Two In A Row!

January 13, 2006 Believe it or not. Victoria has their second 2-game winning streak in 6 games. Qwest Arena prooved beneficial again as the Salmon Kings were able to beat the Idaho Steelheads 3-2 in overtime Friday night. Goaltender B.J. Boxma made his first start in months for the Kings and played excellent until the end of the second period when he was forced to leave with an injury to his blocker hand. During the game he allowed just one goal on 24 shots. That goal came from the stick of Garrett Bembridge, leading scorer for the ECHL, 14 minutes into the first period. Rob McVicar came in to relieve the injured Boxma and played just as well. The teams went to the dressing room after two periods with the Steelheads leading 1-0 and Victoria outshooting Idaho 32-26. Those shots started to pay off as an overworked Steve Silverthorn allowed his first goal in 6 minutes into the third courtesy of Victoria's Jade Galbraith. The Kings followed up another 6 minutes down the road with team-leading scorer Mike Wirll capitalizing on the power play. That put Victoria up 2-1 with their first lead of the game. But Idaho played hard persistent hockey and took it to the Kings, eventually tying the game back up with just three minutes left again through the efforts of Bembridge as he marked his 31st goal of the campaign. That sent the game into overtime, where we witnessed a repeat of a game held in Victoria against the Steelheads back in November. Steve Lingren received a pass from Mike Wirll and was all alone against Silverthorn to deak around and slide in the winning goal for his 15th of the year just 37 seconds into the frame. It was also Lingren who scored on a break-away against Silverthorn back in November just 17 seconds into overtime (pictured, credit to G. Woodburn). Ryan Wade started the overtime play to get an assist and keep his point-streak alive at 7 games. He did have the second largest goal-scoring streak of the season going until tonight. He had tallied 8 goals in 6 games. Only Bembridge has bettered that this year scoring 9 in 6 games. The total shots for the game finished at 42-39 in favour of Victoria, a distinct change from normal. The Steelheads were able to hold Victoria to their lowest mark of the season at 13 shots in the entire game back in November. McVicar picks up a win and moves his season record to 6-6-0. With the end of the season series against Idaho, the Kings can claim their first series win against a divisional opponent. In Qwest Arena the Kings finished 4-1. With the two wins Idaho managed here it moves the mark for the overall series to 5-3 in favour of Victoria. Congrats boys! The Salmon Kings now travel to Bakersfield where they will begin a tough few days against opposing teams. They play the Condors Friday and Saturday night, and then travel further down South to face the Long Beach Ice Dogs just 19 hours after finishing up with Bakersfield. Should proove to be a tough trip before they head back home to face the last placed Pheonix Roadrunners starting January 27.