Sports stats



AHL Utah Grizzlies

Grizzlies blanked by Ducks

January 7, 2005 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Utah Grizzlies News Release


CINCINNATI, OHIO - The road has been a lonely place for the Grizzlies lately having lost six straight games away from the 'E' Center, tying a franchise record, and after spending nearly a day and a half trying to get to Cincinnati through airport delays and flight cancellations they seemed to have missed their wake-up call falling behind by five goals in the first period and eventually dropping the decision 6-0 at the Cincinnati Gardens.

The offensive outburst started just two and a half minutes into the game when Tim Brent received a fortunate bounce off the glass near the blue line right into a vacated net as Jean-Marc Pelletier had gone behind the goal to play the puck. For Brent, it was his first professional goal assisted by Sheldon Brookbank and Stanislav Chistov. Cincinnati would add to their lead at the 11:07 mark with a rebound goal by Igor Pohanka, his third of the season, assisted by Cory Pecker and Dustin Penner. Michael Holmqvist scored his ninth goal of the season just 42 seconds later as Shane O'Brien walked in to snap a shot that Pelletier gave a rebound in front of the net for Holmqvist. Joffrey Lupul and O'Brien had the assists. A Grizzlies turnover led to the fourth goal of the period as Lupul pushed a pass in front of the net for Kurtis Foster who finished it for his sixth goal of the season. The final mark of the period came on a wrist shot from Lupul assisted by former Grizzly Zenon Konopka and Mark Popovic at 19:33 of the period. Cincinnati outshot the Grizzlies 16-5 and received the only power play going scoreless on it.

The five goals scored by Cincinnati were the second most the Grizzlies have ever given up in a period and tied the most goals scored by Cincinnati in a single game this year.

Neither team scored in the second period but the Grizzlies pressured the Ducks for 12 shots outnumbering the Ducks by a half-dozen. David LeNeveu replaced Pelletier in the net prior to the start of the period and he was perfect making six saves.

The Ducks scored the only goal of the third period on the power play as Konopka pushed his eighth goal of the season by LeNeveu ruining an otherwise stellar night in goal for LeNeveu who just minutes before Cincy scored their sixth goal killed off two minutes of a 5-on-3. Aaron Rome and O'Brien each added assists. Cincinnati outshot the Grizzlies 13-2 in the final period for a game total lead of 35-19.

For Ilya Bryzgalov, it was his second shutout the season and in his career against the Grizzlies. For Utah it was the sixth time this season they have been blanked on the scoreboard. LeNeveu finished the game with 18 saves on 19 shots in relief of Pelletier who made 11 saves on 16 shots in the only period he worked.

Lupul finished the game with a goal and two helpers for his fourth three point game of the season and Konopka (G,A) and O'Brien (2A) each had two points.

The Grizzlies will play the second game of the back-to-back series against the Ducks tomorrow night at the Cincinnati Gardens at 5:35 PM (mt).

Check out the Utah Grizzlies Statistics

• Discuss this story on the American Hockey League message board...

American Hockey League Stories from January 7, 2005


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