Weekend Preview - Utah Grizzlies vs Ontario Reign

The Grizzlies are back in town this weekend, hosting the Ontario Reign at the Maverik Center. This begins a 6 game home stand where the Grizzlies really need all the points they can get. The playoffs are quickly approaching, and Utah has slowly slid down into 3rd in the Mountain Division. We can't even post our #2 sign anymore.

We're not quite sure what to make of this weekend's games. There has been a lot of turnover in the Grizzlies' lineup since the last time we saw them. We can quote all the statistics we want, but we don't know if any of them are applicable now. The truth of the matter is that when you change up guys on the team, you change the way they play. We're glad Coach Colley didn't trade himself, because now at least there's someone trying to get everyone on the same page. Anyway, it should be interesting to see how (and if) everything falls into place this weekend.

Something we can tell you is that while Utah has won 6 of 9 games against Ontario this season, only two of those wins has come at the Maverik Center. Conversely, the Reign have never beaten Utah in Ontario. Kind of an odd statistic. We don't know what it means. Probably nothing. Here's one that might be useful - the Reign currently lead the league in overtime wins with 8. Our advice - don't let it go to overtime. Utah needs 2 points out of these games.

The Grizzlies come into this weekend having only won 3 of their last 10 games. That's the worst past 10 in the Western Conference right now, with teams like Alaska winning 8 of 10, and Idaho winning 6 of 10 to pass them by. For a team that spent a good chunk of the season at the top of the conference, that's pretty disappointing. With only 16 games left in the regular season, Utah needs to start clicking again. A good weekend at home would spark that. They have a chance to make up 12 points in the next 2 weeks, and if they can get on a roll pushing into the playoffs, we'd be really happy. We're pretty sure Coach Colley would be too. He might even smile a little, or at least look less ticked off.

Two games this weekend at the Maverik Center. Four points on the line. Puck drops at 7:05 pm.