Game Preview: Utah at Wichita. December 17th

Utah Grizzlies (11-8-4-1) at Wichita Thunder (12-11-5). INTRUST Bank Arena. Tuesday December 17, 2019. 6:00 pm MST.  Classic Country 1370, 104.3 FM HD-2. ECHL.TV.  

It’s the first game of a 3 city, 4 game in 5 day road trip that starts and ends in Wichita. It’s the second meeting between the teams this season. Grizzlies won 7-1 vs Wichita on October 16th at Maverik Center. Griffen Molino had 1 goal and 1 assist and was a +4 for the game. Molino had 3 goals and 2 assists and was a +4 last week vs Newfoundland. Travis Barron had 2 goals that night and Josh Dickinson, currently in the AHL had a hat trick. Utah outshot Wichita 30 to 14 in the game.

Wichita has 29 standings points and Utah has 27. With a Grizzlies regulation win, they will be tied with Wichita for 4th place in the Mountain division with 29 points.

Ouellette Named Goaltender of the Week

New Grizzlies goaltender Martin Ouellette was named league Goaltender of the Week for what he did last Friday and Saturday against Newfoundland. Ouellette and the Grizzlies shut out the number 1 scoring team in the league last Friday, where Martin stopped all 19 shots. Ouellette allowed only late 3rd period power play goals in a 3-2 win, where he saved 32 of 34. For the 2 games, Ouellette stopped 51 of 53. He was acquired on December 9th from the Atlanta Gladiators for future considerations. Ouellette is in his 6th season professionally. He has a career record in the ECHL of 106-51-12 with 11 shutouts, a 2.56 GAA and a .912 save percentage. He has also seen action in 27 career American Hockey League games with Syracuse and Lehigh Valley where he is 14-5-1 with two shutouts, a 2.15 goal-against average and a .930 save percentage.

Weekend Recap

Saturday Night: Utah 3 Newfoundland 2

Yuri Terao had 2 goals and Ty Lewis had 1 goal and 1 assist in a 3-2 win as the Grizz picked up 5 out of 6 standings points against the defending Kelly Cup Champions. Martin Ouellette stopped 32 of 34 shots in the win.

Friday Night: Utah 4 Newfoundland 0

Grizzlies shut out an opponent for the second time in a 3 game stretch. It was the first time Newfoundland was shut out all season. In fact it was the first time Newfoundland scored less than 2 goals in a game all year. In his Grizzlies debut goaltender Martin Ouellette stopped all 19 shots he saw. Griffen Molino had 2 goals and 1 assist. Ty Lewis had 1 goal and 1 assist. Travis Barron also added a goal. Utah outshot Newfoundland 32 to 19. Newfoundland was 0 for 5 on the power play, while Utah was 0 for 2.

Wednesday Night: Newfoundland 4 Utah 3 (Overtime)

Tim McGauley and Griffen Molino each had 1 goal and 1 assist in the Grizzlies 4-3 loss in OT as Joseph Duszak scored the game winner 1:37 into the extra session. Taylor Richart had 2 assists for the Grizz and Joe Wegwerth added a game tying goal 11:12 into the third period to make it a 3-3 game. Brad Barone stopped 21 of 25 in net for Utah.

So Many Close Games

Last game for the Grizzlies was a 1 goal game. 6 of the last 9 games have been decided in either overtime or a shootout. Utah has 9 games decided past regulation. 16 of the 24 games this season have been decided by 1 goal. 9 of the past 12 games have been 1 goal games with 6 of those ending in OT or shootout.

Travis Barron Returns in Style

Barron had a third period goal last Friday night. He has 7 goals and 7 assists in 13 games for Utah this year.

Who’s Hot….M and M Boys on a Roll

Griffen Molino has 3 goal and 7 assists in his last 5 games. Molino is a +9 the last 5 games and he’s 2nd on the team at +14.

Tim McGauley currently leads the team in assists (12), Plus/Minus (+16) and is tied with Molino with 19 points.

Joe Wegwerth has 3 goals and 2 assists for 5 points in the last 6 games.

Ty Lewis has 2 goals and 2 assists in the last 2 games. Lewis is a +5 in the last 2 games.

Rio Tinto Kennecott Partners with the Grizzlies

For every goal scored at home this season Rio Tinto Kennecott will donate $100 to UCAIR, the Utah Clean Air Partnership. The Grizzlies have scored 36 goals at home so far this season.

Recent Transactions

Defenseman Kevin Davis and Josh Anderson as well as Forward Felix Lauzon were assigned to the AHL’s Colorado Eagles. Davis is 1 of 3 Grizz blueliners to have played in every game. Anderson was with the team for all 3 games last week after spending the entire month of November and first week of December with the Eagles. Lauzon has 2 goals and 6 assists for the Grizzlies this season.

2019-2020 Regular Season Totals

Overall record: 11-8-4-1

Home record: 7-4-2.

Road record: 4-4-2-1.

Last 10 games: Utah is 7-1-2 

Goals per game: 3.25 (11th in the league).

Goals against per game: 3.00 (7th). 

Shots per game: 30.50 (14th).

Shots against per game: 28.04 (4th). 

Power play: 18.2 % (11th).  

Penalty Kill: 84.0 % (10th). 

Scoring By Period

First Period: Utah 20 Opponents 20.

Second Period: Utah 30 Opponents 25.

Third Period: Utah 24 Opponents 22.

Total Scoring: Utah 78 Opponents 72.

Team Leaders

Goals: Josh Dickinson (9)

Assists: Tim McGauley  (12)

Points: Griffen Molino/McGauley (19)

Plus/Minus: McGauley (+16) – Tied 2nd in the league.

PIM: Patrick McGrath (77) – 2nd in league

Power Play Points: Travis Barron (8)

Shots on Goal: Taylor Richart (72)

Game Winning Goals: Yuri Terao (3)

Wins: Jeff Smith (3)

Save %: Martin Ouellette (9.62) – 2 games.

Goals Against Average: Ouellette (1.00) – 2 games.

Grizzlies Among League Leaders

Forward Tim McGauley is tied for 2nd in plus/minus (+16). Patrick McGrath is 2nd in the league in penalty minutes with 77.

Upcoming Promotions

December 27th Tulsa at Utah – AFCU Friday.

December 28th Tulsa at Utah – Lucky’s Family Night.

December 30th Tulsa at Utah – Maverik Monday – Buy one get one free tickets with Maverik Adventure Card.

Grizzlies Player Awards

Josh Dickinson – October 2019 Player of the Month. He also was ECHL Player of the Week from October 14-20, where he had back to back hat tricks.

Hunter Miska – November 18-24 Goaltender of the Week.

Martin Ouellette – December 9-15 Goaltender of the Week.

Grizzlies Reschedule February game vs KC

The regularly scheduled Friday February 21st game at Maverik Center has been moved to Sunday, February 23rd at 5:00 pm. Tickets that were distributed for the game on the 21st will be good to use for the 23rd.

3 Have Played Them All

3 Players have appeared in all 24 regular season games. Taylor Richart, Eric Williams and Kevin Davis. All 3 are defenseman. Davis is now in the AHL with the Colorado Eagles and will miss his first game of the season on Tuesday.

Hat Tricks This Season

Josh Dickinson – 2 (October 16th, 18th).

Tim McGauley – 1 (December 6th).