Matchup: Utah Grizzlies at Idaho Steelheads. Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday at Qwest Arena. Game time each night is 7 PM.
And you are … Considering these two teams have played nine times already, it’s strange to say the Grizzlies are an unknown quantity. But they are. Head coach Kevin Colley hasn’t been shy about making roster moves with players coming and going faster than tabloid dating rumors. High-scoring forward Ryan Kinasewich is still there and so is longtime Steelhead Lance Galbraith, so there are still a couple names that fans will recognize.
Back in the Saddle: Forward Mark McCutcheon opened the regular season with the Steelheads before being recalled to the American Hockey League for more than two months. Since returning, though, the Cornell College alum has added some serious scoring punch to Idaho’s lineup. In nine games since his return, McCutcheon has registered a three-assist game, a four-assist game, a two-goal game, and another game where he had a goal and an assist.
For the second night in a row, the Idaho Steelheads and Utah Grizzlies needed a shootout to break a 3-3 tie, but tonight it was the Idaho Steelheads prevailing in the breakaway battle in front of a sellout crowd of 5,305 at Qwest Arena. Mark Derlago registered a pair of goals in the Idaho victory to give him sole-possession of the team lead in goals, and the tallies extended Derlago’s point streak to 15 games, the highest such streak in the ECHL this season. Also, the victory extends Idaho’s unbeaten-in-regulation streak to 11 games.
Utah opened the scoring with the first period’s only goal when James Sixsmith scored from point-blank on Idaho’s Rejean Beauchemin, with assists going to Lance Galbraith and Steve McJannet at 17:10.
Mark Derlago scored Idaho’s first goal to tie the game at 8:01 of the second period on the power play to keep his point streak intact, as it stretches to 15 games. The goal was Derlago’s 23rd, assisted by Marty Flichel and Mark McCutcheon.
Utah would score again when James Sixsmith was able to sneak back-door for a one-timer on the power play at 9:35 of the middle frame.
Brandan Kushniruk tied the game for Idaho when he took a pass in the slot from Flichel, and one-timed the puck by Utah’s Beau Erickson for his eighth of the season at 12:54. John Swanson also assisted on the goal.
Mark Derlago scored his 24th of the season at second of the game at 3:35 of the third period with assists going to Spurgeon and McCutcheon. Spurgeon fed him in front of the net, and Derlago snapped the puck top-shelf.
Just as they did last night, Utah tied the game with just over a minute remaining when Sixsmith was able to spring Tony Romano on a breakaway after a long outlet pass. Romano’s goal sent the game to overtime, and eventually to a shootout for the second night in a row.
Rejean Beauchemin stopped four-of-five shooters in the shootout to preserve the victory after stopping 26 of 29 shots in the game. He is now 19-6-1, and as of the end of the game was tied for the league lead in wins with Bakersfield’s Timo Pielmeier. With the shootout loss, Beau Erickson is now 5-5- 2 for Utah; he stopped 37 of 40 as Utah picked up one point. The Grizzlies are now 4-1-3 in their last eight games.
The Steelheads are in action next against Ontario Friday and Saturday nights. The Steelheads return home on February 24th for a date with the Alaska Aces at Qwest Arena.