It's hard to say February was anything but a disaster for the Utah Grizzlies. Once sitting atop the conference standings, they're now looking up at two teams in their own division.

Losing eight of its last 12 games can do that to a team. But a 5-1 rout of Ontario on Saturday night is lifting Utah's hopes that maybe its low point is behind it.

"Losing sucks, but there's nothing we can do about the games we've already played," captain Simon Ferguson says. "We just have to try to get back to where we were and find some consistency."

After shooting out to its best season start since its ECHL inception, Utah cooled in a major way.

The AHL came calling for Jake Gannon and Nick Tuzzolino, two of the Grizzlies' top defensemen and captains. Shortly thereafter, Utah let go of one of the league's top goalies in Andrew Engelage, whom many called the team's "backbone."

The attrition helped contribute to a season-worst seven-game losing streak into March.

"You need good goaltending in this league," coach Kevin Colley said. "It's an important position to have, and we've had our two guys who were with us at the beginning called up."

The personnel issues have added to other midseason struggles. Although rookies have sparked the team plenty of times this year, some acknowledge they've hit a wall as they play their first 72-game season.

"It's definitely an adjustment," center Kevin Deeth says. "You start seeing that anybody can beat anybody in this league if you don't bring your best every night."

Utah traded for Trenton goalkeeper Shane Connelly to shore up the position. The Grizzlies offensively dominated a game against Ontario, only to fall 3-2 on Friday, but whipped the Reign the next night.

With 14 games to go, catching up in the division race will be a tall order. But Colley sees still sees potential."It's been frustrating, but this is a good team," Colley says. "They have to keep their heads up and keep working hard. We lost some guys, but everyone has to be hungry to step up."

kgoon@sltrib.com —

Looking ahead

Utah hosts a four-game series against the Stockton Thunder this week:

• Wednesday, 7:05 p.m.

• Friday, 7:05 p.m.

• Saturday, 7:05 p.m.

• Sunday, 4:05 p.m.