Salmon Kings take first game of series

The Idaho Steelheads fell tonight by a 3-1 score to the Victoria Salmon Kings in Game 1 of the West Division Semifinals. The Steelheads opened the scoring, but three unanswered goals from Victoria secured their victory. After 31:28 of scoreless hockey, Mark Bomersback found Matt McKnight moving into the offensive end, and connected on a pass that sprung McKnight alone against Victoria goalie Todd Ford. McKnight went upstairs on the 6?4? netminder for the Steelheads? only goal of the night. At 7:14 of the third, Olivier LaBelle capitalized from point-blank after taking a pass from the corner; Chris St. Jacques stole the puck, and found his teammate alone in front to tie the game, 1-1. The eventual game-winner came at 14:30 of the third period, with Brady Leavold scoring for Victoria. Matt Kelly had the first of his two assists on the goal, and Adam Taylor also registered a helper. Victoria added an empty-netter to go up 3-1 with 1:38 remaining; Sean Landolt scored, with Sean O?Connor and Matt Kelly notching the assists. Bomersback returned to the Steelheads tonight after playing 13 games for the Binghamton Senators of the American Hockey League; in that stretch, he scored four goals, and chipped in an assist. Matt Climie also returned to the Steelheads tonight after playing three games in the last week for the NHL?s Dallas Stars; a stretch that saw Climie go 2-1-0. Bryan McGregor finished the season on a nine-game point streak, but was held off the board by Ford and the Salmon Kings tonight. Game two of this best-of-seven series will get underway at 5:10 PM Sunday at Qwest Arena.