Griffins Lose Opener to Cleveland, 6-4
October 12, 2002 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Grand Rapids Griffins News Release
Grand Rapids, Mi. - The Grand Rapids Griffins opened the 2002-03 season and the new affiliation with the Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings with a 6-4 loss to the Cleveland Barons in front of a sold-out crowd of 10,834 at Van Andel Arena. The Griffins donned their new third uniforms, which is similar to the Red Wings uniform with a Griffins crest.
A familiar face opened the scoring just 33 seconds into the game when Dave Van Drunen blasted a shot from the right point past Cleveland goaltender Seamus Kotyk. Mark Mowers gathered the first of his three assists as he won the face-off in the Cleveland zone back to Van Drunen.
Cleveland answered when Niko Dimitrakos beat Marc Lamothe at 4:39 of the opening period. Miroslav Zalesak and David Cloutier assisted.
The Griffins regained the lead when Travis Richards' shot beat Kotyk. Michel Picard slid a pass across the crease and Richards deflected it into the open net. Mowers also earned an assist on the play with 10:28 elapsed in the first period.
Scott Thomas answered back for the Barons with a power-play goal from Chad Wiseman and Ryan Kraft.
The Griffins regained the lead with just less than five minutes remaining in the second period when Mowers collected his third assist as he sprung Tim Skarperud on a breakaway. Skarperud faked a shot forcing Kotyk to dive allowing Skarperud to lift the puck over the fallen net minder.
Grand Rapids extended their lead just before the second intermission when defenseman Patrick Boileau denied a clearing attempt, gathered the puck and fired from the right point beating Kotyk high on the stick side extending the Griffins lead to 4-2 with just over 15 seconds remaining.
Chad Wiseman cut the margin to one goal in the third period as he came off the backboards and lifted the puck over Lamothe with 10:10 remaining in the third period.
Ryan Kraft banged a loose puck in front of the Griffins net knotting the score at four with 7:40 remaining.
Jeff Nelson, brother of Griffins assistant coach Todd Nelson, netted a short handed breakaway goal to give the Barons a 5-4 lead 57 seconds later from Matt Carkner.
Zalesak added to the lead with 2:38 remaining as he chipped a loose puck over a sprawled Lamothe extending the lead to 6-4. Nelson and Dimitrakos assisted.
Kotyk stopped 29 of 33 shots for the win, while Lamothe turned aside 20 of 26 for the Griffins.
The Griffins will be home next week on back-to-back nights as the Houston Aeros and the defending Calder Cup champion Chicago Wolves visit Van Andel on Friday, October 18 and Saturday, October 19. Both games face-off at 7:30 p.m. Friday night is "Meet the Griffins Night," where 3,000 fans will receive a team poster and there will be posters throughout the concourse with biographical information about various Griffin players.
American Hockey League Stories from October 12, 2002
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