It probably won't come as much solace to the fans in the Cleveland area, but at least one of their sports teams came out victorious Saturday night.
The Cleveland Lumberjacks snapped a five-game losing streak while handing the Utah Grizzlies their first loss in five games with a 2-1 shootout victory in front of 8,423 fans, the largest crowd this season at the Delta Center.It was the first shootout loss for the Grizz in three tries this season as they dropped to 6-2-1 on the season. However, Utah earned its 15th point of the season, picking up a point because the defeat came in the shootout period. Cleveland improved to 5-6-1 with 11 points.
The biggest thing to get in the way of the Grizzlies was the Lumberjacks' goalie Patrick Lalime. He shut the Grizz out for nearly the first 50 minutes of the game and then blocked all four shots in the shootout.
"Obviously he did a really nice job," said Utah coach Butch Goring of the Lumberjacks' goalie who made 31 saves during the game.
Though pleased with his team's effort, Goring felt the Grizz just weren't at the top of their game.
"We weren't very sharp tonight," he said. "It looked like the razor had been used about six times. It was a bit dull."
The Lumberjacks jumped to a quick lead as center Jock Callander scored an even-strength goal just 31 seconds into the contest. That 1-0 lead held for nearly 50 minutes until the Grizzlies tied the game midway through the third period.
On that play, Utah center Brett Lievers took control of a loose puck near the blue line and then dished it off to left winger Niklas Andersson. Executing a textbook give-and-go, Lievers skated to the left of the goal and tapped in Andersson's return pass at the 9:32 mark of the third period.
Neither team took the lead in regulation to force the shootout.
During the extra action, Lumberjacks' Domenic Pittis and Mark Osborne each scored. Meantime, Lalime successfully defended his goal against shots by Utah's Andrei Vasiljev, Danton Cole, Andy Brickley and Andersson.
The Grizz travel to Los Angeles to face the Ice Dogs today.