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ECHL Idaho Steelheads

Game Day Storylines at Rapid City

February 24, 2018 - ECHL (ECHL)
Idaho Steelheads News Release


Steel Reel

The Steelheads and Rapid City Rush will play the rubber-match of their three-game series at Rushmore Plaza Civic Center on Saturday night, Idaho's final game in Rapid City this season. The Rush snapped a four-game winless skid on Friday with a 4-2 victory over the Steelheads, while Idaho finds itself with one win in the first three games of their six-game road swing. The Steelheads have won seven of nine meetings with the Rush this season.

Max French scored 2:55 into the first period on Friday, extending his goal-scoring streak to three games with five goals in a span of seven periods. Steve McParland added a power play goal, but Peter Sivak's tally at 6:50 of the third period snapped a 2-2 tie and held up as the game winner. Pavel Jenys and Matt Caito had two points each for the Rush. Philippe Desrosiers, making his seventh consecutive appearance, stopped 31 shots in the loss.

Leading the Way...

Steve McParland netted his team-leading 24th goal of the season on Friday night, as well as his team-leading ninth power play goal. McParland nearly tied the game in the final minutes of the third period, using a backhand toe-drag down the right-wing side to elude defenseman Gustav Bouramman, only to be denied by goaltender Christian Frey. McParland has four goals and eight points in his last ten contests, and his 46 points in 54 games are two shy of what he tallied in 59 games last season with the Stingrays.

A New Face...

Rookie forward Michael Neville joined the Steelheads on an ECHL contract on Friday, but did not dress in the game. The two-time assistant captain at Michigan Tech helped lead the Huskies to a conference title as a senior last season, setting career-highs with seven goals, 23 points, and a plus-22 rating. Neville posted 15 goals and 60 points in 155 games over four NCAA seasons. He awaits his professional debut, and has not appeared in a game since last spring in college.

Impact Return...

Peter Sivak had missed the previous seven games for the Rapid City Rush, but he was the difference-maker Friday night with the game-winning goal, his 17th of the season. Sivak had not played since February 2nd, but he was arguably the league's best player in the month of January. The veteran scorer posted 12 goals and 22 points in 13 games in January, including two hat tricks. Sivak had an uncharacteristically slow start with the Utah Grizzlies before moving to the Rush, not netting his first goal of the season until November 18th. His torrid pace of late has made up the difference, as Sivak is once again a point-per-game player with 44 points in 43 games to lead the Rush.

Idaho Leaders Rush Leaders

Goals: McParland (24) Goals: K. Miller/Salituro (19)

Assists: J. Dahl (33) Assists: Sivak (27)

Points: J. Dahl (53) Points: Sivak (44)

Plus/Minus: McParland (+18) Plus/Minus: Caito (+7)

Power Play Goals: McParland (9) Power Play Goals: Salituro (7)

Goals-Against Average: Desrosiers (2.61) Goals-Against Average: Vay (3.50)

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