0:45 mark. Less than three minutes later, Michael Neal threw a puck on net from the corner, and the rebound was knocked home by Brandan Kushniruk; his third goal of the season.
Before the halfway point of the first period, Wes Goldie capitalized again; this time it was on a Steelheads turnover in the defensive end. Goldie walked in and snapped one high on Beauchemin to put Victoria on top, 2-1.
With less than two minutes remaining in the period, Mathieu Tousignant scored on a one-timer, receiving a pass from Kushniruk. The goal was the third of the season for the Idaho rookie. Also earning an assist was Matt Sorteberg; his first career point.
The lone goal of the second period was one from Victoria’s Adam Taylor; he snapped one high from the left circle to beat Beauchemin glove side; Victoria would never trail again.
The third period yieled three goals, and the first two were insurance tallies for the Salmon Kings. Olivier Latendresse fired home a loose puck in the slot to make it 4-2, and Randall Gelech went high on Beauchemin to give Victoria a 5-2 lead.
At 10:32 of the third, Michael Neal fired home a rebound from a Cody Lampl shot to pull the Steelheads to within a pair of goals, but that was all the offense they would muster. Mathieu Tousignant also assisted on the goal.
Rejean Beauchemin stopped 24 of 29 shots in the losing effort; he is 4-1-1 on the season. David Shants is 1-0-0 with the win; he stopped 46 of 49 shots.
The Steelheads and Salmon Kings are back in action Friday night at Qwest Arena. The puck drops at 7:10 PM.