March 2, 2017

IDAHO JUNIOR STEELHEADS DIVISION CHAMPS FOR SEVENTH STRAIGHT TIME

The Idaho Junior Steelheads are regular season division champions for an incredible seventh straight time after sweeping a three game series at Southern Oregon last weekend. 

Coach John Olver’s team beat the Spartans at their “Medford Madhouse” 5-2 on Friday night, then followed up with a 4-3 victory on Saturday night to clinch the Northwest Division crown.

The Steelies’ 4-1 win on Sunday afternoon to finish the brooming ran their record to 38 wins, 4 regulation losses, and 4 overtime losses in 46 games, which produces 80 points and a .870 point percentage. The percentage remains second in the league, still slightly behind the Western Division champion Long Beach Bombers’ .890.

Olver said, “We played hard this weekend.   All our lines and pairings worked.  Everyone played well.  Saturday we saw Southern Oregon play their best game.”

Assistant coach Jake Klancher added, “Saturday’s game was the most exciting game of the year, with the winning goal coming on a power play late in the game.  The most positive thing about the weekend was seeing our team come together.  They were selfless, and they were playing for each other.”

The division alignments in the WSHL have changed through the years as the league has expanded, but Idaho finished second in the Western Division in their inaugural 2009-2010 season, then has reigned atop whichever division the team has been in ever since.

In all those years but one, the Junior Steelheads won their division playoffs and the Thorne Cup.  

The Spartans’ three losses leave them in second place with 66 points in 48 games.  The Butte Cobras are third with 60 points in the same number of games, so the Cobras still have a chance of overtaking the Spartans for second.  The two teams play each other tonight (Thursday, March 2) in Medford in a make-up of a game missed earlier in the season due to Zamboni issues.

The series marked the Junior Steelheads debut of John DeRoche, an 18-year old center from Lynnfield, Massachusetts, who had started the year with Cedar Rapids in the USHL and played recently for the Topeka Roadrunners of the NAHL.  He did not wait long before making a contribution.

Friday February 24

IDAHO 5, SOUTHERN OREGON 2

On his second shift on the ice, DeRoche skated in toward the net, took his first shot as a Junior Steelhead, and wristed it underneath the crossbar over the shoulder of Spartan goaltender Mark Vlahovic (Ljubljana, Slovenia)  The goal came with just 3:53 gone in the contest.

Olver said, “At times this year when we’ve struggled, we’ve struggled with converting scoring opportunities.  DeRoche’s scoring a couple of minutes into the game was a boost for us.  It energized our team.  It gave us early momentum.”

The Spartans tied the game 1-1 with a power play goal 5:39 into the period after both Jack York (Boise) and Jonathan Davidsson (Hönö, Sweden) had been called for penalties eight seconds apart.

The visitors untied the game with a power play goal of their own 8:55 in, as Fredrik Lindqvist (Norrtälje, Sweden) sent a cross ice pass to Chris Hunt (Albany, N.Y.), who passed into the slot to Jacob Hedencrona (Stockholm, Sweden), who whistled the puck past Vlahovic.

The Junior Steelheads made it 3-1 before the end of the period as Davidsson fed Dylan Rallis (Minneapolis, Minn.), and Rallis scored from the slot with 4:11 left.

DeRoche, who came up through the Boston Junior Bruins youth program, got the only goal of the second period as he skated around the zone and beat Vlahovic to his right side from mid-zone.

Southern Oregon cut the lead to 4-2 after five minutes of the third period with another power play goal,

The Junior Steelheads iced the 5-2 victory when Oleg Losev (Moscow, Russia) got the puck at his own goal line and rifled it all the way down the rink for an empty net goal with 1:23 left in the game.

Sergei Pysarenko (Odessa, Ukraine) played well in goal for Idaho, turning aside 28 of the 30 shots he faced to earn his 21st victory of the year.

Vlahovic made 29 saves for the Spartans in taking his eighth loss.

A total of 23 penalties were called in the game, 13 of them on Olver’s gang.

Saturday February 25

IDAHO 4, SOUTHERN OREGON 3

With the Junior Steelheads needing just two more points in the standings to secure another regular season division title, both teams changed goaltenders.  Tyler Matthews (West Chester, Ohio) went between the pipes for Idaho, while Matias Toivola (Helsinki, Finland) was making his season debut for the Spartans.

The game was a seesaw –

With all but one minute elapsed in the first period, Davidsson got the Junior Steelheads on the board with a power play drive from the blue line.

Southern Oregon countered with a power play tally 7:49 into the second period to tie the game.

After Toivola made a fine save on a DeRoche shot, the Idaho newcomer got revenge with a score 13:13 into the period.

Chris Seto (Surrey, B. C.) notched a goal for the Spartans with 2:37 left to tie the game at the end of two stanzas.

3:24 into the third period, Hunter Lester (Boise) skated into the slot and fired a power play goal for his 14th of the season to regain the lead for Idaho.  Lester’s next goal will tie Macky Power for the all time team lead in that scoring category.

With eight minutes gone in the third, Blake Cudmore (Richmond Hill, Ont.) notched his first goal as a Spartan to tie the game.

The teams battled back and forth in the second half of the period until the 2:47 mark, when DeRoche drew Spartan Devin Every (Kenai, Alaska) into a penalty, creating the opportunity for Idaho’s third power play goal of the game.

With exactly 1:02 left, and goalie Toivola deked out of position, Lindqvist skated toward the middle of the ice and blasted the puck over Toivola for the 4-3  lead.

The Junior Steelheads kept the puck in the Spartans zone, preventing the Spartans from pulling their goaltender in favor of an extra attacker until the last few seconds of the game.

Lindqvist’s goal was his 12th of the season and cemented Idaho’s first place regular season spot.

Chris Hunt assisted on the final two Junior Steelheads goals.  Of Hunt, Olver said, “Chris Hunt is performing at a high level, with the way he fights for and gains loose pucks.  He wins the battles.  He gets possession almost every time.”

Matthews made 28 saves for his 13th win.  Toivola also had 28 saves

On this night there were 12 total penalties.  So far in the series, all penalties were for minor infractions.

Sunday, February 26

IDAHO 4, SOUTHERN OREGON 1

The Junior Steelheads started early.  With just 33 seconds gone, Rei Kikuchi (Tomakomai, Japan) was in close to the goal, actually had his back to the goaltender (Vlahovic), and had a Ty Cousineau (Minnetonka, Minn.) shot glance off his leg back into the net for a quick 1-0 lead.

Less than four minutes later, DeRoche produced a carbon copy of his Friday night first shot, beating Vlahovic again from about 20 feet to make it 2-0.

With just 21 seconds left in the opening period, six seconds after a penalty expired, Rallis sent the puck into the top left corner of the net.

Rallis then took a boarding penalty with four seconds left, and the Spartans turned it into a power play goal as the clock struck zero to make it 3-1

Three quarters of the way through the second period, Idaho’s Alex Piliya (Vitebsk, Belarus) controlled the puck in the offensive zone and scored the game’s final goal.

The last 25 minutes and 57 seconds of the game produced no scoring, and the Junior Steelheads rode Pysarenko’s 22 saves to the series sweep.

Vlahovic countered with 23 saves for the vanquished Spartans, whose hope of overtaking Idaho for first place was dashed.  Southern Oregon must now fend off the challenge of the Butte Cobras .

This weekend the Junior Steelheads go back to the west coast to take on the fourth place Vancouver Rangers in Vancouver, Washington.  Game times will be 7:00 PM PST Friday, 7:30 PM Saturday, and 2 PM Sunday.

The final home series of the regular season for the division champs will be against the Mountain Division champion Ogden Mustangs March 10-12.

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