Utah and Idaho enter their three-game series tonight separated by just three points in the standings, while Utah carries two games in hand.

Ryan Turek returns to the Utah lineup tonight after leaving the Grizzlies Saturday in Las Vegas for bereavement leave. The Utah power-play was 3 for their last 11 before his departure and he has two goals and five assists in eight games since returning from injury January 30.

Both Utah/Idaho games this year played in Boise have resulted in 3-2 scores, with each team winning one. Utah with two-straight losses to finish the weekend and Idaho, with three-straight, come into tonight having played five combined one-goal games and losing all five.

Utah allowed just 59 shots in three games to Las Vegas last weekend, with the Wranglers not getting more than 22 shots in any of the three nights and more than 19 in the final two contests.

GO GRIZZLIES!!

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The Grizzlies and Wranglers will be the final game of Hockey Day In America as they face-off at 11:59 p.m. local time Sunday in Las Vegas.

Utah won the midnight game they played last season 5-3 over the Wranglers on December 27, 2010  breaking a 2-2 second intermission tie.

At 2-1, this week, this is a pivotal game to decide if the Grizzlies winning percentage this week will be .750 or .500 before they head to Idaho for three games next weekend.

Paul McIlveen is the only Utah player to score in all three games this week with three goals and one assist.

Special teams will likely decide the game. In their wins, they have outscored them 4-1 on the special teams and have been outscored 6-1 in their losses.

The first goal will also be big. Utah is now 0-10 when the opposition scores first on the road and 7-2-0-2 on the road when they score first.

Utah is 5-3 against Las Vegas this year. Tonight marks the ninth and final meeting of the year between the two teams.


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The Grizzlies had four guys averaging a point-a-game or close to it all in the lineup for Wednesday night’s game, marking the first time this season that had happened.

In the first two games this week all four guys: Mitch Wahl (two goals, one assist), Jeff LoVecchio (one goal, two assists), Justin Dowling (two assists) and Paul McIlveen (three goals) have been in the scoring column each night.

In the last two nights, the Grizzlies have seven goals, 3.5-per-game and that’s their best stretch since a four-game unbeaten streak November 26-December 2. Utah taking three of their last four games is also their best stretch since that winning streak and their third best run of the year.

The Grizzlies continue to win the special teams battle through the first half of this four-game in five-night set. The Grizzlies are officially 3-11 on the power-play and 9-9 on the penalty-kill.  Last night, they drew four-straight power-plays to finish the game after killing three Las Vegas power-plays in a 1-1 tie early.

The Orleans Arena unbeaten streak is now 6-0-0-1 for Utah here in Las Vegas.

In the last 10 games, Utah is fourth in the ECHL’s Western Conference at 5-4-0-1 as they enter tonight three points in back of Idaho and within four of Stockton for the fifth spot.

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The Grizzlies returned to their early season form Wednesday in their 3-1 win against Las Vegas. Now 48 hours later, they look for another similar effort starting three-games-in-three-nights with the Wranglers.

Wednesday’s game was decided by special teams. The Grizzlies effort and drive to win battles drew seven power-plays, in which they converted on two. Their penalty-kill went six-for-six, including 4-4 in the third period.

Entering the weekend, Utah is .7 of a percentage point behind Las Vegas for the league’s second-best spot on the penalty-kill with the Grizzlies at 85.3-percent and Las Vegas at 86-percent.

The Grizzlies lineup stays just about the same from Wednesday, Las Vegas has had the league’s leading goal scorer/overall scorer Eric Lampe called-up to Hamilton and defenseman Jason Fritsch loaned to Houston.

Utah is 5-0-0-1 in their last six games played in Las Vegas dating back to April of 2010.

Las Vegas is one of four teams that Utah has four wins against this season: including Bakersfield, Idaho and Colorado.

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The Grizzlies are starting to reassemble offensively with players who are capable of putting points on the board and earlier this year that resulted in winning hockey before the mass call-ups, injuries, etc.

Mitch Wahl has 11 goals and 3 assists for 14 points in 14 games. Justin Dowling has 4 goals and 13 assists for 17 points in 19 games. Jeff LoVecchio has eight goals and nine assists for 17 points in 18 games. Paul McIlveen has 19 goals and 22 assists for 41 points in 41 games. Those four are expected to play together for the first time all season this week.

Justin Dowling, Mitch Wahl and Jeff LoVecchio are playing together for the first time since October 29. Utah is 5-1 with those three in the lineup together. Utah is 6-1-0-1 this year when Jeff LoVecchio scores in a game. Mitch Wahl had two goals in his only game against Las Vegas this year on October 25.

16 of Utah’s 20 wins this year have been by a goal. Two of their four wins not by a goal have come against Las Vegas for whatever reason. Utah’s 4-0 win over Las Vegas on November 21 is their largest margin of victory this year.

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Utah goaltender Jimmy Spratt allowed three goals or less in 10 of his 13 starts with Idaho and two or less in eight of 13. Last night, he stayed on that path by turning away all but one of Ontario’s 35 shots for his first Grizzlies win.

Tonight, is Utah’s first game of the year that doesn’t start after 7 p.m. local time as Ontario starts all Saturday games at 6 p.m.

Matt Sorteberg returns to the Grizzlies lineup tonight after serving a three-game suspension as part of last Saturday’s pre-game scuffle with Ontario.

Justin Dowling rejoined the Utah lineup last night and recorded an assist in his first game back. He now has four goals and 13 assists for 17 points in 18 games this year with the Grizzlies.

Ryan Turek now has multiple-points in all three games against Ontario after his one goal and one assist last night. He has factored in on six of Utah’s eight goals against the Reign.

GO GRIZZLIES!!

The Grizzlies are hoping that Wednesday was a wakeup call similar to one that they had opening night after a 4-1 loss to Idaho.

The team responded with seven-straight wins and got on a nice roll after looking incapable of doing anything right in their home opener. The lineup is now a good one, and with hard work and execution should be fine.

Today, will be Utah’s first game of the year when the daily temperature has been over 80 degrees, with 81 the forecasted high here in Ontario.

Kevin Colley has yet to announce who he will start in goal, though he was very displeased and felt that it was unfair to Jimmy Spratt, how things went Wednesday in his

Utah debut, with the team having two breakdowns leading to Bakersfield’s first two goals in the first five minutes.

C.J. Severyn was activated yesterday and will play tonight. Jeff LoVecchio has gone to seven-day IR.

GO GRIZZLIES!!!

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This marks the seventh of 12 regular season meetings and the seventh and final meeting at Maverik Center between Utah and Bakersfield; plus the ninth-straight meeting between Utah and Bakersfield in Utah going back to December 29, 2010. The two teams will meet at Rabobank Arena for the first time since Thanksgiving weekend (November 27) of 2009 February 29, March 14,16, 30 and 31. Utah is 4-2 against the Condors this season and plays them for the fifth time at home since December 30. Utah has now played Bakersfield in five of their last ten home games. Utah opens a stretch of 12 of their next 13 on the road Friday and Saturday in Ontario and returns home next Wednesday, before officially hitting the road for good and ten-straight away from Maverik Center and 17 of 23 to finish the season.

As a result of Saturday’s pre-game festivities three players from Utah and three from Ontario have been given mandatory suspensions. Ontario’s Derek Couture will miss the next four games, Chris Cloud the next three and Steve Tarasuk the next two. Utah’s Jordan Foreman and Cody Lampl will miss the next three games, while Matt Sorteberg will miss the next two. All players, but Sorteberg, will coincidentally miss this weekend’s series in a rematch of the two teams.

Should Kevin Colley opt to give Jimmy Spratt his first start in goal tonight following 11-staight starts for Andrew Engelage, he has the numbers on his side. He is 6-1 all-time against Bakersfield with a 2.35 goals-against-average and is 2-0 this year at Maverik Center; stopping 68 of 70 total shots against the Grizzlies October 14 and January 16 with Idaho. He was acquired from Idaho on January 28.

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Utah battled back Monday down 4-0 for a 5-4 shootout win and down 2-0 Friday to earn a point in a 3-2 shootout loss. Utah had just one two-goal comeback for a win in the first 42 games of the year.

Utah has played five consecutive one-goal games and is now 15-4-0-5 in one-goal games. The Grizzlies had a stretch of eight of nine games decided by a goal October 15-November 11, in which they went 8-1. That stretch had six-straight games decided by a goal from October 28-November 11.

Utah has gone to three-straight shootouts for the first time since February 3,4,6 of 2010 in Victoria and February 12-17, 2010 at Idaho at Idaho, Vs Victoria. The stretch encompassed six of seven games for the Grizzlies that went to shootouts. Utah went past regulation in eight-straight games January 14-Febraury 4, 2009 in a stretch that also included nine of ten games going past regulation.

Utah is 2-0 on Saturday nights at home in 2012.

Utah has 140 shots (46.66/per game) in their last three contests. Utah is 11-6-0-1 when outshooting the opposition at home.

In the last week, Utah has returned Chris Donovan, Ryan Turek, Jeff LoVecchio, John Armstrong and Cody Lampl back from injury. Last night, Utah dressed a full lineup of 16 skaters for the second-straight game and only the 13th time this year.

On their 44th game of the year, the Grizzlies play Ontario for the first of nine meetings. Utah hosts the Reign Saturday and Bakersfield Wednesday to complete their five-game home stand which is off to a 2-0 start.

Utah begins a stretch tonight of four of five games against Ontario, they will play the Reign five-straight times February 29-March 7. While Karl Taylor, was behind the Ontario bench for the team’s first three years, Utah was 14-7-3 overall and 8-5-2 at home against them. The overall .553 winning percentage is Utah’s best against another ECHL team.

John Armstrong has gone back to #11 which he started the year with. Kory Falite who wore #11 Monday in his Utah debut, is now #14. Falite had one assist and scored in the shootout Monday in his Utah debut. Jordan Foreman has two assists in three games, plus a fight with Utah since being acquired from Stockton.
 
Utah is 37-28-12 all-time in February since joining the ECHL, even after last year when they went 3-6-0-1 playing without a starting goaltender for most of the month. February (.558) is the Grizzlies best month winning percentage wise since they joined the ECHL.

GO GRIZZLIES!!

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