This weekend was filled with one thing: Hockey. The Griffins were playing three games in three nights. The Red Wings played Saturday and Sunday as well.
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!
Tags: Carl Corazzini, Chris Holt, Darren McCarty, Detroit Red Wings, Drake, Flickr, Francis Pare, Garrett Stafford, Grand Rapids Griffins, Hockey, Jimmy Howard, Justin Abdelkader, Manny Legace, Milwaukee Admirals, Nicholas Drazenovic, Peoria Rivermen, Ryan Oulahen, Ryan Reaves, Theresa, Van Andel ArenaGRAND RAPIDS 1, CHICAGO 0
Evan McGrath tallied the game’s lone goal in the second period, and goaltender Daniel Larsson made 29 saves for his second shutout of the season as Grand Rapids took a 1-0 road win over Chicago on Sunday at Allstate Arena.
The Griffins secured their third win in as many days this weekend and improved to 4-0-0-1 in their last five contests.
After a scoreless first period, McGrath put the Grand Rapids on the board 7:24 into the middle stanza.
Aaron Downey and Justin Abdelkader picked up assists on McGrath’s fourth goal of the campaign. Neither side scored in the third period.
The Wolves were blanked for the first time this season and fell to 2-5-0-0 in their last seven outings.
This last weekend was busy, real busy. Friday night was filled with Red Wings hockey. I grilled a steak on the George Foreman, and once again it was more done then I would have liked. Even after all of the years owning this thing I still cannot get steak correct on it. Eric and Megan were at the house to stay the night.
Saturday morning was kind of strange. Once Drake got up and exhausted his attention in my computer we went into the TV room to watch a little Saturday morning cartoons. Instead of Drake being all hyper, running around, and waking up Eric and Megan, he just sat on me, then started to lay down on me. He didn’t want to do anything he normally does on Saturday mornings.
Once we were all up and ready we left Grand Rapids for Frankenmuth. My dad’s parents were celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary. The car ride there was perfect. Drake took a good nap and was not cranky once he did wake up. Dinner went well, which included the best chicken I have ever had. (Which reminds me that I need to pay my Dad.) Theresa and I are going to have to go out there sometime. She was working and was not able to go with us. Drake ate lots of food, was social, and only had one small meltdown. We needed to leave dinner as soon as everything was finished so we would be able to make it back to town in time for Griffins hockey.
We got home, picked Theresa up, and headed to the arena for the Griffins home opener. The Griffins’ website provides a better game story then I could come up with…
October 25, Griffinshockey.com: Grand Rapids needed just 1:42 to net its first home-ice goal of the campaign. From the right boards, Mattias Ritola sent a long cross-ice pass to Garrett Stafford, who ripped a shot past Marc Denis from the left circle.
Goal number two came courtesy of a power play less than two minutes later, when Muskegon native Justin Abdelkader set up in front of the Hamilton cage and redirected Jonathan Ericsson’s low shot from the left point at the 3:19 mark. The onslaught continued at 4:51 when Ritola finished off a 2-on-1 by blasting Cory Emmerton’s pass over Denis’ shoulder from the slot, making it 3-0 and sending Denis and his four saves to an early shower in favor of Cedrick Desjardins. More…
One we got home from the game I was able to watch the thrid period of the Wings game. When I first turned on the game I was mildy disapointed because they were down 4-2. They did end up winning in a shootout.
Sunday was afternoon hockey with the Griffins. George James Malik does a good job with this one…
The Grand Rapids Griffins dropped a 3-1 lead against the Norfolk Admirals before Ryan Oulahen’s late-second-period goal and a perfect third period, punctuated by an insurance marker and an empty-netter that gave Justin Abdelkader his first professional hat trick, pushed the Griffins past Norfolk by a 6-3 tally. Ville Leino must have read the pre-emptive press release regarding a Red Wings call-up before the game, because he posted three assists. Continue reading the entry…
The Griffins had not seen the Norfolk Admirals in town for about five years. Which brings me around to the new AHL and NHL schedules. There are more cross conference games this season then ever before. Well, at lease for as long as I can remember. It was last year during the summer that I read an article that was talking about how the Griffins and some teams from the east had to work together with the AHL to get some games scheduled. This is a great step in the correct direction to having a minimum of a home and home with every team in the league. The NHL has gotten very close to that. Every NHL team will see every other team at least once this season.
Now that the weekend is done I have to get back to work this morning. Oh, and I do have a few pictures of Drake from this weekend that I’ll have to get posted soon.
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.
