Beskorowany, Smith lift Idaho past Ontario

Ontario, CA (12/8/12) ? Austin Smith notched a goal and an assist and Tyler Beskorowany stopped 27 of 29 shots for the Idaho Steelheads Saturday night as the visitors knocked off the Ontario Reign, 3-2, in front of 7,586 fans at Citizen's Business Bank Arena in Ontario. Idaho (16-5-2) has now won five consecutive games for the second time this season. An early power play allowed Idaho to take the lead as Mathieu Tousignant deflected Matt Case's shot from the top of the circles past Chris Carrozzi at 5:27 of the first to make it 1-0. Case's assist gives him 13 points on the season, a new career high through just 23 games this season. Justin Dowling also got an assist to extend his point streak to five straight games. Late in the first, Ontario's Colton Yellow Horn was in the right place at the right time to pounce on a loose puck and score his 15th of the season, evening the game at a goal apiece going into the first intermission. The Steelheads took control in the second. First, it was Adrian Foster redirecting an Austin Smith shot past Carrozzi for his tenth of the season at 4:40 to make it 2-1 Idaho. Then, less than three minutes later, a bad Ontario defensive-zone turnover left a loose puck right on the stick of Smith, who buried his 11th of the season (in just 14 ECHL games) at 7:23 to make it 3-1. Austin Fyten and Adrian Foster picked up assists on the goal as Smith extended his point streak to eight games. Ontario would inch closer on a Vincent LoVerde power-play goal midway through the third period but Beskorowany would come up huge in the closing moments to secure the win. He got a piece of a deflected puck with 45 seconds left to play to prevent a would-be game-tying goal and then made two brilliant saves at close range ten seconds later to thwart Ontario's last hopes. The Steelheads came up with a couple big clears to run the clock out on the victory. Beskorowany picked up his sixth victory of the season, while Carrozzi saw his personal seven-game winning streak come to an end in the loss. Each team registered a power-play tally - Idaho was 1-5 on the man advantage and Ontario was 1-6. The two teams wrap up their brief, two-game weekend series Sunday afternoon at 3 PM (Pacific) in Ontario. The game can be heard live in the Treasure Valley on KTIK (93.1 FM). The Steelheads return home on Wednesday, December 12, to host the Alaska Aces. Tickets are available by calling the CenturyLink Arena box office at 208.331.8497 or by going online at www.idahosteelheads.com COORS OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME - Austin Smith CENTURYLINK THREE STARS: 1) Austin Smith (ID) 2) Adrian Foster (ID) 3) Vincent LoVerde (ONT) Group outings at a Steelheads game are a great way to gather friends, colleagues, or co-workers for a fun night out in downtown Boise. Ticket prices are discounted and you can get a Pepsi, Double-R Ranch Hot Dog, and bag of Tim?s Cascade Chips with each ticket. Contact the Steelheads front office at 208.383.0080 or log on to www.idahosteelheads.com for more information.