Before the game even started we were selected to get the “Uncle Bob’s Self Storage Upgrade.” So following a member of the staff we left our upper bowl seats and headed down to four nice lower bowl seats. The view is very different and I don’t think I would buy season tickets down there, but as a treat it was fabulous. This upgrade came with those nice canvas bags, t-shirts, and a little video board time.

Just got the Uncle Bobs seat upgrade @GriffinsHockey! First game from the lower bowl for us.

December 8, 2010 6:51 pm via Tweed webOSReplyRetweetFavorite

@xdreamwalker

Jason Holzhausen

The Griffins played well tonight and were rewarded with a home win. The team has struggled at home and it was nice to see the group play together and have a good time. With this win everyone gets a free ticket for next Wednesday’s game. So, including my parent’s tickets next week, we’ll have 12 tickets to the game. I don’t think we’ll have any trouble filling those seats.

During the third period came the biggest surprise of the night. Theresa’s name was drawn to win a game used stick! Tonight marked the 1000th game for Brad Thompson, the Griffins equipment manager. After the game Theresa and Drake headed down to the equipment room to meet Brad and pick and random card which had one of the players numbers on it. By some stretch of luck or something Drake drew #19. Drake was super excited. Number 19 happens to be Drake’s favorite player, Greg Amadio, it’s even been autographed!

I don’t think anyone is going to be able to top this at his birthday party this weekend.

A few photos of Drake and his new hockey memorabilia, click to enlarge.

The AHL today released the 09-10 schedule. I have made a public Google Calendar of the schedule: http://z11.us/3

The season gets underway Oct 3rd with the first home game scheduled for Oct 23rd. Drake and I will be so excited to get this season underway. He had asked to watch hockey a week or so ago, it was so cute.

The Griffins put out a press release with some interesting facts: http://z11.us/4 My biggest concerns are these:

Longest Road Trip
6 games: March 12-25

Three Games in Three Nights
12 times: Oct. 23-25, Dec. 11-13, Dec. 18-20, Dec. 26-28, Jan. 15-17, Jan. 22-24, Feb. 19-21, Feb. 26-28, March 4-6, March 12-14, March 25-27, April 9-11

Four Games in Five Nights
3 times: Dec. 9-13, Feb. 24-28, April 7-11

The late season road trip never seems to do us any good. Also the multiple games in a short span are always worry sum. Now we just have to figure out who is going to be on our team…

The majority of the broken links in my blog are for external sources. There is a rash of old news articles, hockey articles, and pictures. Now the pictures are not things that I have stolen or anything. They are pictures that I was provided an embed code for, but the image is just gone now.

I guess what bothers me the most is the lack of archives for news articles. Data storage is cheap why do news organizations delete content? Also, why can’t the Griffins keep all of their old news articles?

After a boring and mildly uneventful day at work we had some dinner and took off for the arena. There wasn’t a large promotion or anything going on, but the Griffins played very well and put the hurt on Peoria.

griffinshockey.com – Returning from a five-game absence due to a concussion, Jimmy Howard made 24 saves to best former Detroit Red Wings netminder Manny Legace and guide the Grand Rapids Griffins to a 4-1 win over the Peoria Rivermen on Friday at Van Andel Arena.

Darren McCarty and Garrett Stafford each had a goal and an assist while Ryan Oulahen had a pair of assists to help the Griffins claim their fourth win in five games and stay within five points of first-place Manitoba in the North Division race.

Saturday started with some shopping and a bathroom project. The valve that controls the shower nozzle failed last week. By Friday taking a shower was not an option due to very little water actually going up instead of down the spout. This situation was a very easy fix. I just replaced the spout with one that has a gate diverter on it. Total Cost: $11.23 & 5 minutes.

I then watched the Red Wings game on TV. They were able to get past the Blues. Then it was off to the arena for day two of Griffins vs. Peoria. This time it didn’t turn out so well for the Griffins.

griffinshockey.com – The game was scoreless until a flurry of goals in the final six minutes of the second period saw Peoria go to the locker room with a 2-1 lead. The Rivermen (34-30-1-1) scored the first two, with Ryan Reaves cleaning up a loose puck in the crease at 14:22 and Nicholas Drazenovic splitting two defenders before beating Jimmy Howard at 17:09.

The Griffins would answer before intermission, as Francis Pare potted his 21st goal from just outside the crease, putting a rebound past Holt. Pare now stands as one of only five rookies in franchise history to score more than 20 goals in a season.

An unfortunate bounce for Grand Rapids resulted in a gift goal for former Griffin Carl Corazzini and a 3-1 Peoria lead just 1:11 into the third period. As Howard skated behind his net to stop a dump-in, the puck took an odd deflection off the end glass and caromed out in front of the vacated net, allowing the charging Corazzini an uncontested goal.

Sunday came and it was promising to be a long day of everything Hockey. The annual Season Ticket Holder Event was going on before and after the afternoon game. After lunch we arrived at the arena around 1pm. We collected our Jiri Hudler jersey cards and headed in. Our first stop was waiting for the next tour of the press box and control room. During this time Drake took a bunch of pictures with my camera. He must really like the flash and screen because he laughed after almost every picture he took.

We all headed up to the press box where we were told that Drake could not be for safety and security reasons. It was basically because there is no barrier keeping him from jumping from the table up there. I call BS, it’s not like I would have set him down up there. From there we were treated to the control room to see the sound and video boards. I even got to press the air horn button!

Down on the ice we were treated to the penalty box, and the chance to shoot some pucks. Drake was so cute and adorable playing with a full size stick. Yes, there are pictures below. After some fun down there we headed up to our seats, where Drake did take a short nap.

The game proved to be as tough as I thought it was going to be. They had to play three games in three nights, and the Admirals are a good team.

griffinshockey.com – The Grand Rapids Griffins suffered the season’s sixth one-goal loss at the hands of the Milwaukee Admirals on Sunday, dropping a frustrating 2-1 decision in their third game in three nights at Van Andel Arena.

The game was scoreless for nearly 58 minutes until a controversial interference call on Darren McCarty resulted in a power play goal by Milwaukee’s Cody Franson with 2:04 remaining, and the Admirals held on as the Griffins suffered consecutive regulation losses at home for the first time this season.

After the game we all seperated a little to gather some autographs. I sent Theresa to wait for Jimmy Howard. My dad was second in line for Justin Abdelkader, as I waited for Darren McCarty. Once those were completed we headed to the basement where the Griffins locker room is at. Yes, it is a locker room. Yes, it smells like a locker room wehre plenty of hockey players just changed out of game equipment.

Okay, on to the pictures. There are 77 pictures in thumbnail form below the cut. There are also two videos from the locker room. Enjoy!

January 14, OntarioHockeyLeague.com: “If a player should remove his helmet or undo his chinstrap prior to or during an altercation, such player shall receive a game misconduct in addition to any other penalties assessed and an automatic one (1) game suspension. If a player should remove his helmet or undo his chinstrap prior to entering into an altercation, and his opponent does not remove his helmet, the player removing his helmet shall receive a two minute minor penalty, a game misconduct penalty in addition to any other penalties assessed and an automatic one (1) game suspension. If a player should remove an opponent’s helmet or undo an opponent’s chinstrap prior to or during an altercation, such player shall receive an automatic game misconduct penalty in addition to any other penalties assessed and a one (1) game suspension. If during the course of an altercation a player or player’s helmets should become dislodged, the linesmen are to intervene immediately”.

One-way ticket? – Red Wings Snapshots – MLive.com The Windsor Star’s Bob Duff discusses the roster pickle that Red Wings swingman Derek Meech finds himself in, suggesting that Meech will probably join Buffalo Sabres forward Matt Ellis and Los Angeles Kings defenceman Kyle Quincey as a casualty of Detroit’s tremendous organizational depth. Meech knows that his status as a part-time player can’t last forever:

Daniel Larsson blanked Philadelphia with 27 saves, while Teslak stopped 44 of Grand Rapids’ season-high 48 shots in net for the Phantoms. With the win, Larsson is now 12-2-1 with five shutouts, a 1.88 GAA and a 0.937 save percentage through his last 16 games. He also is just one blanking shy of the Griffins franchise record for shutouts in a season (6). griffinshockey.com: News Releases

Before the game on Saturday we all headed over to Founders for some drinks and sandwiches. As a note, order your sandwich at the window as soon as you get there. We didn’t know that there was a separate window for food. The bar tender did not fill us in on this when we asked for menus. That aside, the food was delicious, and I was told the beer was good as well.

I actually got dressed on Sunday. The three of us went shopping to get a few things for Drake. A tent is now set up in his room. After it was up he took everything off from his bed and put it in there. If you have seen his room you know how many stuffed animals live on his bed. I’ll have to take some pictures for everyone.

In other news, I started a farm on Facebook, and I finally watched Death Race and Traitor.

The realigned NHL YoungStars Game presented by Upper Deck and the fan-judged Scotiabank NHL Fan Fav Breakaway Challenge will join SuperSkills mainstays such as the Bridgestone NHL Fastest Skater, McDonald’s NHL Accuracy Shooting and Cisco NHL Hardest Shot competitions to determine the League’s best in various disciplines. The evening will culminate with the best hockey players in the world doing what they’ve done to end practices ever since shortly after their parents first tied their skates: engage in an elimination shootout contest that won’t end until there’s only one man left unstopped.

via NHL tweaks ‘Super Skills’ competition – Red Wings Snapshots – MLive.com.