Spurgeon Nets Third Hat Trick of Season, Steelheads Fall in OT

The Idaho Steelheads (34-12-5) fell in overtime tonight to the Ontario Reign (20-25-7) by a 5-4 score. Idaho led 4-3 entering the third period, but Ontario scored power play goals in the third period, and in overtime to earn the second point. Tyler Spurgeon netted his third hat trick of the season, and Ashton Rome scored his first goal since returning to the Steelheads in the losing effort. Ontario led 1-0 after the first period as a result of Jon Francisco?s goal at 16:27 of the opening frame; he sent a rebound top-shelf over Idaho?s Rejean Beauchemin to gain the lead for Ontario. At 2:38 of the second period, Tim Kraus slid a puck along the ice toward the Idaho net, and Robert Pearce put his stick on the puck to redirect it by Beauchemin to give Ontario the 2-0 lead. Less than 30 seconds later, Tyler Spurgeon scored the first of his three goals as he took a cross-ice pass from Mark McCutcheon and scored from the bottom of the right circle against Ontario?s Curtis Darling. Dustin Friesen also assisted on the goal. At 8:51 of the second, Spurgeon scored again, deflecting home a Mark Derlago shot from the top of the crease. Friesen also assisted on Spurgeon?s second of the game, which was his 16th of the season. Less than seven minutes later, Peter Lenes regained the lead for Ontario, as he received a pass in front of the net from Sean O?Connor, and fired the puck into the goal. At 16:38, Spurgeon answered for the Steelheads with his 17th of the season on a backhand wraparound, assisted by McCutcheon and Steven Oleksy. Less than a half-minute later, Ashton Rome finished off a John Swanson effort to give Idaho a 4-3 lead; that?s how the game would head to the second intermission. At 15:41 of the third period, Sean O?Connor tied the game on the power play for Ontario as he wrapped the puck around, and bounced it into the Steelheads? net. In overtime, Marty Flichel had a clear-cut shorthanded breakaway opportunity, and hit the goal post. On the counterattack, Greg Hogeboom took a pass through the slot from Tony Voce, and scored from the left circle to secure the win for Ontario. Rejean Beauchemin suffers the overtime loss for the Steelheads. He stopped 20 of 25 shots in the game, and is now 19-7-2. Curtis Darling was the winner in net for Ontario, improving to 16-20-6. He stopped 43 of 47 shots. The Steelheads return home to take on the Alaska Aces on Wednesday, February 24th at Qwest Arena. The puck drops Wednesday night at 7:00 PM.