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AHL Grand Rapids Griffins

Griffins Claim 10 Wins in Last 11 Games

March 3, 2003 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Grand Rapids Griffins News Release


Top Dog: The Griffins' 3-2 victory over Rochester on Sunday gave them possession of the number-one seed in the AHL Western Conference playoff race. Winners of five consecutive games, the Griffins have now accumulated 88 points on the season, one more than the Houston Aeros, who will attempt to reclaim the top spot tonight when they visit the San Antonio Rampage at 8:00 EST.

Near-Record Run: The Griffins have won 10 of their last 11 games, overcoming a nine-point deficit to Houston in the standings (77-68) that they faced when their hot streak began on Feb. 12. Only two other Griffins squads have experienced such a successful run; the 1999-00 club won 10 of 11 between March 23 and April 12, while the 2000-01 unit set the pace by winning 11 of 12 from Dec. 22 to Jan. 19.

Playoff Spot, Division Crown Within Reach: The first-place Griffins own a 39-15-8-2 record overall, marking the first time they've been 24 games above .500 since the end of the 2000-01 season. They've opened up a team-record 25-point lead atop the Central Division and have moved to within seven points of clinching both a playoff spot and their fourth consecutive division crown. The Griffins have already eliminated Cleveland and Syracuse from contention for the division title, and they possess leads of 25 points over Rochester and 34 over Cincinnati.

Three's Company: The Griffins will play a trio of games against the San Antonio Rampage this week, beginning with a 7:00 p.m. tilt at Van Andel Arena on Wednesday. This set of games marks just the sixth time in franchise history that the Griffins face the same opponent in three or more consecutive regular season contests. It last happened against Houston more than two years ago, from Feb. 24-March 1, 2001. The most games played in a row against a single opponent took place Nov. 14-23, 1997, when Grand Rapids and Manitoba locked horns in four straight contests. Neither the Griffins nor their opposition swept any of the five previous encounters.

Pack Your Bags: This Friday's game in San Antonio kicks off a seven-game road swing for the Griffins, tying for the longest journey in franchise history. They achieved an amazing 6-1-0 mark during their previous odyssey, which happened March 25-April 7, 2000. The Griffins, who will play six of those seven road games in either the Central or Mountain time zones, will not return to Van Andel Arena until a March 20 tilt against the Manitoba Moose.

On Track: With 16 games remaining, the Griffins are on pace for 48 wins and 110 points, totals that would surpass those from all but two of the team's previous six seasons (53/113 in 2000-01 and 51/111 in 1999-00).

Griffins on the Tube: This Saturday, March 8, will be a busy day for the Griffins on WXSP-TV. Rookie defenseman Danny Groulx will be the subject of an in-depth, 30-minute profile on this week's edition of Inside the AHL, the league's new magazine show, at 2:00 p.m. In addition, WXSP-TV will provide a live feed from Fox Sports Southwest of that night's game between the Griffins and San Antonio Rampage at the SBC Center. Broadcast time is 8:00 p.m., with commentary provided by the Rampage's duo of Andrew Monaco and Brian Shantz.

Attendance Boost: Grand Rapids is averaging 7,090 fans per game, a 2.8% increase over its 35-game average from last season. The Griffins, who have never in their history witnessed an attendance increase, need to average 6,737 over their final five home games to surpass last season's total of 281,867.

Westward Ho!: Grand Rapids, which won the inaugural West Division title last season, is reacquainting itself with its former rivals during the season's stretch run. Twelve of the Griffins' final 16 games will be staged against West Division opponents (Houston, Utah, San Antonio and Chicago), while they'll face current Central Division foes (Cincinnati and Cleveland) just two times. In 32 games to date against the West Division, including Milwaukee, Grand Rapids has posted an aggregate 16-10-5-1 record (0.594).

Road Killers: The Griffins, who will play 11 of their final 16 games away from Van Andel Arena, have outscored their hosts by a 27-10 margin during their current five-game road winning streak. They are 14-2-2-0 in their last 18 road contests and 20-4-3-2 overall (0.776) in foreign buildings. The Griffins are on pace to record 27 wins on the road, a total that would surpass the franchise record of 25 set in 1999-2000.

Stingy Defense: Grand Rapids, which leads the AHL by allowing only 2.19 goals per game, is bidding to become the first team since the Rochester Americans (1990-91 and 1991-92) to post the AHL's lowest goals against average in consecutive seasons. The Griffins allowed a league-low 2.23 goals per game last year.

Terrible Trio: The Griffins won all four games last week, including a weekend sweep of three games in as many nights. Grand Rapids has now compiled an impressive 15-6-3-0 record (0.688) this year in three-game sets, including 6-2-0-0 (0.750) in the third contest.

Hot Wing: Jason Williams led all AHL players in scoring during February, tallying 18 points (12-6-18) in 13 games. The 2002 Stanley Cup champion has scored 15 goals in the last 16 games, and now stands third on the team with 18 goals despite having played in less than half of Grand Rapids' contests (30). Williams has recorded points in 16 of the last 21 games (16-14-30), with five multi-goal and 11 multi-point outings.

On the Marc: AHL All-Star Marc Lamothe has won seven of his last eight games to total a career-high 26 victories, five more than any other league netminder and the fourth-largest single-season total in franchise history.

Mac's Back!: Joey MacDonald has won all three of his decisions since returning from a groin injury, and has allowed only nine goals in his last eight games, posting a 7-1 record with two shutouts, a 1.14 GAA and a 0.956 save percentage (195-204). His overall 2.06 GAA is 182 minutes shy of qualifying as the second-lowest in the AHL.

Hot Hands: Philippe Plante, who had a three-game point streak (4-3-7) snapped on Saturday, has tallied five goals in the last eight games...Michel Picard has four multi-point games in the last 11 outings...Derek King has points in 12 of his last 19 games (5-11-16)...Mark Mowers has points in five consecutive contests (4-5-9) and in nine of the last 11 games (6-10-16)...Stacy Roest has four multi-point efforts (1-9-10) in five games since returning from the Red Wings...Sean Avery had points in four straight games as a Griffin (3-3-6) prior to Saturday night...Tomas Kopecky's six-game point streak (2-8-10) concluded on Saturday, but he still has seven goals and 12 assists in his last 16 games, and points in 15 of his last 22 outings (7-16-23).

League Leaders: Goalie Marc Lamothe leads the AHL with 26 wins and 2,764 minutes, while ranking among the best with a 2.17 GAA (3rd), four shutouts (T3rd) and 1,150 saves (4th)...Michel Picard is second in the league with 69 points (24-45-69) and 45 assists...Mark Mowers is tied for third in the scoring race with 67 points (28-39-67)...Stacy Roest is 15th with 58 points (17-41-58) and tied for fourth with 41 assists...Dave Van Drunen is second both overall and among defensemen with a plus-32 rating...Travis Richards is tied for third both overall and among defensemen at plus-28, and his four game-winning goals tie for the lead among blueliners...Rob Collins is tied for second overall and paces all rookies with two game-tying goals...Among rookies, Tomas Kopecky is 17th with 37 points (16-21-37) and is tied for second at plus-23.

Milestones: Mark Mowers' goal on Friday in San Antonio marked 100th of his pro career...Jason Williams' goal that same night against the Rampage gave him 150 points for his AHL career...Travis Richards' assist last Wednesday in Chicago gave him 150 in a Griffins uniform, second all-time behind Michel Picard (178)...Stacy Roest needs just two points to reach 350 as a pro, Marc Lamothe needs two wins for 150 as a pro, and Jason Williams needs five assists for 100 as a pro.

Robinson Named ECHL Player of the Week: Forward Nathan Robinson, who was assigned by the Griffins to their affiliate in Toledo last Tuesday, was today named the ECHL Player of the Week. In four games with the Storm, Robinson racked up seven points (4-3-7) and a plus-three rating, including two game-winning goals. He has now appeared in seven games for Toledo this season, totaling 13 points (5-8-13) and a plus-six rating. The 13 points match his 45-game production as a member of the Griffins (2-11-13).

By the Numbers: Where the Griffins rank among the AHL's 28 teams in various statistical categories:
* Power Play: 59-for-368, 16.0% (16th)
* Penalty Killing: 252-for-303, 83.2% (17th)
* Penalty Minutes: 16.8 avg. (24th)
* Goals For: 3.16 (8th)
* Goals Against: 2.19 avg. (1st)
* Shots For: 29.23 avg. (20th)
* Shots Against: 27.08 avg. (2nd)
* Attendance: 7,090 avg. (7th)

Red Wings Update: The Griffins are in the first season of a five-year affiliation with the Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings. The Red Wings own first place in the NHL's Central Division (35-17-9-3) after a 5-2 win over Phoenix last night. They'll visit Columbus tonight at 7:00. (WXSP).

Boileau Keeps Motorin': Outside of a two-day reassignment to Grand Rapids on New Year's Eve, defenseman Patrick Boileau has been with Detroit since Dec. 14. He has appeared in 19 contests for the defending champs, notching five points (2-3-5), a plus-seven rating and 15 shots while averaging 13:00 in ice time. Boileau played only seven games with Washington from 1996-02, recording one assist and four penalty minutes.

Griffins Alumni Report: Rookie NHL head coach Bruce Cassidy's Washington Capitals stand atop the Southeast Division with a 31-25-7-4 record...Kip Miller is fifth on the Caps with an NHL career-high 49 points (12-37-49), Ivan Ciernik has totaled 14 points (6-8-14) in 36 appearances, Jason Doig has six points (2-4-6) in 40 games, and Joel Kwiatkowski has four assists in 41 games between the Caps and Senators...Florida's Jani Hurme (4-7-6), who has signed a three-year contract extension with the club, has a 2.70 GAA and a 0.913 save percentage...Ottawa's Patrick Lalime (30-17-6) owns a 2.09 GAA, a 0.915 save percentage and a league-leading eight shutouts, while Martin Prusek (10-2-1) shows a 2.48 GAA and a 0.909%...Todd White is third on the Sens with 49 points (21-28-49), Karel Rachunek has 21 assists in 43 games, the injured Petr Schastlivy is tied for 12th with 19 points (9-10-19) in 33 games, and Chris Neil has chipped in five goals and a pair of helpers.

Get Your Tickets: Tickets for all regular season games at Van Andel Arena are currently on sale. Fans can visit The Zone at Van Andel Arena or any Tickets PLUS location (including Meijer stores), call 222-4000/800-585-3737 or visit www.griffinshockey.com. Full-season ticket packages, mini-plans and group tickets for all Griffins games are available by calling 800-2-HOCKEY.

This Week's Scouting Report

Wed., Mar. 5 vs. San Antonio Rampage (28-23-10-2) - Van Andel Arena - 7:00 p.m.

Fri., Mar. 7 at San Antonio Rampage - SBC Center - 8:00 p.m.

Sat., Mar. 8 at San Antonio Rampage - SBC Center - 8:00 p.m.

TV: WXSP-TV at 8:00 p.m. (Sat. only). Radio: WOOD 1300 AM at 6:40 p.m. (Wed.); WOOD 1300 AM/WHTC 1450 AM at 7:59 p.m. (Fri.) and 7:40 p.m. (Sat.). Season/All-Time Series: 4-2-0-0 Overall, 3-1-0-0 Home, 1-1-0-0 Road. Seventh, eighth and ninth of 10 meetings overall, fifth and final in Grand Rapids, third and fourth of five in San Antonio. San Antonio Affiliation: Florida Panthers. Head Coach: John Torchetti (1st season). No Bull: If the playoffs started today, the expansion Rampage would hold the sixth seed in the Western Conference...Going back to the Griffins' 3-2 win in San Antonio last Friday, these teams are playing four times in a nine-day span and five times over 16 days...The home team won the first four meetings this season before losing the last two...San Antonio is 17-6-6-0 at the SBC Center but just 11-17-4-2 away from home...Goalie Chris Mason is ranked fifth in the AHL with a 2.24 GAA...Mike Green and Jeff Toms pace San Antonio with 45 points apiece...Jim Campbell, brother of Griffins defenseman Ed, is third on the Rampage with 40 points...Former Griffins Sean Gagnon and David Gove now play for San Antonio...The Rampage's power play is tied for 23rd in the league (14.6%), but their penalty killers rank sixth (85.7%).

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