Playoff time is here!

First off I want to offer my congratulations to the team for their outstanding regular season. 72 games played, 48 wins, 17 loses, 2 OT loses, 5 shoot out loses for 103 pts. The Steelheads finished the regular season at the top of the West Division, the National Conference and the league securing the Brabham cup. WOW. The arena is running out of room on the wall for all the banners.

And out of those good numbers came some great accolades. Mark Derlago was named ECHL Plus Performer of the Year as well as being named to the 1st team All ECHL. Tyler Spurgeon and Richard Bachman were both named to the 2nd team All ECHL and Bachman and Evan Barlow were both named to the ECHL All-Rookie team. Add that to Barlow being the MVP of the ECHL All-star game where we were represented by 4 players, coach Laxdal and Doug Plagens our radio guy.

This season we also saw a couple new records and some milestones reached. Derlago set a new record for goals in a single season and Marty Flichel became the leading scorer in Steelheads history spanning both the WCHL and ECHL years. Oh, and Flichel, he also notched his 400th point as a Steelhead in March and scored his 250th professional goal in November. Both milestones are in the past, Flichel ended the regular season with 261 professional goals and 410 points in a Steelies jersey. I’m probably forgetting a high point or two, but it’s hard to keep track.

Now we turn our focus to the playoffs. It has been hard waiting to find out who the team will face in their first playoff round, which is actually the second round since we have a first round bye. On April 16th the Steelheads will drop the puck against either Vegas or Utah. I’m rooting for Vegas; I’ve seen enough of Utah this season. No offense to Utah, they are a great team, but we played them 14 times plus 2 pre-season games. I’m not too excited that we might see them again.

Everyone I’ve spoken with has been anxious to see the playoff roster released. It can be bittersweet since teams are allowed only 23 players (20 active and 3 injured reserve) and someone’s favorite player inevitably is cut. The Steelheads released their playoff roster today and for the first time in my hockey fan years I was surprised not by who is missing from the roster, but who was on it. Did anyone else see the name John-Scott Dickson and say “who?” like I did? Dickson has never suited up in a Steelheads jersey. Prior to being named to our roster he put in some time in a junior league, four years at the Univ. of New Brunswick and sported a Rochester American’s (AHL) jersey for six games.

I’d always believed that in order to be named to a playoff roster a player had to have played at least one shift in at least 5 games for a team. Turns out I was wrong, on two parts. According to the ECHL website an amateur player who has played a full season at the junior or collegiate level can be named to a playoff roster as long as their junior/collegiate season is over and they must be signed prior to a specified cut-off date. Pro players who have played for any pro team during the season must have played in at least 5 games during the season, but it doesn’t mention that they must have played those games for the team whose jersey they will be wearing during the playoffs. Players on NHL and one-way AHL contracts are exempt from the 5 game minimum rule as are goaltenders.

So, John-Scott Dickson, welcome to the Idaho Steelheads. I’m sure it goes without saying but despite our amazing season we the fans aren’t satisfied. We want Kelly. Go tell your new teammates we expect great things from them. And if you need some help from the fans, we’ll be there, just look for people wearing white shirts.

~Leah