Nearing the halfway mark of the season, the Royals headed out west in quest to earn more points and move up in divisional standings.
Opening Frame:
In a centering feed, Nicolas Ouellet snaps one past Idaho Goaltender David Tendeck. For Ouellet, this goal was a long time coming. This was his first professional career goal, which later in the night, another milestone would be hit for another player. Devon Paliani assisted for his 12th assist and Shane Sellar earned his 8th assist of the season.
1st Period Penalties:
At 10:33, Trevor Thurston was sent to the box for a minor interference. With 3:21 left in the opening frame, Matt Brown was sent to the box for minor tripping.
Middle Frame:
Along comes the middle frame and Kenny Johnson. 31 seconds into the second, Johnson shoots one in past Tendeck from the faceoff circle. Same as the first goal, Paliani and Sellar earned the assist on Johnson’s goal. Idaho didn’t sit still too long and at 2:10 into the middle frame, Willie Knierim snapped a goal right past Royals Goaltender Parker Gahagen. Jack Becker and Demetrios Koumontzis assisted Knierim. With over 15 minutes left in the middle frame, veteran Tyson Fawcett took a backhanded shot past Tendeck with Ouellet earning the lone assist on Fawcett’s goal.
2nd Period Penalties:
At 3:34 Romain Rodzinski is sent to the box for a minor Holding. At 13:48, Trevor Thurston serves 2 minutes for a High Sticking Minor. At 17:29, Demetrios Koumontzis delays the game and sits for 2 minutes.
Final Frame:
In the final frame, the Royals opened Pandora’s box with 3 goals within the span of 1:02.
5:41- Rookie Defenseman Trevor Thurston took a blue line shot with a pass from Joe Nardi and Matt Brown. This made for Thurston’s first goal on the season and his first professional career goal.
5:59- Alternate Captain Adam Brubacher took a top-shelf goal past Tendeck with an assist from Nardi. This made for Brubacher’s 6th goal on the season.
6:43- Shane Sellar earns his 11th goal of the season from a deflection off of Paliani and Jake Bricknell. This makes Bricknell’s second point with the Royals and 8th of the season.
Idaho responded with two goals to try and cut the deficit but with no avail. Jack Becker came in with a pair of goals at 9:20 and 11:34. Becker was assisted by Cody Haiskanen, Matt Register, Koumontzis, and Rodzinski. The Royals proved they were not done yet, and a comeback was not in the card for the Steelheads, when Austin Master scored his second professional career goal with the assist of Matt Brown and Kenny Johnson.
3rd Period Penalties
At 10:26 Sam Sternschein earns a Cross Checking Minor and is sent to the box for 2 minutes. With 7:17 left in the final frame, Joe Nardi takes a minor penalty for Tripping.
The Royals faceoff against the Idaho Steelheads again on Friday January 5th at 7:10 pm MST/ 9:10 pm EST.
