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Grand Rapids Griffins

Griffins Conclude Season with 3-2 Overtime Win

April 12, 2008 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Grand Rapids Griffins News Release


GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Evan McGrath's goal at 2:18 of overtime enabled the Grand Rapids Griffins to cap off their 2007-08 season with a 3-2 win over the Manitoba Moose, their second victory against the North Division powerhouse in as many nights.

The win gave the Griffins a 31-41-2-6 record on the season, good for 70 points and a fifth-place finish in the division. More importantly, Grand Rapids ended the campaign with a 0.500 mark at Van Andel Arena (18-18-1-3), a significant accomplishment considering the Griffins were winless in their first eight games on home ice.

Manitoba native Darren Helm burned his home province's team for his third goal in two nights with 1:56 remaining in the first period, collecting a cross-ice pass from Tom Galvin and lifting a backhand past Cory Schneider.

Francis Lemieux made it a 2-0 game at the 11:24 mark of the second, speeding up the right boards, cutting toward the net and backhanding the puck through Schneider's five hole. But the Moose answered just 47 seconds later, as Shaun Heshka took a pass in the right circle and slipped a low shot by Jimmy Howard to cut their deficit to one at the second intermission.

Manitoba tied matters during a delayed penalty 10:17 into the third, when Jannik Hansen deflected Mitch Ganzak's cannon from the point past a screened Howard, but the teams played even the rest of the way before McGrath tallied on the only shot in overtime.

Howard earned his 21st win of the season behind 23 saves, while Schneider finished with 28 stops for the Moose (45-27-3-4), who have now fallen into third place in the division, one point behind Syracuse in a battle for home-ice advantage in the upcoming North Division Semifinals.

With tonight's crowd of 9,563, the Griffins finished with a 0.5 percent increase in attendance over 2006-07, registering two straight seasons of increased attendance for the first time in their 12-year history. Grand Rapids, which averaged 9,447 fans (87% of capacity) over its five home games since being eliminated from playoff contention, drew 275,905 fans this season, for a 6,898 average that ranks fifth out of 29 AHL teams.

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