Weekend Preview - Utah Grizzlies vs Alaska Aces

It's finally opening night!

The Grizzlies are opening the 2010-2011 season this weekend on the road in Alaska against the Aces. We're pretty excited, and not just because we've been deprived of Grizzlies hockey for so long. We think this team has a lot of potential for an exciting season. They're also taller than last season's team. We don't know if that's relevant or not.

Anyway, after a couple of weeks of training camp they're ready to go, and even if they're not, it's too late now. We looked up last year's stats against Alaska, and it looks like they won 6 out of 8 games against the Grizzlies, so the Grizz have something to prove. Either that, or the Grizzlies won 6 of 8, but there's no guide on how to read the chart. We're pretty sure it was the former. We do remember a gigantic brawl against the Aces last season so we know it wasn't pretty.

The Aces have consistently been a tough team for the Grizzlies to play against, so this should be a good test. They are coming back, however, with former Alaska goaltender J. P. Lamoureux, who took the Aces all the way to game 7 in the Kelly Cup Finals in '08-'09. Our guess is he'd like to get back there. A guy with his experience could be a great asset for the Grizzlies.

Here's a fun fact - the Grizzlies will be icing two pairs of brothers (a pair of pairs?) this season. Ed and Brad Snetsinger have joined the team, along with Paul Crowder, brother of returning forward Tim Crowder. Timmy and Paulie are expected to start on a line together. We wonder how that worked out in the back yard back in the day. Guess we'll find out.

The Grizzlies have updated their website with some videos from training camp, interviews, and this great fact sheet about tonight's opener. If you haven't seen it already, we recommend checking it out. Both games this weekend (Friday and Saturday) can be heard on 1230 am with the pre-game show starting at 8:45 pm. Puck drops at 9:15 pm.

It's about time.