Utah Grizzlies: Out to prove they can contend for ECHL title

The Utah Grizzlies aren't merely content to have made the Kelly Cup playoffs this spring.

The Grizz beat Victoria last Saturday to secure home-ice advantage in their opening round Kelly Cup series with Las Vegas, and now that they're here, Utah coach Kevin Colley says they hope to send a message to the rest of the ECHL when they take the ice in Las Vegas for Game 1 of the best-of-five series at 8 p.m. Tuesday.

"We wanna go out and send a message, not only to Las Vegas, but to the whole league, that we're for real right now and we have team goals to accomplish a lot of good things this year," said Colley.

Tuesday's game will be broadcast on 1230 AM.

Game 2 will follow on Wednesday at 8 p.m., with the series shifting to the E Center for Game 3 Saturday evening.

Ultimately, it took huge win by Utah in Victoria last Saturday to secure home-ice advantage for the series, an advantage the Grizzlies hope to capitalize on.

"Home ice is a huge advantage," said Colley. "If you look at our record the last couple months, it's been a big advantage. Plus the revenue it brings in, it's great for the organization.

"I'm proud of these guys to this point, but (tonight's) a new season. Now nothing else matters but (tonight). Hopefully we can take it one game at a time."

Following along with that mantra, Colley says his guys must focus on the task at hand in Game 1 — and not on anything else.

"We've got a lot of character and grit. It's not a secret that we have a lot of grit," said Colley. "We've got about eight guys that are willing to fight every day, but right now we gotta send a message that we're here for business.

"We're not here to go to the penalty box all night. We wanna stay out of the penalty box and play as hard as we can within the rules, and just play a real solid 60 minutes of a team game."

Anything less, Colley says, will make it tough to beat a solid Las Vegas bunch.

"They've probably been the second-best team in the league the second half of the year," said Colley. "They've been playing great hockey."