IDAHO JUNIOR STEELHEADS

WESTERN DIVISION - WSHL

JUNIOR A TIER III HOCKEY CLUB

March 8, 2011                                                                                                       For Immediate Release

When the Idaho Junior Steelheads host the Phoenix Polar Bears in the WSHL Western Division Championship playoff round this weekend (March 11-12-13) at the Manchester Ice and Event Centre in McCall, Idaho, the series will undoubtedly feature at least one matchup between goaltenders voted “High School Goaltender of the Year” in their home states before they began their careers in Junior Hockey.

Blake Mendenhall, who joined the Junior Steelheads at the roster deadline and has won all four games he has played in, was the 2010 Large High School Goaltender of the Year in Alaska.  The Anchorage native led Anchorage West High to the state championship a year ago.

Mendenhall started the current hockey season with the Alaska Avalanche of the NAHL and had a 5-8-1 record before coming to Idaho.  He won the first game of the Jr. Steelheads series against San Diego last Saturday night.

For the Polar Bears, netminder Casey O’Connor won the 2009 Frank Brimsek Award for being the top goaltender among Minnesota high schoolers, winning games for Bloomington Jefferson High School in his senior year.

Last year O’Connor starred for the Polar Bears in the playoffs, earning the team their 8^th league title in 10 years.  His goaltending helped Phoenix knock the Junior Steelheads out in the first round, beat Fresno in the second round for the division title, and defeat the Boulder Junior Bison for the Thorne Cup.

His 2-0 shutout of the Fresno Monsters last Sunday ended their season prematurely for the second straight year.

In the upcoming Division series, both teams feature excellent goaltending tandems.

For the Junior Steelheads, Brad Atkinson, from Huntington Beach, California, has won 23 games in goal this season, including the clinching game against San Diego last Sunday night.  Atkinson had five shutouts among his wins in the 2010-2011 regular season.  He, like O’Connor,  is  a veteran of the WSHL, having played in 51 games for the Long Beach Bombers in 2008-2009.

Polar Bear netminder Derek Willms, from Coppell, Texas, was another high school standout.  He led the Coppell High School Cowboys to a third place finish in the Texas State Cup Championship in 2010 and has capably backed up O’Connor for the Polar Bears this season, sporting a record of 5-2-4.

Of course, all the goaltenders will be trying to deny their opponents’ scorers.

Junior Steelheads co-captain Nate Stanley, a Boise area native, led the team over San Diego with a five point weekend, including a hat trick in the decisive Sunday night game.

Stanley is the leading goal scorer in the Western Division with 35.  With 38 assists, he now has 73 points for the overall season, trailing division leader Tim Linehan of the Bombers by just one point.

Junior Steelheads Stephen Rock, Ivo Crhak, Matt Sanford, and Austin Parle also contributed points to the sweep of the Gulls to propel the Idaho team into the second round of the playoffs in just their second year of existence.

For the Polar Bears, captain Jake Boese scored the winning goal against Fresno on Sunday, capping a four point weekend.

Gavin Hohl scored seven points in the Fresno series, and Mike Dillon had a hat trick on Saturday night en route to a five point weekend.

The winner of the Idaho-Phoenix series will move on to travel to either Boulder or El Paso for the league finals.  Those two teams square off in El Paso this coming weekend.

Each Division Champion automatically earns a trip to the Juniors National Tournament, to be held April 1 through 5 in Rochester, Minnesota.  Phoenix and Boulder represented the league in that tourney last year.

Submitted by Dick Dorfman  -  Junior Steelheads Play-by-Play  -  (208) 514-5419