On Tuesday August 11th, The Utah Grizzlies announced the re-signing of American goaltender Brad Barone. Barone returns to the Grizzlies for his first full season with the organization. He does so after spending last season with the Rapid City Rush. Barone, 29-years-old had a GAA of 2.53 GAA along with a save percentage of .908 save percentage. He also went 4-3-2 in nine games with Utah last year.
Barone was signed by the Grizzlies to a standard player agreement back in November. He started his first game of the season when they visited the Nailers on November 15th. There, he stopped 34 of 35 shots while also named as the game’s first star. After getting familiar with the team really quick, less than a month later, he posted a 24-save shutout when the Grizzlies paid a visit to the Rush in December.
Barone will now be entering his sixth full season of professional hockey. Prior to that, Barone played college hockey, spent four years with the Boston Eagles. There, he competed in seven games before signing his contract with the South Carolina Stingrays. His best season at college came back in 2013-2014, posting a 2.22 GAA and a .931 save percentage. Barone registered these statistics through four games played in his third year at school.
As for his career in pro, Barone has racked up a bunch of frequent flier miles dating back to 2014-2015. He’s played nine ECHL teams while he also saw time with three SPHL teams. During the 2017-18 season, Barone won Goaltender of the Year in the SPHL with the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs. There, he played 36 games with a GAA of 2.93. He added a .917 save percentage to go with a record of 15-15-2. Barone registered one shutout as well.
Barone, a native of Medfield, will be entering his second full ECHL season. I am looking forward to seeing him play more games this season when the upcoming season gets underway on December 4th.