Grizzlies open 10th season tonight

When the puck drops on the Utah Grizzlies' 10th season at the E Center today at 7:05 p.m. against the San Antonio Rampage, the man the home team has been so happy to have home, Jarrod Skalde, won't be on the ice.

Skalde will be a pall bearer this afternoon in Ontario, Canada, for friend Dan Snyder, a member of the NHL Atlanta Thrashers who died of head injuries Sunday, six days after being a passenger in a severe auto accident in a car driven by a teammate.

"We will miss him this opening weekend," Utah coach Don Hay said of Skalde, the 1999-2000 Grizzlies' MVP and veteran of 425 minor league and 115 NHL games who played last season in Switzerland but chose to return to the Dallas/Utah family, signing in July. Skalde played with the Thrashers in 2000-01.

"We feel it's important that he pays his respects," Hay said about Skalde attending today's funeral, a trip that may also keep him out of Saturday's first road game at San Antonio.

"We have 12 forwards we will move in and out," Hay said, declining Thursday to say what his line combinations would be.

He did say veteran goalie Jason Bacashihua will open between the pipes tonight. Bacashihua has played 40 games over the past two seasons for Utah and has an American Hockey League career goals-against average of 3.13 and a .914 save percentage. His career record is 18-19-2.

Hay has 24 players available, with another, veteran forward Brett Draney, on the injured list due to a concussion.

One of those players, defenseman Gerard DiCaire, has been with the team for only a practice or two after being loaned Wednesday to Utah by the Tampa Bay Lightning organization through an agreement with the Grizzlies' parent Dallas team. "He's a guy that can move the puck. He'll fit in with our defensive group," Hay said.

Hay has had his core players for a week or less of practices, but that doesn't bother him a bit. "Our first year," he said about the 2001-02 season when he became Utah's coach and posted a 40-29-6-5 record as the Grizzlies made the transition to the AHL from the International Hockey League, "we had four days practice and got off to a great start. Last year, we had 10 days and started 0-3. Less is better.

"We're ready to play," he declared, noting that despite the short practice time — during which he implemented a number of new drills that he learned by spending part of the past summer in Europe — his players are ready to hit someone in a different-colored uniform.