Idaho Steelheads hosts Utah for the pink in the rink charity weekend

The Idaho Steelheads hosts the Utah Grizzlies on Friday and Saturday night, it's a special weekend as the team will raise money for breast cancer awareness and research in a partnership with St. Luke's.

Pink in the rink has been going on for 16 years raising $241,325 for St. Luke's Cancer Institute, last year this event brought in $34,200 as the team auctions off the jerseys that the Steelheads will wear this weekend.

"Obviously this is a huge weekend," said general manager Steve Anderson. "Whether it is yourself, a family member or a friend impacted by breast cancer, all the money from the auction goes back towards that research."

The auction starts on Friday at 4:00 p.m. and closes on Sunday at noon through the Handbid app, the winners will get a signed game jersey from their favorite player.

"This year the jerseys were designed by Karl Winks, an account executive in our front office," said Anderson. "We utilize this weekend to give back."

The Idaho Steelheads hold three charity jersey auctions a year, it started in their inaugural season in 1997, in total the Steelheads have raised $529,434 for our community.

As for on the ice, the Steelheads had their 12-game winning streak snapped in Wichita last Friday, but they remain in first place in the Mountain Division of the ECHL with an amazing 27-4-1 record.

“We have been playing pretty good hockey all season long and then to string together 12 wins," said head coach Everett Sheen. "It is not easy to do, especially when you play Utah five times in that stretch and Rapid City three times in a row, so to be able string together a winning streak with our schedule is pretty impressive."

Maybe even more impressive is how the Steelheads bounced back from their last loss to forge a come from behind victory on Saturday in Wichita.

"To be able to stay with it with a big goal at the end of the second period, then to tie it up in the third and ultimately win it in overtime is a huge testament to our group and our willingness to do whatever it takes to win," said Sheen.