Those fans who root for the Utah Grizzlies but still have a soft spot in their heart for their favorite teen pro hockey player, Robert Dome, must have had a heyday Tuesday night at the Delta Center.
They certainly got the best of both worlds at any rate. The 17-year-old Dome scored a couple of late goals with his new team, but it was too little and too late for the Long Beach Ice Dogs who were again victimized by the Grizzlies by the score of 3-2. Utah has now beaten its Southwest Division rival five straight times this season and won 12 out of the last 13 meetings.It was somewhat of an ironic night for Dome and the Grizzlies. Utah released Dome just last week after he had been benched since the end of last season. He quickly signed with Long Beach with a guarantee that he'd have a chance to prove that he could play at this level. Though the jury's still out on that, Dome was able to capitalize on a couple of Grizz errors to score twice in the final 21/2 minutes.
Dome, who signed with Utah last year as a 16-year-old straight from Slovakia, admitted the "homecoming" was a bit strange.
"It was a little bit difficult for me because I was there (on Utah's team) a week ago. But when I jumped on the ice, I don't worry about it," he said of playing against his former teammates. "I just tried my best and that's why I scored two goals. And it was great."
Though a bit reluctant to hand out praises to Dome, Goring wasn't at all shocked that his former player put together a couple of goals.
"I said before he left that he has good offensive skills so he's proven me prophetic," Goring said. "It doesn't surprise me."
Dome's late flurry spoiled what had been a superb night in the goal for second-year sensation Mark McArthur. And it's probably safe to say that McArthur liked Dome a bunch better when he was sitting in the stands watching the Grizz games.
"You want it printed or not?" he vented when asked what he thought of Dome's performance. "(I'm) frustrated. He happened to score two (expletive) goals."
McArthur admitted that near the end of the game he started to think about a possible shutout. "When it got to the five-minute mark, I said `Heck, I've got five minutes left (for the shutout).' " Though denied his first pro shutout by his former roommate, McArthur said he was still plenty pleased with his 34-save performance that improved his record to 9-0-1.
"We got a win, what more can you ask for?" he added.
"McArthur certainly played well enough that he deserved the shutout," said Goring. "We got a little lazy and let them rally."
Perhaps a bit overshadowed in the hoopla of Dome and McArthur was an outstanding night by the Grizzlies Chris Marinucci.
After a scoreless first period, the 1994-95 American-born rookie of the year made excellent assists on Utah's first two goals - an even-strength goal by Jim Dowd and a short-handed score by Yan Kaminsky - to give the Grizz a 2-0 lead in the second. He then redirected a Brett Lievers' slapshot into the net for a goal of his own at 10:27 of the third. That goal proved to be a huge one for Utah as Dome added his pair later on.
"Chris is getting better and better every day. He's a very hard worker and people who work hard good things will come to them," said Goring.
The Grizzlies (9-1-1) now embark on a tough eight-game road swing beginning tonight at 6 in Kansas City.
"This will be good for us," said Goring of the road trip. "We need to go on the road and get challenged by some good teams."
SLAP SHOTS: Considering that the two teams have played each other five times already, it's of little surprise that there were four fights and 70 minutes worth of penalties . . . Utah was just 1-for-6 on the power play; Long Beach was 1-for-5 . . . Long Beach dropped to 4-5-3 . . . Andrey Vasiljev was sick and didn't play. He won't play tonight, either . . . McArthur got a roughing penalty for going after former Grizz forward Barry Nieckar in the third period. Said McArthur: "He started slashing my fingers. I don't want people to think they can take advantage of me."