STEELHEADS CONTINUE DOMINANCE AGAINST RAPID CITY WITH 7-5 VICTORY

STEELHEADS CONTINUE DOMINANCE AGAINST RAPID CITY WITH 7-5 VICTORY 

BOISE, ID – The Idaho Steelheads (45-20-2-2, 94pts) defeated the Rapid City Rush (27-37-4-0, 58pts) Friday night by a final score of 7-5 in front of 5,190 fans at the Idaho Central Arena. It was the 32^nd sellout in the 33^rd home game including the 30^th consecutive. Idaho and Rapid City meet for the final time tomorrow night at 7:10 p.m. 

Idaho led 2-1 after the first period of play with shots favoring the Steelheads 12-11. Alex Aleardi got the Rush on the board first with a shot from below the right circle past the glove of Bryan Thomson at 4:16. Then 2:17 later Keaton Mastrodonato (24^th) tied the score at 1-1 with a breakaway score going forehand to backhand past the right leg of Christian Propp. Just 1:49 after Connor Mylymok (2^nd) would give the Steelheads a 2-1 lead with a shot from the right circle. The goal went to video review as A.J. White was providing a screen at the top of the crease but it was deemed a good goal. 

The Steelheads had a 5-3 advantage after 40 minutes of play. 3:59 into the second period Keanu Yamamoto (17^th) deflected the puck past Thomson in the high slot with a re-direction from his skate on an initial shot from the left point tying the score at 2-2. Then 1:19 later Mark Rassell (30^th) raced down the right wing through neutral ice and from the top of the right circle he fired a wrister into the top near corner giving Idaho back the lead, 3-2. At 12:26 of the stanza on the power-play Francesco Arcuri from the center point fed Will Merchant (9^th) in the left circle where he sent a wrist shot over the near shoulder of Propp. Rapid City got a power-play goal 2:04 later on a wicked wrister from Alex Aleardi, his second goal of the game, from the near side of the goal line he went off the far post and into the net. Off the ensuing face-off Idaho countered into the offensive zone as Nicholas Canade drove through the right circle and fed Jordan Kawaguchi (8^th) in the high slot where he directed it home making it 5-3. Shots were just 8-6 Idaho in the stanza. 

Jade Miller (6^th) made it 6-3 just 4:43 into the third period with a deflection at the top of the crease off a pass from Kudla at the left-wing half wall. 66 seconds later the Rush made it a two goal game once again as Tyson Helgeson snuck the puck through the five-hole of Thomson at 5:47. Rapid City pulled their goaltender with 3:30 left in the game and Ilya Nikolaev struck with 43 seconds left on a shot from the right circle making it 6-5. Mark Rassell (31^st) buried an empty netter with four seconds left to seal the victory. 

Bryan Thomson made 25 saves 30 shots in the win while Christian Propp made 23 saves on 29 shots in the loss.  

BOX SCORE

ICCU Three Stars

1. Will Merchant (IDH, 1-1-2, 2 shots)
2. Nicholas Canade (IDH, 0-2-2, +2, 4 shots) 
3. Alex Aleardi (RC, 2-0-2, -1, 4 shots) 

GAME NOTES

• Idaho went 1-for-3 on the power-play while Rapid City was 0-for-6.  
• Shots were even at 30-30. 
• Idaho is now 68-26-6 all-time vs. Rapid City and 36-15-2 in Rapid City. Idaho is now 12-1-0-0 vs. Rapid City this season and 4-1-0-0 in Boise. Dating back to last season Idaho is 22-4-0-1 and 10-1 in Boise.  
• Sam Sternschein (IR), Colton Kehler (IR), Jared Moe (IR), Ben Zloty (IR), Reece Harsch (IR), Wade Murphy (SUSP), and Demetrios Koumontzis (DNP). 
• Will Merchant tallied a goal and an assist in his 300^th game as a Steelhead… His goal was his 88^th career goal as a Steelhead moving him into third place all-time in the Idaho ECHL era… His assists was his 200^th Steelhead point. 
• Nicholas Canade and Romain Rodzinski each tallied two assists. 
• Keaton Mastrodonato and Connor Mylymok each scored for their second straight game. 
• Jade Miller scored a goal in his 200^th career ECHL game. 
• Patrick Kudla tallied three assists for his 17^th multi-point game of the year. 
• Mark Rassell recorded his team leading eighth multi-goal game of the year while adding an assist… It was his first game back with Idaho since Feb. 17 after being released from his PTO with the Texas Stars yesterday…. He has 10 goals in 10 games against the Rush this season and 31 goals in 40 games this year. 

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