Utah Grizzlies: Colorado too much for Utah

Hockey • They give up two early goals, get just 12 shots on goal.

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West Valley City • The Colorado Eagles are in first place in the Mountain Division for a reason and Friday night at the Maverik Center they demonstrated why. Playing superb in all facets of the game, Colorado withstood a late Grizzly charge in skating to a 5-2 victory, further dampening Utah's precarious playoff hopes.

"I thought the difference was goal scoring, and we had plenty of chances in which we missed the net, and missing empty nets kills you," head coach Tim Branham said. "Saturday's game will be the biggest game of the year for us."

The Eagles stormed out of the gates with a pair of first-period goals and never looked back. Casey Pierro-Zabotel fired a deep shot from the blue line past Utah goalie Ryan Faragher for a 1-0 lead. Then, during a Utah shift change, Cam Maclise gathered a puck in the neutral zone and with nary a Grizzly in sight except Faragher, dumped the puck into the back of the net.

Utah managed just 12 shots on goal for the game. —

ECHL standings

Eastern Conference

North GP W L OL SOL Pts GF GA

Reading 62 36 22 2 2 76 225 184

Brampton 61 34 20 3 4 75 225 221

Manchester 62 32 19 7 4 75 231 220

Adirondack 61 31 20 6 4 72 220 199

Wheeling 62 31 25 6 0 68 210 200

Elmira 62 14 40 7 1 36 144 235

South GP W L OL SOL Pts GF GA

Florida 61 41 15 2 3 87 224 175

Greenville 63 35 23 4 1 75 220 219

Cincinnati 63 33 26 4 0 70 177 182

Orlando 61 30 22 6 3 69 222 215

South Carolina 61 32 26 2 1 67 186 179

Atlanta 60 23 29 6 2 54 200 234

Norfolk 61 23 34 4 0 50 182 227

Western Conference

Central GP W L OL SOL Pts GF GA

Toledo 61 44 14 2 1 91 255 163

Fort Wayne 60 37 16 5 2 81 222 177

Quad City 61 34 23 2 2 72 192 182

Kalamazoo 63 32 27 1 3 68 185 203

Tulsa 63 26 31 5 1 58 173 208

Wichita 59 18 37 3 1 40 160 230

Indy 61 17 38 3 3 40 156 247

Mountain GP W L OL SOL Pts GF GA

Colorado 62 42 15 2 3 89 241 179

Allen 62 40 17 3 2 85 248 178

Idaho 62 35 20 5 2 77 208 190

Alaska 61 30 22 3 6 69 197 197

Utah 62 29 26 5 2 65 190 214

Missouri 61 28 25 3 5 64 199 201

Rapid City 62 23 31 8 0 54 190 223

Friday's games

Indy 6, Kalamazoo 5

Wheeling 5, Adirondack 2

Manchester 4, Atlanta 1

Norfolk 6, Reading 1

Florida 3, Orlando 2

Fort Wayne 3, Tulsa 0

Allen 5, Wichita 3

Quad City 3, Missouri 2

Colorado 5, Utah 2

Rapid City 4, Idaho 3

Cincinnati at Alaska, late