Down But Not Out.
The Idaho Steelheads Dropped The First Two Games Of The Taylor Cup Finals To Fresno, But Are Primed To Even Things Up.

The Steelheads and the Falcons will need more than bread and water to survive the Taylor Cup Finals. The Falcons soared to a 2-0 series lead after a weekend in Boise. Making the term "home ice advantage" seem like an oxymoron for the Steelheads.

Idaho started the scoring off forty-seconds into Game One. The Steelheads then added another goal in the opening period . That would be all for Idaho's offense.

Fresno stepped up and tacked on a goal in their scoring column in the first period.

The Falcons proceeded to control the second and third periods, scoring a pair of goals in each stanza for a 5-2 victory.

Saturday night's game presented a different twist through the first two periods of play. The Falcons opened the scoring midway through the first period. Idaho answered back with three goals.

Both teams exchanged goals again for a 4-2 lead in Idaho's favor. The Falcons took over the game in the third period potting three goals for a come from behind 5-4 victory.

Key players such as Derek Cormier, Jason Weaver and Terry Friesen are essential to keep the series lead for the Falcons. Cormier ended the regular season with five goals, and seven assists in seven games. Derek currently leads Fresno with five goals, and nine assists for fourteen points.

Weaver continues to be as reliable in the playoffs as he was in the regular season for the Falcons. He has scored eleven post-season points. Weaver ended the regular season with 58 points, third best on the Falcons' roster.
Although goaltender Terry Friesen split games with David Mitchell in the 01-02 season, Friesen has stood alone in the playoffs with eight wins, and three losses.

Friesen's regular season stats of 3.34 goals against average and .879 save percentage have improved to 2.29 GAA and .916 save percentage.

To jump back into this series, the Steelheads will require heady performances from the Matt Oates, Derek Paget and Adam Copeland line, which proved to be effective in the first two rounds of the playoffs.

The trio tallied their tenth goal of the playoffs by scoring Idaho's fourth goal in Saturday's 5-4 loss. Oates stood sixth on the roster in the regular season with 50 points, and has ten points thus far in the playoffs.

Paget ties Oates' ten playoff points and had 21 goals and 16 assists in the regular season. Copeland rounds out the trio with two playoff goals and nine assists, tying Bobby Stewart for most post-season points at eleven.

Stewart led Idaho with 90 points in the regular season. Dion Darling recorded one goal and three assists this weekend for four points in the playoffs.

Goaltender Blair Allison continued his hot and cold season after taking the two losses this weekend for a 6-5-0 playoff record. At regular season's end, Allison was at 36-13-5.