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ECHL Utah Grizzlies

Quick Score in Overtime Drops Grizzlies

February 13, 2003 - ECHL (ECHL)
Utah Grizzlies News Release


The Grizzlies continued their five-game home stand on Wednesday when they fell for the second time this season in overtime to the Chicago Wolves, 3-2, in a very physical game from start to finish. Utah is now 1-2-0-1 on the home stand with just one game with Chicago remaining.

The first period went scoreless as both teams had difficulty setting up their offense in the opponent's end of the ice. The most exciting part of the period came when Jeff MacMillan and Chicago defenseman Luke Sellars went toe-to-toe after a stop in play. After tying each other up in the beginning, MacMillan got an arm loose and tagged Sellars in the nose, dropping him to the ice. The last two minutes of play found the Grizzlies a man down, yet Utah was able to mount a couple of short handed opportunities. David Gosselin beat the Chicago defense and skated towards visiting goalie Milan Hnilicka but mishandled the puck while driving to the net. After 20 minutes of play, Utah and Chicago stayed dead-locked at 0-0 with the Wolves edging out the Utah with 11 shots on net versus Utah's 4.

Tempo and aggressive play increased dramatically at the beginning of the second period. At the 9:17 mark the Grizzlies lit the lamp first with the man advantage. Deep into the Chicago zone, David Gosselin gained control of the puck from the far side of the Chicago and drove to the front and drilled a shot that rebounded to the near side post where Gavin Morgan-bolting across the crease-picked up the loose puck and put it top shelf into the Chicago net. Grizzlies took the lead 1-0. The Wolves didn't take long to respond. A little over two minutes later, the Wolves applied some pressure in the Utah zone as Jeff Farkas wheeled around the Grizzlies net and went untouched coming around the front side. Utah collapsed on all the Chicago players in front of Jason Bacashihua but failed to get a man on Farkas who blasted a shot through traffic, beating Bacashihua low and tying the game at 1-1.

Less than a minute later, Chicago got dealt the lucky card off the face-off in the Utah zone. At the drop of the puck, Wolves Center Derek MacKenzie won the draw and Kirill Safronov chipped the puck to the blue line where Ben Simon slapped a one-timer past Bacashihua and lifted Chicago to a 2-1 lead. The scored remained the same after 40 minutes of play. The Grizzlies managed to storm back with shots on net, getting 16 in the stanza for a total of 20, Chicago had only 6 in the second, totaling 17.

In the beginning of the third the Grizzlies got themselves back into the game with the hustle of Gavin Morgan. Morgan received a pass from Justin Cox and pushed the puck into the Chicago zone and got enough of the puck to drop it to Greg Hawgood who was trailing the play and had a clear path between him and the visiting goalie. Hawgood proceeded to bring the puck closer to Hnilicka, wound up and spanked a hard shot through the five hole of Hnilicka, tying the game at 2-2.

Near the end of the period both teams remained locked at two a piece. Behind the play, Jeff MacMillan and Zdenek Blatny got tangled together and MacMillan got the raw end of the deal with a skate in the face. Play ended as MacMillan skated off the ice, bleeding from the side of his eye. Referee Gordon Dwyer did not call a penalty, which caused Utah to lose their composure in the late stages of the game. As play resumed, Jon Sim broke for a loose puck that drifted across the neutral zone and body checked Chicago's Kurtis Foster in the boards as they converged on the biscuit. Foster immediately hit the ice and Dwyer called Sim with a five-minute major penalty along with a game misconduct for elbowing with 28 seconds left in regulation. The Grizzlies managed to fight off the Chicago power play and extend the game into overtime. At the end of regulation, Utah had 32 shots on net; Chicago had 25.

The Grizzlies had their work cut out for them heading into overtime short handed. The situation proved to be too much for the home team as 28 seconds into the extra stanza, Mark Hartigan slid in from the near circle to the right side of Bacashihua and lifted the puck over the shoulder of Bacashihua, allowing the Wolves to steal the first of two games from Utah.

Three Stars: 1. Mark Hartigan (CHI) 1 goal(GW) 2. Gavin Morgan (UT) 1 goal, 1 assist 3. Jeff Farkas (CHI) 1 goal

Next Game: The Utah Grizzlies will host the Chicago Wolves for round two, Friday, February 14th at the E-Center. Puck drops at 7:00 PM.

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ECHL Stories from February 13, 2003


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