BOISE, ID – The Idaho Steelheads (26-3-0-1, 53pts) took down the Wichita Thunder (18-11-2-0, 38pts) by a final score of 5-3 Wednesday night at the INTRUST Bank Arena in front of 2,013 fans. Idaho has now won 12 consecutive games overall dating back to Dec. 9 and 10 straight on the road dating back to Nov. 11. The Steelheads and Thunder will meet Friday night in Wichita for a 6:05 p.m. (MT) puck drop.
Ryan Dmowski (1-0-1) gave Idaho an early 1-0 lead 2:06 into the game but the Thunder grabbed a power-play goal from Quinn Preston (2-0-2) 2:16 later. A.J. White (2-0-2) provided the fourth shot-handed Idaho goal of the year to hand Idaho back the lead. The Steelheads led 2-1 through 20 minutes of play outshooting Wichita 17-8. The Steelheads replicated what they did in the first period scoring a pair of goals in the middle stanza thanks to Jade Miller (1-0-1) and the second of the night from White. Idaho held Wichita to just four shots in the middle period while firing 18 on net. The Steelheads took the 4-1 lead into the dressing room through 40 minutes of play. Wichita pulled within one with a pair of the goals in the opening 10 minutes of play in the final period to make the score 4-3. Willi Knierim (1-2-3) cashed in on an empty netter with just 68 seconds to play to make it 5-3. Rémi Poirier mad 28 saves on 31 shots for the win while Evan Buitenhuis received the loss making 35 stops on 40 shots.
