The loner game

It’s a little hard to be excited after a 3-0 loss to Utah. Especially the when the loss follows on the heels of a 7-2 win in Utah the night before. Maybe the quick return trip to Boise, it can’t be easy to get good sleep on a bus. Maybe it's hard to amp up for a loner home game. Or maybe we are just sick and tired of playing Utah already. Including the pre-season games the two teams have already played 7 times and still have 9 more games against each other this season.

Back to the game. There were a few things to be excited about. Cody Lampl, the first Idaho boy to wear a Steelheads sweater made his home debut tonight. We saw two fights; Tousignant tried to generate a little momentum in the second period and dropped gloves with Utah’s Kotsopolous. Tousignant landed a few good punches, but I think Kotsopolous got the ‘w’ on that fight. You can’t win them all and you have to have some admiration for the scrappy 19 year old forward.

The second fight was a bit more exciting and took place as the game was winding down and patience was wearing thin. I’m not sure what led up to the fight, all I know is Ashton Rome and Utah’s Sixsmith were ready to go. The highlight of the fight, and the reason I’ll be watching the highlight video tomorrow, was the moment when Rome grabbed Sixsmith by the shoulders and slammed the guy down to the ice. And even after that another Utah player taunted Rome trying to egg him into another fight. The linesmen weren’t having any of that and sent Rome to the showers a bit early. The penalty calls that came out of the fight were a little uneven, Rome was called for elbowing (probably what started the scrum, but I missed it), fighting, instigating and a game misconduct. I have to disagree with the instigating call. Rome may have elbowed Sixsmith, but Sixsmith was definitely the instigator of the fight by pursuing Rome across the ice until Rome dropped his gloves. I’m sure Sixsmith was questioning his judgment in that a moment later when he found himself on his knees. Rome drew the game misconduct which means he may be wearing a suit next week in Stockton. It will be interesting to see what comes down from league.

I know I’ve mentioned how great our goalies are a few times, and I know you guys are going wonder about me if I mention it again after such a loss. But there was one moment early in the game where Bachman just blew me away. He blocked a shot that slid on the ice through the legs of one of our defensemen, and then almost immediately blocked a rebound from the other side, then the 2nd rebound deflected up off a stick and Bachs was suddenly on his feet, glove hand out to catch it. And when he thought he missed it he immediately dropped to the ice and blocked where he thought the puck had dropped. And the whole thing took place in less than 20 seconds. I don’t know how any goalie can keep track of the puck, especially with all the guys standing in front of him. I’m truly impressed, not that any of you could tell though.

Read the recap of the game and check for highlights here.

~Leah

Holy Moly! That hockey player is wearing spandex!

8 games, 27 goals, 52 assists, 5 fights, 115 penalty minutes, 198 saves, 2 goaltender of the week awards and the second best record in the ECHL. Not a bad way to start the season. The Steelheads have jumped out ahead early and are showing they are a force to be reckoned with this season. The team’s winning percentage is .938, the next team in the conference is Alaska with .611 then followed by Utah at .600.

The fights: Adam Huxley is not afraid to drop his gloves. Thank heavens! We needed a good enforcer and it is nice to know that he is on the ice to stir up some energy if needed. Huxley is comfortable in his role as an enforcer and works hard to make sure he’s good at it. Listen to his interview with Pete and Joe of J105 The couple fights I’ve seen (in person or on video) seem to show opponents wanting to either hug it out or spend a lot of time dancing rather than actually throwing some punches, but when Huxley throws a punch, he lands some solid ones. Since Huxley has been around the league for a bit, maybe some of these guys are nervous about what they are getting into when they choose to engage.

The goals: 27 of them, that’s a little more than 3 per game. Thirteen different players have scored goals so far with Mark Derlago and Evan Barlow leading the team with 6 goals and 5 goals respectively. Tyler Spurgeon is sitting at the top in points with 11 assists and 2 goals so far. If you look at the opposing teams goalie stats, our players have 295 shots on goal. In 8 games our opponents have only taken 215 shots on goal, with 17 goals (I’m not counting the goals from the shoot-out in Alaska). The Steelheads are out shooting their opponents by 30%. Some of that is definitely the offensive power we have up front, but some credit is due the hardworking blue liners who are doing an excellent job of keeping our goalies protected. Congrats to both Beauchemin and Bachman for their ECHL Goaltender of the Week awards!

I’m sure a lot of you understand the reference in my title. I just have to take a moment to put in my two cents. News reports mention that the players had removed enough equipment that they were in their jock shorts. This is a typical pair of jock shorts: Typical jock shorts, there are also jock shorts that look more like swim trunks: Swim trunk like jocks shorts. Now, Boise is city with a lot of people who ride their bicycles and it’s not uncommon to be out and about town and run into a guy wearing these: Cycling shorts. Also, did anyone watch the Olympics last summer? Actual swim trunks. So, I have to ask…is it ok for men to wear spandex shorts in public as long as there is no ice involved?

By the way, did anyone see the jerseys the Alaska Aces wore on the Halloween game? Maybe our Idaho Junior team can give some pointers to the Aces players on taking those awful things off!