IDAHO STEELHEADS WEEKLY – WEEK 1 – 10/21/24

BOISE, ID – The Idaho Steelheads (@Steelheads), proud ECHL (@ECHL) affiliate of the Dallas Stars (@DallasStars), picked up a 7-2 victory over their Utah Grizzlies on opening night last Friday in front of a sellout crowd of 5,104 fans. The seven goals in the first game of the season tied a Steelheads ECHL franchise record which was set back on Oct. 22, 2021, in a 7-3 win vs. Utah. 

THIS WEEK’S GAMES
Wednesday, Oct. 23 vs. Toledo | 7:10 p.m.              Watch             Listen 
Friday, Oct. 25 vs. Toledo | 7:10 p.m.                        Watch             Listen
Saturday, Oct. 26 vs. Toledo | 7:10 p.m.                   Watch              Listen

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. TOLEDO 
Idaho is 5-5-0-0 all-time vs. Toledo including 3-0-0-0 in Boise, ID at the Idaho Central Arena. The only regular season meetings between the Walleye and Steelheads in Boise came back during the 2018-19 season when Idaho took all three games in the month of January. Most recently, the two clubs met during the 2023 Kelly Cup Playoffs in the Western Conference Finals when Idaho came out victorious in five games. The Steelheads have six players on their current roster that played in that series while the Walleye have four. 

LAST WEEK’S GAMES 
Friday, Oct. 18            Idaho (7) vs. Utah (2)             Highlights       Full Recap       Box Score

Idaho led 3-0 after the first period as they received goals from Ty Pelton-Byce (PP), A.J. White, and Connor MacEachern all coming in a span of 3:59. Connor Punnett increased the lead to 4-0 just 69 seconds into the middle frame scoring his first professional goal. With 6:54 left in the period Pelton-Byce notched his second goal of the game, this time coming short-handed. After the Grizzlies finally got on the board with 5:29 remaining in the stanza, Thomas Caron gave Idaho back a five-goal lead, 2:22 after Utah’s goal. The Grizzlies scored with 15 seconds left in the period before Justin Ertel got his first professional goal at 6:01 of the third period to make the score 7-2. In his ECHL debut, Ben Kraws made 26 saves on 28 shots for the victory in between the net. 

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

• Justin Ertel and Connor Punnett each scored their first professional goals in their pro debut. Both skaters are under NHL contracts with the Dallas Stars. 
• Connor MacEachern in his Steelheads debut recorded a career high three points (1G, 2A). 
• Ty Pelton-Byce recorded his seventh career two goal game. 
• Hank Crone tallied two assists in his Idaho debut while Patrick Kudla tallied a game high three helpers. 
• A.J. White scored a goal for his 114^th career goal as a Steelhead. 
• Matt Register tallied an assist and is now 10 assists shy from moving into fourth place all-time in league history in assists. 
• Mark Olver and Brendan Hoffman each tallied an assist in their Idaho debuts. 

TEAM NOTES

• Idaho finished the game 1-for-2 on the power-play and 2-for-3 on the penalty kill. 
• The Steelheads outshot the Grizzlies 39-28 recording 10 or more shots in all three periods. 
• 11 different skaters tallied a point while six had multi-point nights. 
• Idaho scored three goals in the first and second period. 

Call the Steelheads Front Office at 208-383-0080 for ticket packages for this season. Stay up to date with all things Steelheads on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Watch all Steelheads home games on FloHockey and KTVB 24/7 (Channel 7.2) and listen on the Steelheads flagship station 95.3 FM KTIK “The Ticket”.