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Utah Grizzlies

Grizzlies Win 5-2; McDonald Scores Four

April 5, 2009 - ECHL (ECHL)
Utah Grizzlies News Release


West Valley City, Utah - The Utah Grizzlies (28-28-6-10) defeated the Alaska Aces 5-2 in their final game of the regular season before heading into the playoffs Saturday night at the E-Center before another season-high crowd of 7,067.

Just three seconds into the game, Utah's Will Bodine and Alaska's Robin Richards set the tone for this very physical game with fighting majors. At the six-minute mark of the first period, Dan McDonald scored his fourth goal of the year to put the Grizzlies up 1-0.

At 2:35 of the second period, Alaska tied it up at 1-1. At the six-minute mark again, Dan McDonald caught fire and scored a goal that would lead to a hat-trick in the second period alone and in total a four-goal night. At 7:07, he added a power-play goal, and finally at 13:50 McDonald, added his fourth goal of the game and seventh of the year. McDonald is only the fourth player in Grizzlies history and second in the last three weeks (Tom May, March 19 At Stockton) to score four goals in a game. "I have always been told go to the net and good things happen and that is what happened on the first two goals," said McDonald after the game.

The second period stayed hot for Utah, at 15:35, Todd Miller added his first goal with the Grizzlies making it 5-1 Utah to finish out the second period.

At 9:19 of the third period the Aces scored to make it 5-2 but were unable to come back from Utah's demanding lead. The third period was also very physical bringing 14 penalties, nine for Alaska and five for the Grizzlies.

After the game Utah Grizzlies Head Coach Kevin Colley said, "We wanted to go out and play physical and get some confidence and motivation heading into the playoffs."

The Grizzlies open the playoffs Friday in Anchorage against the very same Aces. Face-off is scheduled for 9:15 p.m.

Game One: Friday, April 10, Utah at Alaska; 9:15 p.m. Game Two: Saturday, April 11, Utah at Alaska; 9:15 p.m. Game Three: Wednesday, April 15, Alaska at Utah; 7:05 p.m. Game Four: Friday, April 17, Alaska at Utah; 7:05 p.m. Game Five: Saturday, April 18, Alaska at Utah; 7:05 p.m. Game Six: Tuesday, April 21, Utah at Alaska; 9:15 p.m. Game Seven: Wednesday, April 22, Utah at Alaska; 9:15 p.m.

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