No NHL games? Utahns get hockey fix at Grizzlies events

From football, baseball and basketball to soccer, hockey and motor sports, millions of spectators are drawn annually to Utah's sporting events. However, casual observers may not have attended home games for Utah's many sports teams. The Deseret Morning News will be running an ongoing series of reports looking at many of the state's major sporting events, summarizing the spectator experience as to venue, atmosphere and cost.

WEST VALLEY CITY — Fans of the National Hockey League have had to find their hockey fix elsewhere, what with the NHL lockout having eliminated the entire 2004-2005 season.

Enter the Utah Grizzlies, playing professional hockey for the franchise's 10th season and looking along with the rest of the American Hockey League to help fill the NHL void.

If the NHL has been no-look hockey this season, then the Grizzlies are new-look hockey.

Gone is the green-heavy colors associated with the previous affiliation with the Dallas Stars — with the affiliation also gone. Going into the 2004-05 season, the Grizz hooked up with its new NHL affiliate, the Phoenix Coyotes, who before was aligned with the AHL's Springfield Falcons.

The new partnership resulted in new Utah colors — a red-based uniform, logo and overall scheme that the Grizz marketing folks have dubbed "See Red." Colors wasn't the only new view greeting Grizz fans — the new affiliation meant an influx of Phoenix prospects and a new-look roster from the start of the season.

TEAM: Utah Grizzlies, member of the American Hockey League and affiliate of the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes.

WEBSITE: www.utahgrizzlies.com

VENUE: The E Center, 3200 S. Decker Lake Drive. Opened in Sept. 22, 1997, the arena has a 10,100-seat capacity for hockey, with other sporting events and concerts able to seat up to 12,000.

In addition to serving as home ice for the Grizz, the E Center is also host to high school basketball tournaments, indoor football, indoor motor sports such as motocross and mud bogs, concerts, stage and ice entertainment shows and professional wrestling.

The E Center was one of two venues for ice hockey during the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics, with most of the premier men's matches held there. It also served as the media center and sledge hockey venue for the 2002 Salt Lake Paralympics.

SCHEDULE: April 6, vs. Houston; April 8-9, vs. Grand Rapids.