Grizzlies captain Nick Tuzzolino saw his season come to an end Wednesday night with the Abbotsford Heat as they fell in the second round of the Calder Cup Playoffs. Tuzzolino played in seven playoff games for the Heat after tallying one goal, three assists and a plus-four in 13 AHL games with them during the regular season.

The Western Conference Finals in the NHL feature former Grizzlies Mike Smith and Ray Whitney. Smith appeared in 32 games for Utah between 2002-2004. In the first game he dressed with the Grizzlies in November of 2002, he didn’t play but received a fighting major and a 10 minute misconduct (secondary altercation) when he went after Philadelphia’s Jim Vandermeer in a memorable post-game brawl.

ECHL.com has a great feature on Smith and another former ECHL goalie in Jonathan Quick as the two prepare to go head-to-head starting Sunday. They both won, earned shutouts and scored goals in their first pro wins, which both took place in the ECHL.

The ECHL schedule will likely be released at some point in June and the third draft of the 2012-2013 slate is currently in progress. It looks like Utah will open up against a certain team for the third time to start a season, which will tie them with the late Phoenix RoadRunners for the most opening day dates with Utah since the Grizzlies joined the ECHL in 2005.

The Kelly Cup Finals open Monday. Those in the Eastern Conference feel that Florida will win the title, while those of us in the west seem to have strong feelings that Las Vegas will take the championship. Thus was evidenced in a back-and-forth “Twitter war” between several league broadcasters last weekend.

Follow us on Twitter
@utahgrizz
@dennyonsports

Week four of the offseason has come to a conclusion as the ECHL is down to three teams, maybe two by the end of the weekend with Florida leading Kalamazoo 3-1 in the Eastern Conference finals and beating the Wings by a combined score of 14-3 this week. Las Vegas is the Western Conference Champion.

While the Grizzlies never expected to lose three-straight games to Las Vegas in the first round, the Alaska Aces certainly never expected to lose three-straight games on home ice to the Wranglers as they were eliminated from the playoffs Wednesday.  Alaska has lost three straight in regulation at home to the same opponent on only one other occasion, also to Las Vegas:  

Nov. 16, 2006 – 0-4 L
Nov. 18, 2006 – 3-5 L
Nov. 19, 2006 – 1-4 L

The Wranglers have peaked at the right time and knocked off three teams so far (Utah, Idaho, Alaska), that were playing great hockey going into their Las Vegas playoff series.

The first step to 2012-2013, is getting a completed schedule. The Grizzlies have already looked at two drafts of the schedule which as of now includes the first visit from an Eastern Conference team to the Maverik Center since 2009 and the team’s first trip to San Francisco in November to take on the expansion Bulls. I’ll give more tentative tidbits each week until it is released likely the first week in June.

Utah will be facing, as of now, one new coach in their division next year, as Wednesday, Idaho announced that they will not renew the Head Coach of Hardy Sauter. The Steelheads have gone outside the league with a new name for their last two hires (Derek Laxdal came from the CHL and Hardy Sauter from the WHL), we’ll see what direction that group takes this time around soon.

Follow us on Twitter
@utahgrizz
@dennyonsports

The Grizzlies need three-straight wins versus Las Vegas over the next five nights to advance. This has been a season series of streaks and Utah hopes that will continue.

So far this season, Las Vegas has a two-game winning streak (November 18-19), Utah has a four-game winning streak (November 21-February 17) and now the Wranglers have won four-straight games (February 18-April 3).

The Grizzlies look to reverse home ice advantage on Las Vegas, just like Fresno did on Utah in 2008. The Grizzlies opened the first round that year with a 6-1 win in California, followed by a 4-3 triple-overtime win the next night. When the series resumed two nights later, the Falcons, who like Utah this year struggled in game one, played well in game two, but lost a heartbreaking affair; rebounded with 3-0 and 6-1 wins in Utah to quickly tie the series at two.

Last year the only series forced to five games involved Las Vegas, after they had a 2-1 series lead on Idaho.
Same scenario the year before after Las Vegas had a 2-1 lead on Utah. The Wranglers lost both series. In the last two years since the ECHL adopted the best-of-five first round format, no team has come back from down 2-0.

GO GRIZZLIES!!

Follow us on Twitter
@utahgrizz
@dennyonsports

Each of the last two seasons in the ECHL’s Western Conference first round, all six series have been 1-1 after two games.

Andrew Engelage is 3-1-0-1 in his last five starts with a 1.18 GAA and a .957 save percentage. He has stopped 134 of 140 shots in that stretch.

Utah was outshot 24-21 by Las Vegas in game one of the 2010 first round and lost 6-4 on April 6, 2010.
Utah rebounded the next night with a 4-1 win.

Both Utah and Las Vegas are playing their fourth game in five nights tonight, with the only day off in the stretch being a travel day on Sunday. By Friday, the teams will have played six games in eight nights, with two travel days off before resting Saturday and Sunday before a potential game five Monday.

The Grizzlies have rebounded from four-straight non-wins with convincing victories.
All four wins have been by at least three goals and the last three have been by four goals or more.
March 16: 5-2 Loss at Bakersfield, March 17: 5-2 Win at Stockton
March 18: 4-2 Loss at Stockton, March 21: 6-1 Win at Idaho
March 23: 2-3 SOL Vs Col, March 24: 6-1 Win Vs Colorado
March 30: 4-1 Loss at Bakersfield, March 31: 4-0 Win At Bakersfield
Utah is 8-4-0-1 in their last 13 games and hasn’t lost two-straight since a five-game losing streak February 28-March 5.

GO GRIZZLIES!!

Follow us on Twitter
@utahgrizz
@dennyonsports

In five-straight wins, Utah hasn’t allowed a first period goal. Utah has only allowed one first period goal in the last five games and only twice in the last eight games.

Led by Derick Martin at 69 games, Utah has 271 games of playoff experience on their roster. 17 of Utah’s 22 skaters have playoff experience. Martin and Ryan Turek, who has played 33 career playoff games, both advanced to the conference finals last year with Victoria. Kory Falite, won the Kelly Cup as a rookie last year with Alaska. Paul McIlveen had two goals and six assists for eight points in eight playoff games last year for Utah. He has played in 33 career playoff games.

Las Vegas has 227 games of playoff experience. 11 of Las Vegas’s 19 skaters have playoff experience.

Utah opened last year’s first round with a 5-2 win over Stockton at home after giving up a goal 1:13 into the game.

GO GRIZZLIES!!

Follow us on Twitter
@utahgrizz
@dennyonsports

The Grizzlies have responded from their last three non-wins by outscoring the opposition 17-4 and winning three-straight. They will look to close out the season in Bakersfield on a strong note.

A win tonight in Bakersfield gives Utah a record of .500 or better against five of their seven opponents this year.

Utah is 3-0 on the final game of the regular season under Kevin Colley. The Grizzlies have won four-straight games overall to finish the regular season, going back to 2008.

Tonight marks the second time in seven years that Utah will close against a team on the road that won’t qualify for the playoffs. They turned out the lights on Victoria in 2006, before opening the first round in Alaska two nights later.

Ontario and Las Vegas are now the Grizzlies two playoff options and the answer will be revealed at the close of the ECHL season tonight.

If Ontario wins and/or Las Vegas loses, the Reign will be the two seed and will play the seven seed. If Las Vegas wins and Ontario loses in regulation, the Wranglers are the two.

So that brings us to the six versus seven. If the Grizzlies get a point tonight, they are the sixth guaranteed. If not, they will be the sixth seed, if Idaho doesn’t win.

GO GRIZZLIES!!

Follow us on Twitter
@utahgrizz
@dennyonsports

The Grizzlies have definitely gotten used to life on the road. This is the sixth weekend in the last eight and next weekend will be the seventh in the last nine that they are out of state.

We could know the first round playoff opponent tonight. For that to happen, here’s what needs to happen.

Ontario beats Alaska, who clinched the Western Conference Wednesday, but is still aiming to capture the league’s Brabham Cup for the regular season title.

Las Vegas loses in regulation at home to Colorado.

Stockton gets at least one point in Idaho.

Utah wins in Bakersfield.

If all that happens, Utah will play Las Vegas in the first round.

If not, we’ll wait until tomorrow to make things official.

This is Utah’ s third trip to Bakersfield in the last month, where the playoff ineligible Condors are looking to finish the season strong on the heels of Tuesday’s announcement that Head Coach Matt O’Dette will return next season. They are 13-8-0-2 in their last 23. The Grizzlies also look to finish strong, entering tonight as the hottest team in the Western Conference by collecting 15 out of 20 points in the last ten games.

GO GRIZZLIES!!!

Follow us on Twitter
@utahgrizz
@dennyonsports

Utah is 6-2-0-1 in their last nine games and tied with Bakersfield for the second best ten-game stretch in the Western Conference at 6-3-0-1. Alaska is 7-2-0-1 in their last 10.

The Grizzlies are 4-1-0-1 in their last five home games. The Grizzlies have clinched their third best home record since 2002-03 with an 18-13-0-4 record.

The line of Wahl, Falite and Vock has eight goals and 10 assists in the last five games. Mitch Wahl has tied a season-high with a five-game scoring streak with one goal and seven assists in his last five games. Kory Falite has three goals and four assists in his last five games and is an even or better in four of the last five games. Colin Vock has a five-game scoring streak with five goals and three assists.

A win tonight gives Utah a 5-5-0-3 record against the Eagles and a record of .500 or better against five of the seven teams on their schedule. Utah meets Colorado for the 13th of 13 times on the year. Utah and Colorado have gone to shootouts in five of the 12 games and four-straight games that have been tied after two periods. All five games at Maverik Center have been tied or within a goal going to the third period. Derick Martin is the only Utah player to have now played in all 13 games against Colorado.

GO GRIZZLIES!!!

Follow us on Twitter
@utahgrizz
@dennyonsports

Eight of Utah’s 16 skaters were not with the team during their last meeting against Colorado on January 11 and will play their first-ever game against the Eagles tonight.

Utah started the season 4-1-0-1 against Colorado, but faced the Eagles five times from December 14-January 11 with a depleted lineup and went 0-4-0-1 in that stretch. Utah is 6-2 in their last eight games and is coming off of a 3-2 road  trip to Bakersfield, Stockton and Idaho.

The Grizzlies tied a season-high by scoring six goals in a game for the third time this season on Wednesday. It marks the first time this year that Utah has scored five goals or more in two of their last three games. A five-goal victory was their largest margin of victory of the season. In Utah’s last six wins, they have outscored the opposition 20-7 five-on-five.

Utah has scored a goal in 19 of their last 23 periods and has two goals or more in eight of those periods. Utah has scored a first period goal in seven-straight games and has not allowed a first period goal in four of their last seven contests. During this 6-2 stretch, Utah has recorded 11 shots or more in the first period all nights.

GO GRIZZLIES!!

Follow us on Twitter
@utahgrizz
@dennyonsports

At 7-4-0-1 against the Steelheads and by winning five-straight games, the Grizzlies have guaranteed their first winning season series against Idaho in seven years.

In what has been a trend for Utah this year, 10 of the last 11 games against Idaho have either been tied or within a goal in the third period.

Utah’s success when they were in Idaho last month was the fact that they led after one period in all three wins.

Derick Martin has been activated off of IR and will play tonight for Utah. The veteran played in the first 59 games of the year for Utah.

Forward Gaelan Patterson has been assigned to Utah from Abbotsford of the AHL by Calgary. He has played 117 games with the Heat over the past two seasons and put up eight goals and 19 assists for 27 points.

Follow us on Twitter
@utahgrizz
@dennyonsports