It's over. No title. No glory. No more hockey. No fun. Not for Utah fans, anyway.
And it was one of them, well one who used to be one of them, who sent the Utah Grizzlies to summer vacation without a Turner Cup for the first time in franchise history, swept out of the playoffs in four games by the Long Beach Ice Dogs, who were regular-season IHL Western Conference champions as well."The reign of the Grizzlies is over," coach Butch Goring said after their 3-2 overtime loss Friday night in the Delta Center. "I told the guys it's been a terrific year, and we've been a terrific hockey team. Unfortunately tonight we got beat, but we knew at some point it would end."
It was ended by Nick Vachon, that irritating little guy who used to get under other teams' skins when he was skating for Utah late in t regular season. Vachon - traded to Long Beach for defenseman Jeff Sirkka, who wound up playing only once in this series - scored while falling forward in a pack of players moving up the Grizzly slot toward goalie Don Beaupre 8:09 minutes into an overtime forced by Utah's first second-goal-in-a-game in this four-game series.
That was scored, also while falling down and diving at the puck, by Grizzly Mick Vukota 6:02 into the third period off a rebound of a Tom Pederson shot from the point on a power play. It was the first time Utah had come back from the 2-1 deficit it had had in all four games in this best- of-seven Western semifinal.
But Vachon's goal made it the same verdict as the first three games: 'Dogs rule.
"It was a great goal," Goring said. "He as half-sprawled out and managed to chip it up high. I'm sure it was tremendous satisfaction for him after being traded.
"It was the type of goal that happens when people work hard," Goring said. He'd always liked that about Vachon, son of L.A. Kings' legend Rogie Vachon.
The Grizz fought harder and harder through the second and third periods to change their luck, and Vukota's goal at least bought them the overtime in a physical, draining effort.
It was only a nervous joke they'd made after Wednesday's loss about changing their luck by letting the other guys score first. But this was a different game from the very start than the three that Utah had lost previously to the Ice Dogs. Utah came out checking and grinding and winning some faceoffs. Despite five first-period shots on goal from Grizzly Andrey Vasilyev, Utah didn't score in the first period. Now, normally, this wouldn't be a good thing, but it at least relieved the monotony of the scripts from the first three games, when the Grizz got a first-period goal and then watched the Ice Dogs score two second-period goals in three straight games.
The Ice Dogs got the first one this time, and they got two goals in the period, but at least it was different. `Dog Valeri Karpov scored a rare Long Beach even-strength goal 1:27 into the second period, zipping around Vukota and in on Beaupre. This time the Grizzlies got to come back, the storied Andy Brickley getting his first goal of these playoffs on a tic-tac-toe passing play from Joby Messier on the right point to Tom Pederson on the left point to Brickley from 10 feet out at 6:30 of the second on a power play.
Karpov came back with a goal almost identical to his first one, though this was on a power play at 10:18, zipping from the blue line around defender Gord Dineen to blast in on Beaupre for a 2-1 Long Beach lead. It was the fourth straight game in which Long Beach held a 2-1 lead.
Getting another power play after Rob Kenny was called for tripping Ray Whitney next to the Grizzlies' goal, Utah worked the puck around and got a shot from the left point from Pederson that was stopped by 'Dog netminder Tom Draper. But the rebound went to Vukota skating through the slot, and he dived and flicked it past Draper while falling down at 6:02 of the third period.
Goring was proud of his team's play in this game. "They played as well as at any time in this series. It wasn't in the cards for us to win. Obviously, (Long Beach) was more opportunistic than we were (through the series). If we made a mistake, it was in our net. If there was a bounced to be had, they got it."
The Ice Dogs will go on to the conference finals, but they don't know yet whether they'll play San Antonio or Houston. Houston leads the series 3-1 after losing Friday night.