Weekend Preview - Utah Grizzlies vs Ontario Reign

After a nice little All-Star break, the Grizzlies welcome the Reign to the Maverik Center this weekend. We hope they've got their heads all cleared out, and maybe had some good practices, because the Grizzlies are no longer at the top of the Western Conference.

Shocking. Absolutely tear-jerking.

The fall from the top spot was a combination of the Grizzlies having a few not so great games, and Las Vegas really picking it up and winning 7 of their last 10. We know it's not the end of the world, and we're not all that upset - 2nd is still pretty good. But 1st is better than 2nd. Hence the numbering system. We're posting the sign until they're back from 2nd.

Anyway, the Reign are currently in last place in the conference, and have lost 6 of their last 10. So have the Grizzlies. Just an odd little congruency we thought we'd throw in for no particular reason. The Reign, however, are also last place in the league with only 28 points. This is exactly the kind of position that can make a team dangerous because they have nothing to lose. Sitting back and trying to hold their spot makes no sense, so they may as well go all-out and see what happens. Utah is going to want to keep this in mind, as sitting back is probably not their best option at this point either. There is still a lot of hockey to be played between now and April, and anything could happen. Oh, and keep an eye out for Ontario's lone All-Star representative, Aaron Lewadniuk - we hear he's got a great shot. Plus we really liked this feature on him.


According to Adrian Denny's game day blog, the Grizzlies should have their All-Star Captain (that has a nice ring to it), Jake Gannon, in the lineup tonight. It will be good to see him back on the ice here in Utah - we've missed him. We'll also see the two new guys - Brandon Milnamow and Maxime Tanguay. We're looking forward to seeing how they fit in. No updates on Andrew Engelage, which is maybe good news. We hope to see him uninjured and back in the net. The rest of the cast should be ready to play as well, and we're looking for them to rebound after some disappointing games last week. If you haven't yet read the article from Kyle Goon of the Salt Lake Tribune (no, we didn't make that up), check it out. Great article, and it really shows how these guys want to win together. A few little setbacks aren't going to cloud their overall goal - to win a championship.

With Friday being a "Pack the House Night" where all tickets are $5 with a Maverik receipt, we expect a great crowd to cheer the team on and start this weekend right. If you haven't got your tickets already, you'll want to hurry - they've gone fast in the past.

Games in town Friday, Saturday and Monday. Come see the Grizzlies claw their way back up to the top.

Weekend Preview - Utah Grizzlies vs Idaho Steelheads

The Grizzlies are still in Idaho. Well, all except Tyler Ruegsegger, who got traded to Alaska yesterday. The Grizzlies are getting Maxime Tanguay in return, who is said to be one of the fastest skaters in the league. Like always, we'll miss Tyler, and wish him the best of luck in Alaska. Except when he's playing the Grizzlies.

Back to Idaho - the Grizzlies are stuck there until they play two games this weekend. Once they have accomplished that feat, they will be released into the maze that is downtown Boise where they will try to find their way to the path that will take them home to Utah. If this was a video game, they'd have to win on both Friday and Saturday nights, rescue a puck bunny, kill a vampire potato and build a lego bus before they made it to the maze. Thankfully, this game isn't being played in an alternate reality, because that sounds like about the weirdest video game ever known to man. However, we'd still like to see those two wins.

Utah recently battled their way out of a 4 game losing streak with an intense shootout win on Wednesday. Believe us when we say we were just as excited as anyone to see that win (except maybe Coach Colley). But now we really have to take a look at the standings. The Grizzlies are barely clinging to the conference lead by one point. While they were doing all that losing, Las Vegas was catching up. They are now breathing down Utah's neck, threatening to take over first place, so those 4 points available this weekend are crucial if they want to stay on top. Yes, we realize that it's still a long way to the playoffs, and leading the conference doesn't unlock some secret cheat once you get there that makes you invincible in the post season. But maybe it should. We'll work on that. (We just really like it when our team is in first place.)

We got the feeling after last weekend that the team was feeling somewhat worn out and pitiful, so we're hoping they got out of their funk with the win on Wednesday. We'd like that team back that kicked everyone's trash around the conference in December. Time to start kicking more trash, and Idaho is the perfect place to do it. Bonus points if they can get out of town before the trash gets cleaned up.

Idaho has only won 4 of their last 10 games, but two of those wins came against the Grizzlies. The Steelheads are always a tough team, even when they're not at their best. Utah can't be fragile for these two games. All that mental stuff that goes with a 4 game losing streak has to be out of sight, out of mind. We know one game isn't really a streak, but two is. So is three. That's this week's goal - 3 game winning streak, to be continued next week.

Puck drops at 7:10 tonight - the games can be heard on 1230 KFAN.

Tanguay for Ruegsegger

Tyler Ruegsegger has been traded to Alaska for Maxime Tanguay.

Not much of an opinion on this one even though we liked Tyler. He had a lot of talent, which meshed with the team dynamic the Grizzlies were trying to create. But we always got the sense while watching him play that he needed about another year of development in this league before his talent and consistancy matched up. He seems like he's just on the cusp of breaking out continually, so maybe he can find his legs in Alaska. We wouldn't be surprised to see him start producing like he does here as we've certainly seen glimpses of it through the season -



We can't remember much about Tanguay in the games Utah's played against him, but here's what his stat sheet says: he plays center and has 15 points (4g, 11a) in 27 games. Ruegsegger isn't too far off from that in the numbers department with 14 points (7g, 7a) in 35 games. However, it's Tanguay's second year in the ECHL, having spent last season in Toledo and with 5 games in the AHL. Looks like a decent trade; it just depends on what Colley can do with Tanguay and how quickly Maxime can adapt to the Grizzlies team.

Best of luck to Tyler in Alaska!


Also of note, Jake Gannon was named as an alternate for the All-Star Game, which is coming up this Wednesday. It sounds like we'll be able to watch or listen to the All-Star Game here in Utah, too. Not bad.