Jurusik Earns First-Career Shutout in 3-0 Blanking of Stingrays

BOISE, Idaho – The Idaho Steelheads (12-7-1) earned their second-straight shutout win in a 3-0 blanking of the South Carolina Stingrays (9-7-2) on Wednesday night from Idaho Central Arena.THE GAME’S STO­­RYThe Steelheads controlled the pacing of the game from the outset and earned two early power plays out of it. On their second man-advantage, forward Kyle Marino (PP, 10:01 1st) tipped a shot from the blue line while standing net front to open the scoring. Turnovers and offensive presence became a theme in goals for the Steelheads with forward Will Merchant (17:46 1st) converting net front off the crossbar after creating time worked in the offensive end for the 2-0 lead. The Steelheads added one more in the final frame off another turnover finished by forward Luc Brown (15:53 3rd) to seal off the eventual 3-0 win. Matt Jurusik halted all 24 shots in the victory.ICCU 3 STARS OF THE GAME1. IDH – Matt Jurusik (24-save shutout)2. IDH – Kyle Marino (goal, fight)3. IDH – Will Merchant (goal, assist)PEPSI PLAYER OF THE GAMEMatt Jurusik (G) – first-career shutout, 24-24 savesSTEELHEADS STANDOUTS- Matt Jurusik: Jurusik nailed down his first professional shutout in his 24-save effort, avenging a late goal earlier this season to deny the opportunity. Jurusik has held opponents to two goals or less in four-straight appearances and now sits third in GAA (1.86) and fifth in save percentage (.929).- Luc Brown:Brown extended his goal streak to three-straight games with his third period tally, marking the longest goal streak of the season for the team. Brown owns five points (4-1—5) in his last three games and has 15 points on the season.- Will Merchant:Merchant’s multi-point game is his fourth of the season to lead the team. He owns four points in four games and now has 17 points (8-9—17) while sharing the team lead in goals.CATCH OF THE DAYThe Steelheads earned back-to-back shutouts for the first time this season, stopping 51-consecutive shots over two games in Kansas City and against South Carolina. It’s the first time since Mar. 15-16, 2018 that the Steelheads earned back-to-back shutouts when Tomas Sholl stopped 50-straight shots in two days against South Carolina, but it’s the first occurrence of two different goaltenders posting back-to-back shutouts since Branden Komm (29 saves) and Landon Bow (27 saves) on Apr. 5-7, 2017 in Alaska against the Aces. The Steelheads have had back-to-back shutouts just five times in the ECHL era with the only ones including home games coming on Nov. 7-8, 2003 against Cincinnati thanks to Dan Ellis (33 saves) and Blair Allison (33 saves).ATTENDANCE: 4,026LOOKING AHEADThe Steelheads and Stingrays continue their three-game weekend on Friday, Dec. 10 at 7:10 p.m. from Idaho Central Arena. Tickets are limited availability by going to idahosteelheads.com or calling 331-TIXS. Coverage begins at 6:50 p.m. on 95.3FM/1350AM KTIK “The Ticket” as well as 7:00 p.m. on Sparklight Ch. 72 & FloHockey.