BOISE, ID – The Idaho Steelheads (18-14-3-0, 39pts) fell to the Florida Everblades (23-8-3-0, 49pts) Saturday night by a final score of 6-1 in front of 5,277 fans at the Idaho Central Arena, the 54th consecutive regular season sell-out. Idaho will be on the road next Friday, Saturday, and Sunday taking on the Tulsa Oilers.
Jordan Sambrook gave the Everblades a 1-0 lead at 5:03 of the first period. Andrew Bellant (3rd) provided the equalizer with his first as a Steelhead with 5:41 remaining in the frame. Brendan Hoffmann from below the right side of the goal line found Bellant below the left circle where he painted to the top right corner. Shots were 14-6 Florida.
Florida took a 2-1 lead just 84 seconds into the second period thanks to Carson Gicewicz. 3:52 later Craig Needham would stretch the lead to 3-1. The Everblades got the contest’s first power-play at 8:12 of the second period and with eight seconds remaining in the opportunity Tarun Fizer scored making it 4-1. Shots were 18-10 Florida.
Florida would score twice in the third period as Sambrook notched his second of the game with 4:48 left in regulation and then Cole Moberg found the back of the net on the power-play with 1:43 remaining making it 6-1.
Ben Kraws made 42 saves on 48 shots in the loss while Cam Johnson turned aside 27 of 28 shots in the win.
ICCU Three Stars
1) Jordan Sambrook (FLA)
2) Carson Gicewicz (FLA)
3) Cole Moberg (FLA)
GAME NOTES
- Idaho finished 0-for-2 on the powerplay while Florida went 2-for-4.
- Florida outshot Idaho 48-28.
- Romain Rodzisnki (IR), Francesco Arcuri (IR), Connor MacEachern (IR), Ty Pelton-Byce (IR), Hank Crone (IR), C.J. Walker (IR) and Nick Canade (IR) did not dress for Idaho.
- Brendan Hoffmann led all Idaho skaters with six shots while he tallied an assist.
- Andrei Bakanov notched an assist and has points in two straight to begin his Steelheads career.
- Andrew Bellant scored his first goal as a Steelhead in his second game.
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