ESPN has done a great job with their “30 for 30” documentaries over the last few years. The documentaries have chronicled interesting moments on and off the playing surface in sports.
 

This week, to continue the theme of countering the blogs and lists of Bakersfield broadcaster Ryan Holt (@broadcastholt), I have come up with five Grizzlies stories over the years that would make for interesting documentaries. Here is Ryan’s list over the history of the Condors and below is mine covering five of the more interesting happenings in the 18 year history of the Grizzlies.

The Grand Entrance
In their first year in Utah, the 1995-96 Grizzlies went 0-7-1 down the stretch before beating Milwaukee by a combined score of 12-3 in the final two games to head into the playoffs on a two-game winning streak. At one point during the winless streak, radio broadcaster Kyle Schultz, who passed away in 2005 said something to the effect of “this team better figure it out or they’ll be a quick out in the playoffs.” That statement was taken to heart by the team and coaches. In the playoffs, Utah had to comeback from a 2-1 series deficit to beat Kansas City three games to two in round one. In round two, the Grizzlies had a 3-1 series lead on Peoria, but the series still took seven games. In the conference finals, against hated and I mean hated rival Las Vegas, Utah lost game one 6-2 to despised Head Coach Chris McSorely, before winning four of the next five. In the Turner Cup Finals,  Utah seemingly had an easy series sweeping Orlando four games to none, but three of the four wins came in overtime, including the clinching game on June 8, 1996.
 

Booted
In 2002, when Utah was hosting the Winter Olympics, the Grizzlies hit the road for 44-straight days and a 17-game road trip. The team had a great trip, going 9-6-2, starting off 7-2-2 and finishing 2-4 as the time on the road took its toll. Grizzlies Equipment Manager Richard “Shakey” Krause, who’s currently with the New York Islanders, was definitely most affected by this. He couldn’t leave any extra sticks, skates or equipment back in Utah so it all had to be shipped to the road or left in Houston or Grand Rapids; where the team had some temporary storage areas because they went back and forth to those spots most during the trip.
 

Come On Down
In January of 2007, the entire Grizzlies team attended a taping of the game show The Price Is Right. The day started at 2 a.m. with the bus leaving Bakersfield and driving to Los Angeles. After the team dropped off Mikael Zettergren, who Head Coach Jason Christie had just told to get lost, at Los Angeles International Airport, it was then on to CBS Studios. Arriving around 5 a.m., the team stood in line after line before finally being cleared on a show. Then it was on to another line for the screening process, where each player and staff member was asked questions by a producer. Once the show started, all was calm, until veteran Ed Campbell was called to contestant’s row. He won a bid on the final round of the day, went to the big wheel, where he again won, before capturing the grand prize in the Showcase Showdown, which sent the whole team racing to the stage to celebrate with Ed and Bob, who quickly exited after seeing the herd racing towards him.

Pipeline To The Show
During the 2008-2009 season, Joel Rechlicz went from the Grizzlies to the New York Islanders in less than a month after playing 45 games with Utah to start the year. He made his debut at Madison Square Garden on March 4, 2009 against the Rangers and picked up an assist in the game. A week later, Rechlicz recorded his first fight in Montreal against Tom Kostopoulos, on the same day that goaltender Peter Mannino also got recalled to the Islanders. Rechlicz joined former Grizzlies Andrew MacDonald and Trevor Smith who also debuted with New York in 2008-2009.
 

Ten Days With Trevor Lewis
The State of Utah was blessed over a six month stretch in 2012 where Utah native Trevor Lewis won the Stanley Cup with the Los Angeles Kings, brought the cup home to Utah to share with fans and then suited up six games with the Grizzlies just prior to the lockout ending. Lewis scored in all six games he played with Utah and happily accommodated every public relations request ever asked while here. He flew on Southwest Airlines with the team from Salt Lake to Ontario, ate the $18 team meal at the hotel prior to games and even bussed from Ontario to Las Vegas with the team between games. During the course of his stay with the Grizzlies, he did everything just like any other Grizzly playing at the ECHL level, even though he was used to catered chartered jets, five-star hotels and over $100 a day in per diem, compared to $38 a day in the ECHL. It was a special time in Utah hockey and Grizzlies history and again illustrated Trevor’s commitment to give back to hockey in his home state,  which has all been out of the goodness of his heart.

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During the regular season in hockey, getting to overtime sometimes means you can exhale, collect your standings point and aim for the second in overtime or a shootout. If you don’t get the win, you at least got something. In the playoffs, it means if you don’t win that game, you will likely lose the series regardless of being at the ECHL, AHL or NHL level.
 

The ECHL’s conference finals enter game fours tonight with five of six of the first six combined games between Idaho/Stockton and Reading/Cincinnati going to overtime.
 

In two of the Grizzlies last three series losses, going back to 2011, they have lost two of the four games in each series in overtime. In 2008, two overtime wins and a 2-0 overtime record against Fresno in the first round, sent Utah onward and eventually to the conference finals.
 

Entering the conference finals where they have each now split a game, Idaho was 4-1 in overtime and Stockton 4-0. They have each split an overtime game so far in the series.
 

Reading (2-1) and Cincinnati (2-0) each had good overtime records entering their series where all three games have gone to overtime and the Royals hold a 2-1 lead.
 

Goaltending in the Stanley Cup playoffs thus far has been a little rough for one reason or another. Last week, I took on Bakersfield broadcaster Ryan Holt’s (@broadcastholt) list of the best broadcasters in the NHL. This week, I counter his best goaltenders in the playoffs so far.
 

The Rankings By Numbers 
1.    Craig Anderson, Ottawa: Didn’t get many headlines amongst the hatred/nastiness in “upset” of Montreal
2.    Corey Crawford, Chicago: Easy 1 Vs 8 series win, but his work was preview for upcoming series
3.    Tomas Vokoun, Pittsburgh: Just saved the series for Pittsburgh in place of Marc-Andre Fleury
4.    Antti Niemi, San Jose: Unassumingly just did his job.
5.    Whoever wins the Los Angeles/St. Louis series

Ryan Holt’s Top 5 Playoff Goaltenders

Keep in mind, I don’t have a favorite NHL team like Ryan, so emotions don’t get in the way. He ranked Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask second. Seriously? I’m surprised he didn’t rank Boston backup Anton Khudobin number 3 and he hasn’t even played in the playoffs yet.

What dark horse almost cracked the list? Roberto Luongo: He was solid in relief in game three and if he played at all in game four that series with San Jose is still going.
 

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There is a team in the ECHL’s conference finals that is currently on a run that I think would make any coach or fan envious.
 

The Stockton Thunder, who seemingly should have been knocked out easily in the first round, will face Idaho after knocking off top seeded Alaska on Tuesday in overtime in yet another come from behind win.
 

The Thunder have advanced to the conference finals after giving up the first goal in seven of their eight wins and coming from behind in the third period in six of their eight playoff wins. Looking at Stockton’s playoff roster, Head Coach Matt Thomas appeared to be planning on getting players back from the AHL for their stretch run, but none of the six playoff eligible AHL players have returned and in turn Stockton has competed with a roster 2 short following an injury to top defenseman Ryan Constant a few weeks ago.
 

Recapping the run, Stockton came back from back-to-back 2-0 third period deficits for overtime wins in games 1 and 2 of their first round series against Las Vegas. Facing elimination and down 3-0 in the third period of game six on April 12, Stockton stormed back for a 5-3 win.
In the second round, after a 5-2 loss in game 1 in Alaska, Stockton responded the next night, down 2-0 and 3-2 in the third period, before eventually winning 5-3. It snapped a stretch of 123-straight games in which Alaska had not lost in regulation when leading after 2 periods. Flash forward to game six in Alaska, the Aces jumped up 2-0 6:41 into the first period before Stockton again rallied. They tied the game at the buzzer in the third period and won in overtime, which sets up a Western Conference Final with Idaho.
 

Back to Stockton, how does this happen with a barebones group against a team that went to the finals last year in Las Vegas and a team with the ECHL’s best regular season record three-straight games in Alaska. So often we talk about leadership and character. Stockton has this and it starts with captain Garet Hunt, who is not a favorite in Western Conference arenas because of the way he plays.
 

Head Coach Matt Thomas pretty much summed things up to the Anchorage Daily News: “Here’s the reality — we’ve had to earn it, we’ve scratched and clawed, with guys hurt and guys out of the lineup. Here’s one thing: I made the best choice for our captain. Garet Hunt gets this team motivated, excited to play. And there he was, digging out a puck for the goal with five seconds left in regulation. Give the Aces credit — they kicked our asses at times tonight. I can’t believe we won. But there’s no quit in this group. Sometimes in life, things just happen to you. Scary thing — we’ve got to go through this again to get where we want to be.’’
 

Sounds kind of reminiscent of the Utah group that finished the regular season after three trades completely changed the culture in the locker room and the games became enjoyable again with the new fresh faces who came to play hockey. During a nine-game unbeaten streak from March 8-27, Utah had to come from behind in eight-straight games, erasing 13 total deficits. They came from behind in the third period five times and in the final 2:06 of a game to tie twice during the streak. March 16 in San Francisco, Utah rallied back to tie three separate times in the third period and four total times in the game.
 

You hear or see the phrase “work over skill” in the Utah locker room all season, every season for a reason.
 

Shifting gears, yesterday in his blog; Bakersfield Condors broadcaster Ryan Holt named his top 5 NHL broadcasters. I thought his list was complete nonsense, so I came up with my own, while also ranking my top five color commentators in the NHL.
 

Top 5 NHL Play-By-Play Broadcasters
1.    Pat Foley, Chicago Blackhawks
2.    Dave Strader, Phoenix Coyotes, NBC
3.    Randy Hahn, San Jose Sharks
4.    Mike Haynes, Colorado Avalanche
5.    Pete Weber, Nashville Predators
 

Top 5 NHL Color Commentators
1.    Eddie Olczyk, Chicago Blackhawks, NBC
2.    Jim Fox, Los Angeles Kings
3.    Darren Pang, St. Louis Blues, NBC
4.    Drew Remenda, San Jose Sharks
5.    Terry Crisp, Nashville Predators

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Putting together the 2013-2014 team, I don’t really think anything changes for Head Coach Kevin Colley in terms of recruiting. For a team that has started and finished as the hottest in the ECHL each of the last two years, there is no doubt about the teams on the ice when they are not playing short and battling injuries. The goal for 2013-2014? Hope the string of bad luck on health ends, and the chance to play with the team that was recruited for the season; without the rash of injuries from the last two years.
 

Here is a behind the scenes shot of Head Coach Kevin Colley and the newly promoted Ian Greenwald from Thursday as they shot a scene for the 2013-2014 Recruiting Video. The video will be used as a resource for players that the Grizzlies are talking to this summer. We will post it on online at its completion so you can view it. And as I alluded to, we will announce Ian’s added role with the team coming up. He served as Kevin’s Assistant in Hockey Operations/Video this past season.
 

Earlier this week on Facebook, we asked you who you’d be rooting for in the two Western Conference semifinal playoff series. Entering my ninth season in the ECHL and dealing with every team (east and west) both on and off the ice, for me it’s more of a matter of who I am rooting against in most ECHL playoff series. Some coaches lack tact and sportsmanship behind the bench and that is a definite factor in rooting against them. Other teams are hassles to deal with in off-ice situations from an operations standpoint. Some teams are headaches both on and off the ice. That being said, who am I rooting against? Not going to tell you that, but I will tell you there are also remaining teams I like; with coaches that I respect who are also great to deal with. In addition, there are some teams remaining with some great professionals on their staffs who are fantastic to work with throughout the seasons.

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Shane Owen stopped the first 34 shots last night and 36 of 38 overall. Owen has allowed three one five-on-five goals in this series. Going back to last Friday and his last five games, Owen has stopped 125 of 136 shots for a .919 save percentage. Owen returned to action last Friday after having not played since February 24 due to injury.

Last night’s crowd of 4,684 was the largest in the ECHL in the playoffs thus far and Utah’s largest playoff crowd since joining the ECHL. Utah drew 4,308 fans in a second round game against Victoria on May 3, 2008. Utah currently leads the ECHL in playoff attendance.

Utah and Ontario have gone past regulation in all three games played at Maverik Center this season, with each team leading in all three games.

Post-Game Quotes To Salt Lake Tribune
-"It’s frustrating," said coach Kevin Colley. "Just a must-win game right there. Am I proud of the way they competed? No question. We did a lot of good things."
-"We’re going to continue to fight and play hockey until somebody tells us we can’t," he said. "It sucks right now, but there’s no place to hide. We have to stick together. We can’t roll over."
"It’s a tough one," Shane Owen said. "But it’s definitely been done before and we have the group of guys to do it, for sure. We have to stick together and play one period at a time, one shift at a time."

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