Month: November 2018

Utah Grizzlies: A Clean Sweep

With three straight wins under his belt, Joe Cannata got a well-deserved night off, Kevin Carr in nets being the only change in lineup.

J.T. Henke, and Jeremy Brodeur both ended up in the back of the Allen net 27 seconds in, sending Henke to the box, and Allen to the power play. There was nearly a disaster as the Utah defense left an Allen player wide open with a clear look at a gaping net, but he whiffed on the shot, and Carr dove on the puck. Henke returned to the ice with no further incident, shots 2-2.

The Grizzlies spent far more time in their own zone early than was strictly comfortable, but Carr kept them at bay early. Utah did also get some nice forays into the offensive zone, including one from Tim McGauley that culminated in a shot that ruffled the outside of the netting,

Carr took a delay of game penalty at 6:16, and David Makowski scored Allen’s first of the series five seconds later.

The Americans continued to keep the Grizzlies in their own end following the goal, though Utah held the slight edge in shots.

At 10:38 Cole Ully put the puck straight through Brodeur to tie the game on his sixth of the year. Unsurprisingly, Caleb Herbert got the primary assist, while Turner Ottenbreit got the secondary.

After the Utah goal, the Grizzlies looked more collected, spending more time in the offensive zone than previously. At about 13:36 Taylor Richart got hit and went off just a little bit gingerly. Jake Marchment took exception to this, and dropped the gloves with Jacob Doty. Doty got the edge on the bout, though Marchment gave a good account of himself, and both were sent off to cool their heels.

Richart broke up a play at the offensive zone blue line, but took a tripping call in doing so with 4:30 to go in the period.

The Grizzlies killed that off, and towards the end of the period, things got a little bit snarly. Gage Ausmus got called for holding, and then as Allen crashed the Utah net, Carr was shoved over. That gathered quite a crowd, and Carr wasn’t afraid to take his own revenge. Spencer Asuchak got two for roughing, and the period came to an end, shots 13-10 for Utah, tied 1-1.

The second period began with 1:20 of four-on-four before a very brief Grizzlies’ power play.

Though both teams got shots, the Grizzlies held more zone time in the first five minutes or so, out shooting Allen 17-13.

At 7:38 Josh Dickinson slung the puck past Jeremy Brodeur for his first with the Grizzlies, from Tim McGauley and Henke, who also picked up his first point with the team.

The Grizzlies came on strong after that, and Asuchak hauled Cole Ully down to send Utah back to the power play.

Asuchak and Doty seemed intent on stirring up trouble on the ensuing shift, but the refs kept them in line, and they contented themselves with throwing some big hits. At 12:10 Asuchak took a very weak two minutes for supposed interference against Josh Anderson, and Utah went off to the advantage.

McGauley capitalized in the dying seconds of the power play, scoring his seventh from Henke and Berry.

Austin Carroll struck just about a minute later scoring his sixth of the season from Marchment and Ryan Walters, and Zach Pochiro got thrown out for ten minutes for throwing equipment.

Walters took a tripping call at 17:49, but the Grizzlies killed it off, and the period came to an end.

The Grizzlies came out looking like the better team in the third, and there were plays against Walters and Ully that probably could have been calls. Carr continued to hold down the fort, and the Grizzlies’ defense once again did well, at least for a while.

Braylon Shmyr got a slashing call, followed by a holding call on Berry in the first ten minutes. Makowski got his second of the game at 12:19, cutting the lead in half. Walters took a tripping call at 16:49, Allen pulled Brodeur for the extra, extra attacker, and on the ensuing power play, Alex Breton made it 4-3.

However, Caleb Herbert scored his seventeenth goal of the year into the empty net, dangling around both Allen defenders to put the game out of reach. So Utah won 5-4, though out shot 39-35.

“Total team effort, that’s for sure.” Tim Branham said after the game, “When guys are out of the lineup other guys step up and we’re pretty deep. And now secondary scoring, all around a team effort that’s for sure. It’s really tough to sweep a team three in a row, so it was a good effort to get it done.”

When asked about his first goal with the Grizzlies, Josh Dickinson said, “It’s really nice. Getting the sweep is important, getting the first one out of the way was a lot of fun. It was definitely good to get it out of the way.”

After a number of games dominated by the first line, this game saw some secondary scoring, which didn’t surprise Dickinson. “We’ve got three lines that can go out in every situation so I think we have the confidence with each other to go out and play our best game.”

“We haven’t let in a goal in a little bit,” he added, “But that’s how it goes, there’s some good players on other teams, so we’re gonna let in some goals, and we’re gonna have a couple of mistakes on our end, but we found a way to win, came out with the sweep, so that’s the most important part.”

After a highly successful home stand that saw them improve to 12-2-3-0, which ties them with Tulsa atop the Western conference, the Grizzlies will finish November on the road against Rapid City.

Photo courtesy of Tim Broussard and staff

 

Utah Grizzlies: Black Friday Winners

After Thanksgiving, the Eagles assigned forward Josh Dickinson to the Grizzlies, and he drew in with Tim McGauley and Matt Berry to start. A white-hot Joe Cannata got the start once again.

Josh Anderson took the game’s first penalty, a cross-checking call at 3:20, and the Grizzlies headed off to what would be the first of many special teams situations. The kill did decently, though at the tail end, Cannata had to make some big saves, including one that looked like it was absolutely going in. When Anderson returned to the ice, Allen had jumped to a 7-0 shot lead.

Berry rectified that, absolutely flying in, taking a pass from McGauley, and getting a very nice look on Jeremy Brodeur.

Allen looked far more organized than they did on Wednesday, and as a result, both teams had trouble setting up in the offensive zone, battling it out in the neutral zone as the period drew towards the half-way point. However, after giving up those initial seven shots, the Grizzlies did much better job getting in the way in their own end.

As is becoming gloriously regular, Caleb Herbert and Cole Ully raced into the offensive zone, passed the puck back and forth en-rout to the net, and Herbert buried and absolute beauty for his 15th goal of the year right around the eight minute mark.

J.T. Henke just missed getting his first as a Grizz, and Cannata made a big save on the other end. Ully set up Taylor Richart for the perfect point shot with just over two to go, but Utah was just unable to snatch possession of the ensuing rebound.

After 20, Utah led 1-0, and had cut down Allen’s shot lead to 13-10.

After a vigorous, but clean first period, the second got off to a cantankerous start. Cannata made a huge save, trapping a perilously loose puck with his legs, and Teigan Zahn and Jacob Doty dropped the gloves as a crowd gathered. At the one minute mark, Josh Thrower took a tripping penalty against Austin Carroll, and then took an unsportsmanlike penalty on top of that, so the Grizzlies headed to a four minute power play.

Utah wasn’t able to get anything going in the early stages, but at 4:46 Ully put the puck on Matt Berry’s stick, and it was off again and in the back of the net before Brodeur could do anything about it.

Spencer Asuchak took a slashing call during the play, so Utah headed right back to the advantage. They were unable to capitalize, but immediately after Allen returned to full strength, Joel Chouinard held up Herbert, leading to another Grizzlies power play.

No sooner had that penalty come to an end then Josh Atkinson took a call, and Austin Carroll made the Americans pay on the delayed penalty. Ully got his fourth assist of the game, while Marchment picked up his ninth point in ten games.

Atkinson finally made it to the box, and Richart made it 4-0 on an absolute bomb less than a minute later. Berry picked up the first assist, and Josh Dickinson got his first point on the secondary.

Less than a minute after Richart’s goal, David Makowski took a clipping call against Carroll in what was dangerously close to knee-on-knee hit. Fortunately, Carroll was back on the ice to start the advantage, but the Grizzlies couldn’t capitalize.

Ryan Walters took a hooking call at 16:01 and Ully nearly added a short-handed goal to his three assists before Utah killed off the rest of the penalty.

Richart and the defenders shut the period down after that, and headed into the locker room up 4-0, shots 24-22 in their favor.

The Grizzlies didn’t take their foot off the gas into the third period, as Herbert scored his second of the game on Ully’s fourth assist. Nolan De Jong got the second assist on Herbert’s 16th.

Zahn returned to the box for holding at 3:13, but Cannata made some big saves on one side, and Berry had a speedy look short-handed on the other.

Utah got their seventh power play of the night at 7:15 when Greg Chase took an unsportsmanlike penalty. Allen killed it off, and Utah killed off the following penalty to Carroll.

Cannata made more and more saves as the end of the game approached, but was there for every one, and the Grizzlies’ defense made sure that even more never even made it to him.

When the final buzzer sounded, Cannata had picked up his third straight shut-out, Grizzlies taking the game 5-0, and out-shooting Allen 39-35.

In three games, nothing has gotten past Cannata, except a sliding Kevin Davis early in the third period. His phenomenal performance earned him the first star of the game, while Ully, who can turn on a dime, stick handle in a phone box, and create space when there simply isn’t any, took second star with four assists. Herbert (he of the league leading 16 goals and 28 points) took third star with the game’s opening and closing goals.

After three straight shutouts from Cannata, everyone is struggling for new words to describe him. “He’s an outstanding goaltender.” Tim Branham said after the game. “I said it all last year, he doesn’t belong at this level. He’s an unbelievable goaltender, an unbelievable person. He’s heating up, so what can you say about him? He’s cool, calm, collected, makes everything look easy, and we’ve just gotta keep going.”

After being a little quiet lately, the power play exploded again, going a lethal 3/7. When asked about the team’s success on the man-advantage, Branham explained, “We’ve got two talented units. On one of the units you’ve got a guy who’s over a goal a game, on the other unit you’ve got a guy who’s got seven points in two games. Those guys are talented, and they want to do well, and they can make plays. They know how to put the puck in the net. We went a little cold there, teams are going to start keying in on it and coming up with schemes to kill it, and we were able to break through tonight.”

Cannata himself was pretty low-key about the whole thing.

“I feel good. I think I’m seeing the puck, a lot of times there’s not too many second chances, so I think guys are doing a good job, whether it’s boxing out or blocking that second shot. Just enjoying being out there helping the guys win, hopefully we can continue tomorrow.”

As Cannata noted, the Utah defense once again had a very strong showing, and Taylor Richart was named defenseman of the game.

Utah and Allen meet for the third and final time in this home stand today (Saturday) when the Grizzlies look to complete the sweep, and the Americans undoubtedly will be looking to even the score.

 

 

Photo courtesy of Tim Broussard and staff

Utah Grizzlies: Cran-Berry Sauce

The day before Thanksgiving saw the first meeting of the season between Utah and the formerly mighty Allen Americans. J.T. Henke drew in for his first game in a Grizzlies uniform, while Brendan Harms and Ryan Misiak sat out, and Joe Cannata once again got the start.

The Grizzlies struck first, Matt Berry scoring his seventh of the season at 5:03 from Caleb Herbert.

Alexandre Ranger took a slashing call against Cannata after a whistle, and though the Grizzlies’ power play didn’t strike, Berry got his second of the game at 10:26, this time from Tim McGauley.

Not to be outdone by his line-mate, Herbert scored his 14th of the season at 11:58 from Berry and Cole Ully.

In the dying seconds of the first, Ryan Walters and McGauley got in on a two-on-one, and in a fast becoming familiar move, McGauley was hauled down. Allen got a tripping call, and the period came to an end.

In a period that was all Utah, offensively, the Grizzlies also did an excellent job cutting off passing lanes, getting in the way of shots, and generally keeping pucks away from Cannata, such that at the end of the first, shots were 7-3.

The power play to start the second was unable to muster a shot. Allen beat Cannata, but was unable to beat the crossbar with about three gone in the second. Herbert was hauled down at 8:06, and though the Grizzlies got a shot, the most notable moment of the advantage was Cannata and Jeremy Brodeur playing long distance ping pong with the puck.

Walters continues to be snake-bitten, getting his second point-blank look on Brodeur in the period. Going the other way, a sprawling defenseman was unable to break up the pass on a two-on-one, but Cannata turned the puck aside, and the Grizzlies whisked the rebound out of danger.

Berry picked up the team’s first hat trick of the year, when he buried a play from Ully. Herbert got the secondary assist as the hats rained down.

Following the goal first Teigan Zahn then Turner Ottenbreit took hooking calls, leading to almost a minute of five-on-three time, but Cannata and the Utah killers killed both penalties off.

Herbert went off the ice very gingerly with about five minutes left in the period, and went straight down the tunnel.

Shortly thereafter, there were a couple of big hits, and Jacob Doty tangled with Zahn. The only outcome was that Doty was assessed a two and a ten for unsportsmanlike conduct, and the Grizzlies went to the power play. They were unable to capitalize, though on the plus side, Herbert returned to the ice.

With 14 seconds left, Josh Anderson and Josh Atkinson tangled beside Cannata’s net, but only Anderson was sent to the box to end the period. After 40, Utah outshot Allen 16-8, and had a commanding 4-0 lead.

Allen got their first offensive pressure of the game early in the third, and at  Ryan Walters took a very soft tripping call. Austin Carroll had a dandy jaunt into the offensive zone all by himself that culminated in a very glorious short-handed chance, and Utah killed it off.

Mike Gunn took a high-sticking call at 13:01, and goaded Carroll into matching roughing calls. Allen killed off their penalty, though the Grizzlies got a couple of looks. Cannata continued to be a rock in net, and Utah continued to be very sound defensively.

The game got a bit nasty after that, Doty taking a roughing call with exactly two minutes to go, followed by Gunn exactly a minute later. In the dying moments of the game, Dalton Thrower socked R.T. Rice in the face, and got thrown out with a ten minute penalty for attempt/deliberate injury, and the game ended in chaos.

Matt Berry was named the first star of the game with the hat trick and an assist, while Herbert got the second star, and Ully the third. Joe Cannata got his second shut out in a row, and Taylor Richart had one of his more obviously stand-out performances.

“It feels pretty special. I’ve never done that before,” said the first star after the game, “So it feels good, and it was just good for our team to get the win out there today,”

“Obviously that top line is pretty dynamic, speed, skill, goal scoring ability, they’re unbelievable when they’re playing.” Tim Branham said of his first line’s nine point performance. “Joe, he’s Joe Cannata. What can you say. He’s just an unbelievable goaltender. He had more shots than 18, that’s for sure, I think they missed a bunch. It was a good effort by the boys. I thought we did a lot of good things, and when we had breakdowns, Joe was there to back us up. All in all, it was a good effort.”

When asked specifically about the first star of the game, he said “Matt was buzzing. When we had him three years ago, he was probably our best player in playoffs. He can skate, he can score, when he plays with pace he’s tough to handle. And then you put him on a line with Herbert and Ully, and it’s just, those guys are special,” he added with a chuckle. “Those guys are special. They have good chemistry together, and we’re lucky to have them on our team.”

It was by no means a perfect game, but overall the team played a strong defensive game. “We got up early in that game, and at that point,  you’re trying to stay in it. Allen, Allen’s got potential, so we knew there was gonna be some kind of push, or at least physical play, so we had to be on our toes. There were some breakdowns. You’re not gonna play a perfect game, that’s true. Could we have done a few things differently? Yeah. But overall, I thought it was a good team effort. I mean, any time you get back-to-back shut outs in this league, at this level, it’s a good thing. I know we have Joe in net, which helps, but I thought we did a pretty good job.”

Berry’s thoughts on the defensive effort were similar. “The D zone is a five-man, or a six-man unit, so everyone has to come back and help out, and I think everyone is getting used to the system or getting more acclimated with it, so we’re all playing all the same way and playing together, and I think it’s showing there out on the ice.”

Regardless of the cause, whatever the Grizzlies are doing is certainly working for them, as they are now 10-2-3-0 on the year.

They will face Allen on Friday and Saturday, and all signs point to a very chippy weekend ahead.

 

Photo courtesy of Tim Broussard, Jess Flemming and staff.

Utah Grizzlies: More in the Tank

In the final game of the home-stand against Indy, the lineup remained the same, though the lines themselves saw a little bit of juggling. Once again, Joe Cannata got the start

Both teams got a few shots in the first minute, and Teigan Zahn and Austin Carroll weren’t afraid to get into it early.

Richart got taken down knee-on-knee, and visions of Josh Winquist’s injury must surely have flashed through people’s minds, but fortunately, Richart was able to skate off under his own power, and returned to the ice in the midst of the resulting five minute power play. Matt Rupert was given a game misconduct in addition to the major. In the midst of the power play, Carroll pounced on a puck that rolled through Jason Pawloski and put it in the net, but the official had already blown the whistle.

The lengthy man-advantage was unable to capitalize for real, with the Grizzlies’ point men having uncharacteristic difficulties keeping the puck in the zone.

Josh Anderson laid some big hits through the game and Cannata looked much more comfortable in his net than he had in Friday’s game.

It was a game of special teams after that. Richart took exception to the Fuel around the Utah net after the whistle, and Anderson jumped in too, leading to an unsportsmanlike penalty. However, Indy followed that up by taking consecutive penalties, leading to brief stretches of four-on-four, then four-on-three before returning to a regular Grizzlies’ power play.

Nolan De Jong, who had a bit of a rough first period, took a hooking call in the final 1:18, and the period ended 0-0, shots 11-10 Indy. Fortunately, through the first twenty, Cannata looked very calm and comfortable, and at the first break the score remained 0-0.

The second period began with 42 seconds of the De Jong penalty, which Utah killed off comfortably. Matt Berry took a penalty 1:16 into the period, but Cannata continued to hold down the fort.

The penalty box parade continued, this time Radovan Bondra taking a slashing call. Utah definitely worked hard on the power play, causing Pawloski to scramble a little, but unable to put the puck past him.

Carroll was destined to get the first goal of the game after all, scoring despite being knocked down on the ice. Gage Ausmus and Brendan Harms got the assists, putting The Grizzlies up 1-0 7:37 into the second.

Utah threw the body around after that, but Harms got a boarding call at 11:55, sending the Grizzlies back to the kill. Indy had got a good cycle going, only to cough the puck up at the blue line to Caleb Herbert. The Indy defenseman struggled valiantly to keep up with Herbert, but to no avail, as the league’s leading scorer absolutely few in, and then electrified the crowd with his 13th of the year.

Indy took a slashing call at 14:40 and then Anderson and Olivier Labelle got matching minors at 18:49 and the period came to an end 2-0 Utah, shots 21-20 in their favor.

The Grizzlies looked like the better team on the very short four-on-four to start the third, but after that, both teams got their chances in.

Tim McGauley got hauled down on a breakaway at 8:20, and what should have been a penalty shot became a power play.

Unfortunately, Jake Marchment took a tripping call about half-way through, and negated the man-advantage.

Brendan Harms started a hard-working shift a few minutes past the half-way mark, which eventually led to Zahn scoring his first of the season unassisted to give the Grizzlies the 3-0 lead.

And they weren’t done. Just under a minute later, Matt Berry batted the puck past Pawloski to make it 4-0.

From then on out, Utah shut it down, and a game that began quietly most certainly did not end so as time ran out on Joe Cannata’s first shut out of the season.

“It felt nice.” said the game’s first star on his shut-out. “The last few weeks I’ve been fighting it a bit, I think as a team we played pretty solidly, and for me it makes it a lot easier, being square to pucks and seeing them, guys doing little things makes my job easier. It was nice to finish the week out like that.”

Tim Branham was a little bit more effusive on his goalie’s 30 save performance.

“He [Cannata] makes everything look easy, his rebound control is unbelievable, his playing the puck is unbelievable, he’s so calm and collected. He had a really good game yesterday, and he followed that up with an even better game. You can see why he helped Colorado to win a championship.”

“I thought we played a good game,” he continued. “Our effort, our intensity was there. Our execution, as far as offensively, wasn’t quite there, power play, that kind of thing. But that’s going to happen, our power play has been running over 30%, it’s bound to happen, have a bad day or a bad couple days, and it hurts to lose a player like Cole Ully. Hopefully he’s doing well up there tonight, and at the end of the day we have a character group, and we found a way to win.”

Ottenbreit appears to have hit his stride, having a very strong game for the second night in a row, and was a stand out on a solid blue line.

“He’s a young kid trying to find his way in pro hockey, he’s a tall kid, he’s got a long reach, skates really well for a big man, he’s tough, he’s physical, he can handle the puck, he’s just got everything, and he’s just finding his way. You’re gonna find this young D core just get better as the year goes on. Kevin Davis, what he’s doing right now is unbelievable. Josh Anderson, another young kid, when you’ve got guys, and we’re talking “veteran” players like De Jong, a second year guy, and Richy, a third year, and then you’ve got Zahner, and Moose–Ausmus, another second year guy, those guys are playing like veterans out there. It’s an unbelievable D core filled with tons of character. But Turner, he’s playing good hockey. He’s gonna be a good hockey player, that’s for sure.”

Carroll’s tenacity and the opening goal (which of course, ended up being the game winner) earned him second star, and Herbert took third with a goal and an assist.

Though Herbert had a goal in Friday’s game, he didn’t look quite as comfortably dominant as he had before his call up. That was not the case last night. He didn’t just score a dazzling goal, he did things like hesitate at the blue line waiting for his teammates to get back on-side and yet somehow retaining the puck despite the convergence the Indy players on his position. He also hounded Indy’s defensmen on the penalty kill, forcing them to make plays, and mistakes, like the one that led to the short-handed goal.

Utah’s back in action Wednesday, Friday, Saturday this coming week as well, playing all three games at home against the Allen Americans.

Image courtesy of Tim Broussard and staff.

 

Utah Grizzlies: Coming Up Short

With Cole Ully getting a stint in Colorado, the Grizzlies were down to eight forwards, activating defenseman Joey Raats from reserve to slot in on the third line. This caused quite a bit of a line shuffling, and Joe Cannata got the start.

Things got chippy immediately, both teams coming out flying, and hitting, hard. There was a fair amount of snarl as well, Josh McArdle boarding Austin Carroll, and sending the Grizzlies to an early power play.

The team looked a little disorganized in the early going, perhaps understandable without Ully, and with Raats playing forward.

Indy and Utah traded penalties, McArdle taking a boarding at 3:20 and Turner Ottenbreit taking a slash at 6:50 but neither team capitalized, or even looked particularly organized.

At Matt Rupert took an interference call, and Matt Berry put away his fifth of the year from Carroll and Kevin Davis to put the Grizzlies up, but Teigan Zahn took down an Indy player and was sent off for roughing. The Fuel tied it up on the ensuing power play.

The Indy continued to out-shoot Utah through the opening 15 minutes 10-6.

Caleb Herbert had what was perhaps the most flashy chance of the period, intercepting a shot in the crease and spinning around to get the shot off with about two minutes left.

At the end of a cantankerous opening 20, the teams were all tied up 1-1, shots 11-9 Indy.

Both teams appeared to tighten up at the beginning of the second, neither team allowing a shot until about four minutes in. They both belonged to Indy, but Cannata shut the door no problem.

Ryan Walters had a very nice rush up the ice with Brendan Harms, but Matt Tomkins turned it aside.

Ottenbreit had a very impressive shift, laying a hit in the offensive zone, then breaking up a play in the neutral zone, and the Utah momentum led to Caleb Herbert drawing an interference call. Marchment got high-sticked in front of the net 23 seconds later, and Utah got 1:37 of 5-on-3 time, with which they were unfortunately unable to do anything.

After the failed power play, Utah had quite a bit of offensive zone time, pulling ahead in shots finally, before Matt Berry decided to keep things interesting and cleared the puck so hard it went into the press box. He sat for two minutes, but Utah killed off the penalty.

In the last minutes of the period, Ottenbreit took a high-stick to the face from an Indy player, but no penalty was assessed, and the Fuel scored. The tensions that had been simmering between Carroll and various members of the Fuel came to a bit of a head, and he and Connor Moynihan tried to fight over the refs. To add insult to injury, Carroll got an extra two on the roughing calls, putting the Grizzlies down a man for 1:20 to start the third.

Utah killed off the power play well, thanks in part to a big block by Zahn that led to a good clear.

Unfortunately, things continued to go against the Grizzlies, as McGauley and his line mates had a good chance before the puck went the other way, the pass beat a sprawling Nolan De Jong, and Kevin Dufour beat Cannata.

Walters, who had a number of good looks throughout the game, continued to pick up shots, but was unable to put one past Matt Tomkins, while Gage Ausmus flew back to turn what was rapidly developing into a two-on-one against into a negated scoring chance about half way through the third.

Indy did get a two-on-one shortly afterwards, but Cannata nabbed the ensuing shot with ease.

Berry drove the net at 11:42 and drew a penalty, but the Grizzlies were unable to get much through a determined Fuel kill.

Branham pulled Cannata with 2:49 to go, and an Indy attempt at the empty net hit the post and went out. At 18:20 Herbert scored his 12th of the year, putting Utah within one with 1:40 to go. Cannata once again made a beeline to the bench for the extra attacker, but it just wasn’t to be.

Berry’s initial goal and four shots earned him third star of the night, while Walters led the team with five shots, and Cannata made some big saves, especially some towards the end of the game.

“We were too inconsistent, left our goalie out to dry too many times.” Branham said, “We passed up too many scoring chances, too many shot attempts. With the lineup we have right now, we gotta get second chance opportunities on this goaltender. He’s a good goalie, he makes some unbelievable saves every night, so we gotta get second chance opportunities, be willing to play that way for a consistent 60 minutes. Too many mistakes, which led to too many scoring chances against. Joe didn’t see a lot of work, but some tough saves he had to make, left him out to dry.”

A disappointing outcome, to be sure, and frustrating, as both regulation losses Utah has suffered this season have come against the Fuel. But they have another chance to even the score on Saturday night, when they will be wearing some very nice specialty jerseys in support of the Angel’s Hands foundation.

Joe Cannata Angel's Hands

 

 

 

Images courtesy of Tim Broussard and staff