Grizzlies Gameday: Series Opener Against the Steelheads

Grizzlies Gameday: Series Opener Against the Steelheads

Utah Grizzlies (32-31-3, 67 points, .508 Win %) @ Idaho Steelheads (53-10-1-2, 109 points, .826 Win %) 

Wednesday, April 5, 2023. 7:10 pm. Venue: Idaho Central Arena

Broadcast: Video: FloHockey.TV - https://www.flohockey.tv/events/7761299-2023-utah-grizzlies-vs-idaho-steelheads

Audio: youtube.com/UTAHGRIZZLIES.

It’s the first of a two city, 3 game series between the Mountain Division rivals. Utah is 9-5 in their last 14 games. Cameron Wright has a point in 15 of his last 19 games. Wright has 12 goals and 12 assists in his last 19 games. Utah has scored 93 goals over their last 22 games for an average of 4.22 per game. Idaho is 30-4 at home but 3 of those losses have come at the hands of the Grizzlies. Utah is 4-11 vs Idaho this season and 3-5 at Idaho Central Arena.

Games Remaining in the Regular Season

Wednesday, April 5, 2023 – Utah at Idaho. 7:10 pm. Idaho Central Arena.

Friday, April 7, 2023 – Utah at Idaho. 7:10 pm. Idaho Central Arena.

Saturday, April 8, 2023 – Idaho at Utah. 7:10 pm. Maverik Center. AAPI Night.

Wednesday, April 12, 2023 – Tulsa at Utah. 7:10 pm. Maverik Center. Bud Light College Night.

Friday, April 14, 2023 – Tulsa at Utah. 7:10 pm. Maverik Center. AFCU Friday.

Saturday, April 15, 2023 – Tulsa at Utah. 7:10 pm. Maverik Center. Fan Appreciation and Star Wars Night.

You can catch every game on FloHockey and audio on the Grizzlies YouTube channel.

All Times Mountain.

Who’s Been Hot for the Grizzlies

Jordan Martel has 7 goals and 5 assists in his last 5 games. Martel has a point in 9 of his last 11 games (8 goals, 9 assists). Martel is a +8 in his last 7 games. Martel is a +10 in 39 games with Utah. Martel had 1 goal and 1 assist in each of the 3 games last week vs Wichita. 

Tarun Fizer has 7 goals in his last 11 games. Fizer leads Utah with 25 goals and 10 power play assists. 

Dylan Fitze has 6 points in his last 3 games (1 goal, 5 assists). Fitze is 2nd on the Grizzlies with 16 goals. 

Cameron Wright leads the league with 8 game winning goals. Wright leads all rookies with 258 shots. Wright leads the Grizzlies with 13 multiple point games. Wright has 7 points (3 goals, 4 assists) in his last 4 games. Wright has 75 shots on goal in his last 14 games. 

Keaton Jameson has a current 6 game point streak (3g, 6a). 

Aaron Thow had 5 goals and 3 assists and was a +10 in 5 games vs Wichita this season. Thow is a  +16 in his last 22 games. 

Brandon Cutler has a point in 16 of his last 23 games. Cutler has 3 goals and 2 assists in his last 4 games since returning to Utah from the AHL. 

Connor McDonald is +17 in his last 21 games. 

Grizzlies Out With Injuries

Cam Strong has 10 points in his last 14 games (4 goals, 6 assists). Strong is a +7 in his last 11 games. Strong suffered a season ending injury on March 17 at Allen.

Dakota Raabe has a point in 13 of his last 15 games (5 goals, 11 assists). Raabe scored the shootout game winner vs Kansas City on March 11 Raabe suffered an upper body injury on March 19 at Allen.

Zach Tsekos is out with an upper body injury. Tsekos has 25 points (13g, 12a) in 30 games. 

Johnny Walker is likely out for the season with an upper body injury. Walker has 12 goals and 6 assists in 33 games this season.

Victor Bartley is out with an injury. Bartley has 12 points (1g, 11a) in 41 games this season.

Something Changed on February 11th

Utah has taken 860 shots over their last 22 games for an average of 39.09. Prior to February 11th the Grizzlies had averaged 28.43 shots per game and were 26th in the league at that time. Now the Grizzlies are averaging 31.98 shots per game for the season and are currently 12th in the league.

The more shots and scoring chances has translated into goals as Utah is averaging 4.22 goals per game in their last 22 contests (93 goals). Prior to February 11th Utah averaged 2.66 goals per game (117 goals).

Recent Transactions

April 4 – Grizzlies Sign Forward Mick Messner - Messner started his college career at the University of Wisconsin and played there for 2 years from 2018-2020. He transferred to Merrimack College, where he spent 3 seasons there from 2020-2023. Messner played with current Grizzlies forward Christian Simeone during the 2020-2021 season. Messner had 5 goals, 4 assists and a +6 rating in 35 games with Merrimack this season. Messner majored in Business at Merrimack. Messner will wear number 25, which is the same number now former Grizzlies forward Vladislav Mikhalchuk wore.

April 3 – Grizzlies sign defenseman Kyle Mayhew - Mayhew was a key defenseman on the DU 2022 national championship club, where he was a teammate with current Grizzlies forward Cameron Wright. Mayhew was a combined +51 in 5 seasons at Denver, where he scored 6 goals and 29 assists in 153 games. Mayhew is from Anaheim Hills, California and is listed at 5’8” and 160 pounds. Mayhew will wear number 6 for Utah.

April 3 – Defenseman Luke Martin reassigned to Utah - Martin was a member of the 2021-2022 ECHL All-Rookie Team, where he helped lead Utah to their first division title in team history. Martin last season had 43 points (10 goals, 33 assists) in 59 regular season games. In the 2022 Kelly Cup Playoffs Martin had 2 goals and 10 assists in 17 games. Martin was named to the 2023 ECHL All-Star team with Jacksonville, where he scored 25 points (8 goals, 17 assists) in 25 games. Luke appeared in 28 AHL games with the Colorado Eagles and had 1 goal and 8 assists and a +8 rating. Martin was a 2nd round draft pick (52nd overall) by the Carolina Hurricanes in 2017. He played his college hockey at the University of Michigan from 2016-2020. Martin will wear number 44 for the Grizzlies, a number he wore last season.

April 3 – Grizzlies released forward Vladislav Mikhalchuk – He appeared in 31 games for Utah, scoring 4 goals and 8 assists.Bear Bites: Grizzlies Team Notes

Utah scored 19 goals in 3 games last week vs Wichita. Utah went 8-5 in the month of March.

Utah has scored 93 goals over their last 22 games. Utah has won 10 in a row against Wichita dating back to the start of the 2021-2022 season. Utah is 21-6 when scoring first. Utah is 21-8-3 in games decided by 1 or 2 goals. Utah is 24-1 when leading after 2 periods. Utah has a point in 8 of their last 10 road games. The Grizz have standings points in 15 of their last 22 games. Utah is averaging 39.09 shots per game in their last 22 contests.

Playoff Race Heats Up

Utah is currently in 4th place in the Mountain Division standings. They have 67 points this season. The Grizz are 1 point behind Allen and Kansas City for a tie for 2nd place and 1 point ahead of 5th place Wichita. Utah is 5 points ahead of 6th place Rapid City. 4 of the final 6 games in the regular season will be at Maverik Center. Utah has 2 games at Idaho, 1 game at home vs Idaho and Utah hosts Tulsa for the final 3 games of the regular season.

Matchup With Idaho

Idaho is 4 wins away from setting the league record for most victories in a season with six games to play. Idaho is tied for the league record with 30 wins at home. The Steelheads have lost 2 in a row only once this season (Feb. 4 at Tulsa 4-3 in a shootout and 6-3 at Tulsa on Feb. 5). They have not lost twice in a row in regulation all year. They are 30-4 at home but Idaho is just 5-3 at home against Utah. Idaho is 25-1 at home against teams other than Utah.  Idaho has a record of 53-10-1-2.

Utah Grizzlies 2022-2023 Roster

Forwards (14): Brandon Cutler, Dylan Fitze, Tarun Fizer, Keaton Jameson, Jordan Martel, Mick Messner, Tyler Penner, Jared Power, Dakota Raabe, Christian Simeone, Cam Strong, Zach Tsekos, Johnny Walker, Cameron Wright.

Defenseman (10): Victor Bartley, Brycen Martin, Luke Martin, Kyle Mayhew, Connor McDonald, Kyle Pouncy, Jacob Semik, James Shearer, Cory Thomas, Aaron Thow.

Goaltenders (3): Garrett Metcalf, Trent Miner, Lukas Parik. 

2022-2023 Utah Grizzlies Regular Season Totals (league rankings)

Overall record: 32-31-3

Home record: 16-16

Road record: 16-15-3

Win percentage: .508

Streak: Won 3

Standings Points: 67

Last 10: 5-5

Goals per game: 3.18 (15th) Goals for: 210

Goals against per game: 3.74 (23rd) Goals Against: 247

Shots per game: 31.98 (12th)

Shots against per game: 34.65 (Tied 24th)

Power Play: 56 for 316 – 17.7 % (Tied 20th) 

Penalty Kill: 229 for 291 – 78.7 % (18th)

Penalty Minutes: 1248. 18.91 per game. (2nd most in the league)

Shorthanded Goals: 5.

Shorthanded Goals Allowed: 12. 

Record When Scoring First: 21-6.

Opposition Scores First: 11-25-3.  

Record in One Goal Games: 13-4-3.

SCORING          1ST       2ND               3RD               OT/Shootout       TOTAL                     

Utah Grizzlies     62         82                   61                   5                               210                            

Opposition           79         83                   82                   3                               247

Team Leaders (2022-23 Regular season)

Goals: Tarun Fizer (25). 

Assists: Andrew Nielsen (32). 

Points: Wright (55).

Plus/Minus: Connor McDonald (+11)

PIM: Johnny Walker (171)

Power Play Points: Nielsen (26)

Power Play Goals: Tarun Fizer (10)

Power Play Assists: Nielsen (20). 

Shots on Goal: Cameron Wright (258). 

Shooting Percentage: Johnny Walker (18.5 %) 12 for 65.   

Game Winning Goals: Wright (8)

Wins: Trent Miner (14)

Save %: Miner (.904).

Goals Against Average: Miner (3.24)

Shutouts: Miner (2)