BOISE, ID – The Idaho Steelheads (3-1-0-0, 6pts) fell to the Toledo Walleye (3-1-1-0, 7pts) Saturday night by a final score of 5-2 in front of a sellout crowd of 5,238 fans at the Idaho Central Arena. Idaho will play their next six games on the road beginning in Tahoe next Thursday.
After a scoreless first period Gavin White (1st) would give Idaho a 1-0 lead at 4:47 on the power-play. Justin Ertel from the right-wing half wall fed Connor MacEachern on the right side of the goal line. From there MacEachern found White in the left circle for a one-timer. The Walleye would get a pair of goals late in the period to capture a 2-1 lead through 40 minutes of play. Trenton Bliss tied things at 1-1 with 4:20 left in the period and then Brandon Hawkins gave Toledo the lead 2:02 later.
Tyler Spezia increased the Toledo lead to 3-1 with a power-play goal 2:16 into the third period before Grant Gabriele increased the lead to three with a man advantage score at 11:58. Ty Pelton-Byce (4th) scored a power-play goal of his own with 92 seconds left to pull the margin back to two goals. From the left circle Hank Crone found Pelton-Byce at the far circle for a one-timer. Trenton Bliss added an empty-net score with 29 seconds remaining in the game handing Toledo a 5-2 lead.
Ben Kraws made 25 saves on 29 shots in the loss while Jan Bednar made 25 saves on 27 shots in the win.
ICCU Three Stars
1) Brandon Hawkins (TOL, 1-3-4, +3, 5 shots)
2) Jan Bednar (TOL, 25 saves)
3) Gavin White (IDH, 1-0-1, -1, 3 shots)
GAME NOTES
- Idaho went 2-for-6 on the power-play while Toledo was 2-for-4.
- Toledo outshot Idaho 30-27.
- Idaho is now 7-6-0-0 all-time vs. Toledo and 5-1-0-0 in Boise.
- Tomas Sholl (IR), Reece Harsch (IR), Blake Swetlikoff (DNP), Slava Demin (DNP) and Sam Sternschein (DNP) did not dress for Idaho.
- Justin Ertel, Connor MacEachern, Patrick Kudla, and Hank Crone each tallied an assist.
- Patrick Kudla led all Idaho skaters with four shots.
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