The Griffins were in Toronto today…
October 19th, griffinshockey.com: Seven different players scored for the Grand Rapids Griffins, who downed the Toronto Marlies 7-3 at the Ricoh Center on Sunday afternoon.
Tags: I stayed up late to watch the Red Wings game. Meech had a perfect scoring opportunity 28 seconds into the game. He shot, Samuelson tipped it, and Meech got his first point of the season on his first shift of the season. The guys on FSN were commenting that this is why Meech stayed in town and Quincy got put on waivers.
The Grand Rapids Griffins also played last night. This was just game number two for them, but they were able to come out with a shoot out win.
GriffinsHockey.com: The Griffins and Lake Erie Monsters went into overtime at the Quicken Loans Arena for the second consecutive game on Saturday and this time the Griffins came out on top with a 4-3 shootout victory. Jimmy Howard stopped four shootout chances and Cory Emmerton went top shelf in the fifth round for the game winner.
Two new faces got in on the action.
Justin Abdelkader put Grand Rapids on the board with 3:35 remaining in the second period. With the Griffins on the power play, Ville Leino forced a turnover deep in the Monsters’ zone and Abdelkader took a quick shot from the slot that beat Bacashihua. The goal was Abdelkader’s second in as many professional games, and it made the score 2-1.
Our new captain got his first goal with his new team, and another Red Wings depth player got in on the action.
The Griffins tied it at the 7:34 mark of the third as Darren Haydar notched his first goal in a Griffins uniform. Abdelkader picked up his second point with a nice pass back to Jonathan Ericsson, who launched a heavy shot. Bacashihua kicked the save out into the slot where a waiting Haydar snapped a wrist shot past the Monsters’ goalie.
Michael Zuidema reports that Griffins coach Curt Fraser has appointed Darren Haydar the Griffins’ captain, and he gave an “A” to “The Big RIg”:
October 10, Grand Rapids Press: Darren Haydar will be the Griffins’ captain this season. Haydar was signed in July after serving as captain last season for the Chicago Wolves, who won the Calder Cup. Landon Wilson and Jonathan Ericsson are the alternate captains.”Darren’s got great experience at it, he’s been a captain for a long time. We had a long talk with him and I think he’s the right man for the job of leading this team,” Fraser said. “Wilson has been around for a long time and he’s really a good guy, and a real strong presence in our locker room. Ericsson, out on the ice, leads by example and that’s kind of players I’m looking for to lead our team.”
If injuries or recalls affect the status of any of those players, Justin Abdelkader and Ryan Oulahen will fill the alternate roles.
With the state that the Griffins are in I support Haydar as the captain. He has been around the AHL for a while, he has been captain in Chicago, he has a Calder Cup.
Aaron Downey seemed to be a little bummed out about clearing waivers.
October 8, Detroit News: “Nobody wanted me,” Downey said, referring to the other 29 NHL teams choosing not to pick him up. “I think I’m going to go down and play some games. I still enjoy hockey.”
There has been some great news today regarding the Griffins.
First up is the new Griffins web site. I think it looks sharp, and is a huge improvement. The site now looks up to par with other AHL team sites, nice a professional. It’s a shame that the web is no longer dial-up friendly.
Moving on to moving players. The Griffins got their ‘First Wave’ of players for the season.
October 3, Griffinshockey.com: The Detroit Red Wings on Friday assigned nine players to the Grand Rapids Griffins, including goaltender Daniel Larsson; defensemen Jakub Kindl, Sergei Kolosov and Logan Pyett; and forwards Randall Gelech, Darren Haydar, Evan McGrath, Ryan Oulahen and Jamie Tardif. Also coming to Grand Rapids are five players on Griffins contracts who were released by Detroit, including defensemen P.J. Atherton, Tom Galvin and Jason Jozsa; and forwards Francis Lemieux and Francis Pare.
In addition, Grand Rapids announced that it has received center Aaron Gagnon on loan from the Dallas Stars, who are without an American Hockey League affiliate this season.
The Griffins also released nine players today upon the conclusion of their training camp at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit: goaltender Isaac Reichmuth; defensemen Johann Kroll, Brett Peterson, Kelly Sullivan and Adam Welch; and forwards Andrew Fournier, Matt McKnight, Evan Rankin and Geoff Walker.
