ECHL Utah Grizzlies

Grizzlies Clinch 3rd in West in 3-2 Win over Idaho

April 11, 2014 - ECHL (ECHL)
Utah Grizzlies News Release


West Valley City, Utah - The Utah Grizzlies (38-24-3-5) defeated the Idaho Steelheads (38-26-3-4) 3-2 Friday night at Maverik Center.

The win clinches the third spot in the Western Conference and the Grizzlies will host either Bakersfield or Colorado in games one and two of the ECHL's Western Conference Quarterfinal Series starting next Friday and Saturday at Maverik Center.

Utah outshot Idaho 27-13 in the final two periods after trailing 1-0 going to the second period.

"Falling down 1-0 early, they battled back and I thought we played a solid game in the second and third periods there," said Head Coach/General Manager Tim Branham. "A lot of different guys contributed to this win and it was a huge win."

Danick Paquette's 22nd goal of the year as he backhanded a shot home tied the game at one 13:04 into the second period after Idaho led 1-0 for 24:45. David Vallorani and Charles Sarault picked up assists on the play.

The Grizzlies made it 2-1 three minutes later as Michael Pelech led a 3-on-2 up ice with Andrew O'Brien going to the net. Pelech dropped the puck to T.J. Battani who scored shorthanded for his first of the year.

Idaho tied the game 6:05 into the third period on a power-play goal, but Utah scored a power-play goal of their own exactly seven minutes later with 6:55 left in the game. Charles Sarault again found Paquette for his second of the game and 23rd of the year on the power-play and the Grizzlies would hold on. Vallorani picked up another assist on the game-winning goal for his team leading 16th multiple-point game of the year.

"Playing with two great players (Charles Sarault, David Vallorani) helps a lot, you get great passes and Vallorani and Sarault just got me the puck," said Paquette. "We wanted the two points, we wanted third place, that was our goal today and it's always intense against those guys. We came prepared."

Aaron Dell stopped 22 of 24 shots to improve to 19-7-0-2 in goal for Utah. Dell before the game was named the team's Co-MVP for the 2013-2014 season along with his counterpart Igor Bobkov who is currently on recall to Anaheim and currently assigned to their AHL affiliate in Norfolk.

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ECHL Stories from April 11, 2014


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