The Utah Grizzlies face off tonight against the Las Vegas Wranglers. Utah's gone 10-4 against Vegas in the regular season, but the two teams haven't met in over 2 months and in that period, the Wrangers have pushed themselves out of the bottom of the barrel and into the 5th seed of the National Conference.Lucky for us, Colley's on top of it. We snagged this quote from the Deseret News: "They've probably been the second-best team in the league the second half of the year," said Colley. "They've been playing great hockey."
Yes, they have. That's what worries us. It sounds like Utah hopes to pick up at least one of the games in Vegas, then bring the series to home ice where they've been doing incredibly well in the last half of the season. Can't argue with that.
We also can't argue with Adrian Denny's observation regarding the new playoff format in his blog today: "In the ECHL’s newly formatted best-of-five first round, the team with the better regular season record was able to choose when they wanted their home-ice advantage to fall. I think this format and schedule is going to be a brutal failure and will change next season league-wide." Seriously, ECHL: What up with that?
The Grizzlies also released their playoff roster yesterday. No word on lines, but we're thinking we'll see something similar to the last regular season game, which was played in Victoria. We kind of suck at doing lines in the proper order and we're not too sure about the defense, but:
Perry-Hunter-Kinasewich
Sixsmith-Crowder-May
Galbraith-MacMillan-McJannet
Nikiforov/Carroll
Kilburg-Clarke
Maxwell-Suda
Vandermeer-Sorteberg
And it sounds like Mikko Koskinen will start in goal for the Grizzlies. Mikko went 6-0 for Utah since his debut on ECHL ice.
You can check out both playoff away games against Vegas free of charge at Legends Pub and Grill. They'll also be doing some food specials for the games. We went to Legends earlier in the season and had a blast, so check it out if you're in the area.
Duff Goldman of Ace of Cakes loves hockey.You can view all of the team playoff rosters in the Kelly Cup Playoff area of ECHL.com. Make sure you have your ECHL playoff bracket on hand tonight. Here are the first round matchups:
#1 Charlotte Checkers vs. #8 Toledo Walleye
The Charlotte Checkers are no strangers to the playoffs as they start their 13th run for the Kelly Cup against 8th place Toledo. The Walleye aren't chump change either as they made the American Conference Finals in 2006. Toledo holds a 3-2-0 regular season record against the Checkers who've gone 2-2-1 against the Walleye.
#2 Kalamazoo Wings vs. #7 Reading Royals
Kalamazoo has the better regular season record between these two teams going 5-0-1 against the Royals. Reading has advanced to the playoffs 5 times in their 9 seasons, but Larry Courville is making his playoff debut as head coach of the Royals. Kalamazoo is also new to the Kelly Cup, but not to the playoffs as they made the IHL Turner Cup playoffs last year.
#3 Elmira Jackals vs. #6 Florida Everblades
The Jackals have made their 3rd straight push to the postseason, but the Everblades aren't lacking in playoff experience: Florida has advanced to the postseason every year, giving them 12 years in playoff experience. Elmira has gone 2-0-0 against the Everblades this season, but both games have been on their home ice. The Jackals and the Everblades will meet on Florida ice for the first time in the postseason.
#4 South Carolina Stingrays vs. #5 Cincinnati Cyclones
The South Carolina Stingrays are the defending Kelly Cup champs. They'll face off against 5th place Cincinnati, who won the Cup in 2008. Neither team is new to the playoffs having met in the American Conference Finals the last two years. This is the third consecutive year the two have met in the playoffs. The Cyclones went 3-1-0 against South Carolina in the regular season, while the Stingrays are 1-2-1 against Cincinnati.
#2 Bakersfield Condors vs. #7 Victoria Salmon Kings
The last time these two teams met was March 20, and that contest ended with a 3-2 score in favor of the Condors. The Salmon Kings are hoping that’s not the result of this five-game series. Anaheim is sending some reinforcements to Bakersfield though, so they’ll have their work cut out for them.
These two teams have a fairly even record against each other in the regular season. Bakersfield was 6-4-1 against the Salmon Kings in the regular season, while Victoria went 5-5-1 against the Condors. Victoria is in the playoffs for the fourth year in a row. The Condors have six consecutive playoff years under their belt.
#3 Alaska Aces vs. #6 Stockton Thunder
From ECHL.com: “Alaska is in the Kelly Cup Playoffs for the seventh consecutive season. The Aces are 6-0 all-time in first-round series.” Stockton is in the playoffs for the fourth time. Once again, these two teams are pretty even against each other for the regular season. Stockton was 5-1-4 against the Aces in the regular season while Alaska was 5-5-0 against the Thunder. Our advice to Stockton: try to win in regulation.
#4 Utah Grizzlies vs. #5 Las Vegas Wranglers
After getting really sick of each other at the beginning of the season, these teams have had a two month break. Not that we think that will change the intensity of the match up. Utah went 10-4-0 against the Wranglers this season. Las Vegas was 4-9-1 against the Grizzlies. So don’t be surprised if the Wranglers feel like they have something to prove.
This is Utah’s fourth time in the playoffs in five years, while it’s Vegas’s fifth time in six years.
****#1 Idaho Steelheads receive a bye
Ontario Reign . . .
Thanks for a great All-Star Game! Playoffs next year, guys – do it.
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