Can we make up a cool name for back to back shutouts?

With the back to back wins--sorry, let me correct myself. With the back-to-back shut outs this weekend , the Grizzlies have kept their top spot in the west, and are now 2nd overall in the ECHL. Can we start the state-wide "Let's go, Grizzlies!" chant now, or is that a little too early for the next home game? They have a tough schedule this week, with back to back games in Idaho Tuesday and Wednesday, then back to back in Ontario Friday and Saturday. They still lead the league for road games won with 12.

The Grizzlies picked up two new players from Abbotsford today: Hugo Carpentier (F) and Giffen Nyren (D). Carpentier is returning to Utah, while Nyren is a rookie. Welcome boys!

The Islanders sent goaltender Dwayne Roloson to Tampa Bay in exchange for a defenseman. What does that mean for us? They aren't the Grizzlies affiliate. It means former Grizzly goaltender, Nathan Lawson, has had a busy few weeks shuffling around. He is now listed on the Islanders' roster as the other goaltender next to Rick DiPeitro.

There was a little game played over this weekend that a few people may have heard of (no, it wasn't the Grizzlies). The Winter Classic game on January 1 between the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins was the most watched regular season game in 36 years. Even with the start delayed by a few hours, the audience grew by 22% when compared to last year. There is hope that hockey is becoming more popular! Or the population is rapidly expanding (in numbers, not waistlines).

The most exciting rivalry game since the USA/Canada final during the Olympics in February might be played tonight. USA/Canada meet up again in the World Junior Championship. (As I write this, Canada is up 2-0 at the end of the 2nd.) The winner will play the Russian team for the championship Wednesday night.

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.

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!