OFFENSE ERUPTS IN HOME OPENER AS STEELHEADS DEFEAT GRIZZLIES 7-2

BOISE, ID – The Idaho Steelheads (1-0-0-0, 2pts) defeated the Utah Grizzlies (0-1-0-0, 0pts) Friday night by a final score of 7-2 in the home opener on front of a sellout crowd of 5,104 at the Idaho Central Arena. Idaho will host the Toledo Walleye next week for a three-game set beginning Wednesday at 7:10 p.m. 

The Steelheads scored three goals in a stretch of 3:59 as they led 3-0 after the first 20 minutes. Idaho went on the game’s first power-play at 7:51 of the frame and at 8:58 Ty Pelton-Byce (1^st) found the back of the net making it 1-0. Pelton-Byce from the right circle dot fed Hank Crone in the high slot. From there Crone delivered it back to Pelton-Byce where he hammered a one-timer home. Just 41 seconds later A.J. White (1st) made it 2-0. The captain collected the puck on the left-wing wall and danced to the high slot. Inside the right circle he sent a backhander off the skate of the Utah defender into the cage at 9:39. Connor MacEachern (1^st) got his first as a Steelhead at 12:57 increasing the lead to 3-0. Patrick Kudla from behind the goal line fed MacEachern right at the top of the crease where he directed it home. 

Idaho outscored Utah 3-2 in the second period taking a 6-2 lead into the dressing room through 40 minutes of play. After Mark Olver rang the crossbar from the right circle, Connor Punnett (1^st) stepped into the puck on the left-wing boards and let a slap shot fly increasing the lead to 4-0 just 69 seconds into the frame. The Grizzlies went on their second power-play of the game at 12:36 of the period but it would be Ty Pelton-Byce (2^nd) providing a short-handed score at 13:06 making it 5-0. Pelton-Byce drove across the blue line and fed Thomas Caron on the right side. Caron cut to the high slot and found Pelton-Byce below the right dot for a one-timer. Utah would finally get on the board thanks to a power-play goal from Neil Shea at 14:31, their 19^th shot of the game. Just 2:23 later Thomas Caron (1^st) would hand the Steelheads back a five-goal lead. 

The only goal in the third period came from Justin Ertel (1^st) on a shot from the left circle at 6:01. 

Ben Kraws made 26 saves on 28 shots in the victory while Adam Scheel made 32 saves on 39 shots in the loss. 

BOX SCORE

 ICCU Three Stars
1) Ty Pelton-Byce (2-0-2, +1, 3 shots) 
2) Connor Punnett (1-1-2, +2, 3 shots) 
3) Connor MacEachern (1-2-3, +3, 2 shots) 

GAME NOTES

• Idaho went 1-for-2 on the power-play while Utah was 1-for-3. 
• Idaho outshot Utah 39-28. 
• Idaho is now 135-67-27 all-time vs. Utah and 81-32-15 in Boise. 
• Tomas Sholl (IR), Romain Rodzinski (DNP), C.J. Walker (DNP), and Sam Sternschein (DNP) did not dress for Idaho.
• Connor Punnett (1-1-2) and Justin Ertel each scored their first professional goals while Connor MacEachern and Thomas Caron scored their first goals as Steelheads. 
• Ty Pelton-Byce recorded his seventh career multi-goal game adding a power-play and short-handed goal. 
• Patrick Kudla finished with three assists while Hank Crone added two. 
• 11 different players recorded a point while six had multi-point games.  

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