FOUR GOAL FIRST PERIOD LIFTS IDAHO TO VICTORY OVER TAHOE, 6-1

STATELINE, NV – The Idaho Steelheads (4-2-0-0, 8pts) defeated the Tahoe Knight Monsters (2-0-1-0, 5pts) Friday night by a final score of 6-1 in front of 2,975 fans at the Tahoe Blue Event Center. Idaho and Tahoe will close out their three-game series Saturday night 8 p.m. (MT). 

The Steelheads offense erupted in the first period as they led 4-0 through 20 minutes of play. Lynden McCallum (1^st) opened the scoring with a five-on-three power-play goal at 4:04 from Ty Pelton-Byce and Thomas Caron. Caron from the right circle fed Pelton-Byce on the right side of the goal line where he set up McCallum on the far side of the end line for a one-timer. Just 48 seconds later Justin Ertel (2^nd) made it 2-0 on a setup from Brendan Hoffmann and Connor MacEachern. MacEachern worked the puck free on the left side of the goal line. Hoffmann came into scoop up the loose puck on the inner part of the left circle where he fed Ertel in the high slot. MacEachern (4^th) would join in on the scoring at 7:54 as A.J. White from behind the cage fed MacEachern in the bottom of the left circle sending a wicked wrister over the shoulder of Justin Robbins making it 3-0. At 12:21 Hoffmann (2^nd) had the puck hop right to his stick in the right circle where he stepped into a shot beating Robbins far low corner with assists going to Ertel and McCallum. Moments later Knight Monsters defenseman Samuel Mayer went crashing into the end boards and was stretchered off the ice. The two teams headed to the locker-room while Mayer was attended too, and the ice was re-surfaced. 

They played the final 7:05 of the first period and then took a two-minute timeout and begun the second period of play. 

Ty Pelton-Byce (5^th) increased the advantage to 5-0 on a power-play score at 6:35 of the middle frame with McCallum and Caron notching assists. Caron from the right circle slid the puck down to Pelton-Byce at the goal line. Pelton-Byce then passed it to McCallum at the inside hash marks in the right circle. McCallum tapped it back to Pelton-Byce and the right side of the crease where he lifted the puck upstairs. 40 seconds later the Knight Monsters would get on the scoreboard thanks to Jake McGrew. Idaho led 5-1 through 40 minutes of play.  

Hank Crone (4^th) made it 6-1 at 7:20 of the third period with assists going to Caron and Trevor Zins. From behind the Idaho blue line Zins passed the puck to Caron in front of the scorer’s table. Caron went cross-ice for Crone where he skated into the left circle and snapped a wrist shot into the top right corner. 

Tomas Sholl made 26 saves on 27 shots in the win while Justin Robbins made 23 saves on 29 shots in the loss. 

BOX SCORE

 ICCU Three Stars
1) Ty Pelton-Byce (IDH, 1-1-2, +1, 2 shots)    
2) Thomas Caron (IDH, 0-3-3, +1, 4 shots)   
3) Jake McGrew (TAH, 1-0-1, +1, 1 shot)      

GAME NOTES

• Idaho went 2-for-5 on the power-play while Tahoe was 0-for-4. 
• Idaho outshot Tahoe 29-27. 
• Reece Harsch (IR), Sam Sternschein (IR), and Blake Swetlikoff (DNP) did not dress for Idaho. 
• Hank Crone extended his point-streak to six games. 
• Tomas Sholl appeared in his first game with Idaho since March 6, 2020. 
• Trevor Zins tallied an assist for his first point of the season. 
• Nick Canade recorded his first fighting major of the year. 
• Justin Ertel, Brendan Hoffmann, Ty Pelton-Byce, and Connor MacEachern each scored a goal and tallied an assist. 
• Thomas Caron recorded a career high three points with three assists. 

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