PATRICK KUDLA NETS GAME WINNER ON POWER-PLAY LATE IN CONTEST

RAPID CITY, SD – The Idaho Steelheads (7-6-1-0, 15pts) defeated the Rapid City Rush (4-7-1-2, 11pts) Friday night by a final score of 6-5 in front of 2,976 fans at The Monument. Rapid City and Idaho will meet Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. 

Idaho led 4-0 after the opening 20 minutes of play where they received three of the four goals 3:15 apart from one another. Jade Miller (1^st) made it 1-0 at 3:06 as Matt Register blasted a shot from the point that was blocked. Register got the puck back and from the right circle found Miller backdoor on the far post. Just 2:54 later Ty Pelton-Byce (7^th) buried a one-timer from the right circle on a feed from Connor MacEachern at the near circle. 21 seconds later Pelton-Byce (8^th) made it 3-0 as MacEachern from the near side of the goal line took the puck behind the net and from the far post found Pelton-Byce on the near post. With 59.5 seconds left in the frame Thomas Caron (6^th) increased the advantage to 4-0 on a wrist shot from the left circle off the far post. Reece Harsch back in his own zone sent the puck for Justin Ertel at the right side of the offensive blue line where he dished it his left as Caron collected it. Shots were 11-8 Idaho in a no penalty period. 

Rapid City outscored Idaho 4-1 in the second period as the Steelheads took a 5-4 lead into the second intermission. Ryan Wagner scored a pair of goals for the Rush just 1:39 apart from one another grabbing an even strength goal at 6:02 and then a short-handed goal pulling the deficit to 4-2. Patrick Bajkov capped off three goals in a span of 4:23 for Rapid City at 7:41 making it 4-3. Brendan Hoffmann (5^th) gave Idaho back a two-goal lead at 13:24. C.J. Walker from the right half-wall looked for Hank Crone on the near post and then the puck hopped onto the blade of Hoffmann at the top of the crease. Shots were 11-9 as Idaho went 0-for-1 on the power-play.

Parker Bowman tied the game at 5-5 at 7:17 of the third period. Idaho got their third power-play of the night at with 5:10 remaining and Patrick Kudla (1^st) found the back of the net with 4:39 to play for the eventual game-winner. From the top of the left circle A.J. White fed Crone down low on the goal line. Kudla received the pass from Crone at the top of the crease and slammed it home. 

Ben Kraws made 23 saves on 28 shots in the win improving to (5-1-1), tied for third amongst ECHL goaltenders in wins. Matt Radomsky was pulled after the first period allowing four goals on 11 shots. Connor Murphy suffered the loss making 19 saves on 21 shots in 38:52 of relief.  

BOX SCORE

ICCU Three Stars
1) Ty Pelton-Byce (IDH, 2-0-2, -2, 4 shots)          
2) Ryan Wagner (RC, 2-0-2, +3, 2 shots)        
3) Brady Poteau (RC, 0-3-3, +2)  

GAME NOTES

• Idaho went 1-for-3 on the power-play while they didn’t take a penalty.    
• Idaho outshot Rapid City 32-28.   
• Idaho has won 11 straight games in Rapid City. 
• The four goal first period was the second time this season they have produced four goals in the opening 20 minutes of play while the four goals allowed in the second frame were the most allowed in any period. 
• Tomas Sholl (IR), Blake Swetlikoff (DNP), Chandler Romeo (DNP), and Slava Demin (INJ), did not dress for Idaho.
• A.J. White passed Cal Ingraham for second all-time in franchise history in assists… Connor Punnett, Reece Harsch, C.J. Walker, Justin Ertel, and Trevor Zins also picked up an assist.  
• Matt Register tallied two assists moving into fourth place all-time in ECHL history with 491… Connor MacEachern and Hank Crone also notched two helpers.  
• Ty Pelton-Byce scored two goals for his eighth career multi-goal game of his ECHL career.
• Brendan Hoffmann, Thomas Caron, Ty Pelton-Byce, and Connor MacEachern led the way for Idaho with four shots each.

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