NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, CFL stats



Utah Grizzlies

Grizzlies Season Preview: Friday Is Opening Night

October 14, 2014 - ECHL (ECHL)
Utah Grizzlies News Release


Friday, October 17; Idaho at Utah, 7 p.m.

Saturday, October 18; Utah at Utah, 7 p.m.

Season Opener

The Grizzlies and Idaho open the season with a home and home series this weekend after Utah took a pair of games from the Steelheads over the weekend in preseason action. Utah won 3-1 Friday in Boise and 4-3 in a shootout Saturday.

Opening Night

Utah is 5-1 in their last six season openers going back to 2008.

Leadership

At Tuesday's Face-Off Luncheon, Grizzlies Head Coach General/Manager Tim Branham announced that Channing Boe will be the team's captain this season. Mathieu Aubin and Danick Paquette will serve as alternate captains for home games and Michael Pelech and Brent Gwidt will be alternate captains for road games.

The Team

The roster includes 18 players with professional experience, 8 players from last year's team, 12 players with AHL experience, 14 players who have played for Tim Branham before and six rookies.

In addition, six different players have combined to win 14 championships at the professional, collegiate or junior level. Seven players have served as team captains and eight have been honored for academic achievement at the college level.

The Goaltenders

The Anaheim Ducks have assigned rookie goaltenders Ryan Faragher and Etienne Marcoux to the Grizzlies, both players will begin their professional careers in Utah. Rookie goaltender Kevin Kapalka is also on the Grizzlies roster. Utah looks to pick up where they left off last year in goaltending as they carried two of the top four goaltenders in the ECHL in Anaheim's Igor Bobkov and Aaron Dell.

Defense First Hockey In Branham Regime

Last year, the Grizzlies finished third in the ECHL allowing just 2.44 goals-per-game, they were fourth in shots allowed at 27 per-game and fifth on the penalty-kill at 86.6-percent.

Quotes From Head Coach/General Manager Tim Branham

"We are much deeper at skill positions and on the backend."

On the team: "When they come to the rink, they work."

On Player/Assistant Coach Patrick Wellar: "He doesn't need an "A" on his jersey for his teammates to know he's a leader."

"It's one thing to come watch a hockey game, it's another to come to a game after you've met that player in the community."

A RIVALRY

Friday Begins....

Friday, Utah and Idaho play the first of 13 games against each other in 2014-2015 with six of those games to be played at Maverik Center.

Outlook

The arenas being separated by only 345 miles isn't the only thing that gives Utah and Idaho a rivalry. The two teams played 14 games last year with Utah going 8-4-1-1 and nine of the 14 games decided by a single goal. Five of the final six games in the series were decided by a goal.

Neck and Neck

Utah and Idaho needed the final weekend of the season to separate each other last season. A 3-2 Utah win on the second to last day of the season on Friday, April 11 locked up the third spot in the conference for the Grizzlies and positioned Idaho into fourth place as Utah clinched the tiebreaker. Both teams finished with 85 points last year with Utah finishing 38-24-3-6 and Idaho 39-26-3-4.

The Coaches

Utah's Tim Branham (33, 38-24-9) and Idaho's Brad Ralph (34, 84-46-14) are the two youngest coaches in the Western Conference and both have flourished in the ECHL since landing their first Head Coaching jobs in the league.

Tickets

Tickets for all Grizzlies home games are on sale now at www.utahgrizzlies.com, the Maverik Center box office or any Ticketmaster location. Season ticket packages starting at $29 for three games, group discounts for parties of 10 or more and luxury suites for 16-88 people are available through the Grizzlies corporate offices by calling (801) 988-8000.

Broadcasts

All Grizzlies broadcasts can be heard on 1320 KFAN with Adrian Denny entering his 10th season as the "Voice of the Grizzlies". Denny will once again be joined for all Grizzlies home games by 1320 KFAN Program Director and host of "Monty in the Morning" Tim Montemayor. Grizzlies broadcasts can be seen on PPV at ECHL.TV and also heard on 1320KFAN.com and iHeart Radio by searching "1320 KFAN".

Check out the Utah Grizzlies Statistics

• Discuss this story on the ECHL message board...

ECHL Stories from October 14, 2014


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.

OurSports Central