Salmon Kings Love Boise

January 12, 2006 The Victoria Salmon Kings keep it coming against the Idaho Steelheads. They won a barn-burner 7-5 Thursday night, coming back from 4 straight unanswered Idaho goals. Although the Kings were outshot 10-4 in the opening frame, they came away with the only goal, leading 1-0 after the first. The second period started really well with the Kings jumping to a quick 3-0 lead. That's where the fish turned sour. Matt Yeats was pulled for Steve Silverthorn, and the Steelheads responded immediately, scoring just 16 seconds later. But Idaho didn't stop there, four minutes later they were back at it, scoring two more goals in one minute to tie the game at three goals a piece. They went to the second intermission knotted at three, but the Steelheads continued with their unanswered goals jumping out to their first lead of the game at 4-3. At this point, it seemed as if McVicar had been completely solved, but Victoria coach Bryan Maxwell elected to leave him in. Just a minute later, the Kings finally stirred back awake as Lanny Gare snuck one between the pads of Silverthorn to tie the game back up. Minutes later, Victoria found itself on a 5-3 powerplay and did not make any mistakes. The league's leading scorer among defencemen, Steve Lingren, let go of a howitzer from the blue line and the Salmon Kings took back the lead. But with the remaining Steelhead in the penalty box, Victoria was able to capitalize again as Gare got his second of the night and the eventual game winner. K.C. Timmons made it 7-4 with Victoria bouncing back with four unanswered goals of their own. A late scrum by Idaho pulled them within two goals with under two minutes to play. Just seconds later, another Steeheads goal was waived off as the referee felt the Idaho player pushed the puck through as he was knocking into McVicar. That would have left 95 seconds on the clock and the score 7-6. But with the goal being disallowed, the Kings were able to skate off to a 7-5 victory, their third in Qwest Arena this year. Also scoring for the Salmon Kings were Simon Mangos, Mike Wirll, and Ryan Wade, who scored his eighth goal in just 6 games. With 2 goals and an assist, Lanny Gare (pictured, credit G. Woodburn) was named the game's first star. Mike Wirll and Jad Galbraith also picked up 3 points on the night. The Salmon Kings are now 3-1 in Qwest Arena and 4-3 in the season series against Idaho. They play again tonight. Note: In it's last 5 games, Victoria is 3-2 and averaging 4.44 goals per game.