Steelheads Game Day Storylines vs Rapid City
March 21, 2018 - ECHL (ECHL)
Idaho Steelheads News Release
Steel Reel
The Steelheads kick off their final home stand of the regular season on Wednesday night when they host the Rapid City Rush at CenturyLink Arena, only the second visit to Boise this season for the Rush. The Steelheads are coming off back-to-back shutout victories over the South Carolina Stingrays in Charleston last week, while the Rush earned an overtime win on Saturday against the Wichita Thunder to snap an eight-game winless streak. The Rush have been eliminated from playoff contention, but the Steelheads can climb closer to clinching a berth with their magic number currently at five points.
Will Merchant scored the game's only goal on Friday in Charleston, tapping in a rebound in the early minutes of the third to give Idaho a 1-0 lead. Tomas Sholl backed that with 28 saves to earn his second consecutive shutout win, making Idaho the only team to earn consecutive regulation wins against the Stingrays this season.
Ace in the Sholl...
Tomas Sholl continues to turn heads in his new Idaho digs, coming off back-to-back shutouts in South Carolina and now coming off back-to-back ECHL Goaltender of the Week awards after the ECHL selected him on Tuesday. Sholl is the first Steelheads goaltender to win the award in consecutive weeks and the third Steelhead to win twice in one season, joining Jack Campbell and Rejean Beauchemin. In four starts with Idaho, Sholl is 3-0-1 with a 0.72 goals-against average and a .974 save percentage, and he's unbeaten in regulation in 12 ECHL appearances this season. Sholl has not surrendered a goal in 152:24.
30 In Reach...
Steve McParland enters the final home stand of the regular season with 28 goals, only two shy of becoming just the eleventh Steelhead in the ECHL era to reach 30 goals in a season. The feat has occurred eleven times, with Mark Derlago twice reaching it with 42 goals in 2009-10 and 45 goals the following year. Anthony Luciani netted 31 last season, scoring in the season's final two games. McParland has scored five goals in his last seven contests, and hasn't gone more than three games without a goal since December 29th.
Still Got It...
In a disappointing season for the Rush, Peter Sivak has been a bright spot and is again playing near a point-per-game pace. The 36 year-old veteran scored the overtime winner on Saturday and has 23 goals and 53 points in 54 games this season. He's riding a three-game goal-scoring streak and has six goals and nine points in his last eight contests. In parts of six ECHL seasons, Sivak has collected 366 points in 353 games.
Idaho Leaders Rush Leaders
Goals: McParland (28) Goals: Sivak (23)
Assists: J. Dahl (36) Assists: Sivak (30)
Points: J. Dahl (56) Points: Sivak (53)
Plus/Minus: McParland (+21) Plus/Minus: Sherbinin/Lang (+3)
Power Play Goals: McParland (9) Power Play Goals: Four Players (3)
Goals-Against Average: Sholl (1.55) Goals-Against Average: Vay (3.32)
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