Griffins Cast Spell On Manchester
Published on January 3, 2009 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Manchester Monarchs News Release
MANCHESTER, NH - The Manchester Monarchs dropped their first home game of 2009 in a 2-1 decision to the Grand Rapid Griffins before 7,181 fans at the Verizon Wireless Arena on Saturday night.
Manchester (16-15-0-5, 37 points) dropped to fifth place in the Atlantic Division. Grand Rapids (21-8-4-3, 49 points) ranks first in the North Division.
"We played extremely hard tonight," said Head Coach Mark Morris. "They're a veteran team and played as hard as we could play them."
The Griffins ended the game at 19:10 of the final period with a goal left wing Mattias Ritola. Center Darren Haydar picked up a pass from center Aaron Gagnon at the center point and took a slap shot on Monarchs goaltender Jeff Zatkoff. The shot reflected off the goaltender's pad to Ritola who pounced on the loose disk and put the one-timer into the left lower corner of the net.
The game remained scoreless until the third period when the Griffins broke the 0-0 tie with a goal at 2:15. Defenseman Tom Galvin brought the puck up the right boards and fed a pass to the lower left side of the slot where Haydar settled the puck and wristed the biscuit into the basket on the open left side for his 14th goal of the season.
The Monarchs answered 46 seconds after the Griffins opened the scoring with defenseman Davis Drewiske's first tally of the season at 3:01 of the third period to tie the game. Right wing Jon Rheault passed the puck to center Tyler Mosienko who made a crisp pass to the point where Drewiske ripped a snap shot past netminder Jimmy Howard from the left point.
"We had a great effort from Jeff Zatkoff, he gave us an opportunity to win," said Morris. "Their goaltender (Howard) played outstanding as well. It's unfortunate we didn't get a point out of it but at the same time, I hope we learn from the deciding play in the game."
Zatkoff (0-2-0) took his second loss of the season with 30 saves. Howard (9-8-2) earned his ninth with 26 saves on 27 shots.
Manchester went 0-for-2 on the power play. Grand Rapids was 0-for-3 with the man advantage.
The Monarchs take a short trip south to the Tsongas Arena to face the Lowell Devils at 4 p.m. on Sunday, January 4. Catch all of the play-by-play action of Monarchs hockey with Ken Cail on the Monarchs Radio Network WGAM AM 1250 and at www.manchestermonarchs.com. Watch the games live on AHL Live for just $6 per game. Log onto www.manchestermonarchs.com and click on the link to AHL Live five minutes prior to each Monarchs game to watch the game live.
American Hockey League Stories from January 3, 2009
- Admirals Top Peoria, Tie Franchise Mark for Consecutive Home Wins - Milwaukee Admirals
- McKenna Holds Off Pirates - Norfolk Admirals
- Tying Goal Disallowed as Milwaukee Wins 2-0 - Peoria Rivermen
- Hogs edge Wolves 6-4 - Rockford IceHogs
- Moose drop shootout to Americans, 3-2 - Manitoba Moose
- Ryan's Hat-Trick Gives Albany Their Third Straight Win - Albany River Rats
- Rampage snap Flames' win streak - Abbotsford Heat
- Falcons Fall To Bruins 5-2 - Springfield Falcons
- Crunch Fall to Monsters in Overtime - Syracuse Crunch
- Griffins Cast Spell On Manchester - Manchester Monarchs
- Aeros downed by Penguins in shootout 3-2 - Houston Aeros
- Ryan's Hat-Trick Gives Albany Third Straight Win - Albany River Rats
- Bears defeat Wolf Pack - Connecticut Whale
- Sharks Stop Devils, 3-2 - Worcester Sharks
- Chops chomp 'Dogs 3-2 - Hamilton Bulldogs
- Ryan's third goal in overtime gives Albany a 3-2 overtime win - Bridgeport Islanders
- Devils Stopped By Sharks, 3-2 - Albany Devils
- Griffins win 2-1 on Ritola's last minute goal - Grand Rapids Griffins
- Power play lifts Chops past Bulldogs, 3-2 - Iowa Chops
- Admirals Beat Pirates 3-2 - Portland Pirates
- P-Bruins Defeat Falcons 5-2 - Providence Bruins
- Max Taylor's Hat Trick Powers Marlies To 6-1 Win Over Phantoms - Adirondack Phantoms
- Atlanta Returns Lehman To Chicago - Chicago Wolves
- Worcester Sharks Host Birthday Party For Kenda The Polar Bear - Worcester Sharks
- Third Overall Pick Bogosian Assigned To Wolves - Chicago Wolves
- Admirals Sign Defenseman Mitch Ganzak to PTO - Norfolk Admirals
- Hurricanes Recall Dwyer From Albany - Albany River Rats
- Columbus Recalls Right Wing Maksim Mayorov - Syracuse Crunch
- Lightning Recall D Ty Wishart from Admirals - Norfolk Admirals
- Falcons Host The Bruins Tonight - Springfield Falcons
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
