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The Utah Grizzlies had good reason to be confident going into Saturday's game against the Alaska Aces.

In 11 previous games, the Grizzlies had only lost once to the Aces. And on Fan Appreciation Night at the Maverik Center, Utah kept up that statistic with a 2-0 win in its regular season home finale in the ECHL.

Utah is currently tied with Colorado and Idaho for first place in the Western Conference's Western Division. Each team has already clinched a playoff berth.

The Grizzlies have two games remaining in the regular season next weekend at the Rapid City Rush. Colorado beat Idaho on Saturday night.

Goalie Mark Owuya, making his seventh start of the season for Utah, stopped 33 shots for a shutout. Owuya was placing in place of regular starter Ryan Faragher, who was promoted to the Anaheim Ducks' AHL affiliate in San Diego.

"Mark was sensational tonight and made some huge saves," Grizzlies coach Tim Branham said. "Overall I thought our guys played hard. Our penalty kill was really good tonight and obviously the goals were huge. At the end of the day it took everybody's best effort and we got the job done."

Nearly 40 minutes of hockey had transpired and with the shot total relatively low, it was still scoreless.

That was until Alex Krushelnyski, who has demonstrated wizardry with his stick throughout the season, lobbed a beautiful wrist shot that nestled into the back of the net behind Alaska goalie Jacob DeSerres, who had 21 saves.

It was Krushelynski's 25th goal of the year, good for second-most on the team behind Barry Almeida, who was held scoreless on Saturday night by Alaska.

Bryan Moore, who assisted on the Krushelynski goal, provided some insurance for the home team as he blasted a slap shot from the right wing at the 4:46 mark of the third period to make it 2-0.

"We just need to keep working hard and doing the little things that have made us successful all season and we'll see what happens," Moore said. —

ECHL standings

EASTERN CONFERENCE

East GP W L OL SL Pts GF GA

x-Manchester 70 38 23 4 5 85 214 205

Adirondack 68 37 25 2 4 80 184 171

Reading 69 35 24 6 4 80 214 185

Elmira 69 36 28 3 2 77 196 203

Norfolk 68 29 34 4 1 63 190 216

North GP W L OL SL Pts GF GA

y-Toledo 69 45 19 2 3 95 220 167

Wheeling 69 35 26 4 4 78 205 204

Kalamazoo 69 36 28 4 1 77 223 224

Brampton 68 20 37 7 4 51 165 246

South GP W L OL SL Pts GF GA

x-South Carolina 69 41 18 7 3 92 210 156

x-Florida 68 43 23 0 2 88 210 166

Orlando 68 32 27 4 5 73 215 216

Atlanta 69 33 29 5 2 73 182 214

Greenville 69 28 31 9 1 66 196 232

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Central GP W L OL SL Pts GF GA

Missouri 69 51 13 3 2 107 228 153

x-Allen 69 39 23 3 4 85 210 195

Tulsa 68 33 30 3 2 71 178 187

Wichita 69 18 39 6 6 48 147 231

Midwest GP W L OL SL Pts GF GA

y-Fort Wayne 68 39 21 6 2 86 230 184

x-Cincinnati 70 35 26 5 4 79 215 201

Quad City 68 34 28 4 2 74 186 193

Indy 69 31 35 3 0 65 165 192

Evansville 68 27 32 7 2 63 193 226

West GP W L OL SL Pts GF GA

x-Colorado 69 39 26 3 1 82 223 185

x-Idaho 69 36 23 7 3 82 196 182

x-Utah 70 38 26 3 3 82 216 198

Rapid City 69 29 33 3 4 65 169 201

Alaska 69 26 36 4 3 59 181 228

x-Clinched Playoff Berth; y-Clinched Divisional Title

Saturday's Games

Reading 3, Norfolk 2

Adirondack 3, Brampton 1

Kalamazoo 3, Greenville 1

Atlanta 2, Florida 1

Orlando 5, South Carolina 4, OT

Fort Wayne 5, Indy 2

Toledo 7, Cincinnati 3

Wheeling 2, Manchester 1

Allen 3, Missouri 2

Tulsa 3, Evansville 2

Colorado 5, Idaho 1

Utah 2, Alaska 0

Rapid City 4, Wichita 2