Thoughts from Idaho/Vegas game on 10/18

First Steelheads game i've been to in over 2 years (I lived in Colorado last 2-3 years) and boy what a difference now that we're in the ECHL. Had great seats, 3 rows up just left of center about 10 seats, great view.


Firstly I noticed just how much bigger, faster and hard working these guys are. It's for obvious reasons now that we've got much better and younger players. I was amazed by some of the moves some of the guys had (I've never been to an NHL game).


Dan Ellis looked very solid most of the game. He's got good size and good vision. He has great positioning and is good with his glovehand. He left the net to get the puck a few times but didn't do much with his stick. The 2 goals he gave up in the later minutes of the third period there was nothing he could really do about. The 2nd goal Vegas scored they rushed the net and it was a blur of players sprawled out with the puck in the back of the net. The third goal was a diflection and his view was blocked anyways. The game finished the sudden death overtime still in a tie and went to a shut out. Ellis stoned em cold :bow: Blocked all 3 shots he faced.

One of the players I really kept my eye on was Michael Vyhlidal. A lot has been said about him locally since this is the first time he's played in North America. He was an all star in the Czech league and I was excited to see him play: I wasn't disapointed at all. He's big, very good with the puck and came out of the zone QB'ing a few times. He has a booming shot (when he used it which wasn't that often) and scored the first goal for the Steelheads. He made a few bad passes that went right to Vegas but all in all he looked good.


There was one fight, a few scraps that almost turned into fights. Both teams have good size overall. Vegas had some really big guys that were fast and good with the puck.

Third star of the game went to Derek Paget, second star to Dan Ellis and first star to Chris Gobert. I actually didn't see Gobert much on the ice tonight, but he was the first Steelhead to take a shot in the shootout and schooled the goalie 5hole, thus I guess why he was the first star. (Does that count as a game winner?)

Thanks for the update. I am also excited about the ECHL making its way out West. I plan to attend a few Ice Dogs games...I hope this league as a whole we be successful and will increase popularity out here.

Thanks for the update. :handclap:

If Ellis does with Idaho what he did at UNO, the Steelheads will be pretty well set in goal. The guy is a real workhorse too.

BTW, good to see Gobert had a good game too.

Thanks for the update. :handclap:

If Ellis does with Idaho what he did at UNO, the Steelheads will be pretty well set in goal. The guy is a real workhorse too.

BTW, good to see Gobert had a good game too.

Honestly, I was really impressed with Ellis. He looks like he's got perfect size, whenever the puck was behind the net I'd notice he'd flick his had really fast back and forth to see if anyone was around the net in front of him and he moved like lightning a few times. I can't wait to see more games, my only worry is he'll do too well and get called up to Salt Lake :dunno:

As for Gobert: Honestly I didn't see him on the ice the entire night until the shoot out. He's the smallest player on the team, I saw him during the warm up and made a mental note of his size and his jersey number to keep an eye, and I never saw him on the ice. Now maybe I missed a few shifts he was on, but I only recall seeing him in the shootout. With that said, coach must have had a lot of faith in him, as he was the first Steelhead to take a shot in the shootout, and he totally schooled the vegas goaltender 5hole.

Next game I go to I'll try to keep a better eye out for Gobert.

Few Thoughts from Vegas/Idaho 10/24

I thoughts I'd add these thought to your thread seeing as their closly related

1. I was most impressed with Mike Mcbain and Jonathon Shockey who last year was on Idaho is now on the Wranglers
He and Mike McBain seem to make a really good D pair.
Any one know more about Jonathon Shockey?

2. Jason Mcbain Vegas's Captain seemed really slow.

3. Mike Hanson who I'm thinking is Idaho's enforcers is a libality on the ice. Watching him their were several times when something should have been called but wasn't.

4.Ellis looks good even though you lost 4-1 Most were scored on the powerplay. there was also the d coverage for idaho tonight was poor.

In the first Vegas was making some nice transistion through the neutral zone but we get in the zone and then Idaho would cream us. Idaho was simply out hitting them and Vegas had trouble setting up the powerplay
after that Idaho seemed to back off in the 2nd and 3rd they weren't hitting as much and the coverage got sloppy and the powerplay started working we scored twice in the 2nd and twice again in the 3rd.
Peters scored in the 1st for Idaho
Ryan Christe scored twice the first and last goal if I remember correctly
M. Mcbain had an assist on 2nd goal along with Shockey

Shockey also assist on another goal

can't remember who the 3rd star was
but Ryan Christe was the 2nd and
Marc Magliarditi was the 1st

First Steelheads game i've been to in over 2 years (I lived in Colorado last 2-3 years) and boy what a difference now that we're in the ECHL. Had great seats, 3 rows up just left of center about 10 seats, great view.


Firstly I noticed just how much bigger, faster and hard working these guys are. It's for obvious reasons now that we've got much better and younger players. I was amazed by some of the moves some of the guys had (I've never been to an NHL game).


Dan Ellis looked very solid most of the game. He's got good size and good vision. He has great positioning and is good with his glovehand. He left the net to get the puck a few times but didn't do much with his stick. The 2 goals he gave up in the later minutes of the third period there was nothing he could really do about. The 2nd goal Vegas scored they rushed the net and it was a blur of players sprawled out with the puck in the back of the net. The third goal was a diflection and his view was blocked anyways. The game finished the sudden death overtime still in a tie and went to a shut out. Ellis stoned em cold :bow: Blocked all 3 shots he faced.

One of the players I really kept my eye on was Michael Vyhlidal. A lot has been said about him locally since this is the first time he's played in North America. He was an all star in the Czech league and I was excited to see him play: I wasn't disapointed at all. He's big, very good with the puck and came out of the zone QB'ing a few times. He has a booming shot (when he used it which wasn't that often) and scored the first goal for the Steelheads. He made a few bad passes that went right to Vegas but all in all he looked good.


There was one fight, a few scraps that almost turned into fights. Both teams have good size overall. Vegas had some really big guys that were fast and good with the puck.

Third star of the game went to Derek Paget, second star to Dan Ellis and first star to Chris Gobert. I actually didn't see Gobert much on the ice tonight, but he was the first Steelhead to take a shot in the shootout and schooled the goalie 5hole, thus I guess why he was the first star. (Does that count as a game winner?)

Last night's game had 116 PIMs including a line brawl and spear by Blair Allison (Idaho goaltender) that wasn't even seen by the on ice officials. The ECHL has already reviewed the video tape, I expect to see a suspension announced Monday.
The Wranglers broke a 2-2 tie with 130 seconds remaining in the game, then had to play the last 80 seconds 4 skaters against 6 skaters. but they held on for the victory.
Five of the first nine Wrangler games have been against the Steelheads, what does the league expect?