Quest for Kelly Cup begins

WEST VALLEY CITY — Since joining the ECHL four years ago, the Utah Grizzlies have played 19 games against the Alaska Aces inside Sullivan Arena in Anchorage, Alaska.

Fifteen of those games have been losses, one was an overtime loss and just three were wins. Five of those 15 losses came during this year's regular season, as Utah went 0-5 at Sullivan Arena, which is known for its Olympic-sized ice rink and intimidating atmosphere.

So the Grizzlies know what they'll be up against when they step on the ice inside that building on Friday in Game 1 of their Kelly Cup opening-round playoff series against Alaska.

The Aces earned home-ice advantage on the strength of winning the West Division of the ECHL during the regular season, and Utah knows it will have to break through inside Sullivan Arena to advance to the next round.

"It's a pretty hostile environment," said Utah coach Kevin Colley. "They've got some fans up there that are very loud, and they take a lot of pride (in their team) and it's almost like a religion up there, hockey."

The Grizzlies advanced to the conference finals a year ago before losing to Las Vegas. And Colley believes that, even though his team has been in flux for most of this season, his guys have what it takes to make a similar run 12 months later.

"There's been a lot of movement, but the guys that have come in have fit right in; they've competed, and that's all I ask and what the guys in the locker room ask," said Colley. "The best team's gonna win. It's not rocket science. We got a system that we believe in, and we've just got to go outwork 'em."

Outworking the Aces in Games 1 and 2 in Alaska would certainly go a long way toward helping the Grizzlies get a huge monkey off their backs by beating the Aces at Sullivan Arena.

The Olympic-sized ice sheet inside that building measures 200 feet by 100 feet, which is 15 feet wider than every other ice sheet in the ECHL.

Utah practiced at Acord Ice Arena in West Valley City, which features an Olympic-sized ice sheet, this week to prepare for Alaska, and following the team's final practice there on Wednesday, members of the Grizzlies offered several different assessments on what it will take to break Utah's slump in Alaska.

"It's all mental up there," said star forward Ryan Kinasewich, who was instrumental in Utah's playoff run last year and recently returned from a stint in the AHL. "We've got a mental block when we go up there. We've just got to go up there with a belief that we're gonna win the series, and go up there and start with Game 1."

Besides Kinasewich, the Grizzlies also recently added ECHL veteran Bo Cheesman to their playoff roster. Cheesman played in Alaska last year and knows all about the oversize ice sheet at Sullivan Arena.

"It's a lot to do with managing that open ice," he said of being successful in Alaska. "It's a big ice sheet. It's the only Olympic ice sheet. For me looking at Alaska's point of view last year, we were playing a lot of teams that found themselves trying to play (an) NHL-style rink game in an Olympic rink where you have to skate that much further to finish a check or you have to skate that much further to back-check."

For his part, Colley pointed out it would be huge for the Grizzlies to get off to a quick start in Game 1 Friday.

"A quick goal would be really nice to put some doubt into everyone in that building," he said. "We're going in with confidence, but we'd just like to go out to a quick start, get up one or two. If that doesn't happen, we'd just like to weather their storm a little bit because they're gonna be pumped up with their fans in the situation that we're in."

E-mail: drasmussen@desnews.com