 |
POWER
PLAY |
18TH
- 15.7 |
PENALTY
KILL |
23RD
- 79.5 |
FORWARDS |
SCOTT
BURT |
27-33-60
(+2) |
RYAN
KINASEWICH |
23-37-60
(+11) |
KEITH
JOHNSON |
27-26-53
(-4) |
DEFENSEMEN |
JAMES
SANFORD |
9-24-33
(-1) |
SEAN
OFFERS |
2-19-21
(-3) |
JEFF
DWYER |
3-14-17
(-13) |
GOALTENDERS |
MIKE
MOLE |
18-13-1
(0 SO)
3.29 GA
.897 PCT |
|
NATHAN
LAWSON |
17-9-0
(2 SO)
2.91 GA
.906 PCT |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
Utah
vs Victoria |
|
|
SCHEDULE |
| 1 |
APR.
25 |
UTAH
6 - VICTORIA 0 |
SEED
6 |
2 |
APR. 27 |
UTAH
1 - VICTORIA 6 |
SEED
2 |
32-30-2
(74) |
3 |
MAY 1 |
VICTORIA
5 - UTAH 7 |
42-23-4
(91) |
| |
4 |
MAY 3 |
VICTORIA
0 - UTAH 1 |
|
| |
5 |
MAY 4 |
VICTORIA
3 - UTAH 8 |
|
| |
6 |
MAY 6 |
UTAH at VICTORIA |
|
| |
7 |
MAY 7 |
UTAH at VICTORIA |
|
| Utah
Wins Series 4-1 |
|
SERIES
PREVIEW |
| |
It
is the first time that either the Grizzlies (ECHL) or
Salmon Kings have advanced past the first round in the
postseason. Victoria, which finished first in the West
Division with 91 points, is in the Kelly Cup Playoffs
for the second straight year after failing to qualify
their first two seasons in the league while Utah returns
to the postseason for the second time in three ECHL seasons.
The Salmon Kings are Victoria’s first foray into minor
professional hockey in several decades, while junior hockey
the entertainment in both the WHL and then the BC(J)HL.
Utah (or Salt Lake City if you prefer) has had minor professional
hockey dating back several consecutive decades to the
original CHL, original IHL, AHL and now the ECHL.
For Grizzly fans this is unfamiliar territory as the victory
over Fresno was their first playoff series win since the
1996-97 season when they swept the Kansas City Blades
in the IHL 3-0 in the first round. Utah had not won a
best-of-seven playoff series since their Turner Cup Championship
clincher over Orlando in 1995-96. They were unsuccessful
in all their playoff endeavors while in the AHL.
The Salmon Kings won the last three meetings to finish
4-0-2 at home and 6-1-2 overall during the regular season
against Utah. Victoria is 15-9-2 all-time against the
Grizzlies, who are 11-12-3 all-time against the Salmon
Kings.
Victoria struggled more than expected and had to rally
from behind early in the series to beat seventh-seed Bakersfield
in six games. Meanwhile, Utah upset third-seed Fresno
in six games in a roller coaster of a series that included
a triple overtime victory for the Grizzlies in game #
2, a lopsided 6-1 win as well as a lopsided 6-1 defeat.
Forwards - Victoria has a rare situation at forward
with a pair of brothers. The Goldies, Ash and Wes, and
the Krestanovich’s Jordan and Derek. All four are capable
forwards with the Krestanovich’s being the more grinding
power forwards and the Goldies the more skilled types.
Wes Goldie is leading the team in playoff scoring with
10 points on 2 goals and 8 assists. Ash Goldie is in third
with 6 points on 3 goals and 3 assists. The Goldies combined
for 144 points in the regular season. The Krestanovich’s
have yet to make a huge impact on the score sheet in the
playoffs but their presence is felt and they notched 81
points in the regular season. Veteran forward and team
captain Ryan Wade lends some skill and peskiness to the
SK’s attack and has 9 points on 5 goals and 4 assists.
Wade also netted two shorthanded goals in the first round.
Milan Gajic had a great regular season averaging over
a point a game with the SK’s while splitting time between
the ECHL and AHL. Darrel Lloyd likes to get things stirred
up and isn't afraid to take the punishment.
The Grizzlies are led by veteran captain Scott Burt (voted
MVP by his teammates) and Ryan Kinaswich who both notched
a club leading 60 points. Kinasewich’s number was especially
impressive as he only played in 44 contests and had a
+11 on a team with a fairly high goals against. Both are
wily forwards who bury the puck when the chance is there
and are both creative passers. Keith Johnson was a steady
contributor with 53 points. Pesky speedster Olivier Labelle
notched nearly a point per game with his grinding style
and bursts of speed. Rookies Rob Sirianni and Michael
Haley are leading the Grizzlies with 5 points each during
the playoffs so far. Justin Bourne scored a clutch game
winning goal in the first round with a perfectly executed
deke move to end the triple overtime thriller in game
# 2.
Defense - Victoria has a solid defensive corps
with a bit of an offensive flair at times. Rookie, Dylan
Yeo is second among league defensemen with three powerplay
goals and tied for second with four goals in the playoffs.
Mike Kelley has also chipped in with five points. Gary
Gladue notched an impressive 37 assists during the regular
season. Rookie, Brad Zanon currently leads the SK’s with
a +5.
Utah’s defensemen are excellent shot blockers who don’t
give up their ground easily on most nights. They frustrated
an offensively loaded Fresno Falcons in round one and
managed a shutout in game #5. They have their off moments
as well as evidenced by a 6-1 shellacking by the Falcons
in game 3. Ian Forbes and Jordan Hart lead the solid group
in keeping the passing lanes clogged and the vision clear
for their goaltender.
Goaltending - Victoria’s Billty Thompson has seen
all the action so far in the playoffs and answered the
call in the six game victory over Bakersifield. Thompson’s
backup is the very capable Julien Ellis. Both are capable
of stealing a win from the jaws of defeat.
Utah is in a similar position with Nathan Lawson getting
all the starts so far. Lawson was almost unbeatable at
times in round 1 though he did have a couple nights that
weren’t his best. He is backed up by the very capable
Mike Mole who had saw quite a bit of action in the AHL
and also a brief stint with the Grizzlies parent New York
Islanders.
What to expect - The way these two teams got to
this point I’d expect the unexpected. Both had 4-2 series
wins but they showed that they are very beatable on those
nights that they lost. Utah at times can look incredibly
defensively sound and other times like a sieve. Victoria
has the skills to blow games open and run away with it
but as Utah proved in round one they are a capable match.
The Grizzlies had a late infusion of talent sent down
from the AHL and the regular season was no indicator of
how good this team is. I’ll go out on a limb though and
guess Victoria in six games but it very much will depend
on which team shows up ready to go from the drop of the
first puck more than the other.
|
|
| Game
1 |
Utah
6 - Victoria 0 |
|
by
Mike Canady - PROHOCKEYNEWS.COM |
Utah
Leads Series 1-0 |
Victoria,
BC - A packed house of 5,685 fans jammed into
the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre for their first ever
second round playoff series looking for a Salmon Kings
victory. Utah had gone a perfect 3-0 record on the road
so far this year in the playoffs and were hoping to keep
the streak alive against the division champions. Tyler
Haskins supplied a hat trick and Nathan Lawson made 31
saves for the Grizzlies as they took it to the Salmon
Kings in every category with a 6-0 shutout victory sending
the Victoria fans home in a grumpy mood.
Utah opened the scoring with a delayed penalty in effect for a sixth attacker on the ice. Michael Haley stepped over the blue line and fed Andrew MacDonald who fired a shot from the point that rebounded off Victoria netminder Billy Thompson’s pads (21-25) right to Travis Rycroft who batted the puck back into the empty side of the net at the 12:00 mark. Victoria controlled much of the play in the first period with four power play chances and a shot advantage of 12-9 but had nothing to show for it.
Utah continued their penalty trouble into the second period but it worked to their advantage after killing a two man disadvantage down to a one man disadvantage. Ryan Kinasewich was sprung on a clean breakaway off a pass from MacDonald at center ice and he was able to slide the puck past Thompson at 6:04. The Grizzlies opened some room for themselves on the power play when Haskins buried a rebound of a shot from Keith Johnson that ricocheted in front, off the back wall at 11:23 giving Utah a 3-0 bulge. The Grizzlies carried the momentum after the third goal and carried the shots 14-7 in the period despite four more minor penalties against.
The Grizzlies swarmed early on in the third period and scored early off the stick of Ryan Cruthers at 2:29 to give the Grizzlies a commanding 4-0 lead. Thompson was relieved in goal by Julien Ellis (4-6) in an attempt to slow the onslaught but it was to no avail as Haskins notched his second and third of the night shortly after making it 6-0. Lawson handled it from there to hang on for his second playoff shutout of the year.
Utah controlled the special teams in killing 10 penalties, notching a shorthanded goal and scoring on two of four power plays.
Final shots on goal were even on the night at 31-31.
Contact the author at Mike.canady@prohockeynews.com
|
|
| Game
2 |
Utah
1 - Victoria 6 |
|
by
Mike Canady - PROHOCKEYNEWS.COM |
Series
Tied 1-1 |
Victoria,
BC - The Utah Grizzlies had been a perfect 4-0 on the road in the playoffs and things looked bleak early for the Salmon Kings and their 5,413 fans for two periods as Utah goaltender Nathan Lawson (21-27) continued to frustrate them until the potent Salmon Kings offense finally found it’s touch. When they did they exploded for six third period goals to even the series at one win apiece with a 6-1 victory at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
Utah scored the only goal of the first two periods on a penalty shot taken against Julien Ellis (20-21) who was getting his first start of the playoffs. Tyler Haskins was pulled down from behind on a breakaway at the 18:03 mark of the first period. Haskins scored confidently with a backhand shot on the attempt. Utah’s defense continued it’s strong play in the period limiting the SK’s to just six shots while firing nine of their own. Haskins has scored four of the last five Grizzly goals after firing in a hat trick in Game 1.
The second period saw Victoria start to find their way offensively toward the latter half of the period as they notched 11 shots but were still unable to solve Lawson who made several strong saves while Utah’s offense went to the back burner under the Salmon Kings desperate attack.
The third period was all Victoria as they scored six goals on just ten shots. They finally got their fans out of their seats when they scored on a powerplay as Jacob Dietrich beat Lawson to even the score at 1-1 at 2:18. Wes Goldie notched the game winner at even strength at 8:30 and the Grizzlies collapsed following that. Four goals over the final 11:30 by Ash Goldie, Milan Gajic, another from Dietrich and Wes Goldie as well made the final margin 6-1. Shots on goal in the period were in Victoria’s favor by a 10-6 margin. Gajic added a pair of assists as did Dylan Yeo and Ash Goldie to help lead the onslaught.
Total shots on goal for the night were in Victoria's favor by a 27-21 margin.
Victoria went 2-5 on the powerplay and killed off all three Grizzly powerplays.
Lawson, who had stopped 104 of the last 106 shots that he saw in the previous 11 periods, allowed six goals on ten shots in the third as his defense struggled in front of him.
The series returns to the E-Center in West Valley City Utah for Games 3, 4 and 5 Thursday and Saturday at 7:05 p.m MT with Sunday’s game scheduled for 4:05 p.m. MT.
Contact the author at Mike.canady@prohockeynews.com
|
|
|
Game
3 |
Victoria
5 - Utah 7 |
|
by
Mike Canady - PROHOCKEYNEWS.COM |
Utah
Leads Series 2-1 |
West
Valley City, UT - Victoria got a major addition
to their lineup in captain Kiel McLeod who was returned
from Albany of the AHL before Game 3. Gritty forward McLeod
notched 35 points in just 48 games for the Salmon Kings
during the regular season while racking up 117 penalty
minutes. In the AHL with Albany he rang up 16 points in
27 games including both regular season and playoffs.
Victoria roared to a 5-1 lead near the game’s midpoint
with the help of McLeod to turn the E-Center and it’s
gathering of 2,321 fans into a morgue. The Grizzlies clawed
their way back in team record setting fashion to erase
the huge deficit and win by a final margin of 7-5 giving
the fans plenty to cheer about before the game’s end.
Victoria started out Game 3 exactly the way they finished
off Game 2, with a quick goal barrage, netting two goals
on their first three shots against a shell-shocked Nathan
Lawson (10-14). Milan Gajic notched his second of the
playoffs on the powerplay at 6:44 for to get things rolling.
Ash Goldie beat Lawson less than two minutes after to
give the Salmon Kings a quick 2-0 advantage. Utah managed
to answer back on Ryan Kinasewich’s third of the playoffs
when he beat Julien Ellis (30-36) at 12:57.
Victoria seemingly took control of the game in the second
period as they scored three consecutive goals to move
out to a 5-1 lead. McLeod’s return paid off quickly in
the second period when he beat Lawson with a wrister to
make the score 3-1 just :35 into the period. Marc-Andre
Bernier followed that up with his fourth of the post season
at 4:48. That goal chased Lawson to the bench and he was
replaced by Mike Mole who fared no better when he was
beaten less than a minute later on the first shot he faced
with McLeod scoring his second of the night.
 |
Utah clawed back into the game late in the period, scoring
twice in the final 1:26 to cut the lead to 5-3 on a quick
pair of goals by Keith Johnson and Kinasewich (with an
assist to Johnson) to give the Grizzlies a flicker of
hope heading to the final twenty minutes.
Utah closed the gap to 5-4 early in the third when they
struck just 2:20 into the period on an unassisted goal
by James Sanford. They tied the score on a powerplay just
:14 later after a hooking penalty to Gajic shortly after
the goal opened the door for Keith Johnson who scored
his second of the night. Utah took their first lead of
the night 6-5, on their fifth consecutive goal spanning
just 8:56 as Michael Haley batted home a bouncing puck
past a stunned Ellis on assists from Olivier Labelle and
Rob Sirianni. Mole made a several huge saves over the
next few minutes to hold the lead as the Salmon Kingss
started to put on the pressure to tie it back up. Kinasewich
scored the insurance goal with just :56 left into an empty
net on an assist from Keith Johnson and completing the
hat trick to tie him with Johnson for the team lead in
goals at five. The Grizzlies outshot Victoria in the third
period by a margin of 16-7 and overall by 37-28.
Contact the author at Mike.canady@prohockeynews.com
Contact the photographer at Chris.canady@prohockeynews.com
|
|
| Game
4 |
Victoria
0 - Utah 1 |
|
by
Mike Canady - PROHOCKEYNEWS.COM |
Utah
Leads Series 3-1 |
West
Valley City, UT - From the perspective of either
team entering this game it was a critical one as Victoria
was looking to even things up and Utah was looking to
move out to a solid lead.
Both teams switched up their goaltending starters for
this one after the combined 12 goal outburst in Game 3.
Michael Mole (24-24) who saw some time with the NY Islanders
earlier this year, got the call for his first start of
the playoffs and Victoria countered by returning to Billy
Thompson (27-28) who has started all but the last two
games for the Salmon Kings in the playoffs.
Both netminders had strong games with only one goal occurring
into a tended net to give in front of a crowd of 4,308.
Utah got the game-winner early on Ryan Kinasewich’s team
leading sixth goal of the playoffs at 5:02 of the first
period with assists to Keith Johnson and James Sanford.
Utah also used it’s trapping style to slow play down and
keep the Salmon Kings potent forward lines frustrated.
Victoria was shutdown on an early powerplay opportunity
early on in the third period and then had to kill a bench
minor of their own as time began to become a factor. Utah
clamped things down even tighter with their smothering
defense that was allowing the Salmon Kings no room to
move as the clock continued to wind down and amplify the
pressure on both teams.
Billy Thompson was pulled with 1:38 to go in favor of
an extra attacker and a faceoff in the Utah zone but was
forced right back into net after an offside call on the
Grizzlies. He wasn’t able to get back to the bench until
thirty seconds remained but the Salmon Kings could never
find their way through the swarming Grizzlies defense.
Olivier Labelle picked up a long clearing attempt by Scott
Burt and set the final 2-0 score into an empty net with
just fifteen seconds remaining to seal the Salmon Kings
fate.
Utah will have their first chance at closing out the series
on Sunday, May 4 when they host Game 5.
Contact the author at Mike.canady@prohockeynews.com
|
|
| Game
5 |
Victoria
3 - Utah 8 |
|
by
Mike Canady - PROHOCKEYNEWS.COM |
Utah
Wins Series 4-1 |
West
Valley City, UT - Utah came out with fire in their
eyes to close out this series at home, facing the next
two games in Victoria they were motivated to finish the
series right now and they did in a big way winning by
a whopping 8-1 margin.
Ryan Kinasewich continued his hot streak in the playoffs
by opening the scoring early at 2:09 on the powerplay
for his seventh goal of the playoffs. Olivier Labelle
gave the Grizzlies a 2-0 lead at 6:13 with his second
of the playoffs. Victoria held things close in the first
period by responding on a goal by Paul Ballantyne to cut
the margin to 2-1 near the midpoint of the first period
but that was as close as they would get.
The second period was all Utah as they moved out to a
5-1 bulge. Goals were early in the period by Labelle,
and Michael Haley and Keith Johnson each added one at
12:12 as the rout was on.
The third period saw another quick goal explosion early
on as Sean Offers notched his first of the playoffs, Justin
Bourne his second and Rob Sirianni his fourth all in the
first five minutes and all eight goals coming against
Billy Thompson (23-31) who must have felt completely shell
shocked.
Victoria scored a pair of consolation goals to finish
it out for the year and make the final 8-3. Marc-Andre
Bernier notched his fifth and sixth to finish out the
year.
Mike Mole had a solid night in goal for the Grizzlies
stopping 35 of 38.
For Victoria this was by far their best season and their
first division championship so their fans have some solace
in what has clearly been their most exciting season. For
Utah fans they are heading to the conference finals for
the first time in the ECHL. It looks to be a thrill ride
of a series as the Grizzlies are riding a streak of goal-scoring
confidence heading into a series against Glen Gulutzan’s
Las Vegas Wranglers who are fresh off a five game defeat
of the always strong Alaska Aces.
Contact the author at Mike.canady@prohockeynews.com
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
| POWER
PLAY |
3RD
- 20.7 |
| PENALTY
KILL |
5TH
- 84.9 |
| FORWARDS |
ASH
GOLDIE |
40-43-83
(-2) |
J.
KRESTANOVICH |
13-52-65
(-19) |
WES
GOLDIE |
42-16-61
(-8) |
DEFENSEMEN |
GARY
GLADUE |
5-37-42
(-11) |
PATRICK
COULOMBE |
8-22-30
(-1) |
DYLAN
YEO |
10-18-28
(+4) |
GOALTENDERS |
JULIEN
ELLIS |
24-11-2
(2 SO)
3.18 GA
.908 PCT |
|
BILLY
THOMPSON |
12-2-0
(2 SO)
3.24 GA
.907 PCT |
|
|
|
