ECHL Utah Grizzlies

Grizzlies Insider Adam Turner on 4-3 Utah Win

Published on February 9, 2019 under ECHL (ECHL)
Utah Grizzlies News Release


Teigan Zahn was literally an inch away from securing his third goal of the season as a puck ricocheted off the left crossbar in a scoreless contest in the 11th meeting between the Utah Grizzlies and Idaho Steelheads. Not to worry as a Grizzlie player who is a bit more adept when it comes to putting the puck in the back of the net, J.T. Henke, fired a successful rebound to give the home team a 1-0 lead. In what has come to be expected of an Idaho/Utah matchup, round 11 was evenly fought but in the end, it was the Grizzlies that prevailed, 4-3.

"I'm super proud of the way our team played," head coach Tim Branham said. "We've got so much talent and skill that we don't need to cheat to make plays. When you keep things simple and keep pucks in you end up creating turnovers and scoring goals and that's what we did."

The play of the game, which exemplified Utah's work ethic on the defensive end, was displayed by Taylor Richart. Idaho forward Reid Petryk, already in possession of a goal, fired a bullet that trickled through the pads of goalie Kevin Carr. Richart sacrificed himself by lunging behind Carr and swatting what would have been Petryk and Idaho's second goal of the night. In fact, Utah relegated Idaho's high octance offense to a rather meager 23 shots.

"Defensively I thought we played pretty well," Richart said. "We don't like to give up three goals but we played hard and with a lot of effort. I don't think Carr saw the puck and I saw it trickle through and I knew I had to do something."

And Henke, who has an uncanny knack for multiple goal nights with four on the season, made no exception Friday night. Utah is in possession of the second best power play in the league, humming along nicely at a 22.6 % clip. Henke would improve upon that stat as the forward blasted a laser from the blue line for his fifth two goal game of the year, and his 15th on the season.

"When you get one early it gets the confidence up," Henke said. "It's nothing fancy. I just keep shooting the puck. We've got some momentum going and we're going to build on that for tomorrow."

Idaho, known for being a good third period team (outscoring their opponents 45-26 on the season), garnered a couple of goals by Grizzlie' nemesis Steven McParland and A.J. White to make things interesting.

But this was Utah's night. Defenseman Turner Ottenbreit wears number four which is fitting as he blistered the back of the net for his fourth goal of the year and the Grizzlies' third of the contest. And when Idaho pulled goaltender Tomas Sholl, Caleb Herbert did what Caleb Herbert does best, putting the puck in the back of the net for what amounted to the game winner.

"We've got the four points and tomorrow will be the biggest game of the series," Branham said. "We're going to enjoy this one but rest up for tomorrow because it's going to take everybody.

Teigan Zahn was literally an inch away from securing his third goal of the season as a puck ricocheted off the left crossbar in a scoreless contest in the 11th meeting between the Utah Grizzlies and Idaho Steelheads. Not to worry as a Grizzlie player who is a bit more adept when it comes to putting the puck in the back of the net, J.T. Henke, fired a successful rebound to give the home team a 1-0 lead. In what has come to be expected of an Idaho/Utah matchup, round 11 was evenly fought but in the end, it was the Grizzlies that prevailed, 4-3.

"I'm super proud of the way our team played," head coach Tim Branham said. "We've got so much talent and skill that we don't need to cheat to make plays. When you keep things simple and keep pucks in you end up creating turnovers and scoring goals and that's what we did."

The play of the game, which exemplified Utah's work ethic on the defensive end, was displayed by Taylor Richart. Idaho forward Reid Petryk, already in possession of a goal, fired a bullet that trickled through the pads of goalie Kevin Carr. Richart sacrificed himself by lunging behind Carr and swatting what would have been Petryk and Idaho's second goal of the night. In fact, Utah relegated Idaho's high octance offense to a rather meager 23 shots.

"Defensively I thought we played pretty well," Richart said. "We don't like to give up three goals but we played hard and with a lot of effort. I don't think Carr saw the puck and I saw it trickle through and I knew I had to do something."

And Henke, who has an uncanny knack for multiple goal nights with four on the season, made no exception Friday night. Utah is in possession of the second best power play in the league, humming along nicely at a 22.6 % clip. Henke would improve upon that stat as the forward blasted a laser from the blue line for his fifth two goal game of the year, and his 15th on the season.

"When you get one early it gets the confidence up," Henke said. "It's nothing fancy. I just keep shooting the puck. We've got some momentum going and we're going to build on that for tomorrow."

Idaho, known for being a good third period team (outscoring their opponents 45-26 on the season), garnered a couple of goals by Grizzlie' nemesis Steven McParland and A.J. White to make things interesting.

But this was Utah's night. Defenseman Turner Ottenbreit wears number four which is fitting as he blistered the back of the net for his fourth goal of the year and the Grizzlies' third of the contest. And when Idaho pulled goaltender Tomas Sholl, Caleb Herbert did what Caleb Herbert does best, putting the puck in the back of the net for what amounted to the game winner.

"We've got the four points and tomorrow will be the biggest game of the series," Branham said. "We're going to enjoy this one but rest up for tomorrow because it's going to take everybody.

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