WEST VALLEY CITY, UT. – The Idaho Steelheads (31-11-4-0) defeated the Utah Grizzlies (17-24-5-0) 7-6 in overtime Tuesday night at Maverik Center. The Steelheads continue their road swing on Friday with the first game of a three-in three series against the Wichita Thunder with puck drop set for 6:05 p.m. MST.

Brendan Hoffmann kicked off the scoring on Tuesday night, netting his 30^th goal of the season just 4:28 into the game by banking the puck in off Utah goaltender Dominic Basse from below the goal line to give the Steelheads a 1-0 edge. Hoffmann also found the second goal of the game just five minutes later when he jammed at a loose puck in the crease to beat Basse once more and give Idaho a 2-0 lead.

 The Grizzlies found their footing in the second half of the period, getting on the board with a power play tally at 13:35 from Aiden Hansen-Bukata for his third goal of the season. Later in the frame it was Luke Manning earning his third goal, stepping out from below the goal line and beating Idaho goaltender Beni Halasz through the five hole to cut the Idaho lead in half.

 The Steelheads got back to work right away in the middle frame, capitalizing on a Grizzlies turnover to net their third goal of the game thanks to Jade Miller who beat Basse from the left circle. Two minutes later the lead was back to two, as Hoffmann struck for a third time to earn his first ECHL hat trick, and put the Steelheads up 4-2. The forward extended his ECHL lead in goals by scoring his 32^nd and reached 50 points on the season in the process.

 Once more, however, Utah rallied, as the Grizzlies snagged three goals in 3:31 later in the period to grab their first lead of the contest. Evan Friesen and Reilly Connors struck just over one minute apart to chase Halasz from the game, while Reed Lebster added the third goal of the sequence by beating newly inserted Jake Barczewski from in tight to give the Grizzlies a 5-4 lead.

 After head coach Everett Sheen called a timeout to rally his troops, the Steelheads made it count, with Robbie Holmes scoring in his first game back from a near-month long injury to even the score 5-5 heading into the third period.

 In the final frame the captain struck for Idaho, finishing a give-and-go play with Jade Miller to notch his seventh goal of the season and put the Steelheads in front once more 6-5. After holding on nearly the entire period, the defense finally broke for Idaho when they allowed a 6-on-4 power play goal to Tyler Gratton with just over one minute remaining in regulation to go to overtime for the sixth time in the last eight games.

 In the end, Idaho’s offensive talent won out, as Barczewski started a breakout to Brendan Hoffmann who then found Francesco Arcuri for the game-winning goal, as the Steelheads prevailed in their highest-scoring game of the season with a 7-6 win.

Idaho’s Beni Halasz allowed four goals on 13 shots to begin the game, as Jake Barczewski earned the win by stopping 13 of 15 shots in relief. Dominic Basse turned aside 28 of the 35 Idaho shots he faced in the loss. 

BOX SCORE

ICCU THREE STARS

1) Brendan Hoffmann (IDH, 3-1-4, +1, 6 shots, first ECHL hat trick)
2) Reed Lebster (UTA, 1-3-4, 0, 2 shots)
3) Jade Miller (IDH, 1-1-2, +1, 2 shots)

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