Grizzlies Home For Games 3-5 of First Round Series

Grizzlies With 3 Home Playoff Games This Week

West Valley City, Utah – With the first round best of 7 series tied 1 win apiece the Utah Grizzlies are home for games 3-5 this Wednesday, Friday and Saturday against the Idaho Steelheads.

It’s the 2019 Kelly Cup Playoffs presented by SmileDirectClub and the Grizzlies got off to a flying start in game 1 on April 12th as Utah broke a 1-1 tie late in the first period with 6 unanswered goals to cruise to a 7-1 win.

Josh Dickinson had 2 goals and 1 assist and Ty Lewis had 3 assists. Taylor Richart was a plus 5 for the Grizzlies in the game 1 win. Teigan Zahn was a plus 4 for Utah. The 7 goals scored by Utah was the first time they have scored 7 in a playoff game since April 26th, 2016 in game 6 of the first round against Colorado. Utah won that series 4-2, clinching it with a 7-2 victory.

Game 2 on April 13th was a physical battle, won by Idaho 3-2 in overtime on Kale Kessy’s game winner. Kessy ended the night with 2 goals for Idaho as they tied up the best of 7 series. Utah got goals from Mike Economos and Caleb Herbert.

Utah goaltender Kevin Carr had a good weekend in Boise as he stopped 77 of 81 shots. He saved 35 of 36 in game 1 and in game 2 he stopped 42 of 45. Carr ended the regular season with a 20-9-2-3 record and a .906 save percentage. In each of his 5 seasons in the ECHL he has a goals against average of less than 3.00 and a save percentage of .901 or better.

Tickets are available now for games 3-5 at Maverik Center on April 17th, 19th and 20th. Face-off is at 7:00 pm each night. Go to utahgrizzlies.com, the Maverik Center box office or call (801) 988-8000 to experience the intensity and excitement of playoff hockey.

Idaho Steelheads at Utah Grizzlies. Wednesday April 17, 2019. 7:05 pm. ESPN 700. 

It’s game 3 of a best of 7 first round series in the 2019 Kelly Cup Playoffs presented by SmileDirectClub.

Grizzlies Win Game 1 in Boise 7-1

Utah got goals from 6 different skaters and Kevin Carr stopped 35 of 36 shots in a 7-1 game 1 win. Jake Marchment got the scoring started 4:59 into the contest. Idaho’s AJ White scored 8:33 into the first. Utah responded with 6 unanswered goals, including 2 from Josh Dickinson. Jack Walker, Caleb Herbert, Austin Carroll and Travis Barron each added a goal for the Grizzlies, who have scored 19 goals in the last 4 games against Idaho.

The 7 goals scored by Utah marked the first time since April 26th, 2016 where they had a 7 goal game in the playoffs. That came against the Colorado Eagles in game 6 to clinch a 4-2 series win.

Idaho Wins Game 2 in Overtime 3-2

Mike Economos and Caleb Herbert each scored a goal for the Grizzlies. Utah held a 2-1 lead until Henrik Samuelsson tied up the game with 9:24 left in the third period. Kale Kessy scored for Idaho in the first period and he added the game winning goal 7:56 into overtime. Kessy has 2 goals and 1 assist in the series.

Kevin Carr Shuts Door on Idaho

Carr stopped 35 of 36 shots in the win on Friday night’s game 1 and 42 of 45 shots in game 2. It’s Carr’s 5th year in the ECHL. He has a save percentage of at least .901 in every season and a goals against average of less than 3.00 in each of his 5 seasons.

Ty Lewis Continues Hot Ways

Lewis had 3 assists in game 1 vs Idaho. The stats reset after the regular season but Lewis ended the regular season on a roll as he had 2 goals and 1 assist on April 6th. The next afternoon Lewis ended the regular season with 1 goal and 3 assists. Lewis had 5 goals and 8 assists for 13 points in 7 games for the Grizzlies, after coming over from the AHL’s Colorado Eagles. In Colorado Lewis had 8 goals and 11 assists. Lewis had 74 goals and 94 assists in the last 2 seasons with the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings.

Josh Dickinson Continues to Produce

Josh Dickinson had 1 goal and 3 assists in the final 2 regular season games for Utah after coming over from the AHL’s Colorado Eagles. Dickinson is in his 3rd different stint for Utah. He had 8 goals and 21 assists in 31 regular season games. In game 1 of the series last night he had 2 goals and 1 assist and got number 1 star honors for Utah. On Saturday Dickinson had 1 assist and was on the ice for Utah’s other goal. He was tied for the team lead with 6 shots on goal in game 2.

Playoff Summary

#2 Idaho Steelheads (41-25-6) vs. #3 Utah Grizzlies (37-26-9)Game 1 – Utah won 7-1. Josh Dickinson 2 goals, 1 assist. Ty Lewis 3 assists. Taylor Richart +5, Teigan Zahn +4. Caleb Herbert 1 goal, 1 assist.Game 2 – Idaho won 3-2 in Overtime. Mike Economos and Caleb Herbert scored for Utah. Kevin Carr saved 42 of 45. Each team was 1 for 6 on the power play.Game 3 – Wednesday, April 17 at 7 p.m. MT at UtahGame 4 – Friday, April 19 at 7 p.m. MT at UtahGame 5 – Saturday, April 20 at 7 p.m. MT at Utah (If Necessary)Game 6 – Monday, April 22 at 7:10 p.m. MT at Idaho (If Necessary)Game 7 – Tuesday, April 23 at 7:10 p.m. MT at Idaho (If Necessary)

Great Crowds at Maverik Center

14,509 fans were at Maverik Center for the 2 games on Fan Appreciation Weekend. An average of 5496 attended games in West Valley City this season. Grizzlies finished 8th in attendance as the league in general saw a rise in attendance.

2 Grizzlies Play In All 72 Games

Defenseman Taylor Richart and Teigan Zahn will play on Sunday and appear in all 72 regular season games for the Grizzlies. Richart played in 70 games last season for the Grizzlies and after Sunday’s game, will have played in 140 of the last 142 games. Richart has 8 goals and 23 assists this season.

Zahn has served as the Grizzlies captain this season. It will be the first time Zahn has played in 72 regular season games since he played in the WHL with the Saskatoon Blades in the 2010-2011 season. Zahn appeared in no less than 57 games for the Colorado Eagles in 4 seasons from 2015-2018.

Caleb Herbert Named First Team All ECHL

In each of the first 2 games of the series Herbert has a power play goal.

Herbert finished the regular season 4th in the league with 32 goals.  He also leads the team with 37 assists and was 4th in the league with 71 points. Herbert has been big on the power play as he has 29 power play points, which is tied for 2nd best in the league.

He is the first player since current Grizzlies Assistant Coach Ryan Kinasewich to be named first team all ECHL. Kinasewich was named to the first team in the 2009-2010 season when he had 48 goals and 55 assists for 103 points in 59 games. Herbert is the first player to have more than 30 goals since Kinasewich had his 48 goals season.

Last Grizzlies player to be named to either the first or second team all league was Defenseman Nick Tuzzolino, who was named 2nd team all ECHL in the 2012-2013 season.

Previous Week's Record: Utah went 2-1 vs Idaho. 

Grizzlies lost 4-3 vs Rapid City on March 18th. Grizzlies won 5-2 vs Allen on March 22nd and lost 6-3 to Allen on March 23rd. 

Regular Season Totals

Overall record: 37-26-4-5

Home record: 22-12-1-1. Utah has outscored opponents 117-95 at home.

Road record: 15-14-3-4. Utah was outscored 123-114 on the road.

This Week's Games: (Utah is at Idaho on April 12th and 13th for the first 2 games of the playoffs.

Last 10 games: Utah is 4-5-0-1. Idaho is 6-3-1.

Goals per game: 3.22 (14th in league). Idaho is 6th at 3.35 per game.

Goals against per game: 3.03 (8h). Idaho is 4th at 2.82.

Shots per game: 31.82 (15th). Idaho is 8th at 32.72.

Shots against per game: 29.60 (4th). Idaho is 10th at 30.78.

Power play: 20.3 % (Tied 3rd). Idaho is 8th at 18.8.

Penalty Kill: 84.7 % (8th). Idaho is 9th at 83.7

Scoring By Period

First Period: Utah 65 Opponents 63.

Second Period: Utah 88 Opponents 74.

Third Period: Utah 72 Opponents 72.

Kelly Cup Championship Experience on Roster

Last year’s Colorado Eagles Kelly Cup Champions have a few guys on this year’s team. Defensemen Teigan Zahn and Gabriel Verpaelst, Goaltender Joe Cannata and forward Joey Ratelle all have rings from the 2017-18 season.

Grizzlies Among League Leaders. Utah’s Caleb Herbert finished 4th with 32 goals. He was also 4th in the league with 71 points. Herbert is tied for 2nd with 29 power play points. Joe Cannata is tied for the league lead with 4 shutouts. He also leads the league with 4 shootout losses. Teigan Zahn finished 5th with 229 penalty minutes.

Ryan Walters Out With Injury

Forward Ryan Walters is out of the lineup with a lower body injury. Walters had another solid season for the Grizzlies, where he had 17 goals and 31 assists in 64 games. Walters led the team by a wide margin in shots on goal (224). Next closest in shots on goal is Caleb Herbert with 187. 

Need To Score First

Grizzlies are 26-7-5 when scoring first. Utah has scored first in 38 of their 72 games this season. Utah scored first in game 1 and Idaho scored first in game 2.

Utah vs Idaho

Utah swept Idaho in a 3 game series from Feb.6-9 at Maverik Center as well as 2 of 3 games to end the regular season.

On Martin Luther King Day, January 21st Idaho won 7-4.

Prior to the January 21st game all 4 previous 2 game series ended in splits. In doing the basic win-loss math the Grizzlies have won 7 games and Idaho has won 5. Despite many close games, only the October 19th game, where Idaho won 6-5 is the only one to go past regulation. Utah’s official record is 9-4-2 vs Idaho in the regular season.

Caleb Herbert has 11 goals and 8 assists for 19 points in 15 games vs Idaho this season. Herbert, Zahn and Richart are the only players to appear in all 15 games for Utah against Idaho this year. Jeff King, AJ White and Keegan Kanzig are the only 3 Steelheads players to play in all 15 vs Utah. Steven McParland had 8 goals and 5 assists vs Utah. AJ White, Idaho’s captain has 2 goals and 7 assists. Kyle Schempp had 5 goals vs Utah this season.

2 goal games for Utah this season.                                                                         

Caleb Herbert and JT Henke – 5 times.

Matt Berry– 4 times.   Ryan Walters – 3 times

Cole Ully, Jake Marchment and Mike Economos – 2 times 

Tim McGauley, Austin Carroll, Julien Nantel, Eric Freschi, Joey Ratelle, Ty Lewis, Taylor Richart and Mitch Maxwell– 1 time.  Playoffs – Josh Dickinson 1 two goal game.

Matt Berry had the only hat trick of the season as he scored 3 goals vs Allen on November 21st.

JT Henke had 4 straight 2 goal games in December as he won league Rookie of the Month. He scored 2 goals on December 15th vs Rapid City, December 21st and 22nd at Idaho and December 29th vs Allen.

Overtime Game Winners for Utah This Season

5 overtime game winning goals for Utah this season. 4 of the 5 came at Maverik Center. The only one on the road was Herbert’s GWG on November 4th at Wichita.

Caleb Herbert – Twice. At Wichita on Nov. 4. Vs Idaho on April 6th.

Jack Walker – January 5th vs Wichita.  Gage Ausmus – February 15th vs Kansas City.

Josh Dickinson – March 2nd vs Maine.

Award Winners

December Rookie of the Month: JT Henke.

November Co-Player of the Month: Caleb Herbert & Cole Ully.

Player of the Week: Matt Berry – November 19th-25th.

Goaltender of the Week: Joe Cannata – November 19th-25th, October 12th-14th.

Upcoming Radio Broadcasts

April 17th – Idaho at Utah. Game 3. 7:05 pm face-off. ESPN 700.

April 19th – Idaho at Utah. Game 4. 7:05 pm face-off. KSOP.

April 20th – Idaho at Utah. Game 5 7:05 pm face-off. TBD.

April 22nd – Utah at Idaho. Game 6 7:05 pm face-off. TBD.

April 23rd – Utah at Idaho. Game 7 7:05 pm face-off. ESPN 700.