WEST VALLEY CITY, UT – Charlie Gerard scored 4 goals and Parker Gahagen earned a 23-save shutout as the Utah Grizzlies defeated the Fort Wayne Komets 6-0 at Maverik Center in front of a season high crowd of 3090 in the final game of the regular season.
Gerard gave Utah a lead 11:08 into the contest. Utah led 1-0 after 1. Gerard scored his 2nd of the game 6:42 into the second period. Trey Bradley assisted on both of Gerard’s first 2 goals. Bradley led the team with 36 assists on the season. Exactly 3 minutes later Matthew Boucher made it 3-0 with his team leading 25th goal. Gerard completed the hat trick with his 3rd of the game 13:40 in. Utah led 4-0 after 2 periods.
Gerard’s 4th of the game came 9:40 into the third period. Gerard became the 2nd Grizzlies skater to score 4 goals in a game this season. Travis Barron scored 4 goals on May 4th vs Rapid City, with 3 of those coming shorthanded. Barron scored a shorthanded goal 12:57 into the 3rd period on Saturday night to complete the scoring. Barron tied with Allen’s Corey Mackin with 5 shorthanded goals on the season.
AJ White had 3 assists in the win. White, Bradley and Gerard were each a +4 on the win. Utah ended the year with a 21-9-3-3 record at Maverik Center. It was another win in the 3rd game of a series. Utah went 15-2-0-1 in the 3rd games this season.
Gahagen earns his 2nd shutout of the season as he saved all 23 shots from Fort Wayne. Gahagen also shut out Rapid City on May 5th. Parker is the ECHL Goaltender of the Month for May and ended the regular season with a 10-4-1 record and a 2.04 goals against average and a .929 save percentage.
The Grizzlies first round opponent will be the Allen Americans, who defeated the Rapid City Rush 4-0 on Saturday night. Utah went 8-6-1-3 vs Allen this season, winning 6 of their last 8 meetings. The other Western Conference series is Fort Wayne at Wichita.
Utah is at Allen for the first 2 games of the best-of-5 series on June 8-9. The series shifts to Maverik Center for game 3 on June 11th and if necessary, game 4 on June 12th and game 5 on June 14th.
3 stars: 1. Charlie Gerard (Utah) – 4 goals, plus-4 rating; 2. Parker Gahagen (Utah) – 23 save shutout; 3. AJ White (Utah) – 3 assists. plus-4 rating. Honorable mention goes to Trey Bradley, who had 2 assists and a +4 rating. Travis Barron also had a great game with 1 goal and 1 assist.
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