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AHL Grand Rapids Griffins

Griffins Welcome Toronto to West Michigan

December 14, 2021 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Grand Rapids Griffins News Release


This Week's Games

GRIFFINS vs. Toronto Marlies // Sat., Dec. 18 // 7 p.m. // Van Andel Arena

GRIFFINS vs. Toronto Marlies // Sun., Dec. 19 // 4 p.m. // Van Andel Arena

Listen: 96.1 The Game at 6:35 p.m. on Saturday, WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 3:35 p.m. on Sunday

Watch: AHLTV

Season Series: First and second of four meetings overall, first and second of two at Van Andel Arena.

All-Time Series: 32-31-3-2 Overall, 19-14-1-1 Home

NHL Affiliation: Toronto Maple Leafs

Noteworthy: This will be the first meeting between the two franchises since Nov. 9, 2019 when Toronto defeated the Griffins 5-2 in West Michigan. The 2021-22 campaign will be the first since the 2015-16 season in which Toronto and Grand Rapids will play more than two games.

Last Week's Results

Fri., Dec. 10 // GRIFFINS 2 at Manitoba Moose 4 // 9-9-2-1 (21 pts., 0.500, T4th Central Division)

Sat., Dec. 11 // GRIFFINS 2 at Manitoba Moose 3 // 9-10-2-1 (21 pts., 0.477, 5th Central Division)

Last Week's Notes

Friday at Manitoba (4-2 L) - Manitoba's four-goal third period propelled the Moose past the Griffins at Canada Life Centre. Netminder Calvin Pickard tied a season high with 20 stops in the second period on his way to a 38-save performance. Tyler Spezia and Turner Elson recorded goals for the Griffins. Seth Barton made his AHL season debut after being sidelined for the first two months due to an injury and Randy Gazzola made his first appearance in the AHL. The Griffins' roster featured six players on a professional tryout, including five from the ECHL's Toledo Walleye. Recap | Highlights

Saturday at Manitoba (3-2 L) - The Griffins were swept in the road season series against Manitoba when they dropped Saturday's contest 3-2 and finished 0-3-0-1 in Winnipeg. Grand Rapids' defense held the Moose to just 22 shots, which tied for its fewest attempts allowed this season. Turner Elson bagged a two-point night (1-1-2) and extended his goal streak to three games, which is tied for the longest on the team this season with Jonatan Berggren and Kyle Criscuolo. Riley Barber notched his 50th point as a Griffin on a goal, which extended his point streak (2-1-3) to three games. Calvin Pickard made his 11th consecutive start and 15th straight appearance in net for Grand Rapids. Recap | Highlights

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.

World Traveler: Defenseman Donovan Sebrango on Sunday 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.

Timmy Turner: Veteran Turner Elson surpassed his goal count (4) from the 2020-21 season, as he totaled his fifth goal of the campaign on Nov. 19. The Edmonton, Alberta, native began the campaign with a goal during the season opener but then was held scoreless in the next four outings. The nine-year pro has cranked it up as of late with a three-game goal streak (Dec. 6-11), which is tied with Jonatan Berggren and Kyle Criscuolo for the longest on the team this year. In addition, the left winger is enjoying a season-high four-game (3-2-5) point streak from Dec. 4-11. Elson's eight goals are place second on the roster while his 15 points (8-7-15) rank fifth.

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