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ECHL Idaho Steelheads

Steelheads Win Six Straight, Battling Back In West

February 21, 2005 - ECHL (ECHL)
Idaho Steelheads News Release


Defending Kelly Cup Champion Idaho has won six straight games and eight of its last 10 games to improve to 27-20-3, but finds itself in sixth place in the West Division of the National Conference, seven points out of the fourth and final postseason spot.

Long Beach has won 13 of its last 18 games and leads the division with a 33-14-5 record and 71 points, four points ahead of Alaska, which has won 12 of its last 15 games to improve to 31-15-5. Bakersfield is in third place with a 29-15-8 record and 66 points, two points ahead of Fresno, which has gone 17-4-3 in January and February to improve 29-17-6.

Idaho will visit West Division leader Long Beach (33-14-5) on Saturday, the final regular season meeting between the two, and will be at San Diego (26-18-6), which is in fifth place and one point ahead of Idaho in the division, on Sunday. The Steelheads are 4-3-1 against the Ice Dogs and 1-2-0 against the Gulls. Idaho has five games remaining against San Diego and three games remaining against Fresno, which is in fourth place with 64 points and a 29-17-6 record. The Steelheads will play Bakersfield, which is in third place with 66 points and a 29-15-8 record, two more times while also visiting Mississippi. The remaining 10 games will be against Las Vegas, Louisiana, Texas and Victoria, who all have records below .500.

Idaho's winning streak began with back-to-back wins at Victoria followed by back-to-back wins at Las Vegas and continued last weekend with two home wins against Victoria. In its 12-3 win on Friday against Victoria, Idaho set a team record for goals in a game and established ECHL season-highs for goals (12), points (31) and winning margin (9) while the 15 goals tied the ECHL season high for combined goals.

During the streak, Frank Doyle is 4-0-0 with a goals-against average of 1.64 and a save percentage of .929 during the streak and Colin Zulianello is 2-0-0 with a goals-against average of 2.14 and a save percentage of .886. Doyle, who was the Most Valuable Player in the ECHL All-Star Game, is 20-11-2, tying him for second in the ECHL in wins. He ranks fourth in the league in minutes (2037) and is tied for fifth in goals-against average (2.18) and shutouts (3).

Brett Draney has scored six points (3g-3a) in the last two games and Frantisek Lukes has six goals and nine points in the last four games. Warren Peters has a five-game assist streak (5a) and has scored a point in each of the six wins (2g-6a). Bobby Russell, who has six assists and eight points in the last six games, leads the Steelheads in goals (16), game-winning goals (5), points (36) and plus-minus rating (+15) while ranking second in power-play goals (5) and third in assists (21).

Rivermen Extend ECHL Record Penalty Kill To 68

The Peoria Rivermen have successfully killed off 68 consecutive opposing power plays, eclipsing the ECHL record of 66 consecutive penalty kills set by Mississippi in 2000-01. Peoria, which has gone 11-2-3 in the 16 games it has not allowed a power-play goal, will look to extend its record, believed to be the longest in professional hockey, when it hosts Alaska on Thursday and Reading on Friday and Saturday. The Rivermen tied and broke the record in a 3-2 shootout loss to Alaska on Saturday, the crowd on its feet counting down the final seconds of the record-breaking 67th kill in the second period.

Peoria has raised its penalty kill from eighth in the ECHL at 84.52 percent (142-for-168) to second in the league at 88.98 percent (210-for-236). The Rivermen have the best home penalty kill in the ECHL at 92.2 percent (106-for-115) and rank fifth in road penalty kill with 86.0 percent (104-for-121). The last power-play goal allowed was at 15:32 of the third period of a 4-3 loss at Las Vegas on January 8.

After going 0-for-1 on the power play on Friday and 0-for-4 on Saturday, Alaska scored two power-play goals at Dayton on Sunday. The Aces have the second best road power-play percentage in the ECHL at 20.4 percent (19-for-93) and they rank fifth overall on the power play with 18.6 percent (41-for-220). Reading, which has scored a power-play goal in each of its last four games (6-for-30), ranks 18th in the ECHL in road power-play percentage at 14.1 percent (21-for-149) and 17th overall at 15.8 percent (42-for-265).

Ice Pilots Record 12-Game Win Streak Ends

Pensacola has won eight home games in a row, breaking its team record of seven consecutive home wins while also surpassing the league season high of seven games by Peoria (Dec. 28-Jan. 29), Charlotte (Dec. 28-Jan. 28) and Columbia (Dec. 10-Jan. 21). The Ice Pilots will host Florida on Tuesday, Columbia on Friday and Sunday and Mississippi on Saturday.

Pensacola continues to lead the ECHL in wins (34), points (72), winning percentage (.720), and is tied for the lead in road wins (17).

The Ice Pilots team record and ECHL season-high 12-game winning streak ended with a 2-1 loss at Florida on Saturday. The Ice Pilots tied Wheeling (Feb. 20-Mar. 12, 2004), Florida (Dec. 14, 1999-Jan. 13, 2000), Chesapeake (Feb. 14-Mar. 13, 1998) and Erie (1989-90) for the third-longest winning streak in league history. The ECHL record for consecutive wins is 14 games set by Knoxville (Dec. 28, 1993-Jan. 29, 1994) and tied by Louisiana (Nov. 23-Dec. 22, 2001). The Ice Pilots also saw their consecutive road winning streak end at six games, tying the team record (Feb. 6-24, 2004) but finishing one game short of the league season high of seven games set by Reading (Nov. 7-Dec. 19).

North Division Postseason Race Remains Tight

With three points separating the top four teams and four points separating the top five teams, the order in the North Division of the National Conference changes daily. Wheeling continues to lead the division with a 30-17-3 record and 63 points, one point ahead of Toledo at 29-18-4. Reading has moved into third place at 28-14-5 and 61 points, one point ahead of Atlantic City at 27-17-6 and two points ahead of Trenton at 26-16-7. Peoria, which is 6-1-3 in its last 10 games, is six points behind Trenton at 23-17-7.

Wheeling will host Trenton on Friday and Atlantic City on Saturday while Toledo hosts Alaska on Wednesday, Johnstown (19-18-11) on Friday and Saturday and Reading on Sunday. Reading will host Johnstown on Tuesday before traveling to Peoria on Friday and Saturday and Toledo on Sunday. Atlantic City will host Dayton (16-29-4) on Friday and Sunday while visiting Wheeling on Saturday. Trenton hosts Dayton on Wednesday and Saturday while traveling to Wheeling on Friday and Johnstown on Sunday.

ECHL Feature Games Of The Week

National Conference - North Division
Atlantic City at Wheeling
Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET
* Wheeling is 3-1-0 against the Bullies and all wins have been in shootouts.
* Three points separate the first-place Nailers and the fourth-place Bullies.

American Conference - East Division
Charlotte at Greenville
Friday at 7:05 p.m. ET
* Possible American Conference first-round playoff match-up between second-place Charlotte and seventh place Greenville.
* Charlotte leads the season series 4-1-0.

American Conference - South Division
Columbia at Pensacola
Friday at 7:05 p.m. CT
* Inferno is 8-0-4 its last 12 games while Ice Pilots is 12-1-0 in its last 13.
* Pensacola was 2-1-0 against the Inferno in 2003-04.

National Conference - West Division
Bakersfield at Long Beach
Friday at 7:30 p.m. PT
* First-place Ice Dogs are 4-1-2 against the third-place Condors in 2004-05.
* Condors were 5-4-2 against Long Beach in 2003-04.

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