Steelheads Tie Thunder Late, Fall in Shootout

The Idaho Steelheads (5-4-5) battled to tie the Stockton Thunder (8-1-3) late in regulation, but the Thunder prevailed in a shootout by a 3-2 score. Defensemen Weston Tardy and Dustin Friesen returned to the Idaho lineup in the shootout loss, which also saw Kael Mouillierat net his eighth goal of the season, which places him among the rookie leaders in goals and points. Mark Arcobello opened the scoring in the hockey game when he gave the Thunder a 1-0 lead on a wrist shot from just inside the Idaho blueline at 11:52 of the first period. Kael Mouillierat tied the game at 1-1 for the Steelheads when he carried a puck out of the right corner, waited for Stockton goalie Garrett Zemlak to commit and go down to the ice, and eventually slid a puck over the goal line for his eighth goal of the season at 10:13 of the second period. Mark Derlago assisted on the goal. Just over four minutes later at 15:35 of the second period Bretton Cameron put Stockton back on top 2-1 on the power play after banging home a loose puck from the top of the goal crease to beat Idaho goalie Mike Zacharias. With the Idaho net empty and the extra attacker on the ice, John Swanson tapped home a puck from the top of the Thunder goal crease to tie the game with 51 seconds left; Sean Backman assisted, as he fired the puck on the goal, and Weston Tardy earned an assist on the game-tying tally as well. Mike Zacharias suffered the shootout loss for Idaho; he stopped 24 of 26 shots, and his record moves to 1-1-2 on the season. Garrett Zemlak, making his first start for Stockton, stopped 34 of 36 shots in the win, and is now 1-1-0 on the season. The Steelheads an Thunder will meet again on Saturday night in Stockton. Saturday will be the second of five consecutive road games for Idaho, who returns to Qwest Arena for three games in three nights against Alaska on December 2.