Steelheads end regular season on winning note

The Idaho Steelheads (44-24-4) closed the regular season with an 8-2 win over the Phoenix RoadRunners (30-37-5) in front of 4,372 fans at Qwest Arena. With the win, the Steelheads set a new club record for wins with 44, topping the 43 wins of the 2005-06 Steelheads. After the first period, the Steelheads led by a pair, 2-0. Dan Welch (5th) and Bryan McGregor scored in the game?s first 3:18, and Idaho never trailed. There were six combined goals in the second period, as McGregor, Brent Shepheard (10th), Luke Gazdic (1st), and Kory Scoran (5th) scored for Idaho. For Gazdic, his tally was his first professional goal. James McEwan and P.J. Corsi netted a pair for Phoenix; all the offense they would see on the evening against Steelheads goalie Rejean Beauchemin. McGregor scored in the third period, his 38th of the season, as did Nick Sirota, who also netted his first professional goal to make the game 8-2. McGregor finishes the regular season with 82 points on 38 goals and 44 assists. The eight goals for the Steelheads was a season-high. Brandon Svendsen?s five assists were also a season-high. Svendsen has started his professional career with 19 points in 11 games (4 goals, 15 assists). Rejean Beauchemin returned from Houston (AHL) earlier in the day, but his goalie gear did not arrive on time. Beauchemin pieced together an ensemble of goalie equipment and stopped 21 of 23 shots to improve to 17-11-3. Kyle Jones started for Phoenix and suffered the loss, as he allowed four goals on 15 shots. He finishes 9-16-2. Chris Beckford-Tseu entered in relief at 3:03 of the second period, and allowed four goals on 30 shots. The Steelheads will host the Victoria Salmon Kings in game one of the Kelly Cup Playoffs? first round on Saturday April 11. The puck will drop at 7:10 PM. Game two will be the following night, April 12, at 5:10 PM.