Hockey Outside the Grizzlies Box - 2/22/2011

A quick trip around the world of hockey...

AHL

The Abbotsford Heat are still stuck at 5th place in their division with 62 points. The good news is they're only 4 points behind the division leading Hamilton Bulldogs. And the Manitoba Moose. And the Lake Eerie Monsters. We guess the standings are tight in every league right now. The Heat have won 6 of their last 10, but were only able to get one point out of last weekend, when they played two games against Oklahoma City. The Heat have a week to think about that and get some good practice in before Providence comes to town on Friday and Saturday. Maybe John Rheault can liven things up for them.

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins currently lead the AHL, despite having several of their top scorers called up to the NHL to fill in for the ailing Pittsburgh Penguins. In fact, they've won their last 3 games, and just continue to plug along. You can read here about some of the thoughts they have about playing in the NHL and trying to make it stick. Just for the record, the WBS Penguins are 22 points ahead of the Abbotsford Heat. Whew...

NHL

The Calgary Flames take on the Boston Bruins tonight. Calgary is coming off of an inspiring win in the Heritage Classic, where they shut out the Montreal Canadiens 4-0. (We think maybe Carey Price's ugly mask was cursed.) The Flames had troubles earlier in the season but have since snuck into the #6 playoff spot in the Western Conference. They've won 7 of their last 10, and are showing no signs of slowing down. That's good for them, considering 9 teams in the west are within 5 points of each other, including 3 teams that are currently out of playoff position. Those teams would be the Los Angeles Kings, the Anaheim Ducks, and last year's Stanley Cup winning Chicago Blackhawks. That's some stiff competition.

The trade deadline for the NHL is next Monday, February 28th and that means deals, steals, and rumors. It's a little different for the players. In the most recent blockbuster trade between Pittsburgh (maybe they can give WBS some of its players back) and Dallas, Alex Goligoski (going to Dallas) talked a little about his feelings on the trade. James Neal and Matt Niskanen (going to Pittsburgh) got rerouted through New Jersey because of a snowstorm. Pittsburgh head coach Dan Bylsma said, "they hopefully didn't think they got traded to the Devils." We as fans have mixed feelings about trades at every level. On one hand, we're sorry to see players go. Yet we're interested to see how the new guys fit in, and what they can do for the team. But imagine being one of the players. Former Grizzly Justin Bourne has a couple of columns here and here about what it's like to be traded. Seems like mixed feelings all the way around.

OTHER

Today (February 22nd) is the anniversary of the 1980 Olympic Miracle on Ice. This is an event that influenced not only hockey in the United States, but all over the world. It was largely viewed as one of the most important sports moments of all time. For plenty of cool links and remembrances of this event, check out USA Hockey's Miracle on Ice page. Then go home and watch Miracle.

Game Day - Utah Grizzlies vs Alaska Aces

It's been a while since the Aces have been in town. In fact, the last time they were here was in November, when they handed the Grizzlies a pair of losses (one in overtime). Of course, you may remember that back in November every team that came to the Maverik Center was kind of giving Utah a wedgie. It wasn't pretty. Now, however, the Grizzlies have figured out how to play on their home ice, and we'd like to see them use this opportunity to get a few points up on Las Vegas.

Alaska is coming off of a challenging weekend against Stockton. They won two out of the three games, but one was an overtime win, and they were eventually unable to overtake the Thunder in the standings. The Aces are currently 3rd in the Mountain Division, 2 points behind Idaho, and 5 behind Utah. Utah is at the top of the Mountain Division, but still only #2 in the Western Conference. Hence the sign. However, the Grizzlies could be in the lead by the weekend if they can get 3 out of 4 points in the series with Alaska. 4 would be better.

The Grizzlies have been getting back to the game we know and love lately. They've won 6 of their last 10 games, and we're looking for them to start a new streak. They've been on and off with the wins, not stacking more than two together since the beginning of January. They got one in Vegas last week, so with the 4 home games coming up, we don't think 5 in a row is too much to ask. We're not demanding or anything.

One way the Grizzlies can do that is by making sure they have the lead going into the 3rd period. Here's another one of those weird stats someone thought of keeping once - the Grizzlies are 20-0-1 when leading at the end of the 2nd. What that actually tells us in non-statistical terms is that Utah is good at holding a lead and closing out games. That is a very good skill to have, and probably has contributed quite a bit to them hovering around the top of the conference for most of the season. Too many teams are tricked into thinking they have a "safe" lead. The Grizzlies know there's no such thing. They're probably not safe in Colley's locker room until they win. We know how he is about losing.


Also coming up this weekend - along with the Grizzlies' rise to the top of the Western Conference - is Hockey Weekend Across America. The three special event days are Wear Your Jersey Day on Friday the 18th, Bring a Friend to the Rink Day on Saturday the 19th, and Celebrate Local Hockey Heroes Day on Sunday the 20th. There are also 4 locations in Utah where you can participate in a Try Hockey For Free Clinic on Saturday the 19th. And of course, what better way to celebrate hockey than to support your local team? If you've ever needed an excuse to bring someone to a Grizzlies game, this is it.

4 home games in 5 days. 8 points on the line. 1st place in the west within reach. It all starts tonight at 7:05 pm.

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.

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.

Hockeyworld! 2/24/2010

AHL

Abbotsford Heat

• The Heat meet up with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers tonight.


• Abbotsford is quite confident, even though they're still having injury troubles.


• The Heat are currently in third place in their division. They have won five out of six games on their current road trip. “Its’ almost how its been all year for us – you lose a bunch and then you win a bunch," said defenseman Gord Baldwin of the team's current winning streak. “We got to straighten that out and kind of get more leveled with what we’re doing. Right now we’re winning so I‘d love to stick on that, but obviously we can’t win every game all year so you know we just got to keep going.” (Heat Report 2/18/10)
  

Bridgeport Sound Tigers

• Deja-vu - the Sound Tigers meet up with the Abbotsford Heat tonight.


• Brendan Witt has NOT been hit by a truck in Bridgeport (that we know of). However, he did contribute to their win on Sunday.


• Bridgeport hasn't been on much of a streak lately, unless it's an alternating one. They've won five of their last ten games and lost five.

Our AHL Features

The AHL recently held their first ever Outdoor Classic in Syracuse. They had a record crowd of 21,508 at the New York State Fairgrounds for a great event. Here are some interviews done with Hockey This Morning's Shawn Lavigne and Mike Ross (XM Radio). Sounds like a good time was had by all.

• What happens to hockey players after hockey?

Since the rest of the hockey world is focused on the Olympics in Vancouver right now, so goes Grizzblog...

OLYMPICS

• USA beating Canada on Sunday was kind of a big deal.


• NBCOlympics.com has a feature to help you find out where you can watch Olympic hockey (or other events) on TV - just put in your zip code and cable/tv provider.


• Today is the anniversary of the USA winning the gold medal in 1980. Everyone knows that story. But here's a side of the story you don't hear too often.


• The Russia/Canada game today is kind of a big deal. (Not to mention a couple of their players.)


• You can get your Olympic hockey bracket here.


• Who are the Grizzlies cheering for?


• There are several ECHL ties to the Olympic hockey players.


• Beating Canada wasn't enough for Team USA - they want more. Plus, they're having a lot of fun.

They're not the only ones having fun. Our good friends Richard and Les are Vancouver residents, and have been checking out the action in the Olympic city. Says Richard, "I've never seen the city this alive. There are people out on the streets everywhere; it's crazy! And there are events planned until 4am."

Les was nice enough to send us some pictures she took:

Several businesses have gotten into the spirit of the games:

This appears to be Trevor Linden stabbing an eagle with a hockey stick. Or a surfboard:

The Olympic clock downtown:

This sign offers some suggestions for, uh, keeping the peace... or something:

Bert and Ernie are excited about Canada's hockey team:

Well, at least they planned for a lot of people:

Enjoy the Olympics!

Hockeyworld! 2/9/2010

AHL

Abbotsford Heat

The Heat have had a lot of injuries lately.

• Head Coach Jim Playfair participated in the Olympic Torch Relay. (photo courtesy of Abbotsford News)


• The Heat most recently split a pair of games with the Chicago Wolves and dropped one to the Toronto Marlies on Monday night. They host the Marlies for one more game before going on the road for the rest of February.

Bridgeport Sound Tigers

• The Sound Tigers have borrowed Ryan Kinasewich from Utah. We're guessing he's filling in for Matt Martin or Jesse Joensuu who were called up by the Islanders on Monday.


• Bridgeport has lost eight of its last ten games, including three in overtime and three shootouts. They play three times next weekend, with games on Friday (in Bridgeport), Saturday (in Hartford) and Sunday (in Bridgeport).

Our AHL Features

• The Syracuse Crunch will be hosting the Binghamton Senators in the first ever outdoor game in AHL history. The Mirabito Outdoor Classic will be held at the New York State Fairgrounds on February 20, 2010 at 1:00 pm.


• AHL players Yannick Weber, Andres Ambuhl and Kaspars Daugavins will be representing their countries in the upcoming Olympics.

NHL

Calgary Flames

• The Flames and Hitmen combined to raise over $100,000 for the relief effort in Haiti.


• Jerome Iginla and Daymond Langkow are what we'd call veterans.


• The Flames play the Ottawa Senators in Ottawa tonight. The Senators recently got shut out 5-0 by the Toronto Maple Leafs. (We don't really get either of those two team names. What - the Leafs flutter into the faces of the Senators who fall off their podiums while giving speeches?)

New York Islanders

• In what has to be one of the oddest promotions we've ever heard of, the New York Islanders are offering free flu shots to anyone attending tonight's game.


• Mark Streit made the day of a Swiss team getting ready to compete in an International PeeWee tournament.


• The Islanders play the Nashville Predators tonight.

Our NHL Features

• Fans voted for their favorite NHL commercials. Click here to see the results.

• The snowstorm along the east coast last weekend caused a lot of travel problems for teams trying to play in Washington DC, including a bus crash involving the Atlanta Thrashers and an oil truck. So much for Bruce Boudreau's comment that a bus ride never hurt anyone. (Thankfully, no one was injured in this particular bus ride.) Maybe they can ship some of the snow to Vancouver for the Olympics.

INTERNATIONAL

• The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver open on Friday, February 12th. NBC has television listings for all sports - just put in your zip code and television provider.


• Click here for the full Olympic rosters for Men's Ice Hockey.

USA HOCKEY

• In addition to the Olympics, the Labatt Blue/USA Hockey Pond Hockey National Championships will begin on Friday.

Hockey Weekend Across America Review

The point of Hockey Weekend Across America (USA Hockey) was to get people at the grassroots level out participating in hockey-related events. Since we figure Salt Lake City is about as grassroots as it gets when it comes to hockey, we participated. A lot of you did too. Here are some of the activities where we might have seen you...

The sold-out crowd on Friday night enjoys the action on the ice:

We sat by these ladies, who had brought their boys to the game - they were awesome fans:

Some blogger eats ketchup, with a little hot dog to give it flavor:

(In all fairness, the ketchup dispenser was overly-distributing the condiment. Note the fabulous USA Hockey hoodie.)

This fan brought her son to his first hockey game - the Guns N' Hoses game on Saturday afternoon:

(He looks thrilled.)

This was by far our favorite picture of the night:

Somehow this young fan got his head right in the way of our camera without us noticing. It is NOT photoshopped - it came straight off the camera this way. If you know this kid, or you are this kid, send us an email (grizzblog@gmail.com). You made us laugh out loud for about 15 minutes in the IHOP after the game.

Hopefully everyone had a lot of good hockey fun over the weekend. If you have other pictures, feel free to send them in. We'd love to see what everyone did. We might even post them.

Weekend Preview 1/29/10 - Utah vs Las Vegas

It seems we've spent a lot of time wondering about the Grizzlies' troubles lately. Sure, it hasn't been the best stretch. But the Las Vegas Wranglers, who the Grizzlies play Friday, Saturday, and Monday, aren't having the best time of it either. They've only won 1 of their last 5 games, so we're hoping the Grizzlies can maybe take advantage of that slump and get a couple of morale-boosting wins on the board.


While we don't really want to dwell on the team's troubles (because there's a lot of fun stuff going on this weekend we'd rather address), we did want to post a few quotes from Coach Colley's post-game interview that we thought were notable:


"I just think right now guys are looking to the guy beside them to go do all the dirty work and do all the hard work and hope we pull out a win, instead of just taking the bull by the horns themselves and just going out doing everything they can as an individual to help the team succeed."

RE: Finally having a full week to practice on home ice
"The guys are working hard, they're just not working smart," Colley comments. "When you grab somebody and actually show them on the ice where they're supposed to be and how to position themselves sthey get a lot more out of it than watching video."



So we're hoping that with that good practice time, and the team getting a little more instruction, we'll see an increased confidence level, and maybe some Wrangler butt-kicking this weekend. Awesome.



Now, on to the fun stuff...



It's Hockey Weekend Across America (sponsored by USA Hockey), and the Grizzlies are obliging with a couple of really great promotions. Friday night is another Pack the House night at the E Center, with ALL seats being sold for $5. The last one (on November 20) ended up being a 4-0 shut out for the Grizzlies (no, they WON that one) in front of a crowd of 9,304. Hey, at $5 a seat, it's probably the best entertainment deal in town this weekend, so you may as well go support the team. Put a little bit of pressure on them to get their game going. And, of course, support Hockey Weekend Across America.

Friday is "Wear Your Favorite Hockey Jersey", so dig it out of the closet and put it on, America.


Saturday's theme for HWAA is "Bring a Friend to the Rink", and the Grizzlies have provided a great opportunity with their Guns N' Hoses theme game. This annual charity event includes an afternoon game (2:00 pm) that pits local police officers against firemen, with proceeds going this year to Shriners Hospital. The Grizzlies will sport special jerseys in the game Saturday night that will be auctioned off, those proceeds also going to Shriners Hospital. If you buy a ticket for Utah vs Las Vegas on Saturday, that ticket will also get you into the Guns N' Hoses game. So grab a couple of friends for this one, and introduce them to hockey for a good cause.



Also on Saturday, USA Hockey is introducing a new event - try hockey for free. The Acord Ice Center in West Valley and The Ice Sheet in Ogden are participating, so if you want to give it a shot, give them a call. Most of them are hosting the event between 11:00 am and 12:00 pm local time, but many have extended hours. USA Hockey requests you contact your participating local rink for more information. (This list has the contact information for all participating rinks.)



There isn't a Grizzlies game on Sunday, but the HWAA event is "Celebrate Local Hockey Heroes". Here's what they say about it:



USA Hockey and Liberty Mutual Responsible Sports know that every hockey community has individuals who helped make the game great for its players and fans. Today is a perfect day to honor these hockey heroes with ceremonies at youth, junior, college or professional games, letters to the editors of local newspapers or even sincere one-on-one expressions of gratitude.



We have one more suggestion - make a sign for your favorite Grizzlies player and take it to the game on Monday night. There are some awesome guys on the team.



For some reason that we can't really explain, Gary Coleman will be dropping the puck at the game on Monday night. Not that we're against it or anything, but we do think that this is one of the oddest articles the Grizzlies have ever posted. (Although not quite as odd as this one from NHL.com. So many unanswered questions...) We hope Gary enjoys the game. We also hope he comes dressed like this:





Have a hockey weekend!

Go Grizzlies!

Hockeyworld!

If you're a hockey fan, you're probably pretty excited about the next few days. Not only are there four Grizzlies games coming up, but there's a lot going on in other hockey news too. First up, let's start with the Grizzlies...

The boys are meeting up with the Victoria Salmon Kings twice at home (Wednesday, Dec. 30 and Thursday, Dec. 31), followed by a break on New Year's Day. After that, it's Vegas, baby, for two games against the Wranglers (Saturday, Jan. 2 and Sunday, Jan. 3). Looking for something fun to do for New Year's? How about a road trip to Vegas?


The Salmon Kings have a home winning streak of 11 games right now, so the Grizzlies should be happy to be playing them at the E Center right now. The Grizzlies' home win streak currently stands at... one game.

Wooooo!

The Wranglers have won their last three games, including a midnight match up with the ISH, which proves nothing, except maybe that everyone in Idaho has a bedtime of 8:30 pm.

Now let's take a look at some other hockey news...

ECHL

• The ECHL announced their National Conference All-Star roster today. Two Grizzlies are included on the roster - AJ Perry and Ryan Kinasewich. The ECHL actually lists Vic Bartley as being from Utah as well, but he was recently called up to Bridgeport of the AHL. Maybe he'll be returned in time for the All-Star game. Kinasewich has been chosen as a starter.
  
• Goaltender emergency? Just stick a fan in pads.
• Supposedly, the Grizzlies received Brock Wilson in a trade from Toledo today. Is anyone surprised? (We hear the next trade is Grizzbee and a Kinasewich jersey for the Hanson brothers.)

• Ryan Cruthers of the Reading Royals is the Sher-Wood Hockey ECHL player of the week.

AHL

• The Sound Tigers have put together a highlight reel from 2009:

Is it just us, or does it look like some of the fights were choreographed to the music?

NHL

• The New York Islanders beat the Columbus Blue Jackets last night in a shootout (final score 2-1). Columbus had just come from a win over Detroit, but may have been a little distracted, considering this happened during the game:

At least it wasn't an octopus.

• We would be completely remiss if we didn't mention the NHL Winter Classic. It's a regular season NHL game that is played outdoors. This year's game will be the Boston Bruins hosting the Philadelphia Flyers at Fenway Park. That's right, they've built a rink there for a day or two. That's coming up on January 1st at 11:00 am if you're in the mountain time zone, and it will be on NBC. If you haven't watched it before, you're missing out. Tune in to this hockey event and you won't be sorry.

• And random story of the week - the Pittsburgh Penguins had a little trouble with the weather in Buffalo (sound familiar, Utah?) when their bus got stuck in the snow on the way to their hotel. No problem - the coaching staff jumped out and helped push the bus out. What, no players? "It was crazy seeing people outside in suits and ties trying to push a bus," goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury said. "I just put my big biceps on the bus, and it didn't take long after that." Teammate Matt Cooke interpreted the situation differently. "I'm sure his intentions were good," Cooke said. "But I'm not sure he even touched the bus." Any guesses on how many snowballs were tossed?

2010 OLYMPICS

• Canada named their Olympic roster today for Vancouver 2010. No real surprises on who made the team, but a few on who was left off. Of course, when you have most of the NHL to choose from, we guess someone has to be cut. They'll be hard to beat.
• USA is expected to announce their Olympic roster during the Winter Classic on Friday. There's another reason to tune in.
• For some of the other country's rosters, click here. We just want to point out that every player on Latvia's roster ends in "s". (We're counting Gints Meija because of his first name.)

WORLD JUNIOR TOURNAMENT

• If you have NHL TV, you can tune in to the World Junior Championships from Saskatchewan. (That's hard to spell.) This is an exciting tournament where you can see future stars of the NHL. USA Hockey's website has some great content, including live game logs and scoreboards.

No shortage of hockey this weekend. Or weather. Happy New Year!


Go Grizzlies!