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AHL Grand Rapids Griffins

Griffins Enjoy Three-Game Homestand

January 4, 2022 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Grand Rapids Griffins News Release


Grand Rapids Griffins face off with the Milwaukee Admirals
Grand Rapids Griffins face off with the Milwaukee Admirals
(Grand Rapids Griffins, Credit: Milwaukee Admirals)

This Week's Games

GRIFFINS vs. Milwaukee Admirals // Wed., Jan. 5 // 7 p.m. // Van Andel Arena

Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 6:35 p.m.

Watch: AHLTV

Season Series: 4-1-1-0 Overall, 2-0-1-0 Home. Seventh of 12 meetings overall, fourth of six at Van Andel Arena.

All-Time Series: 106-69-7-8-8 Overall, 56-33-2-3-3 Home

NHL Affiliation: Nashville Predators

Noteworthy: Grand Rapids is 9-7-1-0 in the last 17 overall against Admirals, including a five-game point streak (4-0-1-0). The Griffins will face Milwaukee for the fourth straight game.

GRIFFINS vs. Iowa Wild // Fri., Jan. 7 // 7 p.m. // Van Andel Arena

Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 6:35 p.m.

Watch: AHLTV

Season Series: 1-0-0-0 Overall, 0-0-0-0 Home. Second of eight meetings overall, first of four at Van Andel Arena

All-Time Series: 36-15-4-1 Overall, 17-6-3-2 Home

NHL Affiliation: Minnesota Wild

Noteworthy: 2017 Calder Cup champions with the Griffins, Joe Hicketts (2016-21) and Dominic Turgeon (2016-21) will make their first trip to Van Andel Arena in a visitor's uniform. Grand Rapids has won three of the past five overall meetings against Iowa.

GRIFFINS vs. Cleveland Monsters // Sat., Jan. 8 // 7 p.m. // Van Andel Arena

Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 6:35 p.m.

Watch: AHLTV

Season Series: 1-0-0-0 Overall, 0-0-0-0 Home. Second of eight meetings overall, first of four at Van Andel Arena.

All-Time Series: 62-34-5-10 Overall, 35-17-1-2 Home

NHL Affiliation: Columbus Blue Jackets

Noteworthy: Grand Rapids went 6-2 against the Monsters last year and possesses an 8-3 record against Cleveland in the past 11 meetings.

Last Week's Results

Fri., Dec. 31 // GRIFFINS 5 vs. Milwaukee Admirals 4 // 10-10-3-1 (24 pts., 0.500, T4th Central Division)

Sat., Jan. 1 // GRIFFINS 4 at Milwaukee Admirals 2 // 11-10-3-1 (26 pts., 0.520, 3rd Central Division)

Sun., Jan. 2 // GRIFFINS at Chicago Wolves - Postponed // Rescheduled date TBD

Last Week's Notes

Friday vs. Milwaukee (5-4 W) - Overcoming a depleted roster that dressed only 14 skaters - four shy of a full lineup - due to COVID protocols, injuries and NHL callups, the Griffins gritted their way to a 5-4 victory over the Admirals in their 24th annual New Year's Eve celebration at Van Andel Arena. Victor Brattstrom earned his first AHL win, stopping 29 of 33 Admirals shots, for a Grand Rapids team that played just its second game since Dec. 11 due to a string of recent postponements. Seth Barton and Josh Dickinson netted their first goals as Griffins, helping the home team improve to 12-10-1-1 all time on New Year's Eve. The Griffins have won five of their last six New Year's Eve affairs. Recap | Highlights

Saturday at Milwaukee (4-2 W) - A four-goal second period highlighted by Donovan Sebrango's first AHL tally and Taro Hirose's two-goal frame helped propel the Griffins past Milwaukee on New Year's Day at Panther Arena. The Griffins were undermanned for the second consecutive contest, as the team suited up with just 16 skaters due to COVID-19 protocols and injuries. Hirose led all players with a career-tying three-point (2-1-3) outing while Riley Barber (0-2-2) and Kyle Criscuolo (0-2-2) joined the forward with multiple scores. Grand Rapids now has points in the past five contests against Milwaukee (4-0-1-0). Turner Elson's team-high four-game goal streak from Dec. 6-22 came to an end. Grand Rapids is now 10-2-2-0 (0.786) against AHL teams not named Chicago or Manitoba. Ryan Murphy appeared in his 500th game as a pro. Recap | Highlights

Breeding Contempt: Wednesday's game against Milwaukee will mark the fourth time in Griffins history that they have played four consecutive regular season games against the same opponent. The schedule was not drawn out this way, as Grand Rapids had games against Cleveland (Dec. 27) and Chicago (Jan. 2) postponed. The most recent occurrence of four straight games against the same franchise came from March 3-16, 2021 when the Griffins matched up against Rockford for two weeks in a row. The Manitoba Moose were the foe on two prior occasions, in November 2006 and November 1997.

World Traveler: On Dec. 12, defenseman Donovan Sebrango was selected to the 25-man roster for Team Canada at the 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship. The 19-year-old represented his home country at the tournament that was cut short after two games. This marked the third time in the past four years a player has left the Griffins mid-season to compete in the World Junior Championship, after Filip Zadina represented the Czech Republic in 2019 and Joe Veleno (Canada) and Moritz Seider (Germany) competed at the event in 2020. Sebrango scored a goal in his World Junior debut on Dec. 26, as Team Canada defeated Czechia 6-3. The defenseman totaled one goal and a plus-two rating in two outings with Canada. In his second game back with the Griffins, Sebrango registered his first goal in the AHL on Jan. 1 at Milwaukee.

Murphy's Law: Reigning AHL defenseman of the year Ryan Murphy has started to find a rhythm offensively for the Griffins. The nine-year pro ranks sixth on the roster and leads all Grand Rapids blueliners with 15 points (5-10-15) in 25 outings. Murphy has climbed up the defensemen leaderboard in the AHL, as his point total is tied for 13th while five goals are tied for fourth. The Aurora, Ontario, native signed a one-year contract with Detroit on July 28, 2021 and is the midst of his inaugural season with the Griffins.

Huffin' and Puffin': So far this season, the Griffins are 1-8-1-1 (0.182) against the Central Division-leading Chicago Wolves and second-place Manitoba Moose. However, Grand Rapids is 10-2-2-0 (0.786) against the rest of the AHL.

Fast Starts: On Dec. 4, the Griffins set a season high for goals in a period when they exploded for five tallies in the opening frame against Rockford. After rattling off three first-period goals against Cleveland on Dec. 6, Grand Rapids has now outscored its opponents 10-3 over the opening 20 minutes of its last seven games. The Griffins are 9-4-1-0 (0.714) this season when scoring first and 8-2-0-0 (0.800) when leading after the opening frame. Almost half of Grand Rapids' goals (29, 39.2%) have come during the first period.

Cris-COOL-o: After being sidelined in the first four games due to an injury, center Kyle Criscuolo has made up for his lost time with 20 points (9-11-20) in 17 contests. The Harvard University graduate logged a two-game point streak (1-1-2) from Oct. 30-31 and surpassed that mark with an active nine-game point streak (7-10-17) from Nov. 20-Jan. 1, which is a new career high for the forward. His active point streak ties for the 17th-longest in Griffins history. Most recently, Riley Barber had a nine-game point streak from Feb. 5-March 11, 2021 that was the longest to ever start a Griffins season or career. If Criscuolo gets a point on Wednesday to extend his streak to 10 games, it would tie for the ninth-longest scoring run in Grand Rapids history and mark the longest since Matt Puempel's 11-game tear from Oct. 23-Nov. 15, 2019.

Check out the Grand Rapids Griffins Statistics




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Grand Rapids Griffins face off with the Milwaukee Admirals
Grand Rapids Griffins face off with the Milwaukee Admirals
(Milwaukee Admirals)		   

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