Utah Grizzlies on a roll heading to Idaho

WEST VALLEY CITY — The 3,609 fans at the E Center who saw the Utah Grizzlies' Game 5 victory over Las Vegas were witness to the fact that, when the Grizz play as well as they're capable of playing, they can beat just about anybody in the ECHL.

Heading into the second round of the Kelly Cup playoffs, however, two questions loom large: No. 1, can the Grizzlies play the kind of hockey they played in Game 5 consistently from the start of Round 2 until the end of it? No. 2, if Utah does play its best hockey, will that be good enough to beat what many believe is the best team in the ECHL this year?

Those questions will start to be answered at 7 tonight when the Grizz take the ice inside Qwest Arena in Boise for Game 1 of their best-of-seven series with the Idaho Steelheads, holders of the best record in the ECHL during the regular season.

Game 2 will follow on Saturday in Boise, with the series shifting back to the E Center for Games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Friday.

"Obviously, we are the underdog," said Utah coach Kevin Colley when asked if his team felt like an underdog after the impressive manner in which it routed Las Vegas in decisive Game 5. "We finished 30 points back of (Idaho). In our minds, we're not, but everyone sees us as the underdog."

In Games 1 and 2, Colley says it will be paramount for his guys to build on all the momentum they gained from Game 5's decisive victory over Las Vegas in the last round.

"We just have to take out all the positives from Game 5 and build on it," said Colley. "We can't look back at Game 4 or Game 1. We build on Game 5; that was our best game of the series, and that was our last game of the series.

"So we now need to build off that momentum and all those positive things. We know what works, and we need to be successful."

Utah will have to figure out ways to deal with the loss of defender Jake Gannon and goaltender Mikko Koskinen, who were called up by the Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the AHL on Thursday.

Gannon had been playing up with the Sound Tigers before returning to Utah for do-or-die Game 5 on Tuesday. Both Gannon and Koskinen were stellar for the Grizzlies in that game, and Colley will have to find ways to cope without them.

Tonight, the Grizzlies will hope that the Steelheads are rusty after a long layoff.