Steelheads blank Wolverines

McCALL, Idaho — Winners of the last three Thorne Cup championships, the Idaho Junior Steelheads look to be in great shape for another title, shutting out the Whitefish Wolverines 9-0 in Game 1 of the second round of the Western State Hockey League playoffs on Friday.

Junior Steelheads goaltender Tyler Hough turned away 11 pucks in the win as Idaho outshot Whitefish 40-11.

The Wolverines trailed just 2-0 after the opening period, but after surrendering five second-period goals, Whitefish was looking at a seven-goal deficit while only registering four shots in the second frame.

Kyle Williams, Dimitris Jones and Nikita Zgirskis scored two goals each for Idaho.

Whitefish was 0 for 3 on power play opportunities while the Junior Steelheads went 3 for 7 and added a short-handed goal in the third period.

Wolverines goalie Brendan Schultz stopped 21 shots before being relived by Joakim Hidestrand who turned away 12.

On the brink of elimination, the Wolverines will take the ice for Game 2  of the three-game series tonight at 7 p.m.

Whitefish     0     0     0     —    0

Idaho     2     5     2     —     7

First period — 1, Idaho, Victor Carlsson (Kyle Williams, Arturs Sevcenko), 16:10. 2, Idaho, Nikita Zgirskis (Hunter Lester, Kris Apsitis), 18:00.

Second period — 3, Idaho, Kyle Williams (Artus Sevcenko, Dimitris Jones), 2:06. 4, Idaho, Kyle Williams, pp, (Arturs Sevcenko, Kyle Kruenegel) 6:18. 5, Idaho, Dimitris Jones (Kyle TenEyck, Yegor Ivanov), 8:03. 6, Idaho, Nikita Zgirskis, pp, (Arturs Sevcenko, Parker Lewis), 9:59. 7, Idaho, Dimitris Jones (Yegor Ivanov, Kyle Smith), 11:32.

Third period — 8, Idaho, Yegor Ivanov, pp, (Robert Neuwith, Nikita Zgirskis), 8:57. 9, Idaho, Kyle TenEyck, sh, (Macky Power), 10:18.

Shots on Goal — Whitefish 5-4-2—11. Idaho 14-14-12—40. Power-play opportunities — Whitefish 0 for 3. Idaho 3 for 7. Goalies — Whitefish, Brendan Schultz (28 shots-21 saves), Joakim Hidestrand (12-10). Idaho, Tyler Hough (11-11). T — 2:33. A — 347.