West Valley City, Utah - The Alaska Aces defeated the Utah Grizzlies (12-5) 5-2 Friday night at the E-Center to end Utah's six-game winning streak.Following the game on Grizzlies Radio, Utah Head Coach Kevin Colley announced that captain and all-time leading scorer Ryan Kinasewich had been returned to the team from the AHL's Hamilton Bulldogs and will be in the lineup Saturday.
Nearly 900 teddy bears were tossed onto the ice following Utah's first goal. The bears will be donated to children at Primary Children's Medical Center during the team's Pre-Christmas visit.
Alaska built a 2-0 lead in the first 2:30 of the game with goals 37 second apart. Utah rallied at 5:20 to make the game 2-1 on a Dustin Friesen (2) goal. 20 seconds later, the Grizzlies Vlady Nikiforov was awarded two penalty-shots following an Alaska hooking minor, while referee JM McNulty also ruled Alaska intentionally knocked the net off. Nikiforov was denied on both chances by goaltender Scott Reid. Utah made it 2-2 with 2:21 left in the second period as AJ Perry fed Tom May in the right circle for his fifth goal of the season and fourth in five games.
The game remained 2-2 until the 12:03 mark of the second when the Aces tallied two goals in 3:56 going down the stretch in the period. Alaska added an empty-netter in the final two minutes to seal the final.
With two assists in the game, Utah's AJ Perry extended his scoring streak to seven.
The Grizzlies and Aces complete their three-game series Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the E-Center.
• Discuss this story on the ECHL message board...
• Digg this story
• Add to Del.icio.us
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
