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ECHL Utah Grizzlies

Grizzlies Weekly: Utah Was a Consistent Winner in the 2010s

December 30, 2019 - ECHL (ECHL)
Utah Grizzlies News Release


West Valley City, Utah - The Utah Grizzlies continue their 6 game homestand tonight against the Tulsa Oilers. It's the final game of the decade as well as the final game of the 3 game series.

Utah is looking for the sweep after winning the first 2 games of the series, outscoring Tulsa 11 to 5 in the series. Grizzlies won in a shootout 5-4 as Mitch Maxwell won the game in the fifth round of the shootout. Maxwell also had a first period goal for the Grizz, who are now 8-1-2 in the month of December. Utah has standings points in 11 of their last 12 games.

It's been an amazing month for the forward line of Ty Lewis, Tim McGauley and Griffen Molino. McGauley has 9 goals and 15 assists for 24 points and is a +22 in 11 games in December. Overall this season McGauley leads the league in plus/minus (+30). He is 2nd in the league with 25 assists and tied for 2nd with 36 points. Tim has 6 multiple point games in December. He is a +2 or better in 9 different games this season. Molino has 8 goals and 14 assists for 22 points and is a +22 in 11 games in December. Mo is a +2 or better in 10 different games this season. Lewis has 11 goals and 10 assists for 21 points and is a +14 in 11 games in December. Lewis has 9 goals and 6 assists in his last 6 games. The 11 goals leads all league players for the month.

The only thing that could prevent any of those 3 guys from winning December league players of the month is Allen's Tyler Sheehy, who has 10 goals and 17 assists for 27 points for the month. The 2 stats that gives a Utah player the advantage is Sheehy has played in 14 games, while the Grizzlies will only play 12. Sheehy is a +2 for the month, while McGauley and Molino each are a +22 and Lewis a +14. The impact that the 3 Utah forwards have had has been otherworldly.

Tickets are available now at utahgrizzlies.com, the Maverik Center box office or by calling (801) 988-8000. You can also get tickets at any Smith's Tix location. Grizzlies continue their homestand this Friday, Saturday and Sunday against Rapid City. Friday and Saturday is a 7 pm face-off, while Sunday's game is a 1:00 pm start.

Decade Recap: Grizzlies Were a Consistent Winner

In the 10 years from 2010-2019 the Grizzlies had a winning percentage of .500 or better 8 times. The 2 times the Grizzlies had a winning percentage of less than .500 saw the same percentage, which was .493. There wasn't a season where the winning percentage was below .493. The Grizzlies made the playoffs in 9 of the 10 seasons in the decade. Michael Pelech had the most points by a Grizzlies skater with 189 (72 goals, 117 assists). Pelech played in the most games this decade with 224. Defenseman Taylor Richart will finish the decade with 221 games, leading all defenseman. Richart's 40 goals were the most by a Grizzlies defenseman in the 10 year stretch. Danick Paquette led the Grizzlies in penalty minutes with 561. He played in 2012, 2014-15 for Utah.

5 Grizzlies skaters had over 100 points in the decade. Michael Pelech (189), Mattieu Aubin (159), Ryan Walters (152), Alex Krushelnyski (117) and Taylor Richart (112).

Goaltender Andrew Engelage played in 108 games, the most by a Utah goaltender in the decade. He won 53 games. Ryan Faragher played in 103 games and won 51 for the Grizz from 2015-2017. Igor Bobkov won 36 games for Utah in 2 seasons, from 2014-2015. Aaron Dell won 19 games for the Grizzlies in the 2013-14 season. He had a save percentage of .920 and a 2.14 Goals Against Average for the Grizz. Dell is currently in his 4th season in the NHL with the San Jose Sharks.

Grizzlies goaltenders won ECHL Goaltender of the Month honors in 3 straight months. Aaron Dell won the award for January 2014 and Igor Bobkov won in back to back months in February and March 2014.

Drew MacKenzie won the October 2012 Plus Performer of the Month (Best +/- in the league). Ralph Cuddemi was named January 2017 ECHL Rookie of the Month. Austin Ortega won February 2018 ECHL Rookie of the Month. Caleb Herbert and Cole Ully were named Co-ECHL Players of the Month for November 2018. Both players had 21 points for the month. JT Henke won Rookie of the Month honors for December 2018 after he had 4 straight 2 goal games.

Forward Caleb Herbert was named first team all ECHL in the 2018-19 season. Herbert had the most goals for a full season in the decade with 32. Ryan Kinasewich had 48 goals in the 2009-2010 season, which started the decade in style. Defenseman Nick Tuzzolino was named second team all ECHL for the 2012-13 season. Forward Ryan Kinasewich started the decade by being named first team all ECHL for the 2009-10 season. Forward Paul McIlveen had a stellar 30 goal, 37 assist, 67 point season in 2011-12. Ryan Walters, Colin Vock and Barry Almeida each had a 29 goal season for Utah this decade. Defenseman Taylor Richart tied for the league lead for goals by a defenseman in the 2017-18 season with 17.

Head Coach Tim Branham broke the franchise record for wins by a Utah Grizzlies coach. Branham has a record of 231-171-59. He is in his seventh season with the club, which makes him the longest tenured coach in team history. Kevin Colley started the decade as the team's coach. Colley won 157 games in 5 seasons behind the bench from 2009-2013.

Grizzlies saw increases in attendance for 9 straight seasons from 2010-2018, peaking at 5496 fans per game in the 2017-18 season. The team has been celebrating the 50 year anniversary of professional hockey in the state of Utah. The Salt Lake Golden Eagles played from 1969-1994 and the Grizzlies moved from Denver to the Salt Lake valley for the 1995-96 season, a year where the Grizzlies won the Turner Cup in the old IHL.

Rio Tinto Kennecott Partners with the Grizzlies

For every goal scored at home this season Rio Tinto Kennecott will donate $100 to UCAIR, the Utah Clean Air Partnership. The Grizzlies have scored 50 goals at home so far this season.

Ouellette Continues to Win

Martin Ouellette remains perfect in a Grizzlies uniform after the 5-4 win vs Tulsa on Dec. 28. Ouellette stopped 27 of 31 shots on Saturday night and got a big save on a Cory Ward shot in the 5th round of the shootout. He is currently 7-0 with the Grizzlies with a 1.55 GAA and a .939 save percentage.

Last Week's Games

Saturday Night: Utah 5 Tulsa 4 (Shootout)

Mitch Maxwell scored a first period goal and added the shootout game winner in the 5th round. Utah went 4 for 5 in the shootout, while Tulsa went 3 for 5. Utah outshot Tulsa 38 to 31 and 10 to 1 in overtime. Ty Lewis, Griffen Molino and Tim McGauley each had 1 goal and 1 assist. Eric Williams had 2 assists. Josh Anderson led all Utah defenseman with a +2 on the game.

Friday Night: Utah 6 Tulsa 1

Joe Wegwerth had 3 goals with a natural hat trick to lead the way. Ty Lewis had 2 goals and 1 assist. Griffen Molino had 1 goal and 1 assist. Connor Yau and Jack Jenkins each had 2 assists.

7 players were a +3 on Friday: Josh Anderson, Peter Tischke, Connor Yau, Ty Lewis, Griffen Molino, Eric Williams and Tim McGauley.

Hat Tricks This Season

Josh Dickinson - 2 (October 16th, 18th).

Tim McGauley - 1 (December 6th).

Joe Wegwerth - 1 (December 27th).

4 Goal Game

Ty Lewis - 1 (December 17th).

Upcoming Promotions

December 30th Tulsa at Utah - Maverik Monday - Buy one get one free tickets with Maverik Adventure Card.

January 3rd Rapid City at Utah - Knock Your Socks Off presented by Ford (Sock Drive). AFCU Friday.

January 4th Rapid City at Utah - Ladies Night.

January 5th Rapid City at Utah - Postgame Skate.

Grizzlies Among League Leaders: Forward Tim McGauley leads the league in Plus/Minus (+30). Tim is also 2nd with 25 assists and tied for 2nd with 36 points. Griffen Molino is second in Plus/Minus (+27). Patrick McGrath, who was loaned to the AHL's Iowa Wild on December 27th is 4th in penalty minutes with 86. Taylor Richart is tied for the league lead with 8 goals by a defenseman. He is 5th in shots by blueliners with 84.

2019-2020 Regular Season Totals

Overall record: 16-9-4-1

Home record: 9-4-2.

Road record: 7-5-2-1.

Last 10 games: Utah is 8-1-1

Goals per game: 3.50 (8th in the league).

Goals against per game: 2.80 (6th).

Shots per game: 30.27 (16th).

Shots against per game: 27.77 (3rd).

Power play: 19.2 % (8th).

Penalty Kill: 84.2 % (6th).

Scoring By Period

First Period: Utah 28 Opponents 24.

Second Period: Utah 39 Opponents 30.

Third Period: Utah 33 Opponents 25.

Total Scoring: Utah 105 Opponents 84. The +21 in scoring margin is 2nd best in the Western Conference (Allen is +28).

Team Leaders

Goals: Griffen Molino (13)

Assists: Tim McGauley (25)

Points: McGauley (36)

Plus/Minus: McGauley (+30) - Leads league. Molino 2nd in league (+27)

PIM: Patrick McGrath (86) - 4th in league

Power Play Points: Travis Barron (9)

Shots on Goal: Taylor Richart (84)

Game Winning Goals: Yuri Terao (3)

Wins: Martin Ouellette (7)

Save %: Hunter Miska (.949)

Goals Against Average: Ouellette (1.55)

Grizzlies Player Awards

Josh Dickinson - October 2019 Player of the Month. He also was ECHL Player of the Week from October 14-20, where he had back to back hat tricks.

Hunter Miska - November 18-24 Goaltender of the Week.

Martin Ouellette - December 9-15 Goaltender of the Week.

Tim McGauley - December 16-22 Player of the Week.

Previous Week's Record: Utah went 2-0

This Week's Games: Utah hosts Tulsa on December 30th and hosts Rapid City on January 3rd, 4th and 5th.

Check out the Utah Grizzlies Statistics



ECHL Stories from December 30, 2019


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