Shelast savors chance with Steelheads

Every Steelheads season it seems there's a player or two who are beginning their pro careers and end up bouncing back and forth between the ECHL and the AHL.

Forward Tyler Shelast is Exhibit A this season.

The 23-year-old played his second game since being reassigned to the Steelheads on Saturday night, and he played a big role as Idaho defeated the Bakersfield Condors 5-2 at Qwest Arena.

The win will surely make the Steelheads' holiday break a little more merrier. After five days off, the Steelheads return to Qwest Arena on Friday against Utah.

"It's a good two points for us going into the Christmas break," Steelheads coach Derek Laxdal said.

Shelast's unassisted goal put Idaho up 1-0 less than five minutes into the contest. He assisted on Matt McKnight's goal about 10 minutes later.

Idaho scored again 13 seconds later. Bryan McGregor's ninth goal of the season put Idaho up 3-0 and prompted Bakersfield coach Marty Raymond to pull goalie Yutaka Fukufuji.

Fukufuji was sensational the previous night as he stopped 45 shots en route to a 3-1 Condors win.

But Idaho chased him Saturday night after he allowed three goals on nine shots. Fukufuji was none too happy with his short night, and he slammed down and kicked his stick as he left the ice.

Shelast, on the other hand, was pleased to contribute in a hockey game again. He spent two stints with the Hamilton Bulldogs of the AHL, and the 6-foot-1, 205-pound forward said it wasn't necessarily time well spent.

"I'll just say it was a bad situation for me in Hamilton and it wasn't the right fit," Shelast said. "They made it very clear I wasn't going to play there."

Shelast, who is under contract with the Dallas Stars, appeared in six games in the two stints with the Bulldogs, and he found himself sometimes sitting for weeks at a time before playing in a game.

"It's tough to get going ... when you're never playing," he said.

Laxdal said Shelast will get the playing time he covets while he's in a Steelheads uniform.

"That's what's great about the ECHL," Laxdal said. "These kids can come down and get better."

And they can contribute to wins, just as Shelast did Saturday night.

"I decided when I came down this time it's going to be for a longer time," he said. "I'm going to make the best of it."

Chris Langrill: 377-6424