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AHL Grand Rapids Griffins

Griffins Take on Admirals Before Holiday Break

December 21, 2021 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Grand Rapids Griffins News Release


This Week's Games

GRIFFINS vs. Milwaukee Admirals // Wed., Dec. 22 // 7 p.m. // Van Andel Arena

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

Watch: AHLTV

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

All-Time Series: 104-69-7-7-8 Overall, 55-33-2-2-3 Home

NHL Affiliation: Nashville Predators

Noteworthy: Grand Rapids' 104 victories over Milwaukee are the most against any opponent in franchise history. Furthermore, the Griffins have faced the Admirals more than any club in the AHL, competing in 195 games dating back to the 2001-02 campaign when both teams joined the AHL from the International Hockey League.

Last Week's Results

Sat., Dec. 18 // GRIFFINS vs. Toronto - Postponed // Rescheduled for Mon., Jan. 24

Sun., Dec. 19 // GRIFFINS vs. Toronto - Postponed // Rescheduled date Wed., Feb. 2

Leaders of the Pack: On Dec. 17, Paul Maurice resigned from the Winnipeg Jets. With that, three of the NHL's five longest-tenured head coaches are Griffins alumni:

1. Jon Cooper - Tampa Bay - March 2013

2. Jeff Blashill - Detroit - June 2015 (Griffins head coach 2012-15; 2013 Calder Cup Champion; 2013-14 AHL Coach of the Year)

3. Mike Sullivan - Pittsburgh - Dec. 2015

4. Jared Bednar - Colorado - Aug. 2016 (Griffins defenseman 1998-99)

5. Bruce Cassidy - Boston - Feb. 2017 (Griffins head coach 2000-02; 2001-02 AHL Coach of the Year)

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 will represent his home country at the tournament that runs Dec. 26-Jan. 5 in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta. This marks 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.

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 8-2-1-0 (0.773) against the rest of the AHL.

Spartan Store: Matt Berry became the 20th former Michigan State Spartan to play for Grand Rapids, extending that program's lead as the most productive at developing future Griffins (including teammate Taro Hirose). Michigan (13, including current assistant coach Mike Knuble), Notre Dame (11, including current head coach Ben Simon), and Miami (10, including Riley Barber) are in double-digits as well. Wisconsin comes in fifth with nine Griffins alumni, before the first non-Midwest school makes an appearance as part of a three-way tie at six (8): Maine (Chase Pearson and Dan Renouf), Northern Michigan (Dominik Shine), and Ferris State. A six-school tie for ninth (7) includes Western Michigan (Luke Witkowski) and UMass-Lowell (Seth Barton).

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 8-2 over the opening 20 minutes of its last four games. The Griffins are 8-4-0-0 (0.667) this season when scoring first and 7-2-0-0 (0.778) when leading after the opening frame. Almost half of Grand Rapids' goals (27, 42%) have come during the first period.

Return of Riley: On Dec. 18, Riley Barber became the Griffins' 188th alumnus to play in the NHL when he made his season debut with Detroit against New Jersey. Although it was a slow start to this year, Riley Barber rattled off a six-game point streak (4-5-9) from Oct. 30-Nov. 13 and is currently in the midst of a three-game stretch (2-1-3). His 16 points (7-9-16) this season are tied for third on the roster while his four power play goals are tied for fourth in the AHL. Barber led the Griffins in goals (20), points (34) and points per game (1.06) a season ago. His scoring pace equaled a 48-goal, 81-point clip in a regular 76-game AHL season. Barber also ranked second in the league for goals, just one shy of Cooper Marody (who played seven more games), and was named a Central Division AHL All-Star. Six game-winning goals tied a career best while his four-game goal streak from Feb. 26 through March 11 also matched a career high. The forward added seven multi-point outings out of 32, including a career-high four points (2-2-4) on May 7 against Chicago. Barber posted a nine-game point streak (8-5-13) from Feb. 5-March 11 that was the longest ever to start a player's Griffins career as well as the longest from the start of a Griffins season.

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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.

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