The Newfoundland Growlers made a little history this week without having played a game.
The Growlers are in Salt Lake City, where they will face the Utah Grizzlies tonight, Friday and Saturday.
These are not the only first-ever ECHL meetings between the Growlers and Grizzlies. This also marks the first time a pro hockey team from St. John’s has played a team based out of Salt Lake City.
Considering the Growlers have been part of the ECHL for less than a year-and-a-half, that might not seem notable. But this is not the first time a team in St. John’s and one from Salt Lake have been part of the same professional circuit. The Grizzlies were part of the American Hockey League from 2001 to 2005 when the St. John’s Maple Leafs were in the AHL. It’s just that the Leafs and Grizzlies never had any scheduled games against each other.
The Growlers flew to Salt Lake City Monday, and in doing so, established another record. It’s the farthest a pro team from St. John’s has travelled for a game.
It’s just under 4,700 straight-line kilometres from eastern Newfoundland to Utah, surpassing the 4,270 kilometres flown by the St. John’s IceCaps to Austin in the spring of 2014 to play the Texas Stars in the AHL Calder Cup final, and the 4,200 covered by the AHL Leafs in the 2004-05 campaign at three different times to play two-game regular-season series against the Edmonton Roadrunners, who were the Oilers’ top farm team for that single season.
The Growlers moved over three-and-a-half time zones in Monday’s trip. The games against the Grizzlies all have 7:10 p.m. local start times, which is 10:40 p.m. here in Newfoundland, so the team will be paying close attention to the players’ sleep regimens while in Utah.
The Grizzlies, whose roster includes goaltender Brad Barone and forward Griffen Molino, who both had brief stints in Newfoundland last season, have a 9-8-4 record, but haven’t lost in regulation in three games.
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