Matchup: Alaska Aces at Idaho Steelheads. Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday at Qwest Arena. Game time each night is 7 PM.
You used to be here, right? The guy who has almost single-handedly resurrected Alaska’s season is goaltender Frank Doyle. Acquired in a midseason trade with Charlotte, Doyle won seven of his first ten starts in Alaska to help steady the Aces’ ship. If Doyle’s name sounds familiar, it should – Doyle was an all-star for Idaho in 2004-2005 and has the best goals-against average (2.16) since the Steelheads joined the ECHL.
Steady Rej-y: On the topic of goaltenders, the Steelheads have benefited greatly from the steady hand of Rejean Beauchemin this season. Among the ECHL leaders in wins and goals-against average, the 24-year-old recently passed Doyle for second-most wins in net for Idaho in the ECHL era, behind only Steve Silverthorn.
The Idaho Steelheads (36-12-5) topped the Alaska Aces (26-25-5) for the second straight game, this time by a 4-1 score, as four different Steelheads scored goals in front of a crowd of 4,758 at Qwest Arena. The Steelheads will look to complete the three-game series sweep when the series concludes tomorrow night at Qwest Arena.
Mark Derlago scored the first goal of the night for Idaho at 8:12 of the first period on the power play when he deflected home a Dustin Friesen point shot. The goal was the 26th of the season for Derlago, who leads the team in the goal category. Marty Flichel also assisted on the goal that put Idaho in front 1-0.
Immediately following the Derlago goal, Adam Huxley of the Steelheads and Anthony Peluso of the Aces dropped the gloves to a chorus of cheers on Adam Huxley bobblehead night at Qwest Arena.
In the second period, Kevin DeVergilio picked up a bounce from the end boards, the result of a missed opportunity from Adam Huxley, and put the puck over the line for his 12th goal of the season. Huxley and Ashton Rome assisted on Idaho’s second goal of the night.
Less than two minutes later at 7:55 with Idaho on the power play, Kevin DeVergilio sent a short pass to his right onto Cody Lampl’s tape, and Lampl fired a shot to the net that was tipped in by Rome for his 14th of the season. The goal made the score 3-0.
Before two minutes could go by in the third period, Alaska was given life when former Steelhead Scott Burt scored on a power play as he picked up the rebound of a Merit Waldrop shot. Ryan Turek also assisted on Burt’s ninth of the season.
But at 3:47, the Steelheads answered with some insurance, as Evan Barlow found another bounce near the left post behind Alaska goalie Scott Reid. Barlow placed the puck over the goal line for his 25th of the season, prolonging his goal-scoring streak to six games.
Richard Bachman was the winning netminder for Idaho, as he stopped 21 of 22 shots to improve to 15-5-3. Scott Reid steered away 31 of 35 in the losing effort. His record falls to 10-11-3.
The series concludes tomorrow night at Qwest Arena when the Steelheads and Aces faceoff at 7:00PM.