AHL Grand Rapids Griffins

Griffins Continue Dominance of Wolves, 3-2

November 28, 2003 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Grand Rapids Griffins News Release


Grand Rapids, Mich. - Blake Sloan's goal with just 2:10 left in regulation on Friday night gave the Grand Rapids Griffins a 3-2 victory over the Chicago Wolves, capping off a wild and eventful night at Van Andel Arena.

Sloan beat Frederic Cassivi on a redirection from the right side, breaking the second tie of the night and igniting the crowd of 7,590, who watched the Griffins (12-6-4-0) extend their West Division lead over Chicago (10-5-3-2) to three points.

Grand Rapids, now undefeated in its last five games (4-0-1-0), beat its fiercest rival for the second time in three days and the seventh time in their last eight clashes, dating back to the 2003 Calder Cup playoffs.

Kevin Miller gave the Griffins an early lead with 2:02 remaining in the opening period. Off a rush into the Chicago zone, Jiri Hudler had two whacks at the puck from in close that were turned away by Cassivi, but Miller crashed the crease to bang home the rebound. The goal unleashed a torrent of stuffed animals from the stands, in celebration of the Griffins' fourth annual Teddy Bear Toss. Approximately 1,500 stuffed toys thrown by fans were collected for distribution to police departments throughout West Michigan.

Chicago's Stephen Baby knotted the score at the 12:57 mark of the second period, ending both the Griffins' and Marc Lamothe's shutout streak at 147:14. Mike Weaver fired a blast from the right point that Baby tipped through a crowd from the circle. Lamothe, who had not surrendered a goal since the first period of Sunday's 3-1 win at Toronto, came within seven minutes of breaking his franchise record shutout streak of 153:58, set last November.

The start of the third period was delayed for approximately 25 minutes due to an ice problem in Lamothe's crease, but the Griffins went right to work when play resumed, scoring just 16 seconds into the frame on Kory Karlander's shot from the slot. The goal marked Karlander's fifth goal and eleventh point in 11 games with the Griffins this season.

Chicago again netted an equalizer at 5:39 thanks to Kamil Piros and Steve Maltais. Piros won the puck along the right boards in the Grand Rapids zone and sent a cross-ice pass to Maltais, who tapped it along the ice just inside the left post.

Lamothe finished with 17 saves to earn his fourth straight win, while Cassivi turned away 19 in the loss. Each team went 0-for-3 on the power play, as the Griffins tied a team record by not allowing a power play goal for the sixth straight game.

The Griffins will travel to the Cincinnati Gardens for a 5:05 p.m. start on Sunday against the Mighty Ducks.

View this game's official box score on-line at griffinshockey.com.

Check out the Grand Rapids Griffins Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from November 28, 2003


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.

OurSports Central