Grizzlies Take Game 1 of Series 3-2 in Colorado
April 15, 2016 - ECHL (ECHL)
Utah Grizzlies News Release
Loveland, Colorado - The Utah Grizzlies defeated the Colorado Eagles 3-2 Thursday night at Budweiser Events Center to open the first round playoff series.
"We played a solid third period and found a way to get a win," said Grizzlies Head Coach/General Manager Tim Branham. "A lot of guys stepped up and made some big plays."
Mark Owuya stopped 22 of 24 shots, including several late as Colorado tried to tie with an extra attacker.
"It's definitely a huge win for us, we came out hard, I thought our team played together all game and stuck together no matter what happened," said Matt Berry. "We battled for the full sixty and we are all happy to get the W tonight."
Berry scored the game-winning goal on the power-play 7:58 into the second period as he was on the side of the net as Bryan Moore got him the puck. Charlie Sarault also picked up an assist.
Moore gave the Grizzlies their first lead of the night 2:06 earlier as he scored on a two-on-one up ice 11 seconds after coming out of the penalty box with Jon Puskar drawing an assist.
"I thought after Moore came out of the box and scored that big goal for us to make it 2-1 that we were really playing hard and we were all over them," said Berry. "We were lucky to get up 3-1 with my goal, he gave me a good pass backdoor and I had a wide open net to put it in. After that, we just wanted to play smart, put pucks in deep and try to keep the game where it was."
The Grizzlies fell behind 1-0 3:59 into the contest but Barry Almeida, who led Utah with 29 goals during the regular season, tied the contest up as he walked into the left circle and scored on a pass up ahead from T.J. Syner. Shayne Taker started the play up ice from behind the Utah net 11:09 into the first.
"We just have to keep doing what we are doing and good things will happen for us," said Berry. "It's a long 72-game season, but now you completely forget about that and you have a new season here and tonight was game one. We just have to keep going and keep working hard out there."
Game 1: Thursday, April 14: Utah 3 Colorado 2
Game 2: Sunday, April 17: Utah at Colorado, 7 p.m.
Game 3: Thursday, April 21: Colorado at Utah, 7 p.m. (KMYU TV)
Game 4: Saturday, April 23: Colorado at Utah, 7 p.m.
Game 5: Sunday, April 24: Colorado at Utah, 4 p.m.**
Game 6: Tuesday, April 26: Utah at Colorado, 7 p.m.**
Game 7: Wednesday, April 27: Utah at Colorado, 7 p.m.**
** If Necessary
Tickets
Tickets for the first round of the playoffs are on sale now at UtahGrizzlies.com, Maverik Center Box Office and any Smith's Tix Location. Tickets start at $12 and fans can get a free Grizzlies Playoff T-Shirt for every ticket purchased when mentioning this offer at the arena box office only.
More On The Radio
The Grizzlies Minute has the latest news of the day every day at 5:20 p.m. during "Gunther and Ben in the Afternoon" on 1320 KFAN.
Head Coach Tim Branham makes his weekly appearance on 1320 KFAN every Friday at 9:05 a.m. with Tim Lewis and The Morning Huddle
"Voice of the Grizzlies" Adrian Denny joins Gunther and Ben every Friday at 3:30 p.m. during the "Wasatch Whiparound."
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