Freezz 7, Steamers 2
WEST VALLEY CITY — After a 12-day hiatus, the Utah Freezz finally resumed play Friday night, and showed no signs of rust as they destroyed the St. Louis Steamers 7-2.
"The time off was needed," said Utah Head Coach Jeff Betts. "We had some injuries that needed time to heal."
The Steamers came out in full force in the first half even though they were missing several key players from their roster, including six players who were out due to salmonella poisoning suffered on last Sunday's trip to Monterrey, Mexico. The Steamers were bitten so bad by the bug that they had to add players to their roster at the last minute.
"We knew of their sickness but we didn't think we would come into the game and blow them out," Betts said.
St. Louis capitalized first with a goal scored 11:46 into the first quarter by Jeff DiMaria. Utah left the Steamers' lead unchallenged until the second quarter when they tied up the game with a goal scored by Justin Labrum. Myles Stoddard followed suit and put Utah on top of the scoreboard 2-1 with a goal scored 10:47 into the second quarter. Matt Johnson fired in the final goal of the first half to increase the score to 3-1.
Betts opened the second half of the game with a goal off a penalty kick in the third quarter. St. Louis finally answered Utah with their second and final goal of the game, when Kirk Moser found the back of the net to open scoring in the fourth quarter.
Betts came back and scored his second goal of the game to advance Utah's lead 5-2. Utah's Dave Huber and Labrum went on to score back-to-back goals to secure victory for Utah. After Friday night's performance, Utah's record improved to 9-3, while St. Louis dropped to 2-9.
Utah is now preparing to host Dallas tonight at the E Center.
"They are coming with revenge on their minds," Betts said. "[But] the rest will really help us."