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Matt Butcher and Rick Cleaver notch two-goal games in 6-2 win over Utah

February 26, 2011 - ECHL (ECHL)
Victoria Salmon Kings News Release


Victoria, BC- In a Friday night match-up at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre the Victoria Salmon Kings took on the Utah Grizzlies in the first of a two game set. Tonight's game marked the first visit for Utah into Victoria. The Salmon Kings started Manitoba Moose contracted goaltender David Shantz, while the Grizzlies countered with former Swift Current Bronco Kyle Moir for his first professional start between the pipes.

Victoria controlled the play for the opening few minutes as they recorded two quality scoring chances on their first two shots of the game. After a nice heads up play by Salmon Kings' defenseman Michael Wilson, Matt Siddall burst down the right hand side and fed the puck to Matt Butcher at the top of the left faceoff circle. The Bellingham, WA native fired a quick wrist shot, but Moir got his glove on the puck to deflect it into the right wing corner. Victoria picked up the physical play after Ryan Turek dumped Tim Crowder into the Salmon Kings' bench at the blue line. The home side controlled all the momentum as they held an early 7-1 lead in shots after the first five minutes. On the Salmon Kings' eighth shot of the game, Butcher recorded his sixth goal of the year at 7:43. The Victoria forward took a hard shot from the left faceoff circle that deflected off a Utah defender and past the left shoulder of Moir. The Salmon Kings maintained their pressure after Tim Kraus corralled the puck in the left circle and threw the puck towards the Grizzles' net. Turek was on the doorstep and kicked the puck to his stick, but could not find the touch to finish of the play. Minutes later Derek Couture looked to drop his gloves with Utah's captain Simon Ferguson. Couture landed two early punches before the linesmen intervened. With less than five minutes left in the first period Shantz made his first quality save of the night. Hugo Carpentier took a quick shot from the hash-marks that the Victoria netminder was able to turn aside easily with his left pad. The Salmon Kings controlled all the momentum in the first as they held a 15-6 shot lead and took their 1-0 lead into the second frame.

The second period opened with few whistles as the teams exchanged end-to-end chances. As the Salmon Kings were denied on their second man advantage of the night early in the frame, the Grizzlies received their first power play of the game. The Salmon Kings killed the penalty off with ease thanks to some key saves by Shantz and strong puck control by Couture and Siddall. Victoria continued to throw the body around as they looked to control the momentum and extend their lead. At 14:32, the Grizzlies countered with a 3-on-1 rush that the Victoria back-check was quick to break up. Utah then forced their own turnover and got off two short range shots on Shantz. Victoria, BC native Paul Crowder crashed the net as Shantz made his second save and buried his fifth of the year to tie the game. Victoria quickly took the lead back 15 seconds later when Butcher and Kiel McLeod broke in on the 2-on-1 rush. Butcher kept the puck down the left side and snapped a shot over the blocker of Moir for his second of the game. At 17:05 Victoria forward Rob Hennigar entered the Grizzlies zone and made a nice deke on a defender to set up Turek. The Salmon Kings defender streaked into the zone and one-timed the puck home for his eighth marker of the year. Victoria came right back at the Grizzlies and 17 seconds later, leading goal scorer Rick Cleaver padded the lead with his 20th on the season. The Parksville, BC native sniped a shot from the high slot that flew perfectly into the right corner past a screened Moir. Three second period goals from the Salmon Kings gave them a 4-1 lead with one period left to play.

Victoria continued where they left off early in the third period as Cleaver notched his second of the game 35 seconds into the frame on the power play. The Salmon Kings' forward collected a rebound and back-handed the puck past the Grizzlies netminder from the hash-marks. The Salmon Kings continued to buzz after they had scoring-opportunity-after-scoring-opportunity to hold a 37-15 lead in shots with 10 minutes remaining. Chris Donovan recorded Utah's second goal of the game after he went to his backhand to beat Shantz through the legs at 11:20 for his sixth of the campaign. As the Grizzlies looked to get closer, Couture made a strong play on the Victoria blue line that sent Bryan Cameron and Hennigar in on the 2-on-1 break. Hennigar fed Cameron the puck and the former Barrie Colt fired a laser past the glove of Moir from the high slot for his first goal at 13:48 to round out the scoring. Salmon Kings 6 Grizzlies 2

Victoria went 1/3 = 33.3% on the power play, while Utah was 0/2 = 0.0%. The Salmon Kings outshot the Grizzlies 39-19.

Victoria will play the second game of their two game set with Utah tomorrow Saturday February 26th at 7:05 pm. The Salmon King will then welcome the Bakersfield Condors to the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre for a three game series. Game one goes Wednesday, March 2nd, game two Friday March 4th and game three Saturday March 5th. Game-time for all three games is at 7:05 pm. For tickets call 250-220-7777 or visit www.selectyourtickets.com.

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