Gelatt’s Hat Trick Leads Grizzlies to 6-3 Victory
West Valley City, Utah – John Gelatt scored three goals and Evan Friesen added goals as the Utah Grizzlies defeated the Rapid City Rush 6-3 on Friday night at Maverik Center.
Maurizio Colella gave Rapid City a 1-0 lead 9:20 into the contest. Rapid City led 1-0 after 20 minutes of play. Utah tied up the game 6:48 into the second period as Marek Hejduk scored his third of the year. Hejduk has three goals in his last 4 games. Evan Friesen scored a 4 on 4 goal on a great pass from Danny Dzhaniyev 10:16 in. John Gelatt scored from the right wing 13:39 in to extend Utah’s lead to 3-1.
Early in the third period Maurizio Colella scored his second goal of the night 52 seconds in. Gelatt scored his second of the night 10:22 in. Evan Friesen made it a 5-2 game on a pass from Dzhaniyev 12:50 in. It is Friesen’s third 2 goal game of the season. Gelatt completed the hat trick 13:20 in unassisted. It was Utah’s fifth hat trick of the season and Gelatt’s first as a pro. Ryan Chyzowski scored for Rapid City 15:14 in.
It was the 13th time this season where Utah has scored 6 or more goals. Danny Dzhaniyev, Aiden-Hansen Bukata and Reed Lebster each had 2 assists. Hunter Miska got the victory in net as he saved 23 of 26.
Utah has won 5 games in a row for the first time since March 3-12, 2023. The Grizzlies are 65-41-14 all-time vs Rapid City.
The final series of the 2025-26 regular season continues on Saturday night at 7:10 pm. Tickets for every Grizzlies home game are available at utahgrizzlies.com or by calling (801) 988-8000.
3 stars
- John Gelatt (Utah) – 3 goals, +3, 3 shots.
- Evan Friesen (Utah) – 2 goals, 3 shots.
- Danny Dzhaniyev (Utah) – 2 assists, +1, 3 shots.