AHL American Hockey League

Griffins take familiar place among AHL's best

December 6, 2004 - American Hockey League (AHL) News Release


SPRINGFIELD, Mass. ... The Grand Rapids Griffins are at it again, climbing toward the top of the AHL standings in a familiar story that they hope has a happier ending in 2004-05.

The Griffins, top development team of the NHL's Detroit Red Wings, are owners of the AHL's best record since the start of the 2001-02 season, with 149 wins and a .628 points percentage in 261 games. Grand Rapids has two division titles and a second-place finish to its credit, and finds itself tied with Milwaukee atop the West Division with a record of 15-5-1-0 through Sunday's action. But the Griffins have yet to drink from the Calder Cup, still looking for the franchise's first league championship.

Under third-year head coach Danton Cole, the Griffins have won 10 of their last 12 games (with nine of the 10 wins by a single goal), and are a perfect 7-0-0-0 away from Van Andel Arena this season. One of four AHL teams averaging fewer than two goals against per game, Grand Rapids is winning primarily with defense, starting in goal with first-year starter Joey MacDonald and his 12-5-0 record, 1.78 goals-against average and four shutouts. The Griffins' leading scorer is even a defenseman: 2000 first-round draft pick Niklas Kronwall, whose seven goals and 20 points lead all AHL blueliners this season.

Veterans Bryan Helmer and Travis Richards join Kronwall in anchoring the defense corps, where they are joined by former Memorial Cup MVP Danny Groulx, rookies Derek Meech and Brett Lebda and Paul Ballantyne, who has already skated in 15 games this year after appearing in just 16 AHL contests combined from 2002-04.

Grand Rapids is managing without Jiri Hudler, who has returned to his home in the Czech Republic to be with his ailing father. Eric Manlow leads Griffins forwards with 15 points and Eric Himelfarb is among the league's rookie leaders with 12 points, while Blake Sloan, who has never scored more than 10 goals in seven professional and four collegiate seasons, already has seven in 21 games. Nathan Robinson, an AHL All-Star in 2004, has eight points in his last eight games. Matt Ellis and Darryl Bootland, former junior teammates (and roommates) at Toronto St. Michael's, have been nightly contributors as well, as has Todd Robinson, with seven points in 12 games since joining the Griffins from Muskegon (UHL) last month.

Grand Rapids puts its perfect road record on the line Tuesday and Wednesday in a two-game series against the St. John's Maple Leafs at Mile One Stadium.


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ICECATS HONOR FALLEN HEROES ... The Worcester IceCats are wearing and auctioning off special jerseys to raise money for the Worcester Fire Fighters Memorial Fund. The red sweaters, trimmed in blue and sporting a silver "W-6" emblem, commemorates the fifth anniversary of the tragic fire at the Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse Co. building that killed six city firemen.

On Dec. 3, 1999, Lt. Thomas E. Spencer, Lt. James F. Lyons, Paul A. Brotherton, Jeremiah M. Lucey, Timothy P. Jackson and Joseph T. McGuirk were killed battling a blaze in the abandoned building. The fire had started earlier in the afternoon when a homeless couple knocked over a candle during an argument. President Bill Clinton and more than 30,000 firefighters from around the U.S. joined the city in a public memorial service.

The IceCats will auction off the jerseys on Dec. 11 during their game with Providence.


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LEAFS, SENS SET ATTENDANCE MARK ... A crowd of 17,422 fans witnessed a 3-2 St. John's Maple Leafs win over the Binghamton Senators at the Air Canada Centre on Friday night, the largest turnout ever for a regular-season AHL game in Canada.

The two-game series, billed as the AHL's version of the Battle of Ontario between the affiliates of the province's two NHL clubs, drew nearly 27,000 spectators total and was watched by record audiences nationally on Canada's TSN.

Through Sunday, AHL teams are playing before an average of 5,537 fans per game, up 7.5 percent from the same number of games (319) last year.


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LAWSON'S CREASE ... Tom Lawson last week became the first Hershey goaltender in nearly 28 years to post back-to-back shutouts, and the first in the franchise's 67-year history to record consecutive shutouts on the road. Lawson made 28 saves in a 3-0 win in Albany on Wednesday, and 35 stops in a 1-0 shootout victory at Worcester on Friday.

Before Lawson, the last Bears netminder to record successive shutouts was Don Edwards, who turned the trick on Jan. 5 and 7, 1977. Lawson finished the week with a 5-7-0 record on the season for Hershey.

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OFF THE ICE ... Jennifer Kemp, a member of the board of directors of the Manchester Monarchs Booster Club, passed away suddenly on Nov. 28 at the age of 29; in lieu of flowers, donations to the MMBC are being accepted for its hockey scholarship fund, which has been renamed in Kemp's memory... Houston Aeros players and front office staff chipped in to make a $2,700 donation to the Sergei Zholtok Memorial Fund in memory of the former Minnesota Wild forward... Cincinnati's Tim Brent, Curtis Glencross, Dustin Penner and Aaron Rome will be on the auction block for Saturday's inaugural Date with a Duck fundraiser for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) research.


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SHOOTOUT STATS ... The two longest AHL shootouts ever took place simultaneously on Friday night, as Lowell beat Hartford in 13 rounds and Cleveland outlasted Utah in an incredible 16 rounds. The previous high had been 11 rounds.

The Lock Monsters' Brent Krahn and the Wolf Pack's Steve Valiquette combined to stop all 70 shots in regulation and overtime and were a perfect 24-for-24 in the shootout before Mike Zigomanis scored in the visitors' half of the 13th round and Lowell claimed a 1-0 win. The Barons and Grizzlies went back and forth through 32 shooters until Garrett Stafford's sudden-death goal gave Cleveland a 3-2 win.

There have been 42 shootouts in the AHL through Sunday's games (44 games have been decided by a goal in overtime). Syracuse has played in a league-high six shootouts, while Bridgeport has yet to participate in a single one. Shooters are 142-for-480 on shootout attempts (29.6 percent). Some other individual leaders:

SHOOTING PCT (min. 3 att.)
Radulov, Igor NOR 1.000 (4/4)
Taffe, Jeff UTA .800 (4/5)
Jardine, Ryan SAN .750 (3/4)
Ouellet, Michel WBS .714 (5/7)
Several tied at .667

SHOOTOUT GOALS G Att
Ouellet, Michel WBS 5 7
Radulov, Igor NOR 4 4
Taffe, Jeff UTA 4 5
McAmmond, Dean ALB 4 6
Trattnig, Matthias SYR 4 7

SHOOTOUT ATTEMPTS G Att
Westrum, Erik UTA 1 8
Ouellet, Michel WBS 5 7
Trattnig, Matthias SYR 4 7
Several tied at 6

SHOOTOUT WINNING GOALS
Trattnig, Matthias SYR 2
Taffe, Jeff UTA 2
Laich, Brooks POR 2
Perrin, Eric HER 2
Several tied at 1

SAVE PERCENTAGE (min. 5 att.)
Goehring, Karl SYR 1.000 (5/5)
Lawson, Tom HER 1.000 (5/5)
Krahn, Brent LOW .941 (16/17)
Valiquette, Steve HFD .923 (12/13)
Smith, Mike HOU .875 (7/8)

SHOOTOUT SAVES Sv Att
LeNeveu, David UTA 26 32
Schaefer, Nolan CLE 18 21
Leclaire, Pascal SYR 17 27
Krahn, Brent LOW 16 17
Scott, Travis SAN 15 24

ATTEMPTS FACED Sv Att
LeNeveu, David UTA 26 32
Leclaire, Pascal SYR 17 27
Scott, Travis SAN 15 24
Schaefer, Nolan CLE 18 21
Fleury, Marc-Andre WBS 11 20

SHOOTOUT WINS
Antero Niittymaki PHI 3
Several tied at 2


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ETC. ... Jarret Stoll had three goals and an assist in Edmonton's 4-2 win over Cincinnati on Friday night... Hartford's shutout streak of 227:58 was ended by Manchester's Mike Cammalleri on Sunday, but the Wolf Pack still earned a 4-3 overtime win to snap the Monarchs' 13-game winning streak... Jeff Hamilton scored the decisive goal for Hartford in that game; after setting a league record with 15 game-winning strikes last season, all three of Hamilton's goals in 2004-05 have been game-winners as well... Worcester went 234:56 without scoring a goal before Alexei Shkotov broke the slide in Sunday's 3-2 win over Portland... Philadelphia, which lost in overtime to Norfolk on Saturday to end a 12-game home winning streak, is now 7-1 in games that go to OT or a shootout... Notable signings last week included Aaron Gavey by Utah and Casey Hankinson by Cincinnati... Rookie defenseman Brian Sipotz, who had not scored a goal since his senior season at Culver Academy prep school in 1999-2000, ended a five-year drought with the winning score in Chicago's 4-2 victory over Utah on Tuesday night.

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