WICHITA, KS – The Idaho Steelheads (15-11-3-0, 33pts) fell to the Wichita Thunder (17-11-2-0, 36 points) Saturday night by a final score of 5-0 in front of 4,201 fans at INTRUST Bank Arena. Idaho will ring in the New Year on Tuesday at 5:10 p.m. (MT) in Allen.
Idaho fell behind 3-0 through the first 20 minutes of play and we’re outshot 15-10. TJ Llyod opened the scoring at 11:25 and then Ryan Finnegan struck short-handed 96 seconds later making it 2-0. With 2:16 remaining in the period Michal Stinil increased the advantage to 3-0.
Kobe Walker extended the Wichita lead to 4-0 with 5:36 remaining in the second period. Idaho was outshot 13-6 in the stanza.
Nolan Kneen scored a power-play goal with 8:38 left in the third period handing the Thunder a 5-0 win.
Bryan Thomson made 31 saves on 36 shots in the loss while Gabriel Carriere made 23 saves for his second shutout of the season.
ICCU Three Stars
1) Gabriel Carriere (WIC)
2) Kobe Walker (WIC)
3) Ryan Finnegan (WIC)
GAME NOTES
- Idaho went 0-for-2 on the power-play while Wichita was 1-for-4.
- Wichita outshot Idaho 36-23.
- Demetrios Koumontzis (DNP), Connor MacEachern (INJ), Romain Rodzinski (IR), and Slava Demin (DNP) did not dress for Idaho.
- Connor Punnett picked up his third fighting major of the season.
- Ty Pelton-Byce led all Idaho skaters with three shots.
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