BOISE — Adam Scheel said he won’t change much in the way he approaches his first career playoff start as a professional hockey player.
“I’m under the school of thought that you shouldn’t be changing anything,” the Idaho Steelheads goaltender said. “The stakes are a little bit higher, the games are a little more intense, but we got here for a reason. What we’ve been doing has been working, so we’re not going to try and change too much and we’re just going to stick to our identity as a team.”
His pregame routine often includes keeping it loose and joking around with his teammates right up until he steps on the ice. He also says he does yoga and Pilates a lot to help keep himself flexible. Once the puck drops, however, it’s game time.
“People see him from afar and it looks like he’s always laughing and joking, which he is,” Steelheads captain A.J. White said. “He’s a loose, fun guy, but he’s all business. He wants to win as much as everyone else does and he’s a determined guy.
“He’s been a big part of our team, a backbone on our team where some games maybe we don’t come out very strong and he keeps it a 0-0 game to let us get back into it. Then, even when we’re in those tight one-goal games, he shuts the door down when we need it.”
The Steelheads, who open the Kelly Cup Playoffs on Wednesday at Idaho Central Arena with Game 1 of their best-of-seven series against the Utah Grizzlies, will be more than happy to get the same type of production from Scheel that he provided them in the regular season. The second-year pro, who has been on assignment in Idaho from the NHL’s Dallas Stars, posted a 28-8-0-1 record in net for the Steelheads this season and led the ECHL with a 1.97 goals against average and a .932 save percentage.
He also posted five shutouts on the year, the most of any goaltender in the league.
“He’s been tremendous,” said Steelheads coach Everett Sheen. “He takes pride in his craft, he’s out there working every day and he comes mentally prepared. He loves being the guy, he loves being here in Boise and putting on a show for the fans.”
And as he’s continued dominating in front of the net, he’s starting to garner attention. Three times this season he’s been named ECHL Goaltender of the Week. The league also often highlights his jaw-dropping saves as part of its saves of the week feature.
One of his recent saves even got him featured during an NHL broadcast on ABC. That save came late in the closing seconds of the second period during a 6-0 win against the Kansas City Mavericks on March 29. Scheel dove to the right side of the crease in an attempt to grab a rebound, but a Kansas City player was able to get to the puck first and dished it out to a teammate who fired a one-timer from the opposite circle. The goaltender quickly dove across the crease, making a glove save to keep the shutout intact.
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That’s far from the only time, his teammates admit, that Scheel has had to bail them out.
“He’s had some highlight reel saves for sure,” said teammate Zach Walker. “And while it’s reassuring that he can make those saves in the moment, you want to play as boring hockey as possible. He’s made it fun, but we also have to tell him ‘Sorry about that.’ It looks good, but as many highlight reel saves that we can keep from happening, that would be good, because it means we’re not giving up too many chances.”
And as good as those saves look, Scheel knows that he can’t dwell on them too long. After all, he says, after he makes saves like the one he did against Kansas City, the job is still usually far from over.
“When you’re in the moment, you’re not thinking, you’re just trying to keep the puck out of the net,” said Scheel. “Sometimes you make a big save and they’re fun in the moment, but after you just got to remember that it’s one save. One save isn’t bigger than any other save, you just got to make the next one.”
Scheel is far from the only goaltender to come through Boise and shine this year. The Steelheads have benefited from a deep goaltending roster within the Dallas Stars organization, one which has sent both Remi Poirier and Dylan Wells to Boise for stints at time this season.
Wells, who made his NHL debut earlier this season with the Chicago Blackhawks, won both starts he made for Idaho, while Poirier was 50 minutes shy of qualifying to rank among ECHL leaders during the regular season.
Otherwise, his .928 save percentage and 2.07 GAA would both rank second in the league, behind Scheel. Poirier, currently in the AHL with the Texas Stars, had three shutouts while in Idaho. He was called up to the Stars’ NHL roster for five days in March but never appeared in a game.
Jake Kupsky also had three shutouts in seven starts for Idaho before being signed by the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks in December, and Josh Boyko, Scheel’s current backup, is 3-0 since being signed by Idaho on Feb. 21.
“I think it goes to show just how well the (Dallas Stars) organization does with their goaltenders,” said Scheel. “It starts up top with (Dallas goaltending coach) Jeff Reese to Ryan Daniels in Texas. Both of those guys are great mentors; if they tell you something, you’re going to listen to it. Just the guys in the organization, all the goalies we have are great guys. I’m good friends with all of them and it’s nice having partners you can get along with.”
