The Grizzlies have one more game left before their “Spring Break” which will see them go nine days until their next game. That’s the longest stretch of the season, after they went December 20-25 without games during Christmas time.

After last night, in which Kevin Colley emphasized that the team needed secondary players scoring and didn’t get it, expect the Grizzlies to change up the lines tonight as they will likely breakup Sixsmith, Perry and Kinasewich in search of getting some other players involved.

Utah will look to keep riding Mitch O’Keefe, who gave up eleven five-on-five goals last week, but rebounded by stopping 20-straight Alaska shots last night after relieving Beau Erickson in a 4-2 game. With the strong effort, O’Keefe got his save percentage back over .900 and again will get the start tonight.

The Grizzlies were obviously happy with the first ten minutes last night as they dominated Alaska early to take a 2-0 lead. However, the club, which remains one of the youngest in the ECHL again struggled with prosperity as Kevin Colley then suggested the team tried to turn the game into “every guy gets a point night.” The frustrating part for Kevin, is his strong emphasis of playing every shift the same way no matter what the score and that didn’t happen last night after the team took the lead.

Today, as is usually the case on the second-half of a back-to-back on the road, the Grizzlies will not skate this morning. A team walk at the hotel was scheduled for 11 a.m., followed by a 4:15 p.m.  video session, and some one-on-one talks with players and the coaching staff possibly scheduled for in between.

What is going on at the Sullivan Arena and the E-Center you ask that gives both of these teams the weekend off?
The Sullivan will be hosting college hockey between the University of Alaska-Anchorage and the University of Minnesota-Duluth while the E-Center welcomes WWE Raw’s “Road To WrestleMania." Good seats are still available.

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Alaska has never been friendly to the Utah Grizzlies, but tonight Utah will have a chance at a two-game winning streak, which would satisfy half of their goal for this midweek visit, of four points in regulation.

Utah led in all three games here January 6-9, but playing shorthanded, especially on the back end, was unable to hold two third period leads on January 6 and 8. Comparing the rosters from that series, Utah has James Sixsmith, who comes to Alaska for just the second of five trips since joining Utah at the start of last year. Peter Aston, who was merely a gleam in Kevin Colley’s eye when Utah was last in Alaska, will also make his first trip to Anchorage. It was in Alaska last time, when the Grizzlies got word that bringing in Aston would be a possibility. Meanwhile the Aces will be now without Alexandre Imbeault (Europe), John Lammers (AHL), and Matt Stefanishion (Traded to Charlotte), not to mention January’s goaltender of the month Frank Doyle who is in Worcester for the indefinite future. Both Lammers (five goals, five assists in five games) and Imbeault (three goals, seven assists in six games) dominated against the Grizzlies. Utah though will now face Scott Reid (2-2 against Utah) who showed stretches of brilliance against the Grizzlies during two E-Center wins in November as he stopped 77 of 81 shots. He however was in net in Utah’s last game here that they won 5-1 on January 9.

Beau Erickson will get the start tonight for Utah after another strong outing Saturday in Ontario when he stopped 29 of 31 shots from the Reign. He is 4-3-0-1 with a 2.57 goals-against-average and a .924 save percentage since January 29 and had a 1.50 goals-against-average and a .951 save percentage last week.

Ryan Kinasewich participated in Utah’s lengthy practice here yesterday and is expected to be back in the lineup tonight. Utah, who arrived in Alaska late Monday night, was glad for the opportunity to practice on this large “Olympic Sized” ice surface which is ironic because the just completed Vancouver Olympics were not played on the large surface at the home of the Vancouver Canucks.

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One player that the Grizzlies look to keep rolling going down the stretch is Tom May. The “Big Guy” has a goal in three straight games, after snapping an eight-game drought and always seems to enjoy playing against the Ontario Reign.

May has three goals in four games all-time at the Citizens Business Bank Arena and last year started his team record 10-game goal scoring streak and 12-game scoring streak overall against the Reign, while tallying four goals in six total games against Ontario. This year, the second-year pro has three goals and three assists for six points in just three games against the Reign.

Entering last night, Utah had seven of the top eight scorers in the ECHL this week as during the game three points from James Sixsmith put him above teammate Lance Galbraith for weekly scoring. With one goal and two assists and factoring in on all three Utah goals, Sixsmith leads the ECHL and is an early player of the week favorite with two goals and six assists in three games.

Ryan Kinasewich was a last second scratch last night, still a little banged up. I’d expect Utah to continue to nurse him back to 100-percent and give him a night off again tonight. Last night, he joined the Grizzlies coaches on the bench in a suit, which allowed him to still get some of his usual jabs to the game officials anytime they came close.

Last night, the Grizzlies didn’t put forth any unnecessary energy as things fell apart in the final six minutes. Tonight, a win gives Utah a 3-1 week and their best month of the year as February ends. The good thing last night is that no one gained any ground on Utah in the standings. Both first place teams in Idaho and Bakersfield built on their division leads with wins and Las Vegas kept pace with Ontario for the final playoff spot in the National Conference by beating Stockton 5-2. That being said, Utah obviously missed a chance to improve their lead on the fourth playoff spot in the conference.

As was predetermined yesterday going into the weekend series, Beau Erickson will start tonight for Utah who wraps up four games in five nights with a travel day in between. Erickson has comfortably moved into a stretch that has seen him go 3-2-0-1 with a 2.93 goals-against-average and a .916 save percentage since January 29.

Click here to watch the KSL story that aired last evening as the Grizzlies Make-A-Wish come true for a West Valley City girl.

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It’s been quite the birthday week for Lance Galbraith who turned 30 Sunday and tallied six points Wednesday in Utah’s 7-1 win over Stockton.

Galbraith wowed the rest of the National Conference Tuesday with his three goal and three assist effort. Emails from other broadcasters out west instantly began pouring in after the game’s final box score hit the wire. Galbraith’s big night had to really hit home in Anchorage, as Alaska, who traded the veteran to Utah on December 27, lost 6-2 in bad fashion in Boise the same night. Galbraith has 10 goals and 13 assists in 26 games with Utah after finishing with three goals, seven assists and a minus-15 in 23 games with Alaska in limited ice time before Christmas. Galbraith has ten goals and ten assists in his last 20 games for Utah as well. The feelings could even become more sour about losing the ice hot Galbraith if the Aces continue to struggle in Idaho and Galbraith finishes strong in Ontario this week and is named the ECHL’s Player of the Week headed to Alaska Wednesday and Thursday.

This quote from the Salt Lake Tribune Thursday really paints the whole Galbraith picture and explains his importance to the team. He is beyond selfless and this quote is not lip service by any stretch of the imagination. "I'm just happy to be a part of a winning hockey team," Galbraith said. "I'm happy to score tonight but ... but obviously [my teammates] can have all my goals if they add up to W's."

Ryan Kinasewich, who left the game in the second period Tuesday after a hit from Stockton’s Bryan Young, and did return, should be fine to go for this evening in usual duty.

The Grizzlies bring a three-game winning streak to sunny California looking to continue their 8-2-0-3 stretch and following a 4-1 home stand. However that was also the case with the Stockton Thunder who came to Utah 7-1-2-0 in their last ten games and was the hottest team in the National Conference before being knocked off of their game at the E-Center Tuesday and Wednesday, while allowing 12 goals to Utah in two bad losses. In professional sports momentum and focus is important, and it is sometimes easy for a team to somehow lose focus with a slight venue and culture change. Stockton was making their first trip to Utah and had a bad midweek, Utah makes their first and only trip to Ontario this year before heading to always challenging Anchorage next week. Stockton Head Coach Matt Thomas left Utah frustrated after watching his team instantly fall apart against a rolling Grizzlies group. Ontario, could be similar for Utah, if they’re not careful, as they enter the week winners of three games in a row.

It’s another hockey double-header on 1230 KFAN-2 this afternoon with the United States playing Finland at 1 p.m. in Vancouver for a chance at going to Sunday’s Gold Medal Game. That game will be followed by live coverage from Ontario for Grizzlies/Reign that begins at 8 p.m. with 30-minute pre-game programming followed by an 8:30 p.m. face-off.

Also during tonight’s Grizzlies action, keep your eyes on KSL-5 after the Olympics where Kathy Aiken will feature the Grizzlies and Vlady Nikiforov in a story with the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

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At 25-21-2-5, and with 18 games left in the year, the Grizzlies are close to surpassing several of last year’s team totals. Utah is three wins away from 28 wins after going 28-28-6-10 last year. Utah has tied their highest home win total since 2005-2006 with 15 and four-games above .500 beats their highest watermark of last year’s second half of the season which was three games above .500 which they reached several times.

Special teams were huge Tuesday, with the Grizzlies going 2-4 on the power-play and then holding Stockton’s previously ranked top power-play to 0-4 and now 0-11 on the season against Utah as the Grizzlies now hold the number-one ranked power-play in the league. The Grizzlies are five-for-eleven on the power-play. So with special teams in control, the Grizzlies now look to avoid giving up four five-on-five goals in game.

We definitely saw a lot of firepower last night with Kinasewich (one goal, three assists), Sixsmith (one goal, two assists) and Perry (two assists) combining for nine points. However we also saw a lot from Stockton’s number-one line with James Bates adding two assists. He now has four goals and three assists in his last two games against the Grizzlies.

Doubleheader action today on 1230 KFAN-2 with the United States/Switzerland at 1 p.m. followed by Grizzlies/Stockton at 6:35 p.m.

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If you have any questions about the Stockton Thunder feel free to ask Matt Sorteberg.

The Grizzlies defenseman, who was acquired from Idaho on January 13, had already played nine games against the Thunder as a Steelhead before his first game with Utah and Utah’s first meeting of the year versus Stockton on January 15.

If all plays out, the Grizzlies rookie could end up playing 19 regular season games against Stockton, and ironically enough, if the playoffs started today, based on winning percentage, the Grizzlies and Thunder would meet in the first round.

The Grizzlies power-play will happily welcome back Ryan Kinasewich. In his latest absence, the Grizzlies went 4-27 (14.8-percent), including a 2-21 stretch. During his first call-up of the year, the Grizzlies went 6-28 on the power-play, which included a 1-15 slump. With Kinasewich in the lineup this year, the Grizzlies power-play is 50-220 (22.7-percent) and he has tallied 25 of his 39 assists on the power-play.

Get used to Stockton, the Grizzlies begin five-straight home games against them tonight and eight of their next 14 games overall against the Thunder.

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After nearly three weeks of solid hockey, the Grizzlies hit a bump in the road last night, but still enter this evening with a chance to take two of three games against the second-best team in the National Conference tonight.

After the first five minutes last night, the Grizzlies never were really able to pull anything together as they dropped just their second contest in the last 14 days.

All season, Kevin Colley has played Saturday’s by ear as far as the game day schedule. Usually wrapping up three games in four nights on a Saturday, players generally have spent enough time at the rink and on the ice throughout the course of the week and there isn’t too much to rehash or accomplish with another morning skate. In some cases, it’s just better for the players to sleep in, clear their mind and rest as they prepare to wrap up a busy stretch; especially after an out of character loss like last night. Sometimes it’s an optional skate, if the team is on the road, going to the arena may be replaced with a team walk. Today, the Grizzlies were given the morning off from even coming to the arena and will not report until 5 p.m. At which point, I would assume there will be a video session for both forwards and defensemen.

Some coaches burn their players out after a tough loss with hours and hours of video and extra time on the ice which can just turn into mental anguish and frustration. Kevin Colley, at 31, and not far removed from his playing days, treats every situation differently and earns respect from his players for that. There is a time to be militant, but not all the time. Especially this day in age, the coaches who adapt to their players and don’t get stuck in their own ways are the most successful. See; Ken Hitchcock, who was recently fired by the Columbus Blue Jackets.

After a tough loss three weeks ago to Las Vegas, which occurred in similar fashion to last night’s 5-2 loss, the Grizzlies responded with a 3-1 win over the Wranglers the next night. Utah needs to cleanup the turnovers which lead to Salmon Kings odd-man rushes and hang the goaltender out to dry. Victoria is always looking for their next chance, sometimes at the expense of playing defense, and last night they were able to take advantage of a sloppy Utah group.

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The Grizzlies look to continue a nice stretch tonight that has seen them go 5-1-0-3 in their last nine games.

Utah has won three-straight games at home, outscoring the opposition 10-4 in that stretch and looks for their third unbeaten streak of the year of three-games or more tonight; having gone 2-0-0-1 in their last three contests. February also continues to be friendly to Utah as they are 4-1-0-3 in the year’s second calendar month.

The Grizzlies, who haven’t scored more than one goal in their last 13 periods and haven’t scored four goals in regulation in six-straight games, continue to build their success around strong defense, penalty-killing and goaltending. Utah has allowed three goals or less through overtime in eight of their last nine games and in six-straight contests overall. Beau Erickson has won three-straight games at home and has a 1.29 goals-against-average during that stretch with a .957 save percentage.

Offensively, James Sixsmith has factored in on four of Utah’s last five goals, while two goals for Vlady Nikiforov Wednesday improved Utah to 10-0 when the forward scores a goal. Five Utah skaters had at least four shots on goal (Nikiforov 6, Galbraith 5, Carpentier 4, Sixsmith 4, Aston 4) or more Wednesday and Utah has 33 shots or more in four-straight against Victoria and 31 or more shots in their last seven home games.

Both teams were shorthanded (injuries, illness) Wednesday, as the Grizzlies dressed nine forwards and five defensemen, while Victoria went with three less than the maximum suiting up only eight forwards and five defensemen for two teams that already have key players in the AHL. Utah has six players from their opening night roster currently in the American Hockey League, including two of their top four leading scorers in Ryan Kinasewich and Dylan Hunter. Victoria is still missing scorer Olivier Latendresse who remains with Abbotsford in the AHL. He tallied two goals and four assists in the Salmon Kings first four games against Utah this year.

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As the Grizzlies have rolled off a 4-1-0-3 stretch, one underrated factor involved in the success has clearly been the Utah penalty-kill.

Since giving up a three power-play goals in a game in Alaska on Friday, January 8, that sent Utah to last in the league in ECHL penalty-killing, the Grizzlies have moved up seven spots to 13th and allowed more than one power-play goal just once in their last 16 games.

Utah has gone 7-5-0-4 in that stretch and 4-2-0-3 in their last nine games in which they have stepped things up to go 34-38 (89.3-percent) in shorthanded situations.

Hugo Carpentier returns to the Utah lineup today. While it is great for Utah to get a player with the talent of an NHL contract, he will need to adjust to becoming a Grizzly again. When a player comes down, the biggest adjustment can sometimes be realizing that this is his team and he just needs to play and assimilate here as opposed to worrying about getting called back up while isolating himself. If he focuses on the latter and becomes part of the locker room, it will benefit both parties. One player who has done a great job of that lately is Tony Romano. While he’s on an NHL contract with New York, he’s not thinking of when his next call-up is going to be. Instead, he has made himself a productive member of the Grizzlies and in turn has made himself a better all-around hockey player, while being a big part of the team’s success.

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More solid goaltending from Mitch O’Keefe kept the Grizzlies in the contest last night as they improved to 21-4-2-2 when allowing three goals or less.

For Utah it also marked the sixth time in the last seven games that they have allowed three goals or less, a stretch that has seen them go 4-1-0-2. It is Utah’s best goals-allowed stretch since they allowed three goals or less in eight of nine games from November 7-25 when they rattled off an eight and one stretch.

The Grizzlies finally broke through against the Steelheads last night. It was the first time in 13 games and the first time since opening night in 2008-2009 that they have won a one-goal game against Idaho. It ended an 0-3-4-5 stretch against the Steelheads in one-goal contests.

Tonight, Utah looks for their first winning streak in Idaho since they won three-straight from November 16, 2007-October 16, 2008. All three of those were one-goal wins. That is Utah’s only winning streak in Boise, but tonight they look for wins here on back-to-back nights for the first time ever.

Utah is currently 2-1-0-2 on this road trip and has come from behind in four of the five contests, three of which have been third period comebacks, which have earned them two wins and one shootout loss. For Utah, their competition on this trip should not be overlooked. The Steelheads are 33-11-0-4 with 70 points, second in the league only to South Carolina (73). Victoria is 26-7-4-1 since November 14 and 19-1-0-1 at home during that stretch. Idaho and Victoria are the top two teams record wise in the National Conference

All five games on this trip have been decided on one goal and four have gone to shootouts as Utah has collected six of a possible ten points thus far.

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