ECHL Idaho Steelheads

Steelheads Weekly Recap and Look Ahead

March 25, 2002 - ECHL (ECHL)
Idaho Steelheads News Release


The Idaho Steelheads played three games at home last week. On Wednesday, Idaho beat Colorado 4-1 to clinch their second consecutive Northern Division regular season championship. On Friday, Idaho beat Bakersfield 4-1. Saturday the Condors rebounded to post their first win of the year against Idaho in regulation time by the score of 5-3 in front of a sellout crowd of 5,301 fans at the BofA Centre.

WEDNESDAY
Wednesday night the Idaho Steelheads beat the Colorado Gold Kings 4-1 and with the win clinched their second straight Northern Division title in front of 4,852 fans at the BofA Centre. Kevin Smyth scored a pair of goals and Blair Allison was outstanding in net to propel Idaho to their franchise record tying 27th win on home ice. Idaho is a league best 43-14-7 with 93 points. Smyth (8) scored his first of the night at 13:04 of the first period to put Idaho ahead 1-0. In the second period the newest Steelhead Greg Bullock (1) made his mark just 16 seconds into the frame to put Idaho up 2-0. Colorado got on the board when Schmidt scored on a breakaway at 15:46 to make it a one-goal game after two periods. In the third period Cal Ingraham (20) slid one home at 14:06 to make it 3-1. Smyth (9) put the game away with his second of the night at 16:06 on a rebound to finish the scoring. Allison turned aside all 15 Gold Kings shots in the frame to post his second straight strong outing. FINAL SCORE Idaho 4, Colorado 1. Allison stopped 28 of 29 shots to improve to 33-10-5. Mark Gowan took the loss to fall to 0-3-0.

FRIDAY
Friday night the Idaho Steelheads posted a solid 4-1 win over the visiting Bakersfield Condors in front of 4,805 fans at the BofA Centre. Kevin Smyth scored a pair of goals for the second straight game and has now registered goals in each of his last four games. The Steelheads are a league best 44-14-7 with 95 points on the season. Idaho also recorded their franchise record 28th win on home ice, eclipsing last years total of 27 wins at home. Neither team scored in the first period. Early in the second period Smyth (10) broke down the left wing in a two-on-one and snapped the puck five-hole for the first goal of the game at 2:23. Idaho made to 2-0 when Adam Copeland (21) scored a power play goal at 5:39. It was Copeland's first point since February 16th, a string of 13 games. Bobby Stewart then got loose on a breakaway for his team leading 36th goal at 7:43 to make it 3-0 Steelheads after two periods. In the third frame, Vary scored a power play marker at 7:40 to get Bakersfield on the board. Smyth (11) put the game away with an empty netter at 19:40. Blair Allison made some outstanding saves down the stretch to post his third straight excellent outing. FINAL SCORE Idaho 4, Bakersfield 1. Allison got the win to improve to 34-10-5. Scott Hay took the loss to fall to 16-20-4. Idaho went 1-2 on the power play while Bakersfield went 1-4.

SATURDAY
Saturday night the visiting Bakersfield Condors raced to a 3-0 lead and then held on for a 5-3 win over the Idaho Steelheads in front of 5,301 fans at the BofA Centre. Ryan Foster scored a pair of goals and led the Condors to their first win in regulation over Idaho this season. Idaho is now 44-15-7 on the campaign with 95 points, and suffers just their 6th loss on home ice this season. The Condors jumped on Idaho in the first as Goldie scored on a slapshot from the left wing at 13:29 to make it 1-0 Bakersfield. Foster then scored a power play goal on a rebound at 19:11 to make it 2-0 Condors after one period. Bakersfield out shot Idaho 12-6 in the first. Early in the second period Brand made it 3-0 Condors at 4:10. The Steelheads put on a furious assault and charged back into the game. Cal Ingraham (21) scored on a rebound at 6:06 to get Idaho on the board. Kevin Smyth (12) then scored a goal for the fifth straight game on a five-on-three power play at 8:38 to cut the deficit to one. At 12:43 Matt Oates (18) scored on a centering pass that deflected to tie the game at 3-3. Rosebush answered for the Condors at 16:35 to give them the lead back 4-3. In the third the Steelheads had several chances, but could not get the puck past Condors goalie Luciano Carravagio to tie the game. Foster sealed the win with an empty netter at 19:27. FINAL SCORE Bakersfield 5, Idaho 3. Blair Allison got the loss to fall to 34-11-5. Carravagio got the win to improve to 11-15-1. Idaho went 1-4 on the power play while Bakersfield went 1-5.

Next Up For Idaho
The Steelheads travel north to Alaska to take on the Anchorage Aces this Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at Sullivan Arena.

Vs. Anchorage

THIS SEASON— The Steelheads lead the season series 9-1-0, including a 3-1-0 mark at Sullivan Arena. The Steelheads are 20-2-1 combined in the last two years versus Anchorage.

COMING INTO 01-02 – All-time coming into 01-02 Idaho is 23-16-3 versus the Aces, including a 9-11-1 mark at Sullivan arena.

North Versus South

Idaho is 24-8-4 versus the Northern and 20-7-3 versus the Southern division this year.

Practice Times
Idaho will practice on Tuesday from 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM at the BofA Centre. The Steelheads will be out of town in Alaska the rest of the week. Practices are open to all media and the public.

Radio and Television
All Steelheads games will be broadcast live on ESPN RADIO 1350 KTIK. Inside the BofA Centre the games are retransmitted on 88.3 FM. All home games will be rebroadcast on Cable One Channel 63 television at 6:00 PM and 9:00 PM the following day. You must have your television service thru Cable One to watch the rebroadcast of the game.




ECHL Stories from March 25, 2002


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