Grizz Fall 7-3 in Season Opener

Steelheads Defeat Grizz 7-3 in Season Opener

Boise, Idaho – Brandon Cutler, Quinn Ryan and Charles-Edouard D’Astous each scored for the Utah Grizzlies in a 7-3 loss to the Idaho Steelheads in the season opener at Idaho Central Arena.

Cutler scored his first professional goal unassisted 6:18 into the contest. Cutler scored 47 goals in 5 seasons in the WHL. Utah led 1-0 after 1 period, outshooting Idaho 14 to 7. Idaho outshot Utah 27 to 13 in the final 2 periods of the game.

Idaho scored 4 goals in a 4 minute 19 second stretch late in the 2nd period, including 2 power play goals to take a 4-1 lead. Luke Brown scored the first 2 Idaho goals. AJ White and Colby McAuley added 2nd period tallies. White added 2 goals in the 3rd period to complete the hat trick against his former team. White scored 15 goals for Utah in the 2020-21 season.

Quinn Ryan scored in his professional debut 4:43 into the third unassisted. 16 seconds later is when White scored his 2nd  D’Astous made it a 5-3 Idaho game as he scored shorthanded on a Trey Bradley pass 6:13 into the third. It was Bradley’s first game as Grizzlies captain. Trey led Utah with 37 assists last season. White and Zack Andrusiak completed the scoring for Idaho as they won their first game since March 7, 2020.

Idaho went 4 for 11 on the power play and Utah went 0 for 2 and had a shorthanded goal. Trent Minor saved 27 of 34 in net for Utah while Idaho’s Adam Scheel saved 24 of 27.

Ryan Kinasewich made his head coaching debut for Utah. The home opener for the Grizz is on Saturday night at Maverik Center. Tickets are available at utahgrizzlies.com.

3 stars

1. Yauheni Aksiantsiuk (Idaho) – 2 assists.
2. Luc Brown (Idaho) – 2 goals 1 assist.
3. AJ White (Idaho) – 3 goals.