Idaho earns first home win of the season

Boise, ID - Regulation time wasn?t enough for rivals Idaho and Alaska, but when it came to the shootout, the Steelheads had the edge tonight as Garett Bembridge netted the shootout winner. The scoring was opened in the first period when Ben Nelson tallied one on the power play, his fifth, at 4:55. Marty Flichel and Bembridge picked up assists. With the goal, Nelson increased his season point total to nine, as did Flichel with an assist on the goal; the two are co-leaders in scoring for the Steelheads (4-3-2). Alexandre Imbeault put Alaska (6-2-1) on the board with a power play goal of his own at 15:39 of the first. The goal was Imbeault?s third of the year, and the assists were credited to Colin Hemingway and Cam Keith. The rest of the game did not yield a goal, but it did offer some stellar goaltending at both ends. Alaska?s Robin Richards put his team in a tough position when he received a five-minute major and a game misconduct for elbowing Idaho?s Jimmy Kerr. Jean-Phillipe Lamoureux turned aside 39 of 40 Idaho shots in the shootout loss, which caused his record to fall to 6-3-1. Matt Climie rebounded from Saturday night?s loss in Reading, stopping 19 of 20 Alaska attempts. Climie?s record improved to 3-1-0. As he did in regulation time, Ben Nelson scored the first shootout goal for the Steelheads as Idaho?s first shooter. Former Steelhead Scott Burt, Alaska?s third shooter, tied the shootout for the Aces with the team?s only shootout goal. Bembridge, Idaho?s fifth shooter, buried the winner in front of 3,068 fans at Qwest Arena. THIS EVENING?S AQUAFINA THREE STARS: JEAN-PHILLIPE LAMOUREUX (AK) STEVE GAINEY (IDH) BEN NELSON (IDH) THIS EVENING?S COORS LIGHT OFFENSIVE PERFORMER: BEN NELSON (IDH)