Captain's couple sink San Antonio
Published on October 22, 2004 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Grand Rapids Griffins News Release
San Antonio, Texas â Bolstered by two Blake Sloan goals and a goal and an assist from Jiri Hudler, the Grand Rapids Griffins (3-0-0-0) defeated the San Antonio Rampage (2-3-0-0) on Friday night at the SBC Center. For Grand Rapids, it marks its first 3-0-0-0 start since 2000-01 when the Griffins won their first four contests and posted the franchise's best record in team history (53-22-7), claiming the IHL's regular season championship.
With the win tonight, Griffins head coach Danton Cole tied his predecessor Bruce Cassidy for the team record with 95 coaching wins. Cole's regular season record stands at 95-50-16-2 as the Griffins head coach. Cole is one coaching appearance shy of Guy Charron's mark for regular season games coached (164). Ironically, due to the NHL's labor impasse, Charron is working with the San Antonio Rampage as an associate coach.
The Rampage opened the scoring when Paul Healey lifted a shot past Griffins netminder Joey MacDonald at 8:58 of the opening period. Stephen Weiss managed to slide a pass to Healey despite being upended while doing so. Gregory Campbell also assisted on the goal.
Jiri Hudler evened the score for the Griffins when he swept the rebound of Eric Manlow's shot into an open net at 10:32 of the first period. Danny Groulx also assisted on the power play goal.
Grand Rapids' mettle was tested late in the first period when it faced a two-man disadvantage for a full two minutes. Grand Rapids managed to kill the two-man disadvantage, as it held San Antonio off the scoreboard for all nine of its power plays.
The Griffins capitalized on their two-man advantage in the third period, opening a 2-1 lead. Blake Sloan redirected Niklas Kronwall's point blast for a power play tally at 1:58 of the third period. Hudler also assisted on the game-winning tally.
The Griffins captain secured the victory with his second goal of the game into an empty net with 31 seconds remaining in the contest.
MacDonald finished the game with 25 saves for his third win of the season, while Travis Scott made 21 saves in a losing effort.
These teams will play again on Sunday at the SBC Center at 6 p.m. Following that game, the Griffins will return home to open a nine-game home stand that will last from Oct. 26 to Nov. 18.
American Hockey League Stories from October 22, 2004
- AHL class of 2004 - OSC Original by Ron Matejko
- Sound Tigers Lose 5-1 In Albany - Bridgeport Islanders
- Bears fall at Binghamton 3-2 - Hershey Bears
- Falcons' Three-Game Weekend Highlighted by Saturday's Home Opener - Springfield Falcons
- Red-Hot Boyes leads Bruins past Lowell - Providence Bruins
- Goc is grand as Barons top Aeros 5-2 - Houston Aeros
- Captain's couple sink San Antonio - Grand Rapids Griffins
- Falcons Fall in Overtime to Pirates, 3-2 - Springfield Falcons
- Phantoms win home opener, 5-3 - Adirondack Phantoms
- Dan Ellis Makes 45 Saves in Bulldogs Loss - Hamilton Bulldogs
- WGIR-FM To Broadcast Saturdays Monarchs Game - Manchester Monarchs
- Crunch To Handout Halloween Bags at Saturday, October 30 Game - Syracuse Crunch
- Pirates Change Saturday's Game Time to 4:05 p.m. - Portland Pirates
- Rampage Game Day: vs Grand Rapids - San Antonio Rampage
- Crunch Announce Details of East Coast Resorts of America Saturdays - Syracuse Crunch
- Education on Ice with the Wolf Pack - Connecticut Whale
- AHL Quick Hits - AHL
- Aeros at home all weekend - Houston Aeros
- Haunted van highlights homestand - Grand Rapids Griffins
- Bears head to Binghamton to tackle Senators - Hershey Bears
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