Salmon Kings Knock off Top Seeded Grizzlies

December 18, 2010 - ECHL (ECHL)
Victoria Salmon Kings News Release


West Valley City, UT - In a Saturday night match-up at the Maverik Center, the Victoria Salmon Kings faced the division rival Utah Grizzlies for the first time in the 2010-11 regular season. The Salmon Kings started David Shantz in net, while the Grizzlies countered with J.P. Lamoureux.

For the second night in a row, Victoria was forced to ice a shorthanded lineup of just eight forwards and seven defensemen. Both teams played cautious hockey in the opening minutes to get a feel for their opponent. Victoria and Utah then opened up their pace of play which ignited exciting action. The Salmon Kings would be first to take advantage as Chad Painchaud opened the scoring just 3:08 into the contest. Painchaud took an outlet pass from Geoff Waugh and skated across the blue line with a quick shot from the high slot that beat Lamoureux. Following Painchaud's seventh marker of the season the teams engaged in energetic back-and-forth play, which was highlighted by a 3-on-1 rush by the Salmon Kings. Matt Siddall took a feed from Rob Hennigar as he skated into the right faceoff circle and put a shot on net that was turned aside by the Utah netminder. Victoria would then realize a 2-0 lead in the game as Ryan Turek circled behind the net with the puck and fed a crisp pass to Mike Wilson at the left point who blasted a slap shot through traffic and past Lamoureux into the net. Wilson's first tally as a Salmon King would chase Lamoureux from the net, as the Grizzlies replaced him with Andrew Engelage. Utah nearly got on the board while short-handed on a partial breakaway by Tim Crowder, but the Victoria native was denied on a solid defensive check by Turek. Tempers began to flare after the final whistle of the period when a scrum ensued with all skaters on the ice. Cooler heads prevailed and the Salmon Kings took to the locker room with their 2-0 lead at the first intermission.

The exciting pace of play continued throughout the second period, which started with a Grizzlies' breakaway chance. Out of the penalty box, Kevin Deeth took a hard pass and moved in on Shantz all alone. The Utah forward made a forehand move with the puck but was poke-checked by the stick of the Victoria netminder. The Salmon Kings extended their lead to three goals at the 9:21 mark. Siddall threaded a pass from the left wing corner to the front of the net where Painchaud took an offering that was saved by Engelage. Following his pass, Siddall skated into the slot to collect the rebound and fired home his team-leading 14th goal of the year. Following the goal, Gord Burnett and Brian Kilburg dropped the gloves in a fight that quickly turned into a wrestling match to the ice. Utah found their offensive flow following Siddall's goal and utilized a power play to get their first goal of the night at the 13:20 mark. Good puck movement in the offensive zone found Brett Parnham move the rubber from the slot to the right goal line for Deeth who then dished a pass across the slot to Nick Tuzzolino all alone at the side of the net. Tuzzolino buried the puck into the open net for his fifth marker of the campaign. The Salmon Kings struck back just 19 seconds later when a point shot from Waugh pinballed off legs in front and found its way to the side of the net to an open Painchaud, who made no mistake in netting his second of the game. Chances at both ends continued as both teams found lots of open ice, and the Grizzlies continued the flurry of goals with a second power play marker late in the middle period. Crowder fired a shot from the high slot that got blocked in front of the net. Brad Snetsinger was the lone player to come out of the scrum with the puck at the right side of the net and snuck a shot past Shantz for his 10th goal of the season. The Salmon Kings took their 4-2 lead into the final frame.

The third period became dominated by special team's play as the Salmon Kings finished a penalty kill from the second frame and then found themselves awarded a 5-on-3 advantage after two Utah penalties. The Grizzlies' penalty kill team stood tall and negated an insurance marker from Victoria. The home side would then realize another man advantage in the middle of the period where a point shot from Snetsinger was kicked aside by Shantz right to the stick of Matt Sorteberg who slid the puck around the Victoria netminder for his first tally of the season. The Grizzlies pushed for tying goal late and pulled Engelage in the final minute of play, but Shantz shut the door on the Utah skaters as he made three big saves to secure the win. Salmon Kings 4 Grizzlies 3.

Victoria went 0/5 0.0% on the power play, while Utah was 3/7 42.3%. The Grizzlies outshot the Salmon Kings 45-32.

The Salmon Kings now return home to take their Christmas break prior to opening a two-game set versus the Ontario Reign at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre on Tuesday, December 28th. For tickets call 250-220-7777 or visit www.selectyourtickets.com.



ECHL Stories from December 18, 2010


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central