BOISE, Idaho — The Idaho Steelheads shutout the Toledo Walleye 3-0 defending home ice in front of nearly 5,000 fans at Idaho Central Arena.
After a scoreless first period, the Steelheads got on the board when Jade Miller found the back of the net on a beautiful assist from Matt Register, he had two assists in the game.
It was a hard hitting, up and down game and it seemed Toledo was trying to get under the skin of the Steelheads, but that would backfire in the third when Toledo got a five-minute major for boarding.
The Steelheads would respond on the power play as Ty Pelton-Byce scored to give the Steelheads a two-goal lead with eight and a half minutes to play sending the fans into a frenzy.
"Exciting beyond words," said Steelheads fan Kristie Reeder. "This has been the best hockey experience I’ve ever seen in my life," responded her husband Chris.
Adam Scheel stopped all 29 shots by Toledo as the Steelheads goalie got his second straight shutout, Toledo's goalie Sebastian Cossa is the leading goatender in the playoffs in both save percentage and goals against, the 20-year-old Red Wings first round picked stopped 30 out of 32 shots.
Willie Knierem added an empty-net goal as the Steelheads defeated Toledo 3-0 handing the Walleye their first loss of the entire postseason.
The Steelheads gave the fans plenty to cheer about just as they have done all season in this historic run that has fans believing that this could be their year.
"Most wins in a season, most points in a season, most home wins in a season this has been an amazing year and to have all but two games be sellouts that shows how much the fanbase loves the Steelheads," said Steelheads fan Dale Dixon.
Game two will be played at Idaho Central Arena at 4:10 p.m. on Sunday before moving to Toledo for games three, four and five on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday of next week.
If necessary the best of seven series will come back to Boise for games six and seven the following Tuesday and Wednesday.
