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 (12-3-1) shutout their first opponent of the season tonight as they blanked the Victoria Salmon Kings (4-11-0) by a 4-0 score at Qwest Arena. Richard Bachman earned his first professional shutout, and the Steelheads had goals from four different players in the win.
After a scoreless opening frame, Mike Stuart put the Steelheads on the board with a power play goal at 2:08 of the second period for his second goal of the campaign. Evan Barlow handed Stuart the pass, which he one-timed by Victoria goalie David Shantz. Tyler Spurgeon also picked up a helper on the goal; his team-leading 15th assist on the year.
Moments later, with the Steelheads on the penalty kill, Marty Flichel collected a Brandan Kushniruk clearing attempt. Flichel was dragged down on a breakaway, and the Steelheads captain was awarded a penalty shot opportunity. The penalty shot, which was the third of the season for the Steelheads, was stopped by Shantz.
Before the period could close, Mathieu Tousignant dazzled the crowd with a series of moves in front of Shantz, which allowed him to bury a backhand shot into the Victoria cage to give the Steelheads a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes. Stuart assisted on the fourth of the year for Tousignant, who now has goals in back-to-back games.
The Steelheads picked up two more goals in the third period, as Adam Huxley fired his own rebound through the five-hole of Shantz for his second of the season at 6:30. Brandan Kushniruk and Matt McKnight assisted on Huxley’s goal.
With less than four minutes to go, Ashton Rome bolted in alone and beat Shantz to give the Steelheads a 4-0 lead. Mark Derlago and Brendan Milnamow assisted on Rome’s 7th of the season.
Richard Bachman stopped all 21 shots sent his way for the shutout; his first as a pro. Bachman is 7-2-1. Shantz stopped 38 of 42 shots in a losing effort; he is 1-1-0.
The Steelheads and Salmon Kings will conclude the three-game series tomorrow at Qwest Arena. The puck drops at 7:10 PM.