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Idaho Steelheads

Steelheads Work OT to Extend Winning Streak

January 14, 2015 - ECHL (ECHL)
Idaho Steelheads News Release


Boise, ID (1/13/15) - Jason Bast finished a Jefferson Dahl feed on the power play with less than a minute to go in overtime on Tuesday night as the Idaho Steelheads rallied to beat the Utah Grizzlies, 4-3, in front of 3,050 fans at CenturyLink Arena.

The win extends the winning streak for Idaho (23-10-3, 49 points) to six consecutive games. It also marked the third time in four games this season that the margin of victory between Idaho and Utah was just one goal.

Utah got on the board first at 8:37 of the first period when Camden Wojtala finished a Barry Almeida centering feed to make it 1-0. Each side would kill off one power-play opportunity to keep it a one-goal game into the second period.

In the second, Idaho started to tilt the ice back in its favor but Utah took advantage of a loose puck near the blue line to create a scramble situation, ending in Michael Pelech's goal at the 11:57 mark from the right-wing circle to give the Grizzlies a 2-0 lead. Idaho answered quickly on a rush at 14:11 when Alex Belzile spotted Matt Case, trailing the play, for his second goal of the season from the right-wing circle to cut Utah's lead back to one goal, 2-1. Utah re-took the two-goal lead with just over a minute left in the second when Jacob Johnston's power-play blast from the center point appeared to deflect off an Idaho stick and past Olivier Roy at 18:49 to make it 3-1 in favor of the Grizzlies.

Idaho notched an important goal less than a minute later, though, when Colin Shea picked up a loose puck near his own blue line and fed it forward to Wade MacLeod, who dumped it down the left wing to Bast. Bast skated in tight near the crease and lifted a backhand past Ryan Faragher's glove with just 17 seconds left in the middle frame to get Idaho back within a goal at 3-2.

In the third, Idaho pressed for the tie and Devin DiDiomete nearly evened it up twice. Early in the period, Faragher made a nice skate save on a wrap-around attempt to deny DiDiomete, who played a strong game for Idaho, and then Faragher stayed with a re-direction from the Idaho forward midway through the third to keep Utah on top. Finally, at 16:46, Idaho evened the ledger on a Colin Shea blast from the top of the left-wing circle through a mess of bodies after David deKastrozza corralled the puck following a goal-mouth scramble. He left the puck for Shea to rip home his second of the season, knotting the game and sending it to overtime.

In the 4-on-4 overtime session, Utah's Danick Paquette was whistled for interference midway through the five-minute session, putting Idaho on its sixth power play of the night. Idaho worked the puck around the perimeter before Eamonn McDermott zipped a puck down the left wing to Jefferson Dahl, near the edge of the crease. Dahl spotted Bast near the right post and feathered a perfect pass across the top of the crease and Bast buried the opportunity at 4:14 of overtime, his team-leading 20th goal (and ECHL-leading seventh game-winning goal) to secure the comeback victory for the Steelheads.

Olivier Roy won his ECHL-leading 20th game between the pipes for Idaho, saving 23 of 26 shots. Ryan Faragher stopped 29 of 33 in defeat for Utah. Idaho's power-play unit finished the game 1-6 while Utah's went 1-3.

Bast (two goals), Case (goal, assist), Shea (goal, assist) and MacLeod (two assists) all had multi-point nights for Idaho, who is now 10-2-1 over its past 13 games and 13-4-3 in games decided by one goal.

The team's season-long six-game homestand continues on Wednesday night when the Steelheads and Grizzlies tangle again before the Ontario Reign come to town for games on Friday and Saturday. Tickets are available online at www.idahosteelheads.com or by calling 208-331-8497.

COORS OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME - Jason Bast (2G)

CENTURYLINK THREE STARS:

1) Matt Case (ID)

2) Colin Shea (ID)

3) Wade MacLeod (ID)

Group outings at a Steelheads game are a great way to gather friends, colleagues, or co-workers for a fun night out in downtown Boise. Ticket prices are discounted and you can get a Pepsi, Double-R Ranch Hot Dog, and bag of chips with each ticket. Contact the Steelheads front office at 208.383.0080 or log on to www.idahosteelheads.com for more information.

Check out the Idaho Steelheads Statistics

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