ECHL Idaho Steelheads

Steelheads Game Day Storylines at Tulsa

Published on April 4, 2018 under ECHL (ECHL)
Idaho Steelheads News Release


Steel Reel

The Steelheads open their final road trip of the regular season on Wednesday night, a three-game swing that begins at BOK Center against the Tulsa Oilers. The Steelheads and Oilers have not met since January 20th, when the Steelheads were second in the division and the Oilers were in fifth place and seven points out of a playoff spot. Now, with three games remaining on the schedule for both teams, the Steelheads are still in second and the Oilers are still looking to fight their way into a playoff spot, now three points back of the Allen Americans and Wichita Thunder.

Cole Ully netted two goals for Idaho on Saturday night to spur the Steelheads to a 4-2 win over the Utah Grizzlies in Idaho's regular-season home finale. Max French opened the scoring with a power play goal less than two minutes into the game in his first game back from a month with the Texas Stars, while Tomas Sholl earned the win in net.

Peak Streaks...

The Steelheads are in the midst of a seven-game winning streak, their longest since March of 2015, and finished the home portion of their regular-season schedule with seven straight wins at CenturyLink Arena, their longest streak since winning the final seven home games of the 2007-08 season. Max French's goal on Saturday extended his streak of consecutive ECHL games with a goal to five games, a streak in which he has scored seven goals but also a streak that was interrupted by a month in the AHL and dates back to February 19th. Cole Ully has goals in four straight, scoring six goals and notching two points in each contest. Tomas Sholl's personal winning streak is now at eight, having surrendered just seven goals over that time.

A-OK...

The Steelheads pay their final visit of the season to BOK Center Wednesday, a building in which they've experienced consistent success. The Steelheads won each of their two previous visits to Tulsa this year, a 4-2 win on January 19th and a 4-3 win on January 20th. Dating back to their first trip to Tulsa in December 2015, the Steelheads have won six in a row at BOK Center and are 6-1-0 overall. One Steelhead who thrives in Tulsa will be out of the lineup, as Jefferson Dahl is currently in the AHL with the Cleveland Monsters. In Idaho's previous seven visits to BOK Center, Dahl had registered a point in six of them and had totaled five goals and eight points.

Playoff Push...

The Steelheads will play a direct role in determining the Mountain Division playoff picture, with three teams fighting for the last two spots and Idaho playing two of them with their game in Tulsa followed by two games in Allen this weekend. Wednesday's game isn't mathematically a must-win for Tulsa, but it's close to it considering the Oilers have three games remaining to close what is already a three-point gap behind the Americans and Wichita Thunder. Charlie Sampair continues to lead the Oilers with a strong sophomore season and 56 points. Kale Kessy is offering a late-season boost with six goals and ten points in his last ten games. Tulsa has missed the playoffs in each of the past two seasons.

Idaho Leaders Oilers Leaders

Goals: McParland (30) Goals: Sampair (30)

Assists: Parizek (31) Assists: Pleskach (27)

Points: Parizek (57) Points: Sampair (56)

Plus/Minus: Brassart/McParland (+25) Plus/Minus: Richardson (+12)

Power Play Goals: McParland (9) Power Play Goals: Ladd/Pleskach (6)

Goals-Against Average: Sholl (1.37) Goals-Against Average: Williams (2.56)

Check out the Idaho Steelheads Statistics



ECHL Stories from April 4, 2018


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