Utah Grizzlies: Home, Sweet Home

After three long, but successful, weeks on the road, the Grizzlies finally returned home, getting reinforcements in the form of Tim McGauley and Ty Lewis. The team wore Batman jerseys with the team’s nicknames (both real and invented) on the back. Martin Ouellette made his 21st start, while the return of both McGauley and Lewis meant that Brandon Saigeon sat out.

The game got off to a great start for the Grizzlies, as Rapid City took two penalties in quick succession, and Yuri Terao made them pay for it on the back-half at 3:27. Mitch Maxwell and Jack Jenkins got the assists.

Ouellette made a big save, and then Eric Williams was sent to the box for interference, followed rapidly by Taylor Richart. Utah killed off the two man disadvantage, and maintained both shot and score superiority.

McGauley leveled Myles McGurty, and drew a crowd, eventually being sent to the box for boarding on a very delayed call.

Utah continued to hold the lead in both shots and goals into the final five of the first. Josh Anderson threw a thunderous hit, and Tanner Karty took exception, dropping the gloves. Both were sent to the room to cool their heels for the final 4:58 of the period.

Griffen Molino had two great attempts in close on Gordie Defiel, but he got taken down, and Defiel made both saves.

Utah continued to pepper the Rush with shots, picking up 12 to Rapid City’s 5 with just over two to go.

Joe Wegwerth got shot number thirteen, and then answered the bell against Brennan Saulnier shortly thereafter.

At the end of a highly eventful first period, Utah retained the 1-0 lead, shots 13-5 in their favor.

The second period began with a fair amount of Rush zone time, but no shots, and Anderson and Karty were released before anything changed.

Utah got the first shot of the period, but in general, their feet kept getting ahead of their hands.

Molino’s hands certainly didn’t get away from him at 8:21, however, as he used his reach to hold on to the puck around a defender, and then swung it over Defiel’s head for his 21st of the year. Lewis got the primary assist, while McGauley got the secondary.

Utah didn’t stop there, extending the shot lead, and getting another goal from Josh Dickinson at 12:58 from Richart and Ryan Wagner.

By the fifteen minute mark, shots were 23-9 for the Grizzlies, and if Ouellette hadn’t made a couple of really nice saves the few times he was tested, it would have been pretty easy to forget that a very good goalie was in the net at all.

Rapid City challenged that a little as time went on, but except for a scuffle between Peter Tischke and Karty after a hit on Lewis, the end of the period maintained the status quo.

Second intermission saw shots 25-13 for the Grizzlies, with 45 seconds left on the offsetting penalties to Tischke and Karty.

The Rush came into the third with more jump than heretofore, but missed the net, or were met by Ouellette or the Utah defense. After that, however, Utah returned the favor in spades.

By the half-way point, the Grizzlies had firmly re-taken control of the game, hitting thirty shots by the 10 minute mark.

Wagner had a glorious offensive zone shift, topped off by a perfect set up, and Maxwell JUST missed spinning the puck into a gaping net.

Chris Leibinger stood Garret Klotz up at the Utah blue line, and was probably fortunate that Klotz didn’t look particularly interested in really dropping the gloves. Both got two minutes at 11:57.

Klotz got a borderline tripping call with under five to go, but the Rush were unable to cleanly complete a pass for almost the entirety of the penalty. With 40 seconds or so to go, the Rush pulled their goalie, and scored on the multiple man advantage.

With two to go, they again pulled their goalie, but were unable to close the gap, giving Utah the 3-1 win, shots 31-23 for the Grizzlies.

Ouellette picked up his 16th win and first star honors, while Terao and Maxwell took second and third.

“You know, I’m really proud of the group right now,” Tim Branham said after the game. “When you bring back McGauley and Lewis — and I know, they’re good players, but we just spent two games without them in a different game plan — they come back in and it’s like they never left, everyone picks up where they left off, other people accept different roles. When you add two high-skilled players like that, two other guys are going to take a back seat, which means it’s gonna be a trickle down effect. We’ve got a great group of guys, guys that accept whatever role they’re put in. They just want to win. Really proud of them for playing a complete game today. That was bigger to me than anything because Rapid City is a tough team. They try to come in and play physical and play hard, and we always have problems with them, have fits, and I think the guys did an excellent job playing between the whistles and playing a good physical, yet skilled, puck possession game.”

While there is certainly no doubt that the level of skill on this team is high, it’s their relentless willingness to work hard that’s set them apart so far.

“Their mindset is different” said Branham, “They have a hard working mindset instead of just a skilled game mindset. You know the old cliche, hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard. But when you can have talent that works hard, it’s a dangerous thing. We know come playoff time, it’s going to be a tough brand of hockey, so we want to make sure we’re used to playing that style and you throw our skill into the mix and good things happen.”

While the Grizzlies’ speed and high-intensity approach have contributed to their success, they have played a lot of games with a lot of travel lately, and while the travel is decreasing in the coming weeks, the number of games certainly isn’t. So how is the team preparing both for the short term and the big picture?

“We got to be careful here now. We played so much hockey lately, and we’ve been on the road, they’re tired. Even a day off is a travel day, you know, and being able to sustain that energy like they are is huge. So we’re trying to manage that, making sure that we do have enough energy to be able to compete at a high level, and the level that we want to compete at. We’re not measuring ourselves to the other teams, we’re measuring ourselves to ourselves, and we want to be the best team that we can possibly be.” 

It’s a management challenge, for sure, but Dickinson also sees it as good practice for the playoffs.

“Come playoffs you’re playing every other night/every night,” he said, “So I mean, it’s a good warm-up for us and it’s good to see what we’re made of and how we respond to it, and the night-in-night-out games is what is going to take in the playoffs, so it’s it’s good.”

And while long road trips are difficult, even late road trips like this one also allow teams to gel together. “Obviously it’s later in the season here, so you’re already close with the guys,” Dickinson added, “But when you’re on a road trip for a long time you’re spending every hour with the guys so you get to know everyone a lot better–it’s where you really find each other and it makes it easier. You kind of get in a groove and you just know more about each other so it’s nice.”

With both the need to manage energy, and that playoff goal in mind, the fact that the offense is clicking on all cylinders rather than being carried by one line or guy at a time is a big help.

“With any given night, we’ve got a bunch of guys that step up,” Branham said. “Lewis and McGauley and Molino have done a really good job for a long stretch, but now you’ve got Wagner and Dickinson, and Wegwerth is back in the mix, and Maxwell scored, I don’t know how many game winning goals for us over that stretch. Then you’ve got Jenkins who’s just a motor. He’s our motor. He’s the one that does everything right and plays hard and doesn’t get any accolades for it. He is so important to our team.

“Our D are learning to compete in the tough areas because they’ve got a lot of ability,” he continued, “They’ve got a lot of ability to move the pocket and things like that. So we’re starting to come together. We want to learn lessons through success. So far, we’ve been able to do that, and definitely proud of this group for for sticking with it.”

Speaking of defense, while the return of Davis and Anderson has filled out what was once a rookie-heavy blue-line, the rookie defenders no longer look like rookies.

“What can you say,” Branham said of his defensive core, “They stuck with it, definitely, you know, maybe early on some of the goals were going in a little bit too easy, maybe. And you can get down and frustrated, but they stuck with the game plan. We’ve worked with them after practice and video and things of that nature. But the biggest thing is just the attitude. Their attitude is a professional attitude. They want to get better every day, and they want to learn. When you’re at this level, if you’ve gotten to this level, you’ve got something in the toolbox, you’ve got a bunch of tools. When you put on top of it the mix of forwards that they’re playing with, and a great attitude of listening to the coaching staff and they work hard every day — they work harder in practice than they do in games, this whole group, it’s unbelievable — when you’ve got that kind of combination, the sky’s the limit. So you know, hopefully we can continue to play well. I know there’s dips and valleys sometimes, but if we can continue to play well going into playoffs some good things will happen.”

As mentioned before, the schedule does not get any easier, both in number of games and in opponents, but if they can stay healthy and keep their momentum going, they’ll have had plenty of practice for the post-season.

 

 

 

Photo courtesy of Jonathan Berry.

Utah Grizzlies: Yau-za

With three weeks of road hockey on the horizon, the Grizzlies rolled into Saturday night with a 6-2-1-1 record, hoping to have another good game against the Allen Americans. Garrett Klotz drew in for Dalton Mills, and Mason McDonald once again got the start.

There was absolutely nothing slow about the start from either team, Utah picking up the first four shots, but Allen skating just as hard.

Utah’s jump paid off first, and Connor Yau scored his first pro goal off the post and in at 5:35 from Travis Barron and Ty Lewis.

Meanwhile, though he only saw one official shot through the first seven minutes or so, McDonald proved that he was just as awake as his teammates.

Utah iced the puck a couple of times around the 7:30-8:00 mark, but McDonald made short work of the Americans’ zone starts.

Klotz and Sasha Larocque broke in on and odd-man rush, and Utah got the first power play at 8:46 after Klotz was tripped up. The Grizzlies had a number of really great ideas on the advantage, but were unable to double their lead.

A couple of minutes later, Yuri Terao went off for hooking but though they did a great job for the most part, with just a couple of seconds left, a brief moment of clumsiness from the Utah defensemen gave Allen all they needed to tie it up.

J.C. Brassard drew a holding call with about 1:30 to go, but the power play was immediately negated, as Lewis got called for holding just moments later.

The Grizzlies played some really beautiful four-on-four hockey, and with two seconds left, tempers began to flair. Josh Dickinson tripped up an Allen player, and a crowd gathered.

Thirty seconds into the second with only Dickinson still in the box, the Americans made it 2-1.

However, Lewis drew a power play at 4:25, and Dickinson wired one past Dereck Baribeau ten seconds into the advantage to tie the game.

At 6:04 things got a little out of hand, as Josh Britain and Garrett Klotz began a scuffle. Both got roughing calls, but Klotz was also given a game misconduct for continuing the altercation, apparently.

The Americans scored on the ensuing four-on-four. No sooner had the teams returned to full strength, however, than they both went back to the box Terao for slashing, and Jared VanWormer for unsportsmanlike conduct. With one second left in the four-on-four, Jack Jenkins took a hooking call, but Utah killed that one off.

Lewis had two chances to tie the game up on the same shift, but missed wide both times. Molino got leveled with under six to go, and as one thing led to another, Maxwell dropped the gloves with Doetzel. Both got five for fighting.

Things continued to devolve from there, and with under two to go, Barron was cross-checked. He resented this, and tangled with Brett Pollock. Both got two for roughing, while Pollock got an extra two for cross-checking. Utah went to the power play, but more concerning, Barron went to the room.

At the end of 40, shots were 18-17 for Allen, who also led 3-2 in what had become an official-heavy game.

Barron was not back to start the third, and the Americans returned to full strength.

Unfortunately for the Grizzlies, Allen made it 4-2 with almost exactly four gone.

However, Terao drew a penalty shortly thereafter. Just nine seconds in, Jack Jenkins wired the puck past Paterson for his fourth of the year from Terao and Dickinson.

Brassard and Tischke especially had really strong shifts as the game headed towards the final ten minutes, but Baribeau stood on his head. Even more impressively, the Grizzlies did NOT look like a team playing down two forwards, even as the Americans pressured.

Utah returned the favor, Maxwell was robbed, Jenkins rang iron, and the Grizzlies drew a power play with 6:09 to go.

With 2:12 to go, following and Allen icing, the Grizzlies pulled McDonald for an extra attacker. Allen then iced the puck again.

In the end, the Americans scored twice into the empty net with less than a minute to go.

Obviously, a 6-3 score doesn’t look great on paper, but without the empty netters, it was a very close –if oddly officiated– game.

“I thought our guys played really well.” Coach Branham said after the game, “Not sure why Klotz was kicked out of the game. No clue. I watched it on video and I still don’t know why but you know it is what it is. I thought our boys played really well. The first two periods, like you’re talking about, it was really choppy, like penalty here penalty there, we couldn’t get into flow. And then you see in the third period where you can finally get some five on five shifts and you know, we’re able to take it to them. I’m actually probably the way the boys played with Klotz kicked out. Then we had another injury. We played short handed, and I thought they battled really hard to be honest.

Once again, Brassard, Tischke especially, but also Yau with his first goal, stepped up and continued to improve. “Yeah, I think those three are playing really well,” said Branham, “Tischke’s really stepping up playing big minutes playing important minutes, Yau, same thing. I thought Brass was really good. You’re exactly right, those guys played really well. Our players played really, really well. To be honest. Once again, we gave up 24 shots, they had those two empty netters for 26, but that we gave up 24 shots and our players played really well. They played hard. It was a choppy game back and forth. I thought we had a lot of grade A scoring chances where we tried to get a little fancy, we could have just shut the puck, but you know, is what it is. We’ll regroup here, go on a road trip and get some wins.”

For Yau, obviously he would have preferred his first pro goal come with a win, but it’s still a nice milestone to get out of the way.

“Yeah, it’s nice to get the first one but obviously would like a better outcome. We know they’re good team. Essentially a playoff game right there. High pace, we had some forwards go down. So we needed some of our D-men, to you know, fill that void up front. So it was nice to have guys like Brasser and Tisch, really good skaters to kind of fill in for those close holes we had.”

Despite losing two forwards in the second, the Grizzlies didn’t look like a team playing with a severely shortened bench, and that’s down to their conditioning — something that will become more and more valuable as this very busy stretch continues.

When asked about the team’s ability to turn it on in the third period, even down two guys, Yau said, “We work hard every day in practice. We  work out, we condition, we skate to be as prepared as we can be for these third period efforts and that’s why I think it shows. Sometimes we have those sluggish first periods. We know in the second and third, we can rely on our conditioning to propel us through the game.”

Obviously, you don’t ever want to lose 6-3, empty-netters or no, but the Grizzlies played well, and isn’t overly concerned going forward.

“This is just a minor set back” Yau added. “We know it’s one game, we knew we weren’t gonna win every game this season. They’re a good team, we’re a good team, we just know we’ve got to learn from it, we know we can be better, and we can apply those types of principles going forward, especially on this big road trip when we’ll need to rely on those types of things.”

The Grizzlies head out for a three week road trip, where they’ll take on Atlanta, Greenville, Wichita, Idaho, Tulsa, and Kansas City.

 

Goals

  • First Period: Yau (Barron, Lewis)
  • Second Period: Dickinson (Williams, Brassard)
  • Third Period: Jenkins (Dickinson, Terao)

 

Photo courtesy of Mauree North

 

Utah Grizzlies: The Kelly Klima Show

The Grizzlies continued the second stage of their road trip in Rapid City on Friday night. Mason McDonald got the start, while Josh Anderson joined the team from Colorado. Colin Jacobs and Patrick McGrath both played in place of Tim McGauley and Yuri Terao, and Mason McDonald got the start.

This weekend, I’ll be returning to the far less formal “Top Six Minutes” style recap that made a few appearances last season, so be prepared.

First Period

  • Really good penalty kill for the Grizzlies after Travis Barron headed to the box for high-sticking.
  • Felix Lauzon heads to the box, but takes Kelly Kilma with him. REALLY excellent kill from Utah.
  • The Rush strike first on the breakaway. BOOO.
  • It’s a Grizzlies shooting gallery out there! Definitely the response you want to see after a goal against.
  • That was a fantastic scoring chance from the Captain.
  • Taylor Richart and Josh Dickinson both threw themselves in front of shots that shift. Looked painful, but neither of them missed so much as a shift.
  • There’s that lightning fast glove-hand of Mason McDonald’s there.
  • Ryan Wagner’s hands are marvelous.
  • Eric Williams draws a short-handed power play in the offensive zone!
  • Not a great power play.
  • Those were some really nice plays that didn’t lead to anything, sadly.

Second Period

  • Early power play for the Grizz there.
  • Oooh, Erik Källgren wasn’t 100% sure he had that shot from Richart.
  • Some speedy skating from Griffen Molino draws another power play!
  • What. A. Save. McDonald stones Montminy on a breakaway out of the box.
  • And a couple other big saves from them.
  • COLIN JACOBS TIES THE GAME. Nice move too. Wagner and Brandon Saigeon with the assists.

  • Power play again for the Grizzlies.
  • Oh, that SNIIIIIIIIIPE. Dickinson with his EIGHTH of the season on the advantage.
  • Never heard of a six minute penalty before. But McGrath is headed to the box for that. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
  • Two for slashing, four for high sticking, well that’s new, but makes sense.
  • And RC scores.
  • McGrath and Saulnier with a furious fight there with 3:44 to go.
  • Ohhhh that was almost a glorious Griffen goal.
  • Power play for the boys! So many power plays this game.
  • Oh man, it didn’t lead to a goal, but that whole Richart, Dickinson, Barron sequence was lovely.

Third Period

  • A Rush player ends up in the net, but not the puck.
  • What. A. SAVE.

  • Thaaat one not so much. Klima with the hat trick.
  • HOW did that Cassels shot not go in???
  • Nice stick from Barron there.
  • Another one from Klima. McDonald was wearing a couple of players on that one, unfortunately initiated by a Grizzlies player.
  • Molino’s kind of fast in case you somehow managed to miss that memo.
  • I’m not gonna argue very hard with something not being called against the Grizzlies, but how was that not a trip on Utah.
  • Josh Dickinson out there making scoring look absolutely effortless. 4-3 with just over two to go.

  • Late power play for Utah!!!
  • Six-on-four with an empty Grizzlies net.
  • No dice.
  • Utah falls 4-3, but it sure was an entertaining game.

After witnessing Josh Dickinson blaze his way through teams the past few games, the Grizzlies did get a bit of a taste of their own medicine. Klima scored all four of the Rush’s goals, and was named first star.

As was predicted ahead of time, power plays did indeed play a large part, both teams getting two. Rapid City does look to be a far better team than they have been in years past. As a result, although there were certainly some frustrating moments, and plenty of things to clean up, it was overall an entertaining game.

Utah looks to settle the score tomorrow night.

Goals

  • First Period: None
  • Second Period: Jacobs (Wagner, Saigeon) (PP), Dickinson (Richart, Cassels (PP)
  • Third Period: Dickinson (Wagner, Molino)

 

Photo courtesy of Tim Broussard and staff.

Utah Grizzlies: Ever So Close

After Friday’s tour-de-force, it wasn’t much of a surprise to discover that with the exception of Brandon Saigeon who was scratched and Mason McDonald who got the start, the lineup remained the same.

The game got off to a pretty similar start, Josh Dickinson wiring a shot on net on the first shift. This time, however, Jake Paterson was there to stop it. However, the Grizzlies continued to get the best of the zone time.

Unfortunately, Allen struck first following a Utah penalty, giving them the 1-0 lead at 3:58. Dickinson drew a power play on the next shift, but the Grizzlies couldn’t capitalize. The Americans played far better than on Friday, despite icing the puck several times as the period approached the half-way point.

At the twelve-minute mark, Tim McGauley backhanded the puck from the corner, and onto the stick of none other than Josh Dickinson. Dickinson buried it for his seventh goal in the last three games.

Yuri Terao took a tripping call with 3:53 to go, and the Grizzlies killed it off. However, the Americans took the lead with 1:02 to go on a goal from Olivier Archambault.

Peter Tischke and Brett Pollock took matching minors following the whistle, so the second period began four-on-four.

Griffen Molino got in on a breakaway, but was unable to beat Paterson in the opening minute of the second.

With 10:52 remaining, Wagner’s stick broke and went flying, and the Grizzlies lost focus just long enough for Allen to capitalize. A video review followed, but the goal stood.

Joe Wegwerth took a high-sticking penalty with 9:01 to go, but Utah killed it off. The Grizzlies proceeded to string together a couple of good shifts, and Cole Cassels scored his second of the year as the team crashed the net. Travis Barron got the assist, and Utah followed that up with several more offensive zone shifts, led by Dickinson and McGauley.

It turned out that it was only the beginning. Barron backhanded a Taylor Richart shot past Paterson to tie the game, and then McGauley gave Utah the lead on an absolute snipe. Terao took some net front abuse at 19:20, drawing a late power play, and sending Utah to the locker room up 4-3, out-shooting Allen 29-15, and with 1:40 of power play time to start the third.

At the buzzer, the Americans took a bench minor for unsportsmanlike conduct, so the 1:40 of power play turned into 1:40 of five-on-three. The Grizzlies established some solid zone time, but the power play went the way of so many early-period advantages.

The game started to get a bit physical, and six minutes in, Allen tied it up 4-4. Terao got a helmet violation penalty. Barron and Cassels got a speedy two-on-one short-handed and then later on the same shift Barron and Alex Breton collided and were slow to get off the ice. Fortunately, both Barron and Breton were back fairly quickly.

Lauzon drew a power play with 4:41 to go, and then Allen put the puck over the glass to give Utah 1:28 of five-on-three at a critical moment. Unfortunately, Allen was able to kill off both two and one man advantages.

Teigan Zahn and Alex Gubtill dropped the gloves with ten seconds to go, and as regulation came to an end, tied 4-4, something of a crowd gathered.

Allen took the second standings point on a Gabriel Gagne goal 1:18 into OT, and Utah left Allen with three of four points.

Cassels picked up third star of the night on the strength of one goal and two assists, while Dickinson and Barron both extended their scoring streaks.

 

Goals

  • First Period: Dickinson (McGauley)
  • Second Period: Cassels (Barron), Barron (Richart, Cassels), McGauley (Cassels)
  • Third Period: None

 

Photo courtesy of Tim Broussard and staff.

Utah Grizzlies: Hat Trick Heroics

The first Wednesday night of the season saw the Grizzlies looking for their first win. Jeff Smith got his first start of the season, backed up by Mason McDonald after Hunter Miska got called up to the AHL. Connor Yau and Felix Lauzon returned to the lineup, while Colin Jacobs, Patrick McGrath, Michael Economos, Ryan Black, and Mitch Maxwell all sat.

Wichita was not as hot out of the gate as Idaho, and the Grizzlies picked up the first three shots, as well as a goal from Josh Dickinson that fluttered softly past Mitch Gillam at 2:08. Griffen Molino and Eric Williams got the assists.

Utah continued to get the best of the situation, drawing a power play as Dickinson took a slashing call. The Grizzlies wasted no time capitalizing, Dickinson getting his second of the period from Kevin Davis and Yuri Terao.

Molino was left all alone about half-way through the frame, and easily outmaneuvered Gillam. Barely had the goal been announced when Travis Barron scored his third of the season assisted by Yau and Cole Cassels, and the Grizzlies’ offensive onslaught continued. It wasn’t even so much that they were playing so very well (though they did have a better start than in the previous games against Idaho) than Wichita allowed them to control play, and didn’t challenge them.

Smith didn’t have much to do, but did make a nice positional save on Wichita in the last five minutes of the period on the Thunder’s fourth shot.

The Grizzlies weren’t particularly tidy through the first, but in comparison to Wichita, they looked stellar, and ended the first up 4-0, outshooting the Thunder 14-4.

Utah had a couple of sloppy passes in the opening moments of the period, but the Thunder were unable to make the most of them. Although they did get a point-blank shot at Smith, who turned it aside handily.

Dickinson got the hat trick goal at 2:10 from Tim McGauley, and the Thunder got on the board eleven seconds later. The goal put some life back into Wichita, and they spent a little more time in the zone, picking up a couple more shots.

As the half-way point of the period passed, the Thunder had more chances, but fumbled passes, or were met by the calm presence of Smith.

Utah got a power play with 4:33 to go, and Barron once again made it count, making it 6-1.

Cassels took an interference penalty with 2:09 left in the frame, but Barron took a stick to the face, and the Grizzlies ended with 3:42 of power play time to work with in the third.

They were unable to get anything past Gillam on the power play, but headed right back to the advantage when Riley Weselowski took a tripping penalty just moments after the Thunder returned to full strength. Barron took a boarding penalty as the Wichita penalty expired, but the Grizzlies killed it off without a shot.

Eric Freschi took a helmet violation penalty, and Ryan Wagner took a slashing penalty shortly thereafter, but Joe Wegwerth pounced on a turnover, and capitalized short-handed.

As the final five minutes approached, Wichita started throwing their weight around, which led to a parade of penalties, Freschi and Starrett going off for unsportsmanlike conduct and interference respectively, while Tischke and Barron both followed for for the same.

At final count, shots were 30-14 for Utah, who picked up their first win of the season.

Dickinson’s first pro hat trick and assist earned him first star, while Barron (2G) and Molino (1G, 1A) took second and third star honors. Davis picked up two assists, and Jeff Smith got his first pro win.

Now the team hits the road, where they hope to take their new found chemistry and consistency to Allen this weekend and Rapid City next.

Goals

  • First Period: Dickinson (Molino, Williams), Dickinson (Davis, Terao) (PP), Molino (Davis, Dickinson), Barron (Yau, Cassels) (PP)
  • Second Period: Dickinson (McGauley), Barron (Cassels, Saigeon)
  • Third Period: Wegwerth (SH)

 

Photo courtesy of Tim Broussard and staff.