The Idaho Junior Steelheads clinched their sixth consecutive regular season division title Saturday night with a 4-2 victory over the Rangers in Vancouver, Washington.  The win was Idaho’s 40th of the season against seven regulation and one overtime loss, good for 81 points with four games left in Northwest Division play.

The Missoula Maulers had cemented their position in second place with a victory over Whitefish Friday night, then defeated the Wolverines again Saturday night.  The Maulers now have 74 points (36 wins, 11 regulation losses, two overtime losses) but have run out of time to overtake the Junior Steelheads for first place.

Both Idaho and Missoula will get first round byes when the playoffs begin the weekend of March 11-13.

The Junior Steelheads’ eye on the scoreboard in Sunday’s game in Vancouver and next weekends’ games in Butte turns to the other division leaders in the WSHL in the race to see which team will earn home ice advantage throughout the playoffs.

The Oklahoma City Blazers clinched first place in the Midwest Division a long time ago and have the best record – only six regulation losses and one overtime loss – among the division leaders.

They were in severe danger of losing Friday night in El Paso.  The Rhinos took a 5-2 lead into the third period, but the Blazers scored four unanswered goals (both the tying and winning goals by Ivan Bondarenko) to claim a 6-5 comeback victory.

Saturday night winger Thomas Nemeth scored a natural hat trick plus one – four straight goals with no one else scoring – to lead Oklahoma City to an 8-2 over the Rhinos.

The Valencia Flyers clinched first place in the Western Division with their second consecutive shutout of the San Diego Sabers over the weekend.  The Flyers have taken seven regulation losses and no overtime losses.

The Colorado Eagles are still in first place in the Mountain Division, but the Casper Coyotes have a chance to overtake them.  The Eagles lost to the Ogden Mustangs 6-3 in Ogden Saturday night, their seventh regulation loss to go along with two overtime losses.

Under Head Coach John Olver, the Junior Steelheads won the regular season Western Division in 2010-2011, their second season in the league, en route to their first Thorne Cup, defeating El Paso for the championship.

In 2011-2012, the Steelies switched to the Mountain Division, took first place, and went on to beat the Dallas Ice Jets 6-5 in the famous Stephan Brucato Overtime Game for their second Thorne.   Brucato scored all six of Idaho’s goals, including the championship-producing goal in overtime.

In 2012-2013, the Northwest Division was formed, Idaho took the title, then hosted the league final series in McCall, beating the Bay Area Seals for their third straight Thorne and then again for the first-ever UHU National Championship.

With Olver having left the team before the 2013-2014 season, Idaho won the regular season Northwest title but fell short by just a few goals in each of the Northwest Division playoff, Thorne Cup, and UHU National final games.

Olver returned in 2014-2015 to lead another Northwest Division champion and Thorne Cup-winning team.

The Junior Steelheads finish the regular season with three games in Butte against the Cobras next weekend.

Oklahoma City will host the Dallas Snipers for three in the final weekend.

Valencia will play single games against Long Beach, Ontario, and San Diego.

The Colorado Eagles will face the direct challenge with three home games against Casper.

Submitted by Dick Dorfman  -  Jr. Steelheads Play-by-Play