CONNOR MACEACHERN SCORES TWICE BUT STEELHEADS LOSE 5-3 VS. THUNDER

BOISE, ID – The Idaho Steelheads (25-17-7-1, 58pts) fell to the Wichita Thunder (30-17-3-1, 64pts) Friday night by a final score of 5-3 in front of the 60^th consecutive regular season sell-out crowd at the Idaho Central Arena, an announced attendance of 5,300. Idaho and Wichita will meet Saturday night at 7:10 p.m. 

Idaho fell behind 1-0 just 55 seconds in as Joe Carroll gave Wichita an early lead. Idaho cashed in on their second power-play of the period as Brendan Hoffmann (20^th) tied the score at 1-1 form Wade Murphy and Ty Pelton-Byce with 2:09 left in the frame. From the near side of the goal line Hoffmann tried to find Pelton-Byce backdoor but the puck went off the puck of the Thunder defender in front and into the net. 

T.J. Llyod would put the Thunder back out in front at 9:04 of the second period making it a 2-1 score. Then just 2:56 later Connor MacEachern (21^st) went in on a breakaway from center ice and sent a wrist shot past the blocker of Trevor Gorsuch tying the game at 2-2 with seven minutes to play in the period. 

MacEachern (22^nd) gave Idaho their first lead of the night 3:01 into the third period from Hank Crone and Pito Walton making it a 3-2 score. He got a pass in the right circle and from the goal line cut to the blue paint and snuck it through the wickets of Gorsuch. Kobe Walker just 2:27 made it a time game and then at 9:42 on an unfortunate bounce for Idaho Jay Dickman would put the Thunder out in front 4-3. Dickman would get his second of the night on an empty net with 54 seconds remaining for the Thunder’s 5-3 win. 

Ben Kraws made 16 saves on 20 shots in the loss while Trevor Gorsuch made 40 saves on 43 shots in the win. 

BOX SCORE

ICCU Three Stars
1) Kobe Walker (WIC)                          
2) Connor MacEachern (IDH)                         
3) Peter Bates (WIC)                      

GAME NOTES

• Idaho and Wichita each finished 1-for-3 on the power-play.              
• Idaho outshot Wichita 43-21 including 21-5 in the third period.  
• Nick Canade, C.J. Walker, Blake Swetlikoff, Patrick Kudla, and Mark Olver did not dress for Idaho. 
• Matt Register played in his 661^st career regular season ECHL game becoming the league’s all-time games played leader in the regular season amongst defensemen. 
• Connor MacEachern notched his third multi-goal game of the season and has a five-game point-streak (5G, 3A). 
• Wade Murphy recorded an assist stretching his point-streak to four games (1G, 3A) while Ty Pelton-Byce tallied an assist and has points in three straight games (3G, 3A). 

Stay up to date with all things Steelheads on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Watch all Steelheads home games on FloHockey and KTVB 24/7 (Channel 7.2) and listen on the Steelheads flagship station 95.3 FM KTIK “The Ticket”.