‘It fires us up.’ Steelheads go down swinging in physical Kelly Cup Finals opener
At the end of a long night at Idaho Central Arena, one team was leaving with its fifth overtime win of the Kelly Cup Playoffs and a 1-0 lead in the finals.
The other was leaving disappointed.
And both teams were leaving with sore bodies, little time to recover and plenty of animosity.
Florida survived Game 1 of the Kelly Cup Finals with a 3-2 OT win over the Idaho Steelheads on Saturday in a physical contest full of bone-rattling hits and strong goaltending. Game 2 is at 4:10 p.m. Sunday in Boise, a very quick turnaround.
“Tonight definitely stings,” Idaho coach Everett Sheen said. “It’s a tough way to lose a game, especially when I thought we were playing quite well in overtime and almost taking control of it.
“For us coming out on the wrong side is unfortunate, but we’ve been here before. It’s one game in a seven-game series. We just have to bounce back tomorrow.”
A bad bounce off an Idaho skate after a pass in its own zone set up the Everblades’ game-winning goal by forward Oliver Chau, who took a pass from John McCarron after he corralled the loose puck. It was Chau’s seventh goal of the playoffs and marked Florida’s fourth overtime contest in its past six games.
Florida, the defending Kelly Cup champion, has won three of those games and is 5-2 in OT contests in the postseason.
As players skated off the ice, the teams exchanged words, and a scrum nearly broke out as officials worked to separate both sides. It was the final of many altercations after the whistle on Saturday night.
“Honestly, I think the little antics after the game got us a little bit more fired up for tomorrow,” Idaho defenseman Owen Headrick said. “I think we’re all ready to go for tomorrow already.”
Idaho dominated the opening period, outshooting Florida 14-8 and scoring a power-play goal at the 15:28 mark courtesy of defenseman Dawson Barteaux, who came back to the Steelheads from the Texas Stars of the AHL on May 23. It was Barteaux’s first goal of the ECHL playoffs and just his third with the Steelies.
“It was good. Obviously, I didn’t score a whole lot during the regular season,” Barteaux said. “But to get that first one and try and get the team going was good, but it didn’t go our way.”
Florida netted the equalizer with 12:52 to go in the second period when Cole Moberg scored. The Everblades outshot the Steelheads 14-7 in the second and kept Idaho off the board despite a power-play opportunity.
Idaho went ahead 2-1 on Ryan Dmowski’s goal — assisted by nifty passing from Willie Knierim and Ty Pelton-Byce — with 6:54 gone in the third period. But a delay-of-game penalty minutes later proved costly for the Steelheads. Blake Winiecki swooped in for his team-leading ninth goal of the playoffs on the power play with 7:20 left.
The physical play continued the rest of regulation and into overtime. Idaho had a power play in OT after a high-sticking penalty, but couldn’t get the winner, leaving the Steelheads 1-for-4 with the man advantage.
The ECHL does not track hits, but Saturday’s game was filled with them. In the third period and overtime alone, there were at least 25, unofficially. And it wasn’t one-sided.
“We knew they were going to come in and bang bodies and try and mix it up a little bit,” Sheen said. “We were prepared for that. They were exactly what we expected them to be.”
The Steelheads and Everblades did not play at all in the 2022-23 regular season, but after one tightly contested game, it’s safe to say they know each other pretty well now.
“We’re testing each other out,” Barteaux said. “It’s good to kind of test the water and see what’s going on, and we’ll make a few adjustments and be ready to go back at it tomorrow.”
The goalies were outstanding at both ends Saturday night. Idaho’s Adam Scheel and Florida’s Cam Johnson each had 34 saves, many of the spectacular variety. Scheel made two outstanding saves in the opening minutes, turned aside a flurry of shots on power plays and had two point-blank glove saves that got the crowd roaring.
Both Scheel and Johnson are former University of North Dakota standouts, and Scheel was right in the middle of the conflict after the game ended.
“We’re all competitors. None of us like to lose,” Barteaux said. “Obviously, they got the better of us tonight. ... It fires us up. We’re a brotherhood in there. We’re not just teammates, we’re family, so we stick up for each other, and we’ll be ready to go for tomorrow.”
This story was originally published June 4, 2023 at 12:36 AM.
