ECHL Idaho Steelheads

Pacific Division Finals gme four tonight

Published on April 21, 2004 under ECHL (ECHL)
Idaho Steelheads News Release


BOISE, Idaho - After last night's 4-1 victory over the Alaska Aces in Anchorage, the Idaho Steelheads have the upper hand for the first time this postseason having taken a 2-1 series lead. The Steelheads could eliminate the Aces in tonight's Game 4 at Sullivan Arena with a win in the best-of-five Pacific Division Finals. If necessary, Game 5 will return to Boise on Saturday, April 24th.

Game time is 9:00 p.m. MST and can be heard live on ESPN 1350 KTIK-The Ticket with Britt Talbert calling all the action.

SERIES RECAP:

The Idaho Steelheads and Alaska Aces opened the ECHL's Pacific Division Finals in Boise on April 16th, with Idaho dropping the first game 4-3 in overtime. The two teams played again the following night and Idaho evened the series with a 4-1 win. Game 3 moved to Sullivan Arena in Anchorage Tuesday night and Idaho took the series lead in a 4-1 victory handing the Aces its first playoff loss at home.

BETWEEN THE PIPES: Dan Ellis has been solid in net for Idaho and is 5-1 in postseason action this year, improving his goals-against-average to 1.50 and save percentage to .947 with last night's win. Ellis leads the league in shutouts with 2 and is tied for the league-lead in wins. Aces goaltender Dan Murphy falls to a 4-2 postseason record with a 2.55 goals-against-average and .917 save percentage.

OFFENSIVE: Idaho's Lance Galbraith leads his team in points and is tied for second in the league with 9 (5 goals, 4 assists). Galbraith is the league-leader in penalty minutes with 32. Jan Kopecky is tied for first in the ECHL in game-winning goals with 2, and is second on Idaho's squad in points with 8 (4 goals, 4 assists). Three Alaska players have tallied more points than games played: Garrett Prosofsky leads the pack with 8 (2 goals, 6 assists), Mark Smith has 7 points (3 goals, 4 assists), and Charles Linglet has also scored 7 points (2 goals, 5 assists).

GAME-BY-GAME RECAP:

GAME 1: ALASKA 4 @ IDAHO 3 (OT)

BOISE, Idaho (Ticker) -- Garrett Prosofsky scored twice, including the game-winner in overtime, to lead the Alaska Aces to a 4-3 victory over the Idaho Steelheads in the opening game of the best-of-five Pacific Division finals. Prosofsky, who scored his first goal of the playoffs 3:14 into the final stanza to snap a 2-2 tie, gave his club the victory 36 seconds into overtime. Jordan Cameron notched a first-period, power-play goal for Alaska, which swept the top-seeded San Diego Gulls to advance to the division finals. Dan Murphy improved to 4-0 in the postseason by making 15 of his 34 saves in the third period. Lance Galbraith, who has four goals and two assists in the playoffs, scored a power-play goal and David Bararuk tied the contest in the third period for Idaho, which lost for the second time in six home games against Alaska this year. Dan Ellis had 21 saves in the loss.

GAME 2: IDAHO 4 @ ALASKA 1

BOISE, Idaho (Ticker) -- Darrell Hay scored a goal and added an assist to help the Idaho Steelheads defeat the Alaska Aces, 4-1, to even the best-of-five Pacific Division Finals at one game apiece. Hay assisted on a power-play goal by Dylan Gyori 3:27 in the second period and collected his second tally of the postseason, a power-play marker, 2:04 later for a 3-0 advantage. David Barauk finished with a goal and an assist for Idaho, which has won four of its last five playoff games. Lance Galbraith, who chipped in with a pair helpers for the Steelheads, now has eight points (4 goals and 4 assists) in seven postseason contests. Dan Ellis had 22 saves to improve to 4-1 with two shutouts in the Kelly Cup Playoffs. Mike Scott prevented a shutout when he scored with 2:21 remaining in the third period for Alaska, which lost for the first time in five postseason games. Dan Murphy had 13 of his 25 saves in the opening period in the loss.

GAME 3: IDAHO 4 @ ALASKA 1

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Ticker) -- Jan Kopecky had a goal and an assist to help the Idaho Steelheads beat the Alaska Aces, 4-1, and take a two-games-to-one lead in the Pacific Division Finals. Kopecky broke a 1-1 tie with 8:47 left in the second period and helped out on a goal by Lance Galbraith 6:13 into the third. Dan Ellis turned away 29 shots to improve to 5-1 with a 1.50 goals-against average in the playoffs. Dan Vandermeer had a first-period goal and Derek Paget scored in the third on an empty-netter for Idaho, which has won five of its last six postseason games. Chris Lipsett collected his third goal of the playoffs 1:47 into the second period for Alaska, which was unsuccessful on the only two power-play opportunities in the game. Dan Murphy gave up three goals on just 14 shots for the loss.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Idaho and Alaska played almost even hockey during the regular season with Idaho going 5-4-1 against the Aces, 3-1-1 at home and 2-3-0 in Anchorage. All-time, Idaho is 53-24-4 against the Aces, 31-6-3 at home and 22-18-1 in Anchorage. The two teams have faced each other three times previously in the playoffs: 1998, 2001, and 2002, with Idaho claiming victories in the last two series.

ROUND ONE RECAP:

In the first round of the Kelly Cup Playoffs Idaho overcame a two-games-to-none deficit with the Las Vegas Wranglers and went on to win the final three games (1 in overtime, and 2 in shutouts) to take the best-of-five series. Idaho, the third seeded team in the division, was not the only team to beat the odds, as the fourth seeded Aces stunned the regular season champion San Diego Gulls knocking the Brabham Cup winners out of the playoffs with a three-game sweep.

Check out the Idaho Steelheads Statistics

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ECHL Stories from April 21, 2004


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