Staff
Only one of the two Fort Frances natives in the ECHL will be sticking around for another round.
The Utah Grizzlies, featuring goalie Ryan Faragher, will continue their push to the Kelly Cup after dumping the host Colorado Eagles 7-2 on Tuesday night to capture their best-of-seven quarter-final series 4-2.
The Eagles outshot the Grizzlies 29-18 but Faragher didn’t flinch in backstopping his team to victory.
Utah now will clash with the Fort Wayne (Ind.) Komets in the best-of-seven semi-finals, beginning with Games 1 and 2 tomorrow and Saturday in Fort Wayne.
The series then switches to Utah for Games 3, 4, and 5 (if necessary) next Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.
Should the series be extended, Games 6 and 7 will be back in Fort Wayne on May 9-10.
But the news wasn’t so good for Fort Frances forward Joe Basaraba.
The Idaho Steelheads were ousted following a 3-2 overtime loss to the host Allen (Tex.) Americans in Game 7 of their quarter-final series last night.
Idaho had led the series 3-1 but lost the last three games.
Allen doubled Idaho 4-2 in Game 6 on Tuesday night, with Basaraba being held pointless.
Then last night, Basaraba assisted on Andrew Carroll’s goal at 8:27 of the second to put Idaho up 2-1.
But the Americans tied it up with a power-play goal by David Makowski at 7:06 of the third.
Tristan King then delivered the crowning touch by scoring 3:28 into the extra session.
Basaraba finished the series with three goals and four assists to tie Carson McMillan for the team’s playoff scoring lead.
