Training camp is now less than a month away.

Utah’s announced their preseason schedule with Idaho this week. However, read the fine print and don’t take the trip to Boise for the Grizzlies and Steelheads on October 8. That game will be for Idaho season ticket holders only as decided by the Steelheads.

The Grizzlies have completed two trades with two other ECHL teams that will be announced before training camp. The trades show the importance of protecting the rights of all possible players. Because if they aren’t going to play here, other ECHL teams may be interested. This was the case and Utah has acquired the rights to what could potentially be four upper echelon players. In both cases here, AHL teams wanted the Utah players to be with their ECHL affiliates and helped drive the transactions.

Former Utah bruiser Brad Herauf has landed another AHL contract. It is great to see his hard work pay off. While we always saw Brad’s potential and knew he could be a solid AHL player, I think we may have been concerned about his patience in achieving this for a player who started out in the CHL. It would have been easier for Brad to just go back to the CHL after two entrenched seasons in Utah and cash in for the next several years. However, as we saw, his patience and hard work paid off into just about the ultimate accomplishment for the undersized work horse.

Pretty much quiet around the rest of the ECHL besides the fact that Bakersfield mascot Colonal Claw’d visited Canyon Hills Preschool located at 7001 Auburn Street in California Tuesday from 10-11 a.m. He  entertained the kids by handing out cool prizes and dressing up a lucky volunteer in hockey equipment!

Thank you, GO GRIZZLIES!!

The Grizzlies preseason schedule has been finalized and will be announced Tuesday morning.

As the Grizzlies roster starts to take shape behind the scenes, it appears the team’s goaltending and defense will be very very strong with the forward situation starting to fill in as well with young  talent and prospects.

It’s the calm before the storm in the Grizzlies Hockey Operations department with Head Coach Kevin Colley and Athletic Trainer Mike Plandowski both on their first and only vacations of the summer.

Former Grizzlies Head Coach Jason Christie has been named the Head Coach of the CHL’s Bloomington Prairie Thunder replacing former Grizzlies star Jarrod Skalde who recently left for Cincinnati. The move back to Bloomington takes the Christie’s back to the Peoria area where their oldest son J.D. was born and they still have many close friends after Jason played and coached there for six years.

The Bakersfield Condors, who recently had Anaheim pull out of their affiliation have signed an agreement with the Minnesota Wild. Not sure what this means to Bakersfield, who was loaded with Ducks prospects last year. However, last year Johnstown received just one player from the Wild and it came midseason in what looks to be a third-line forward.

And now from my own personal PR Wheel.
With the Alaska Aces Jack Michaels heading off to the Edmonton Oilers, that leaves yours truly as the longest tenured ECHL broadcaster with his current team to also go along with my league-high consecutive games broadcasted streak which stands at 399 entering this season.

Also, the Grizzlies and myself lost a dear friend Monday when longtime Utah sportscaster Chris Tunis passed away from cancer. To echo the same thoughts of everyone that knew the Tuner, he was beyond a fantastic person and broadcaster. However, everytime I saw him, it was also great to talk Grizzlies hockey. The Tuner followed and rooted for every sports team in Utah and was always well informed and enthusiastic on the happenings here in West Valley City with the Grizzlies.


GO GRIZZLIES!!

The Grizzlies will announce the signing of a college player early next week. Grizzlies Head Coach Kevin Colley feels that this player will become a fan favorite.

Colley also spent the week working on a couple of projects that should come to fruition in the next month or so. Kevin has spent hours in the office and nights without sleep calculating and scribbling notes on how to proceed with these. The results will be the product of two smart decisions he made earlier this summer as the team’s Director of Hockey Operations.

Jean Hebert, who officiated the controversial game two in Idaho during the playoffs last season, will not be seen by the Grizzlies again. He has been hired by the NHL. It will be interesting to see the league’s officiating roster for this season. Speaking of which, there is also one other person in particular, that I would like to see hired by the NHL. Utah may have seen this individual earlier in the playoffs.

Brian Kilburg checked in this past week as he gets ready for his second pro season and first full season in Utah. Kilburg returned his qualifying offer to Utah along with Matt Sorteberg to return to the Utah blue line. Other qualifying news should be coming shortly in this blog. 

Another quick blog entry, it has been a really slow summer in the hockey world.

GO GRIZZLIES!!!

With Jake Gannon being signed as the Grizzlies captain earlier this week, a lot of questions have been coming in about the Grizzlies announcing other players.

The team cannot announce signings of players from Canada until they cross the border into the United States due to immigration reasons. However, when the team signs a player from the United States, there are obviously no immigration procedures and it can be announced immediately. Jake Gannon is from Illinois and signed his contract from Colorado Springs where he played at Colorado College.

The Grizzlies will also be receiving players from the Calgary Flames organization, which will be assigned to Utah just prior to training camp in October. While fans may get anxious about player announcements, keep in mind that in minor league baseball, nothing as far as the roster is concerned is announced until just before opening night. Though when something is finalized, it is Kevin Colley’s policy to release it to the public as soon as possible.

A former Grizzlies favorite was just named Head Coach of the ECHL’s Cincinnati Cyclones in Jarrod Skalde (1999-2005), who was the Head Coach the last two seasons in Bloomington of the now CHL. He currently ranks 10th all-time in Grizzlies history with 48 goals and 89 assists for 137 points in 154 games. He was also named the team’s Community Relations Man Of The Year in 2004. Skalde could have had a leg up on the job having won a Turner Cup Championship in Orlando during the 2000-2001 season where his predecessor and former Utah Assistant Coach Chuck Weber was the Video Coordinator.

If you think you see a couple of former Grizzlies around town in the next few weeks you could be right. Joel Rechlicz, who played for the Islanders less than a month after leaving Utah in March of 2009 is in the area with Greg McCauley.

GO GRIZZLIES!!!

In the coming weeks, the Grizzlies are expected to name their captain for the 2010-2011 season as Ryan Kinasewich departs for Croatia with his former teammate of three years in Utah Andy Sertich.

The Grizzlies NHL parent club, the Calgary Flames unveiled this ensemble to wear during their outdoor Heritage Classic game against Montreal in February.

We didn’t mention this, but the Bakersfield Condors, who last year were loaded with Anaheim’s AHL caliber prospects because the Ducks didn’t have an AHL affiliate, will not be partnered with them again. The Ducks, who have a new AHL affiliate in Syracuse, have opted to pull their minor league operations in California for the ECHL’s Elmira Jackals.

The ECHL’s Equipment Manager of the Year was announced Thursday and awarded to Stockton’s Ben Laing. Laing along with Stockton Athletic Trainer Kevin Anderson combine to make the most jovial training staff in the league.


GO GRIZZLIES!!!

The next news to be announced for the Grizzlies will likely be the 2010-2011 preseason schedule which is currently being finalized with the league and the opponent(s). One of the games will be on a weekend somewhere in Utah.

We’ve been talking about this possibility the last couple of years, but former Grizzlies Assistant Coach Chuck Weber has finally landed an AHL Head Coaching job after leading Cincinnati to a 177-92-19 record and two Kelly Cup Championships in four years. Chuck is so likeable and such a hard worker that this is a great success story, especially given the unusual path he has taken to this point. Though as always, connections in pro hockey are big, his Cyclones affiliation contact, Mike Santos in Nashville is now with the Florida Panthers, whom is Rochester’s affiliate and helped reward his long and hard work with the Preds’ prospects in Cincinnati. Ironically, Chuck, who is a native of western New York, gets his big break in his native state and is back at home for the first time in over a decade.

I’ve never seen so many players  from one team defect to a rival as have gone from Alaska to Victoria in the last week. Matt Stefanishion, Derick Martin and Ryan Turek, who all spent the 2009-2010 season in Anchorage with the Aces have all signed with the Salmon Kings for 2010-2011.

My predecessor as the “Voice of the Grizzlies” is currently working as the Director of Operations at the Central Hockey League in Phoenix. Bob Hoffman, who does the league’s scheduled all by himself was featured in a newspaper article earlier this week. However one inaccuracy in the article mentions that Hoffman is currently vacationing in Salt Lake City which is false. Family from Salt Lake City is actually visiting in Phoenix. I told Bob that I would clear up the matter so no one’s feelings were hurt in Utah this week when he did not contact them.

It will be interesting to see if the Utah-Idaho rivalry which sparked in all directions with Derek Laxdal at the helm will continue to be as fiery on the benches as Hardy Sauter will now be opposing Kevin Colley as the new coach in Idaho. The 39-year-old may be best known for his dad’s interesting facial hair. But all accounts that I have heard say that Hardy is a terrific human being.

GO GRIZZLIES!!!

Signing and expanding the Grizzlies affiliation with the Calgary Flames organization was definitely the top priority of the offseason for Head Coach Kevin Colley who last year found a great partner and mentor in Flames Director of Player Personnel Duane Sutter.

While last year’s affiliation was partial, this upcoming season Utah and Calgary will be each other’s lone NHL and ECHL affiliates respectively. Utah will no longer partner with the New York Islanders while Calgary’s partial affiliation with Victoria has been transferred to West Valley City.

Utah and Calgary partnered late in the offseason last year after the Flames pulled out of Las Vegas. Meanwhile Utah was happy to add an NHL affiliate closer to home for a variety of hockey and business reasons. Last year’s relationship went extremely well transpiring into Thursday’s announcement.

With the Calgary signing of goaltender and former Utah rival J.P Lamoureux this past week, don’t think that Kevin Colley didn’t have the ear of Calgary as he gave his full ringing endorsement of the ex-Alaska workhorse who may be the most dominating goaltender that we have seen playing against Utah the last 16 seasons period.

Grizzlies Assistant Coach Pat Curcio has a new home. He will be an Assistant Coach on the staff of the Soo Greyhounds in the Ontario Hockey League.  Though I am sure we will still see and hear our fair share of the “Curdog” and his contagious laugh here visiting Utah in the offseason. Pat is a fantastic person and has a definite passion for the game of hockey and the people in it.  Grizzlies fans should bookmark SooGreyHounds.com to cheer Curcio on as he takes the next step in his coaching career.

A bit of a firestorm in Victoria this weekend surrounded the abrupt and unhappy divorce between the Salmon Kings and Wes Goldie. Goldie, who scored 40 goals each of the last four years is in the process of leaving the rock and now is the most prized free agent in the ECHL. Goldie leaves as his captain “C” is being given to newcomer Peter Vandermeer who spent the last month or so of the year in Utah.

AJ Perry, known in the locker room as “Juice” has signed a one-way AHL contract with Syracuse joining the Anaheim organization that his brother Corey has starred with for the last five seasons.

After about six weeks without a Head Coach, the Idaho Steelheads will officially name their new Head Coach Tuesday.

GO GRIZZLIES!!!

Three months from today at this time, the Grizzlies will be at morning skate in Anchorage as they get ready to play the second game of the season against the Aces.

Speaking of Alaska, the Grizzlies and the rest of the National Conference received word Thursday that the Aces host hotel will be back in downtown Anchorage and five minutes from the Sullivan Arena after a season about 20 minutes away by the city’s airport. That news was received well as downtown Anchorage is fantastically sprinkled with good restaurants, like Humpy’s, and a large mall. One thing about being on the road in the ECHL with limited per diem, is that cab fare adds up quickly if a hotel is out in the middle of nowhere. Hello Stockton. 

No former Grizzlies found themselves on the NHL transaction wire in the last seven days as free agency entered its third week after a busy first two weeks of former Utah player comings and goings.

The Grizzlies affiliation situation for 2010-2011 has been finalized. An official announcement will come in the next couple of weeks.

The Calgary Flames, who Utah had a positive partial affiliation with in 2009-2010, recently added some depth to their front office by naming former Tampa Bay General Manager Jay Feaster as their Assistant General Manager. Feaster has a unique resume, which included working his way to the NHL from the AHL as the former President of the Hershey Bears. Ironically, he put together the team that beat his new boss and then Head Coach/General Manager Darryl Sutter to win the 2004 Stanley Cup Championship over Calgary in seven games. I personally will miss hearing Feaster weekly on NHL Live, which airs during the season on NHL Network and XM Radio Channel 204, as he was always very insightful and had a great personality.


GO GRIZZLIES!!!

So it’s recruiting season, but what does that entail exactly for the General Manager which in Utah’s case is Head Coach and Director of Hockey Operations Kevin Colley?

On July 1, after teams issued qualifying offers, the ECHL sent a list of ECHL free agents and their agents to every team. That is step one of beginning to contact agents and ECHL players from last year in the beginning of building next year’s team. But with the ECHL being a developmental league, many impact players every year are rookies. So in addition, Colley scours the list of players who got a head start on their professional careers last year following college or juniors. The Utah coach has a sheet from www.hockeydb.com  from every player that played in the AHL late last year on Amateur Tryout Agreements.  That can be a great starting point for finding a player who might not be quite ready for the AHL yet and could use a solid beginning in the ECHL. For example, Vic Bartley played ten games with Providence at the conclusion of the 2008-2009 season before starting last year in Utah and going to the AHL for good on December 9. Colley is also finalizing next year’s affiliation situation and transferring information which could result in players getting two-way (AHL/ECHL) or three-way (NHL/AHL/ECHL) contacts. And finally, there are resources which highlight top players from juniors and colleges from last year. Again, Utah is not starting from scratch, seven qualifying offers were issued July 1 and other players have been signed, though immigration for Canadians sometimes delays official announcements.

It sounds like former Utah Assistant Coach Chuck Weber might finally get an AHL Head Coaching job. C-Web doesn’t beat around the bush in this article on his career goals and Rochester sounds like a definitely possibility. Good Luck Chuck!



Former Utah players signing NHL contracts this week include:

David Leneveu with Columbus

Trevor Smith with Anaheim

Jason Bacashihua with Colorado
 
Warren Peters with Minnesota on a two-year deal

Zenon Konopka with the Islanders on a two-year deal

Nathan Lawson with the Islanders

GO GRIZZLIES!!!

Hey everyone, how’s it going?

Adrian asked if I would fill you all in on how my summer has been so far, so here it goes…

Lots of traveling…

A couple weeks after the season ended I went on my first cruise ever. This was a six-day cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida that took us to: Key West, Jamaica and Grand Cayman. The trip was great, the weather was nice and the food was unreal. I recommend it to anyone interested in a vacation; if you haven’t cruised, try it!

The first weekend in June, me and 11 of my buddies that I went to school with and played hockey with in college at Quinnipiac had our 1st annual ‘Man Weekend’. This year’s festivities were held in Fort Myers, Florida. Again, the weather was nice, and the times were good. Next year’s weekend festivities will be held in Minnesota, should be good.

As you can see I’ve been enjoying my summer. I’ve spent time between my home in Minnesota, and Connecticut where I went to school. I enjoy hitting the links when I get a chance. So far, amongst many rounds, I’ve participated in three scramble tournaments, all out in Connecticut: (Quinnipiac Round Ball. Uconn Hockey Scramble. Traditions Shootout.) I am currently in Minnesota training and skating, preparing for next season. I have also spent some time up in northern Minnesota at my family’s cabin on Big Birch Lake. Whether it be up there or down in the cities, I love being on the water, fishing if I can, enjoying the beautiful Minnesota summer.

So far, those are the highlights of my summer this year. I look forward to the beginning of the 2010-2011 season! Hope everyone had a fun fourth of July!