The Tahoe Knight Monsters took on the Utah Grizzlies on Saturday. Puck drop was at 7:00 PM. It was teddy bear toss night. The game was at the Tahoe Blue Event Center in Stateline, Nevada. It was the twenty second game of the season. The Tahoe Knight Monsters are coming off of a 8-2 victory over the Utah Grizzlies. The Knight Monsters were on a five game winning streak. The Tahoe Knight Monsters had a record of 13-6-2. The Knight Monsters were in 9th place in the ECHL. The Knight Monsters were 4th in the Western Conference and 2nd in the Mountain Division. The Utah Grizzlies are the ECHL affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche. The Grizzlies played twenty one games. The Grizzlies were coming off of a 2-8 blowout loss to the Tahoe Knight Monsters. The Grizzlies were on an eleven game losing streak. The Grizzlies had a record of 5-14-2. The Grizzlies were in 28th place in the ECHL. That is second to last. The Grizzlies were in 14th place in the Western Conference which is also second to last place. They were in 8th place in the Mountain Division which is last.
Both teams played twenty one games going into this one. The Tahoe Knight Monsters had eight more wins. The Knight Monsters had the better points percentage. The Tahoe Knight Monsters had scored twenty seven more goals. The Utah Grizzlies had allowed thirty one more goals. The Knight Monsters had the better goal differential. The Knight Monsters had sixteen more points. The Tahoe Knight Monsters had 206 penalty minutes. The Utah Grizzlies had 234 penalty minutes. Would the Knight Monsters continue their winning streak? Would the Grizzlies break their losing streak?
#30 Jordan Papirny was in net for the Tahoe Knight Monsters. This was his ninth start for the Tahoe Knight Monsters this season. I was not paying attention or something at the game because I thought Jasper Vikman was in net until the third period. On Saturday. forward Chris Dodero was activated from reserve by the Tahoe Knight Monsters. Forward Logan Nelson was placed on reserve by the Knight Monsters. #33 Jake Barczewski got the start in net for the Utah Grizzlies. It was his fifth start of the season for the Grizzlies. On Saturday, forward Brayden Nicholetts was activated from reserve by the Utah Grizzlies. Forward Aaron Aragon was placed on reserve by the Grizzlies.
Just under two minutes into the game, the Tahoe Knight Monsters took the lead. The teddy bears hit the ice thanks to #15 Jake McGrew. His goal was assisted by #19 Luke Adam and #81 Blake Christensen. Christensen got the puck to Adam who was behind the Utah Grizzlies net. Adam passed the puck to the slot. McGrew took a one timer that went in. This was good situational awareness by the Knight Monsters. It was solid short passing by them as well.
Eleven minutes into the first period, #3 Craig Armstrong of the Utah Grizzlies received a penalty for slashing. The score was 1-0 Tahoe Knight Monsters after the first period.
Seven minutes into the second period, the Utah Grizzlies tied the game. #14 Briley Wood scored the goal. #42 Cole Fonstad and #5 Derek Daschke got the assists. On the rush, Wood got the puck near the blue line. He carries the puck along the boards. His shot from the right of the goalie went in. There wasn’t a lot the Knight Monsters could do in this situation. They were covering the slot and in front of the net in expectation of a pass which is the right play. Wood was also outside of the house. Meaning it was a poor shot to take.
With five minutes left in the second period, the Tahoe Knight Monsters retook the lead. #9 Troy Loggins scored the goal. His goal was assisted by #14 Patrick Newell and #10 Jett Jones. The Knight Monsters won an offensive zone faceoff to the left of the goalie. Newell got the puck to Jones up the middle. Jones shot was initially shaved but was loose in the crease. Jones was able to get to the puck and poke it in. The goal was reviewed. It did count. Some fans did throw more teddy bears on the ice after this goal. The Knight Monsters were able to quickly develop the play into a scoring opportunity. The goalie wasn’t able to stop the puck. He did slow it down. It went threw his legs. Jones did a great job not giving up on the play.
Thirteen seconds after the Knight Monsters took the lead, #10 Jett Jones scored to give the Knight Monsters a two goal lead. His goal was assisted by #4 Brandon Tabakin. The Knight Monsters won an offensive zone faceoff to the right of the goalie. Tabakin took a shot from the point. Jones redirected the shot in front of the net. Again more fans threw teddy bears on the ice. Another offensive zone faceoff win for the Knight Monsters lead to a great goal by Jones.
With. four minutes left in the second period, the Utah Grizzlies scored to cut the lead down to one goal. #13 Dylan Fitze scored the goal. #28 Kabore Dunn and #3 Craig Armstrong got the assists. This was another play where a shot from the point was redirected in. The Knight Minsters were where they needed to be defensively. They just let Fitze get behind them and he was able to redirect the shot.
With under two minutes left in the second period, #81 Blake Chirstensen of the Knight Monsters received a penalty for high-sticking. The score was 3-2 Tahoe Knight Monsters going into the third period.
Five minutes into the third period, #55 Chris Dodero of the Tahoe Knight Monsters received a penalty for embellishment and #16 Luke Manning of the Utah Grizzlies received a penalty for slashing. Six minutes into the third period, #12 Bear Hughes of the Knight Monsters received a penalty for slashing. Nine minutes into the third period, #11 Cameron Buhl of the Grizzlies received a penalty for tripping. With just over two minutes left in the game, the Grizzlies called a time out. They won the following offensive zone faceoff and pulled their goalie. With under two minutes left in the game, the Knight Monsters extended their back to two goals with an empty net goal. #49 Artur Cholach scored the goal. #13 Simon Pinard got the assist. There was a battle for the puck along the boards to the left of the goalie. Cholach got the puck inside the roulette wheel. His shot went all the way down for the empty net goal. It was a good battle late in the game from the Knight Monsters and great shot by Cholach.
With fourty two seconds left in the game, #19 Luke Adam scored to give the Knight Monsters a three goal lead. His goal was assisted by #81 Blake Chistensen and #15 Jake McGrew. There was a battle for the puck in the Grizzlies end. Chistensen was able to get the puck to Adam in the slot. Adam shot the puck and scored. The game was already over by this point. The Grizzlies were playing like they were waiting for the clock to run out after the empty net goal. They had given up. On this last goal multiple Grizzlies players were just standing around. The Knight Monsters took advantage of the Grizzlies giving up.
The final score was 5-2 Tahoe Knight Monsters.
https://echl.com/videos/utah-grizzlies-vs-tahoe-knight-monsters-dec-14-2024
The teddy bear toss was fun. It always is They brought a fire truck on the ice. I don’t think people were expecting the first goal of the game to come so early. The announced number of teddy bears was 1,526 with 3,215 fans in attendance. I know some people were not able to throw them on the ice. some got thrown on after the game. Some were giving to the team at guest services. That is not bad for the first time doing this. There was not a sell out due to weather conditions. Some people in Tahoe could not even get to the game. I don’t think some people at the game knew to bring teddy bears. I still think it was a success because it was not like only 500 or less teddy bears. That is just growing pains of a new team. In comparison the Henderson Silver Knights collected 8,297 teddy bears this season. The Tahoe Knight Monsters collected 36% of the arena capacity in teddy bears. The Henderson Silver Knights collected 149% of their arena capacity. In total the Vegas Golden Knights affiliates collected 9,823 teddy bears. That is 56% of the capacity at the home of the Vegas Golden Knight, T-Mobile Arena.
This is the second game this season where the Tahoe Knight Monsters announced specialty jerseys but did not wear them during the game. Something that I did notice was that the Warrior Alpha Sticks that majority of the players were using kept breaking. This game was a lot closer than Thursdays game. The Knight Monsters still managed to win by three goals. The Knight Monsters let the Grizzlies stick around in the game. The Knight Monsters didn’t build a solid lead until the end of the game. The Grizzlies were not letting the Knight Monsters do whatever they wanted in this game either. The Grizzlies tightened up a lot on defense. It would have been a one goal game if the Knight Monsters did not score the empty net goal. At the end of the game the Grizzlies just gave up. That is not something that you want to see if you are a Grizzlies fan. It is poor discipline and motivation on their part. It shows that they are not ready to get out of this losing streak. The Knight Monsters have extended their winning streak to six games. The Grizzlies have extended their losing streak to twelve.
The Knight Monsters had more twelve more shots. The Tahoe Knight Monsters had the better shot percentage. Both teams had six penalty minutes. #30 Jordan Papirny saved 24 shots for a 92% save percentage for the Tahoe Knight Monsters. #39 Jake Barcazewski saved 33 shots for an 87% save percentage for the Grizzlies.
The Tahoe Knight Monsters now have a record of 14-6-2 with 30 points in 22 games. The Knight Monsters remain in 8th place in ECHL. They are in 3rd place in the ECHL Western Conference. They are in 2nd place in the ECHL Western Conference Mountain Division. They are in a playoff spot. They are four points into a playoff spot. They are five points away from the top spot in the division. They have the 2nd highest points percentage in the division. This six game winning is the longest winning streak ever in Tahoe Knight Monsters history. Right now the Knight Monsters have the second longest current winning streak in the ECHL. They have the third best current points streak in the ECHL. The Kansas City Mavericks have not lost a game in regulation in seven games. That also puts the Knight Monsters at the second best points streak in the division. The Utah Grizzlies have the longest active losing streak at twelve games.
The Tahoe Knight Monsters take on the Utah Grizzlies for game two two on Sunday, December 15th. It will be a home game. This will be the final game of this three game home stand. This will be the third of six games where the Tahoe Knight Monsters will play the Utah Grizzlies. Puck drop is scheduled for 3:00 PM. This is another divisional game.
Zac Electrifly 
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