Character Development

If you're anything like us, you probably uttered (or yelled, depending on where you were) something not repeatable in polite company when you found out last week that the Grizzlies had traded their leading scorer, Brad Snetsinger, away to Bakersfield. Our rant went from "Wha- why?" to "That makes no sense," to "They'd better get someone amazing back," to "Why do they do this to us?" in just under five minutes. Yeah, we get that this is the ECHL and players move around a lot, but the leading scorer? Not to mention how well he was doing in the Grizzlies' line up as of late. It almost seems like a conspiracy to make us pull our hair out before the playoffs even start. (It's probably Coach Colley's revenge on us for commenting on his highlights last season.)

During the game on the 21st, Adrian Denny interviewed Simon Ferguson, and he mentioned this trade. He pointed out that Coach Colley felt pretty secure in making this move, even though Brad Snetsinger had been great for the team. Ferguson's response was this:

"I think we've got a lot of really good character guys in there, that everyone wants to work for each other, everyone wants to play for each other. So it's a good mix, and hopefully we can continue the way things are going right now."

We've been saying for most of the season that this team isn't really a team of all-stars, nor do they have any one player who is the big scoring threat, but we don't even really listen to ourselves half the time. But Simon Ferguson IS a character guy, and they say it takes one to know one.

Ferguson has 287 games of AHL experience (including 19 playoff games) with 4 different teams, including last season's Calder Cup Champion Hershey Bears. He's been around a while and has seen it takes to make a successful team. This is a guy who isn't afraid to put in the effort to improve himself and his game. He even trained with boxer Jesse James Leija, and it's telling what Leija had to say about him after the workout - "You know why he's good - because he wants to work hard all the time." (Watch here - interview about the 6:39 mark.)

So when Simon Ferguson says the team is full of character guys who want to work for each other, we can trust he knows what he's talking about. As much as we fans like to whine and complain, the team is still going in the right direction.

Not that we still won't miss Snetsinger... especially when we play Bakersfield.

Speaking of Simon Ferguson, he had two goals in last night's 5-3 win over Las Vegas. Tim Crowder also had a goal, just like we guessed he would. Apparently Timmy likes playing in Vegas. Next up, the Bakersfield Condors on Wednesday. Uh... welcome home, Brad?

We would be remiss if we didn't mention just a couple of items outside the Grizzlies realm.

First of all, the World Junior Championships started last weekend in Buffalo, New York. USA and Canada both won their first games. Anyone hoping for a gold medal rematch from last year? For more information, you can check out USA Hockey's website.

Secondly, the NHL Winter Classic is on Saturday, January 1st in Pittsburgh. The hosting Pittsburgh Penguins will match up with the Washington Capitals on an outdoor rink. Check out the Winter Classic website - you'll find everything you ever wanted to know about this event, including a live webcam where you can watch the ice being built at Heinz Field. If you're not a little bit excited for this, turn in your "hockey fan" badge now.

And if you're planning on going to the game on Wednesday night, watch out for the weather. We're hoping our mom will let us spray down her back yard before the cold front settles in. Hey, it's Winter Classic time.

Grizzlies Live - There's more than one stoplight in Gig Harbor

'Tis the season for procrastination! But we're finally getting this up.

Denny was joined by Riley Emmerson and Kevin Deeth for Grizzlies Live on Tuesday.


On Tuesday, the boys stated that they haven't shown anyone that they could play at home. But a couple of games later, they've definitely started to improve on their home record. In discussing the home record, Deeth stated "Anytime you can pick up wins on the road, it builds momentum for the rest of the season." And we feel that's what has finally started happening on home ice.

Adrian and the boys discussed both Stockton and Ontario. Denny asked Kevin Deeth what it was like on the ice during the Stockton game as it seemed like a bit of a riot situation from the press box. Deeth summed it up adequately, "[It was] kind of a circus with the Hunt brothers running around trying to rip your head off. But I just tried to ignore it and play."

Adrian then asked Emmerson his opinion on the Stockton team, who he played with last season. Riley related that he grew up with the Hunt brothers and they were good guys off the ice, but completely different when they laced up the skates. "I remember one game we were playing and Garrett was just screaming at the top of his lungs, trying to get someone to fight him. I skated over to him and said, 'Garrett, play hockey.'"

Denny made the comparison between fan bases and their teams; Utah's fans come late, it takes them a while to get into it, and they don't get stressed until the 3rd period or 4th quarter, which parallels the way the teams play. In making the comparison to Stockton, Adrian stated "It seems like both the team and the fans are still trying to learn hockey and are more into the physical side of play." Riley piped up with a chuckle, "I don't know anyone in Stockton is actually trying to learn it."

Adrian turned to asking the boys about their hometowns, Riley about Abbotsford (but he was born in Burnaby - shout out to RW!) and Kevin about Gig Harbor. Denny quizzed Deeth about a local teen from Gig Harbor who'd stolen a plane recently. Kevin responded, "Well, I don't know everybody and there's more than one stoplight . . ." We laughed.

The boys and Adrian also discussed Kevin Colley and the impact he has on the team. Emmerson relayed, "[Colley] is a very smart coach that relates to the players and how they react just because he used to play and he knows what it's like."

The show ended with another round of ADD: the Game Show which was backed by Atari music . . . Really, that's all we remembered about it - the Atari music.

Next broadcast of Grizzlies Live is January 11 at 7:00pm.

Weekend Preview - Utah Grizzlies vs Las Vegas Wranglers and Victoria Salmon Kings

Las Vegas is still in town, and so far the Grizzlies haven't made it much of a Christmas vacation for them. Utah is looking to continue their home win streak as they face the Wranglers at the Maverik Center on Friday and the Victoria Salmon Kings on Saturday Saturday. Yes, we know the streak is only one game so far, but we're optimists.

The Grizzlies finally won a game at home on Wednesday when they beat Las Vegas 4-2. It was an entertaining game which saw Utah jump out ahead in the first, and Vegas catch up in the second and third. The Grizzlies were able to hold on though, and a goal from Gergen with a little more than half the period gone was enough for them to get the win.

And there was much rejoicing.


With a great game like that under their belt, and the knowledge that they are once again at the top of the Western Conference in the standings, the Grizzlies could have the confidence and motivation to start that nice home win streak we asked Santa for. Hey, it would save the big guy in the red suit some mileage.

When these two teams meet, it's all about special teams. The Wranglers have the top penalty kill in the league by a small margin, but Utah has been one of the few teams that have had success against it. According to Adrian Denny's game day blog, the Grizzlies have gone 4 for 21 on the power play against Las Vegas. They also haven't allowed a power play goal of their own in three of their last five games, so this will be a key for the Friday match up. If we were coaching, we'd tell the team to stay out of the penalty box, but try to draw penalties on Vegas. Maybe get them to punch you in the face in front of the refs or something. Needless to say it's a good thing we're not coaching.

The Wranglers have won 7 of their last 10 games, and had won 4 in a row before falling to the Grizzlies on Wednesday night, so the Grizz really have their work cut out for them on Friday. Just because their city looks like the Griswold's front yard doesn't make them all flash and no substance. They are two points behind Utah in the conference standings, but they have played four fewer games. This next game could easily put them on top if the Grizzlies don't stay focused for a full game.

Utah takes on the Salmon Kings Saturday night, who will be straight off the bus from Idaho. Hopefully this will give the Grizzlies and advantage. Victoria currently stands at 10-13-3, but is 9-0-0 when leading after two periods, so a Grizzlies' game like Wednesday's will come in handy.

Grizzlies home win streak continues Friday and Saturday. Puck drops at 7:05 pm.

Grizzlies Live: Mendelson is not much help with the right wing.

This week on Grizzlies Live, Adrian Denny was joined by Leigh Mendelson, Brent Gauvreau, and Tim Crowder.

The show aired on 860AM this week, which Denny stated to air conservative, right wing programs. Mendelson piped in with, "Well, I played goaltender, so I don't know how much help I'll be with the right wing." Clever.

Denny and Mendelson discussed the presence of Riley Emmerson on the bench Saturday, both agreeing that it made a difference in the Grizzlies' play. As Riley is a vocal and positive guy, Leigh believed it helped the boys to have encouragement from another player in addition to the coaches.

Discussing the upcoming road games, Mendelson cited needed improvement on the forecheck and not allowing the opposing team out of their own zone. He also characterized Ontario as a dangerous opponent due to the desperation of the hockey club, and commented on Stockton's coaching being a major hindrance to the Grizzlies.

Mendelson then turned to the players, expressing confidence in Igor Gongalsky as a good addition to the team who would bring size, strength and experience as a left winger. The assistant coach also cited Gauvreau for his leadership and professionalism on the bench, and touted Tim Crowder as a player who gets his job done all the time.

Tim Crowder and Brent Gauvreau discussed the recent upheaval of the team dynamics, with Tim stating his "linemates are dropping like flies." Tim discussed Paul's recovery which was frustrating, but his older brother was trying to get back on track. Gauvreau agreed with the frustration of injury. Brent found his lower body injury particularly difficult as he was unable to skate or do other training exercises.

With the injuries and callups, Tim was definitely feeling some pressure of his role: "The team is looking to me to put pucks in the net." And so far, Tim's been doing a pretty decent job of this, including contributions on every goal in Friday's game.

Gauvreau also put in his two cents about players traveling to work in Europe, stating it was great experience but warned players to do their research before signing overseas. And as a somewhat related aside, we learned that Tim Crowder has not been to Europe, and Brent Gauvreau has not been to Victoria.

The boys ended the night with some trivia, playing ADD: the Game Show and doing quite well at it.

Next week, Brent picked Riley Emmerson, Brett Parnham, and Kevin Deeth as the Grizzlies Live guests, so we look forward to hearing from them.

Good luck on the road, Grizzlies!

Grizzlies Live - And the answer is . . . True

This week Denny was joined by Assistant Coach Leigh Mendelson, Brock Wilson, and Andrew Engelage for Grizzlies Live.

We learned that Colley likes to look at the Grizzlies at the top of the league standings almost as much as we do. It's awesome to see your team high in the standings, but Mendelson put this in perspective: "By yourself you can look at the standings and smile, but as a team you need to keep a clear mindset each night." We liked that.

Mendelson also addressed the Grizzlies winning road trip, where the boys went 4-0 over the Thanksgiving weekend. He commented on Emmerson's positive influence on the bench, even when Riley is playing grocery stick. Talk also included Brett Parnham and his spectacular week; Brett took full advantage of his top line opportunity to make a big impression in the league.

Denny then turned attention to Brock Wilson's goal. Brock expressed his surprise that he got that goal, since he was trying to center the puck for Parnham. "When Parnham skated over to me after the goal, he let me know it was mine," Wilson said. "I could have sworn he'd gotten it." Andy piped in with his two cents, joking "I think it was just a poor centering attempt that ended up in the net."

Brock also discussed his confidence in the Grizzlies goalies, JP and Andy, as well as his summer work with youth hockey groups. He also shared that his Thanksgiving dinner was from the 7-11. Tasty.

Engelage discussed his roll with Reading in the playoffs last season, along with playing with former Grizzlies Olivier LaBelle and Ryan Cruthers. When asked what he thought of the Royals coming from behind 3-0 to tie the series and lose in Game 7, Andy responded that he felt it was a lack of mental preparation: "I think some of the guys went into the series expecting that we'd win at least one. And you can't really do that and expect to get the win."

Denny and the boys ended the evening with a quiz of Bakersfield or West Valley City, since they've spent more time in Bakersfield than on home ice. Our favorite part? Denny asked the question "The movie The Sandlot was filmed near West Valley City or Bakersfield?" Andrew, missing the Bakersfield option, answered with a confident "True." After a pause, Brock responded with a confused "West Valley City." This is why a goalie needs his defensemen. (Kidding . . .)

Yeah, that's about the face we made too, Squints.

Next Grizzlies Live airs December 7, at 7pm on 1230AM.

Grizzlies Live - Hell yes, we listened!

Yep, we tuned in to Grizzlies Live last night. Good times!

Denny was joined by Matt Clarke, Marcus Carroll, and Matt Sorteberg for the hour show. The broadcaster and the boys discussed the upcoming series against Alaska, Marcus Carroll's linemate Donovan, and the different styles of their netminders Engelage and Lamoureux. We've picked out some random highlights to comment on.

Matt Clarke is vying for Chief Nicknamer. Clarke admitted one of his past times was trying to make different nicknames stick for the boys. His current goal is to get Marcus Carroll dubbed "Baby Marcus," and apparently he had a "good one" for Sorteberg last season, which Sorty pretended not to remember. (Can't blame you, Sorty.) But as nicknames come and go, we're sure Clarke will have his work cut out for him.

Denny and the boys went over the league as well commenting on Condor Tordjman's suspension, and former Grizzly Vandermeer's psychotic moments during a game against Las Vegas. We've commented on these already in previous posts, so we won't go into detail here. Denny, however, was excited to ask the Wrangler's head coach how Vegas managed to NOT score on a 10 minute power play. Ouch . . .

The talk of hullabaloo around the league eventually gravitated toward the professionalism of the Grizzlies, prompting Clarke to state that he believed in the addage: "Look good, feel good, play good" and admitting he liked how he looked in a suit, so the dress code was okay by him. We actually can't believe we don't have a picture of Clarke in a suit, but look at that pose!


They ended by quizzing Sorteberg in which we learned that Sorty did a promo for recycling that they still show in Idaho, Matt estimated Denny as commentating 800 games (it's only 400), and that the Grizzlies' bus driver's name is Paul. Marcus Carroll for the assist on the last question!

Next Grizzlies Live broadcast is on November 30 at 7pm.

A Crumb or Two of Off-Season News

Finally - a little tidbit of news comes from the ECHL that actually relates to the Grizzlies! (Yes, we're a little slow on it, but hey, it's summer.) According to an article on ECHL.com, the teams have announced their protected lists. There are a lot of words explaining this in that article, but what it boils down to is a list of who the Grizz are retaining the rights to sign in the 2010-2011 season. This kind of gives us an idea of what the team might look like at training camp in October.

Here's who is on the list:

Dov Grumet-Morris

Brock Wilson

Matt Sorteberg

Justin Suda

Brian Kilburg

Tim Maxwell

Tim Crowder

Matt Clarke

Lance Galbraith

Steve McJannet

Dylan Hunter

Brett Parnham

Jadran Beljo

AJ Perry

Marcus Carroll

Malcom MacMillan

Tom May

James Sixsmith

Ryan Kinasewich

Looks pretty familiar so far. We're not complaining.

We do have to point out that this doesn't mean everyone on this list will be returning. For example, we already know that Ryan Kinasewich is headed to the cold wargrounds of the KHL, but by retaining his rights, if he ever does return to the ECHL, the Grizzlies would have first dibs. Some of the guys may end up starting in the AHL, or have their rights traded before the season starts. Or we could get some players from the AHL to start the season. And we may see some new faces at training camp looking for a contract. Or some familiar ones - we noticed Mark Pavli wasn't on Stockton's protected list, and I believe we've made it clear on this site that we'd take him back any day. (That's a hint, in case anyone with any authority is reading this.)

There's still a long way to go before we'll know what next season's Grizzlies will look like, but we're desperate for news right now, so we'll take any crumbs we can get.

Speaking of news, USA Hockey announced the dates for next year's Hockey Across America Weekend. It will be held February 18-20, 2011, and will feature the same themes as last year. The 18th will be Wear Your Favorite Hockey Jersey day, the 19th will be Bring a Friend to the Rink day, and the 20th will be Celebrate Local Hockey Heroes day. Good news for us - the Grizzlies will be hosting Las Vegas that weekend at the E Center, so Utah hockey fans can celebrate in grand fashion.

Adrian Denny has been keeping up with various members of the team and Coach Colley during the summer, so be sure to check out his blog, which he updates every Friday.

What to do in the summertime?

Ah, life without live hockey: this is what hell must be like. Particularly since ice couldn't last down there . . .

If you haven't seen this already on Puck Daddy, we've decided to post it here since it was in the ECHL. The Royals and the Cyclones got into a line brawl this Sunday at the end of Game 5 of their playoff series. Apparently it resulted in almost an hour's worth of penalty minutes, some suspensions and fines. We found it on YouTube and have posted it below. The narration on this is all class (sarcasm intended), so consider yourself forewarned if you watch with the sound on.

Kind of old news, but as we haven't posted it yet: Ryan Kinasewich will be headed to the KHL next season. It looks like he will be joining the Medvescak Zagreb and playing with former Grizzlies defensman Andy Sertich. Snatch is scheduled to arrive in Croatia at the end of July. The kid's been a Grizzlies' icon for last 5 years, so we're really sad to see him go. Best of luck, Ryan!


If you want to watch Andy and Ryan in the KHL, you can usually find live feeds of the games on ChannelSurfing.net. Not to mention, one of our bloggers is currently living in Italy, so we're thinking a trip to Croatia might be in order when the season starts . . .

And speaking of our blog, over the summer we plan on adding some additional bloggers to our staff. If you're interested in writing for us, feel free to send an email to grizzblog@gmail.com.

Also during the summer, we hope to get pictures from the rest of the season up to our Flickr account, as well as updating our social networking accounts at Twitter and Facebook. We'll post updates as we work on getting those in order.

And remember: while WE might be slackers, you can always go read Adrian Denny's summer blogs which he posts every Friday.

Here's to 2010-11!

Weekend Preview - Utah Grizzlies vs Victoria Salmon Kings

With their win over the Salmon Kings on Wednesday, the Grizzlies secured a spot in the playoffs. And there was much rejoicing. (Yaaaay...) The thing is, they still have two more games to go before they can start the playoffs, so they're hanging out in Victoria for the weekend.

The Salmon Kings are one of two teams that are still fighting for a playoff spot in the National Conference. We personally find it sad that only one team in the conference won't make it. It's kind of like when we were in elementary school and they started the dodge ball game without us, even though we were still waiting in line by ourselves to be picked. The other last kid picked is Ontario, so they'll be eyeing each other from the out of bounds line hoping not to be odd man out.

Here's how it looks for Victoria as of Friday:

The Salmon Kings can clinch a playoff spot if...

• They win. Or...


• Ontario loses in regulation. Or...


• Victoria loses in overtime/shootout and Ontario loses.

How long with this battle be dragged out? Only the Grizzlies know.

Maybe.

Anyway, according to Adrian Denny's game day blog, the Grizzlies can earn home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs with a win tonight. But that's only if Alaska wins and Las Vegas loses. This stuff is so complicated it makes our brain hurt. Since there are only a few more games, we're going to just wait around and see how it ends. We're kind of lazy that way.

The Grizzlies have found yet another goaltender to stick in their lineup at the last minute. We don't know where all these guys come from. There must be a goalie farm somewhere, and they're all finally getting ripe. Today's special is Mike Morrison, and he comes to the Grizzlies fresh from the Albany River Rats in the AHL. This means O'Keefe is odd man out, however, and has been put on waivers. We thought O'Keefe did a great job for the team this season, and wish him the best of luck. Thanks a ton, Mitch! Morrison will join the team for the last two games. He is expected to start on Friday.

The challenge for the Grizzlies this weekend will be to not look past the last two games of the season and focus on the playoffs. They can still improve their position in the standings, and we're all for home ice advantage because we're selfish and want more games at the E Center.

Tonight's game starts at 8:05 pm, and can be heard on 1230AM. You can also watch at Legends Pub and Grill. Ryan Kinasewich's next point gives him 100 for the season. There are only two games left this season, and the Grizz can use them to get a running start into the playoffs.

We're psyched.

Weekend Preview 1/8/10 - Utah vs. Alaska

After suffering a loss at the hands of the Aces on Wednesday, the Grizzlies finish up their series this weekend with games on Friday and Saturday. We're going to chalk Wednesday's loss up to the fact that it's hard to figure out what time it really is in Alaska this time of year, due to it being dark all the time, and also that everyone travels by dog sled. Hopefully, however, the Grizzlies will adjust and make the most of these next two games.

The Grizzlies have lost eight of their last ten games, so they really need a win this weekend. Two would be even better. We haven't been able to figure out what's going on with the team. They seem lackluster at times, and even when they manage to put together a good period or two, they fizzle out in the third. Maybe they're "soff".

New guy Patrick Asselin will join the team tonight, making his debut in a Grizzlies uniform. He was in Salt Lake and expecting to wait until the team gets to Idaho to play, but with injuries to Nikiforov and Hunter, the team shipped him up to Alaska next day air. We bet that was expensive. Adrian Denny has some good information on Asselin in his game day blog post here.

In other news, the Grizzlies' Head Athletic Trainer Mike Plandowski was named to the ECHL All-Star training staff for the National Conference. Does anyone know if he gets a jersey? Because we think his name would look way cool on one. Congratulations, Mike!

Anyway, if you're looking for a place to hang out and watch the game tonight, we're offering up our mom's basement. Just kidding, and if Mom's reading this, sorry for causing a stroke. But really, you can go to Legends Pub and Grill for the Official Watch Party and find other Grizz fans to commiserate... er... enjoy the game with. Or you can catch it on the radio or B2TV networks online. And, of course, you can always listen to our buddy Adrian Denny on 1230 am. Puck drops at 9:15 pm here in Utah - it's a late one.

Go Grizzlies!

Weekend Preview - Ontario and Idaho

The Grizzlies finish up their home stand this weekend with games against the Ontario Reign on Friday, and the Idaho Steelheads on Saturday.



Idaho again? Ish...



The Ontario Reign are the only team in the ECHL that have three mascots:

Blaze

Dark Knight



Some Joker in a costume

(Pictures from the Ontario Reign website.)

They also came back from being down 5-0 to the Grizz on Wednesday to tie the game and even push to overtime. You'd think the team would be tired of Coach Colley's butt-chewings by now.



For the Grizzlies, it looks like Shea Guthrie should be back from IR, while Mark Pavli is on 3-day reserve as of Wednesday. The Grizzlies need to get back to what they were doing earlier in the season - working hard and not giving up. We don't know what this lazy-butt garbage is lately, but we're not fans of it. We seriously doubt it's Colley's new system.



Maybe after the butt-chewings, everyone's butts are just too dang tired to play.



Whatever - they're all under the age of 30.



The Steelheads played Alaska on Thursday, and again tonight, and then head down to Utah for a Saturday match-up with the Grizzlies. Their leading scorer - Tyler Spurgeon - has been loaned to Wilkes-Barre Scranton, so he'll be out of the mix. This is a random one-game stint for the ECHL, where most teams play each other two or three times in a row. The ISH and Grizz will have another one of those next Wednesday in Idaho in between playing Bakersfield 4 times.



Kind of like a potato sandwich.

Game tonight starts at 7:05 pm at the E Center. If you can't make it down to support the team, you can cheer in your car - Adrian Denny will be doing the broadcast on 1230 am. Nobody thinks cheering in your car is weird... unless you're using pom-poms.

Game Day - Utah Grizzlies vs. Las Vegas Wranglers

After a couple of losses at home to the Idaho Steelheads, the Grizzlies head back to Vegas to roll the dice against the Wranglers again. We'd say maybe they're rolling the dice at the craps table too while they're down there, but most of the team isn't old enough for that.



The last time these two teams met up, the Grizzlies came away with a win in their season opener, and Ryan (GQ) Kinasewich had a hat trick. Not a bad start. Despite the losses to Idaho, the Grizz are still a talented team with a lot of energy, and if they can minimize the mistakes they can have a repeat of the previous match-up in Sin City.



The Wranglers have just come off a loss and two wins against the Alaska Aces, and will be looking for that momentum to help them in tonight's game. We went to their Preview link on their website and this is what it looked like:

Pretty wordy.


What the heck is their mascot supposed to be anyway?


We can tell you that Las Vegas will be missing goaltender Michael Ouzas and also Shay Stephenson - both are suspended. Probably for underage gambling. (Just kidding - they're both old.) We can also tell you that the Grizzlies are third in the ECHL on the power play at 25% (4 for 16). Pavli and Stoflet will be out tonight so that Tim Maxwell and Jason Dale can make their season debuts. And if you read what Adrian Denny wrote in his game-day blog over at the Grizzlies' website, it sounds like the team got a butt-chewing from Colley. If we were hockey chefs, we could tell you what all that would taste like when your threw it into a soup together...

But we're not. We're just going to tune in and listen to the game like the rest of you who weren't able to go to Vegas for the game because you have regular jobs and stuff. So I guess we'll all have to see what happens tonight.

The game starts at 8:05 pm and will be broadcast on 1320 am KFAN. Synchronize your watches.

PS - Happy Birthday to Hall of Fame Islanders Defenseman Denis Potvin!

Today's the Day

We've waited all summer long, and part of fall, and the Grizzlies finally open their season tonight in Las Vegas against the Wranglers. (The team, not the jeans, although that would be quite a sight to behold.) From the articles at utahgrizzlies.com, it sounds like the team is just as excited to get things going as we are.

The Grizz are considerably younger and less experienced than they were last season. In fact, they're the youngest team in Grizzlies history. But according to this article from Dan Rasmussen at the Deseret News, Coach Colley doesn't expect that to be a problem. In fact, he says the team is reminiscent of the one that went to the Conference Finals two seasons ago, and in this article from Maggie Thach of the Salt Lake Tribune, the coach says their goal is the Kelly Cup.

Now that's pretty.

Our favorite media guy, Adrian Denny, has a game day blog entry up on the Grizz website talking about the team and some of the newer members. He also has a little bit of information on the Wranglers, who we expect will look like this once the Grizzlies get done with them:

The Grizzlies organization has also announced a watch party at Legends Sports Pub and Grill in downtown Salt Lake City. (677 South 200 West) If you can't be in Vegas, this will be the next best thing. If you have swine flu and are quarantined (or something), you can check the game out on B2 Broadband Network online (pay per view) or listen to Adrian Denny on AM 1230 KJQS. The puck drops at 8:05 pm.

Oh, and Evan Kotsopoulos is back.

It's finally here - just a few more hours.

Go Grizzlies!

Training Camp, Day 7

Training camp was held at the E Center today so we were later than usual. We think we missed the good stuff. We were hoping to see the coach making the team do 23,487 laps and then bench press him, but it was mostly just more plays by the time we got there. Hey, it's still hockey, and we were still entertained.

They spent a lot of time working in front of the net while we were there, and that was looking pretty good. We're hoping they worked on their passing before we got there, because if they can't get it in front of the net in the first place, it doesn't do them any good. That seemed to be one of their problems in the pre-season games. We realize there are still a lot of new guys on the team, but the season opens on Friday. That's five days, counting today. They have to start getting used to each other pretty quick. Maybe Coach Colley should make them have a slumber party at the rink. What's the masculine equivalent of braiding each other's hair?

[RANDOM NOTE: We just heard on the radio that the Bridgeport Sound Tigers are still undefeated on their season.]

Actually, there was a lot of talk while we were there. Well, the coaches talked and the players listened. Sometimes they asked questions. That's a good sign. At least the lines of communication are open between players and coaches, even if the players are still a little out of sync.

An interesting note - there were three goaltenders in camp today. Since Parker Van Buskirk is the only goaltender on the Grizzlies' roster currently, we're wondering who those other two guys are. We saw Adrian Denny at the rink watching practice, so we know it wasn't him.

We did get some pictures and video, so we'll post them later tonight.

It's almost here.

Go Grizzlies!

Training Day 4 - Pictures and Videos

Since it was Skate in Front of the Camera Day at the rink, we got a few more shots of the players close up...

Adam Perry and Scott Thauwald wait their turn for drills.

Ryan Kinasewich and Scott Thauwald waiting for drills. Did Thauwald move?

Vladimir Nikiforov (Vladi - it's easier) and... a teammate in a red jersey whose name we don't know rest and wait to play. (Anyone recognize Red Jersey Guy? We couldn't see his number here.)

You can see this drill pretty well until Adam Perry and Tom May skate in front of the camera.

We don't know who this is, but the picture is kind of cool.

We don't know who this is either, but his fall is forever immortalized on our blog. Sorry, Dude.

"The net you're shooting at is that way. Go that way." (Hopefully they remember this instruction for when we yell this at them later in the season.)

Some practice for defense in both ends.

"Want to hit up the IHOP after practice?"
"Yeah, I could go for some pancakes."

Some defense passing drills. Or something.

Slapshot practice.

"So are you guys getting pancakes?"

Watch the red guys - in Irish dance, we call this a lead round. Sort of.

"Did he say 'again'?"

"Woah, did that go in?"

This was taken at yesterday's practice, but we just noticed this guy in the background. Is that Adrian Denny? Yo, Adrian!


We should be back tomorrow for day 5.

Hang in there - it's almost here!