This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
It's taken nearly half the season but the Utah Grizzlies, led by Ralph Cuddemi, are finding their groove.
Rapid City battled back from a four-goal deficit to force overtime, and Cuddemi scored his second goal of the night fourth in two games as the Grizzlies escaped with a 6-5 victory at the Maverik Center.
"It's easy to score when the team is rolling," Cuddemi said. "Everyone's confidence is high and even when the game was 5-5 we were still positive and still believed in ourselves and that's something that was lacking earlier in the season."
Going into Saturday night, the Grizzlies had given up the game's first goal on home ice in seven consecutive games. But against the Rush on Saturday night, Utah exploded for a total of four goals in the first period and started the second period with a comfy 4-1 lead.
Utah's Phil Pietroniro began the scoring, with his first goal of the season 1:11 into the game.
Michael Young tied the contest, then Utah offense shifted into a higher gear.
Erik Bradford, Cuddemi and Mathieu Aubin all scored in the final five minutes of the first period.
After Jon Puskar scored for Utah in the second period for a cozy 5-1 advantage, the Grizzlies let up on the gas pedal and Rapid City took advantage.
Former Grizzly Josh MacDonald cut into Utah's deficit and Mark Cooper scored with just 51 seconds left in the period.
Once Riley Weselowski scored a power play goal halfway through the third period, the crowd of 6,127 grew tense with the outcome suddenly in doubt.
The Rush pulled goalkeeper Adam Morrison for the extra skater, and the visitors applied the pressure. Mark Cooper scored with just 30 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime.
Cuddemi scored the game-winner 2:48 into overtime and Utah remained undefeated against Rapid City this season. ECHL standings
EASTERN CONFERENCE
North GP W L OL SL Pts GF GA
Manchester 34 21 10 1 2 45 127 104
Brampton 33 19 11 1 2 41 123 118
Reading 33 19 12 1 1 40 117 98
Adirondack 31 16 10 2 3 37 104 94
Wheeling 30 16 12 2 0 34 101 91
Elmira 31 7 19 5 0 19 72 113
South GP W L OL SOL Pts GF GA
Florida 33 23 7 1 2 49 120 96
Orlando 35 18 11 4 2 42 127 121
South Carolina 32 19 11 1 1 40 101 82
Greenville 33 17 13 2 1 37 103 109
Cincinnati 32 15 13 4 0 34 92 91
Atlanta 34 14 15 4 1 33 120 132
Norfolk 33 9 20 4 0 22 81 120
Western Conference
Central GP W L OL SOL Pts GF GA
Toledo 32 25 6 0 1 51 130 87
Fort Wayne 32 20 9 3 0 43 126 96
Tulsa 38 20 15 3 0 43 111 111
Quad City 33 18 13 0 2 38 95 96
Kalamazoo 33 13 17 0 3 29 84 115
Wichita 30 12 16 1 1 26 82 108
Indy 33 9 21 1 2 21 83 130
Mountain GP W L OL SOL Pts GF GA
Allen 36 21 13 1 1 44 134 98
Colorado 34 20 10 1 3 44 113 101
Idaho 34 20 11 2 1 43 116 104
Alaska 32 18 9 1 4 41 106 93
Utah 34 14 17 2 1 31 101 122
Missouri 34 13 16 1 4 31 99 116
Rapid City 33 10 16 7 0 27 99 121
Saturday's games
South Carolina 3, Greenville 2, SO
Reading 4, Adirondack 3
Florida 3, Manchester 2
Toledo 4, Brampton 0
Norfolk 3, Elmira 0
Fort Wayne 5, Quad City 1
Utah 6, Rapid City 5, OT