Wednesday, December 6th, began the first three-game series between the Mavericks and the Steelheads in Kansas City. The two teams began the series as solid frontrunners in the ECHL Western Conference points standings, with Idaho atop the standings at 31 points and Kansas City trailing by one at 30 points.
The Kansas City Mavericks were eager to set the pace of the game by winning the faceoff and feeding the puck to the ECHL’s November Rookie of the Month, Max Andreev, for him to score a goal in each of his first two shifts of the game. The score was 2-0 Mavericks at 2:52 of the first period. Idaho started taking possessions and winning faceoffs after the quick control set by Kansas City, and Francesco Arcuri would eventually score for the Steelheads to make the game 2-1. Shortly after becoming a one-goal game, Patrick Curry from the Mavericks answers with a goal at 18:53, taking the score to close the period to 3-1.
The second period starts with another faceoff win for the Mavericks, and you could feel the energy pick up for the Steelheads. Idaho gets a power play at 4:38 on a holding call against Bradley Schoonbaert, and that gets thwarted by the Mavericks. Kansas City goalie Cale Morris gets to flex his skills halfway through the period, getting back-to-back pad saves on an Idaho breakaway but eventually gets solved at 14:52 by Patrick Kudla with a snipe from the high slot taking it back to a one-goal game. 3-2 Mavericks to end the second period.
Things really started heating up in the third period when Kansas City’s Max Andreev completed the hat trick at 2:58, making the score 4-2. It doesn’t take long after clearing up hats from the ice for Idaho to get reinvigorated and for Dawson Barteaux to score the answering goal at 4:13. Kansas City draws a tripping penalty shortly after the faceoff, and A.J. White scores the tying goal on the power play making the score 4-4. Struggling to make the defensive adjustments, Kansas City let an unguarded Keaton Mastrodonato score the go-ahead goal for the Steelheads from the faceoff dot. At the halfway point in the period, Idahodrews a high-sticking penalty where they would let the Mavericks forward Kyle Jackson to score on the power play, tying the game back up at 5-5. Both teams attempted to speed up this already fast-paced game, but it’s the Mavericks who would eventually power through defenses to score after a long net side sprawl with several players falling to the ice, Nate Knoepke being the owner of the goal, making it 6-5 Mavericks. The Steelheads showed no quit with a strong six man attack after taking out their goalie Bryan Thomson, but KC’s Kyle Jackson would defensively take a hard hit puck in front of the net to regain possession, where he fed it to Patrick Curry to score the empty net goal. Final Score 7-5 Mavericks.
Game two took place Friday December 8th. After switching positions at the tops of the points standings, Idaho looked to regain their leading spot. Both teams showed speed, and willingness to get the puck on net in the first, but it was the Mavericks who opened the scoring with a power play goal by Justin Nachbaur at 9:15. After getting their fifth man back, Kansas City doubles their lead to 2-0 after Patrick Curry breaks into the Steelheads zone ahead of their defenseman. Kansas City ends the period with two penalties, so Idaho would start the second period with 37 seconds of five-on-three hockey.
With the two man advantage, Idaho scored two power play goals to even the score at 2-2 in the first minute of the second period. The first goal came from Ty Pelton-Byce at the 30 second mark as the Steelheads were allowed a lot of passes around the net, and the second goal coming from Wade Murphy from the high slot just 25 seconds later. The period would end tied at 2-2 with Kansas City leading the shot count 22-19.
The third period would start with some panic in the zone of the Steelheads as Matt Register was called for a delay of game penalty after throwing the puck outside of the ice. That penalty was killed, but the Mavericks would open the scoring in the third with a goal from Cole Coskey through the center. The lead doesn’t last long as Max Andreev is called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty right after the go ahead goal, and Idaho’s Keaton Mastrodonato scores, giving Idaho its third power play goal of the game. Each team would go to score one more goal a piece in the third period, but Idaho would score the game winner in overtime as Wade Murphy would circle the net after winning the faceoff, and cross the puck to Ty Pelton-Byce for him to score his second goal of the game, and earning his first star of the game. 5-4 Idaho Steelheads.
Game three in the series was played Saturday December 9th, where the pace would change severely for both teams. Neither team wanted to make any mistakes that would result in breakaways, making passes more intentional and skating seemed slow compared to the previous games in the series. Perhaps this was both teams getting into character for the theme “Star Wars Night” at Cable Dahmer Arena, and they were wanting to recreate the Imperial march on the ice. The score would stay scoreless at the end of the first period, with Kansas City leading the shot count 12-9.
The second period would start with a tripping penalty against Kansas City, and Idaho would score the first and only goal of the game on the power play as a shot from Seamus Donohue from the high slot, was redirected by A.J. White at the crease. The Mavericks would have a chance to tie the game in the second when the Steelheads Willie Knierim was called for a slashing penalty, but that was killed by Idaho.
The third period of the final game in the series turned into a goalie showcase, with neither goalie allowing another goal at five-on-five hockey. Bryan Thomson for Idaho would earn his first professional shutout after saving all 26 shots on net, also earning the victory for the team, and his first star of the game.
Overall, the Idaho Steelheads win the series two games to one, and earning four points to remain at the top of the standings. Kansas City Mavericks had a great showing in this series, getting three points against last season’s Kelly Cup finalist and tying them at 11 goals in the series. These teams will meet again for another three game series on January 10th, 2024.
nice.