ECHL Utah Grizzlies

Grizzlies Start New Era with 4-2 Win over Rival Before 7,835 Fans

October 18, 2013 - ECHL (ECHL)
Utah Grizzlies News Release


West Valley City, Utah - Jamie MacQueen scored all four Utah goals and Igor Bobkov held a shutout until the final four minutes as the Utah Grizzlies beat the Idaho Steelheads 4-2 in their home opener before 7,835 fans at Maverik Center in Head Coach Tim Branham's debut.

The crowd was Utah's largest home opening crowd in over 12 years and surpassed last year's crowd of nearly 7,300 that set the same mark.

The win made Branham, 32, victorious in his first game as a Head Coach after being named Utah's Head Coach/GM on July 8, 2013 after four years with the ECHL's Reading Royals who won the ECHL's Kelly Cup Championship in 2013.

Bobkov, on an NHL contract with the Anaheim Ducks, stopped 34 of the 36 shots that he faced in Utah's first game as the Ducks ECHL affiliate.

MacQueen mixed hard work, grittiness and skill adding his four goals. He hacked in rebounds for goals one and three and finished off odd man rushes for goals two and four. Line mate David Vallorani had three assists in the contest.

The Grizzlies goal scorer got his big night started just 3:12 into the game after Utah won a face-off and Martin Lee fired in a shot from the point. 6:36 later at 9:48 MacQueen took a feed from Vallorani on a two-on-one to make it 2-0.

Utah then killed five-straight penalties and used some huge Bobkov saves to hold a 2-0 lead, before MacQueen setup Berkely Scott on a power-play and then snuck behind the net to hammer home the rebound for his third goal of the evening through the backdoor to make it 3-0 at 11:31 of the period.

1:07 after Idaho snuck in their first goal of the night with 3:34 remaining, MacQueen broke down the Idaho defense for his fourth goal of the night. Idaho made it 4-2 with 10 seconds left.

The Grizzlies will be in Las Vegas Saturday, face-off is at 8 p.m.

Utah returns home Wednesday with Las Vegas at 7 p.m. for a Wild $2 Wednesday featuring $2 hot dogs, $2 fries, $2 Pepsi products and $2 draft beers. Students with ID will be admitted for $5.

Friday, the Grizzlies will be giving away a Los Grizzlies team poster featuring player head shots. Face-off with San Francisco is at 7 p.m.

Ticket packages for the 2013-2014 season are still on sale and start at just $29. For more information, visit http://www.utahgrizzlies.com or call (801) 988-7825.

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ECHL Stories from October 18, 2013


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