The Idaho Steelheads were eliminated in the first round of the Kelly Cup playoffs by the Utah Grizzlies. Now coach Brad Ralph is left to figure out why. I don’t think anyone who followed the Steelheads this season saw it coming.

This team was seemingly built to score goals. And, it did in bunches. They brought in arguably one of the best goalies in the league. The Steelheads won 48 games and amassed 102 points in the standings. After steamrolling through the regular season, the team earned home ice advantage for at least the first two rounds of the playoffs. Yet, it ended with a 4-2 first round playoff series loss.

So what went wrong? It could be said they ran across a hot goaltender. Utah’s Igor Bobkov was outstanding during the series. He elevated his game stopping 94% of the shots he faced. It could be the defensive lapses that often plagued the Steelheads at times. Or the lack of power play success. When it came down to crunch time, the Steelheads did not score like they did during the regular season. The back-to-back home losses in games four and five were devastating. Brawn beat finesse in this series.

Coach Brad Ralph will have some sleepless nights reliving this series. In the end, the regular season doesn’t matter much. It’s how the season ends. For the Steelheads it was a missed opportunity. A big one!