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West Valley City • Utah Grizzlies forward Erik Bradford was recently named to the ECHL All-Star team and on Friday night against the Rapid City Rush, he showed why. With a pair of goals and an assist, Bradford dazzled the crowd and led the charge as Utah registered a comeback win against its division rivals, defeating the Rush 4-1.
"We're starting to come together as a team and we're coming together at the right time," Bradford said. "I thought we played really well tonight, and these are big games that we need to win if we're going to climb back in the standings."
It took Utah a while to figure out Rush goaltender Adam Morrison, but the Grizzlies finally tallied a pair of goals late in the second period to establish a lead. With Utah trailing by one, Morrison failed to secure a rebound from a Michael Pelech shot and Bradford simply slid the puck into the back of the exposed net to tie the contest. Shortly after, a one-man disadvantage proved no problem for Ralph Cuddemi, who flashed athleticism, deking a defender and beating Morrison glove-side high to give Utah the lead.
Any thought Rapid City had of a comeback was thwarted by the duo of Bradford and Cuddemi in the third period as each scored his second goal of the night.
Although the Grizzlies controlled the puck for the majority of the first period and outshot the Rush 10-7, they found themselves trailing by a goal and were fortunate the deficit wasn't greater. Rapid City took an early lead on its second shot of the contest when a two-on-one developed. Nicholas Miglio found the back of the net off an assist by Michael Young that caught Utah goalie Troy Redmann out of position. Shortly after, Utah had to stave off successive penalties, including a five-on-three that lasted one minute in which Redmann made some spectacular saves, including grabbing a rifled puck out of midair.
"The boys are confident and are playing with some swagger right now," Utah coach Tim Branham said. "Things are looking good for us and we need to continue to build." —
ECHL standings
Eastern Conference
North GP W L OL SL Pts GF GA
Manchester 33 21 9 1 2 45 125 101
Brampton 32 19 10 1 2 41 123 114
Reading 32 18 12 1 1 38 113 95
Adirondack 30 16 9 2 3 37 101 90
Wheeling 30 16 12 2 0 34 101 91
Elmira 30 7 18 5 0 19 72 110
South GP W L OL SL Pts GF GA
Florida 32 22 7 1 2 47 117 94
Orlando 34 18 10 4 2 42 125 116
So Carolina 31 18 11 1 1 38 98 80
Greenville 32 17 13 2 0 36 101 106
Cincinnati 32 15 13 4 0 34 92 91
Atlanta 34 14 15 4 1 33 120 132
Norfolk 32 8 20 4 0 20 78 120
Western Conference
Central GP W L OL SL Pts GF GA
Toledo 31 24 6 0 1 49 126 87
Tulsa 38 20 15 3 0 43 111 111
Ft Wayne 31 19 9 3 0 41 121 95
Quad City 32 18 12 0 2 38 94 91
Kalamazoo 33 13 17 0 3 29 84 115
Wichita 29 11 16 1 1 24 78 106
Indy 32 9 20 1 2 21 80 124
Mountain GP W L OL SL Pts GF GA
Idaho 34 20 11 2 1 43 116 104
Allen 35 20 13 1 1 42 128 95
Colorado 33 19 10 1 3 42 108 99
Alaska 32 18 9 1 4 41 106 93
Missouri 33 13 15 1 4 31 97 112
Utah 33 13 17 2 1 29 95 117
Rapid City 32 10 16 6 0 26 94 115
Friday's games
Adirondack 4, Reading 2
South Carolina 3, Greenville 0
Kalamazoo 5, Brampton 2
Norfolk 4, Elmira 1
Florida 3, Manchester 1
Wheeling 6, Toledo 0
Atlanta 5, Tulsa 3
Cincinnati 4, Quad City 0
Missouri 5, Wichita 4, OT
Utah 4, Rapid City 1
Orlando 4, Colorado 3
Idaho 4, Alaska 1
Saturday's games
South Carolina at Greenville, 3 p.m.
Adirondack at Reading, 5 p.m.
Manchester at Florida, 5 p.m.
Brampton at Toledo, 5:15 p.m.
Elmira at Norfolk, 5:15 p.m.
Quad City at Fort Wayne, 5:30 p.m.
Indy at Allen, 6:05 p.m.
Wichita at Missouri, 6:05 p.m.
Rapid City at Utah, 7 p.m.
Orlando at Colorado, 7:05 p.m.
Alaska at Idaho, 7:10 p.m.