SAVANNAH, GA – The Idaho Steelheads (5-4-0-0, 10pts) fell to the Savannah Ghost Pirates (7-2-0-0, 14pts) Saturday night by a final score of 4-3 in front of 7,485 fans at Enmarket Arena. Idaho and Savannah will wrap up the three-in-three series Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. (MT).  

Idaho and Savannah were all square at 2-2 through the opening 20 minutes of play. The Ghost Pirates took a 1-0 lead as Josh Davies scored at 7:54. Brendan Hoffmann (3^rd) tied the game at 1-1 with a beauty of a goal from Patrick Kudla at 9:55. Kudla intercepted the puck at the top of the right circle and fed Hoffmann in the left circle. From there Hoffmann dragged the puck to his backhand at the goal line faking out the goaltender Cooper Black as he pulled it to his forehand and slid it into the net. Thomas Caron (5^th) gave Idaho a 2-1 lead at 16:24 from Ty Pelton-Byce and Hank Crone. Pelton-Byce worked a takeaway on the right-wing half wall and fed Caron at the bottom of the right circle. Caron sent a shot through the left arm of Black. Will Riedell tied the game up just 93 seconds later. The Ghost Pirates outshot the Steelheads 14-9. 

Each team found the back of the net in the second period as the score read 3-3 after 40 minutes of play. Ross Armour gave the Ghost Pirates their second lead of the game at 3:39 of the frame making it 3-2. Idaho went on their first power-play of the game at 14:59 and 58 seconds into the man advantage A.J. White (2^nd) tied the contest at 3-3 with a tip at the top of the crease from a wrist shot courtesy of Matt Register at the point. Idaho was assessed five penalties in the period while Savannah went to the box three times. 

The Steelheads were outshot 15-4 in the final period. Josh Davies scored at 16:07 giving Savannah a 4-3 lead. Chaos broke out when Connor MacEachern was hit from behind by Nathan Staois at 17:32. MacEachern was assessed a two-minute roughing minor and a 10-minute misconduct while Staois got a 10-minute misconduct. Brendan Hoffmann and Zach Uens were tangled up with one another, but it would be just Hoffmann getting a 10-minute misconduct while Riley Hughes and Connor Punnett were each given a five-minute fighting major and a 10-minute misconduct.   

Bryan Thomson made 43 saves on 47 shots in the loss while Cooper Black made 15 saves on 18 shots in the win. 

BOX SCORE

ICCU Three Stars
1) Josh Davies (SAV, 2-0-2, +2, 4 shots)       
2) Bryan Thomson (IDH, 43 saves)     
3) Ross Armour (SAV, 1-0-1, -1, 3 shots) 

GAME NOTES

• Idaho went 1-for-2 on the power-play while Savannah was 0-for-5. 
• Savannah outshot Idaho 47-18.  
• Reece Harsch (IR), Sam Sternschein (IR), Tomas Sholl (DNP), Slava Demin (INJ), and Mark Olver (DNP) did not dress for Idaho.
• Patrick Kudla recorded his 100^th career ECHL assist.
• Thomas Caron has a goal in back-to-back games.
• Ty Pelton-Byce tallied an assist and has a point in four straight games (2-6-8).
• A.J. White has a point in five-straight games (1-4-5).  
• Matt Register tallied an assist and is three points shy of 500 career ECHL points.
• Hank Crone has a point in all nine games after tallying an assist.

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