AHL Grand Rapids Griffins

Saturday Kicks off 12 of 15 at Home for Griffins

Published on November 30, 2010 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Grand Rapids Griffins News Release


Hectic Holidays: Following Friday's trip to Milwaukee, the Griffins will play 12 of their next 15 games at Van Andel Arena, starting with a Saturday-Sunday set against the San Antonio Rampage that kicks off a 10-game home slate for December. Only twice before have the Griffins played 10 home games in a single month, and it worked out well for them on each occasion. They went 6-3-1-0 in December 2007 after going 7-2-1 in February 1999.

Fun at the Van: Sat. vs. San Antonio - The first 5,000 fans will receive a Griffins drawstring backpack, courtesy of Dean Foods and Country Fresh. Renowned bucket drummer Peter Rabbit will be on hand to perform during the first intermission, and fans can join the ESPN 96.1 Zone to enjoy specially priced tickets, a bottomless popcorn bucket and other benefits. Sun. vs. San Antonio - "Sunday is Fun Day!" features a range of promotions, including $1 Cole's breadsticks and $1 Pepsi products from 3-5 p.m.; a goalie stick Crazy Band giveaway for kids; Thomas McCollum jersey cards for the first 1,500 fans (compliments of Cambridge Partners); Fan 4 Packs ; Library Night ticket discounts; a Huntington post-game autograph session with Greg Amadio, Jordan Pearce and Brent Raedeke; and a post-game open skate.

Some Enchanted Evening: Tomas Tatar set or tied five Griffins records during Saturday's historic 10-8 win at Chicago, including

‚¬Â¢ Most Points, Game (NEW): 7, Tomas Tatar, 2-5 - 7 (6, Kip Miller, 1/10/02 at Chicago (2-4 - 6))

‚¬Â¢ Most Points, Period (TIED): 4, Tomas Tatar, 2nd, 1-3 - 4iri Hudler, 1/6/06 at Houston (3rd, 2-2 - 4))

‚¬Â¢ Most Assists, Game (TIED): 5, Tomas Tatariri Hudler, 2/16/06 at Cleveland; Chris Bala, 1/10/02 at Chicago)

‚¬Â¢ Most Assists, Period (TIED): 3, Tomas Tatar, 2nd (Nine players)

‚¬Â¢ Highest Plus/Minus, Game (NEW): +7, Tomas Tatar (+6, Derek King and Slava Butsayev, 4/1/01 at Cleveland)

Tatar's seven points were the most by an AHL player since Chicago's Jason Krog put up seven (3-4 - 7) against Peoria on Nov. 4, 2006. It was the AHL's highest scoring contest since March 29, 1996 (a 10-8 win for the Baltimore Bandits over the Binghamton Rangers), when Tatar was only five years old. He'll turn 20 on Wednesday.

A Night to Remember: The Griffins also set or tied seven team records on Saturday, including:

‚¬Â¢ Most Goals For, Game (TIED): 10 (10/24/01 vs. Cincinnati (10-5))

‚¬Â¢ Most Goals For, Road Game (NEW): 10 (9, 2/16/06 at Cleveland (9-2))

‚¬Â¢ Most Goals Against, Win (NEW): 8 (6, 11/8/09 at Lake Erie (8-6), 4/2/99 vs. Chicago (7-6 SOW))

‚¬Â¢ Most Goals For, Period (NEW): 7, 2nd (5, 13 times (MR: 3/26/10 vs. Milwaukee, 3rd))

‚¬Â¢ Most Goals For, Road Period (NEW): 7, 2nd (5, five times (MR: 11/8/09 at Lake Erie, 2nd))

‚¬Â¢ Most Goals, Both Teams, Game (NEW): 18 (15, twice (MR: 2/8/09 at Toronto, 5-10))

‚¬Â¢ Most Goals, Both Teams, Road Game (NEW): 18 (15, 2/8/09 at Toronto (5-10))

But Wait, There's More: On Saturday, the Griffins scored their seven second-period goals in a span of just 11:37, lighting the lamp as many times as they had in their previous eight games combined. In addition, their 10 goals on the night were more than they had tallied in their previous five road games (eight)...Jordan Pearce became the first AHL goalie to win while allowing eight goals since Providence's Scott Bailey earned a 9-8 victory at Adirondack on Dec. 11, 1996...The Wolves scored on five consecutive power play opportunities spanning the second and third periods and finished 5-for-7 on the night, falling one shy of Grand Rapids' record for power play goals allowed in a game (6, Dec. 2, 2005 at Peoria, 6-for-9)...Chicago set dubious franchise marks for goals allowed in a period and a game.

Another Record-Setter: During last Wednesday's 3-1 loss at Toronto, the Griffins were whistled off for a franchise-record 112 penalty minutes, breaking the mark of 104 that was set 13 seasons ago on April 11, 1998 versus Quebec. The game's combined 218 PIM, which also set a Griffins record, included 184 PIM during the third period (96 for Grand Rapids, 88 for Toronto), when three players from each squad received game misconducts. Grand Rapids now leads the AHL in both PIM (531) and game misconducts (6).

Close, But No Cigar: The Griffins have played 11 games both on the road and at home this season, going 7-4-0-0 away from Van Andel Arena but just 2-5-0-4 within friendly confines. Seven of Grand Rapids' nine losses at home have been by a single goal.

Facts and Figures: Saturday marked the Griffins' first win this season when allowing the first goal (1-6-0-3) and when trailing after the opening period (1-6-0-1)...The Griffins are 7-5-0-1 within the North Division and 2-4-0-3 against the West Division...After two periods of play, the Griffins are 6-0-0-1 when leading, 3-1-0-2 when tied and 0-8-0-1 when trailing...Grand Rapids has surrendered just 27.18 shots per game, the fifth-fewest in the AHL. On the other end, the Griffins have averaged 29.45 shots, ranking 18th in the league.

Offensive Kudos: Cory Emmerton's three points (1-2 - 3) on Saturday equaled his career best...Francis Pare had points in consecutive games (1-1 - 2) prior to Sunday...Jan Mursak's four points (2-2 - 4) on Saturday in Chicago marked a career high...Willie Coetzee, who originally was thought to have tied a Griffins franchise record with three assists in the second period on Saturday, had one taken away due to a scoring change but still earned the first multi-point game of his young career...Jordan Owens (1-2 - 3) and Jamie Tardif (2-1 - 3) also matched career scoring highs in that contest. Tardif now owns a three-game point streak (3-2 - 5)...Doug Janik netted back-to-back multi-point games (1-3 - 4) prior to Sunday.

Put Me In, Coach: Last Wednesday, Joey MacDonald saw his first action with Detroit this season, entering the game at the start of the third period for the Red Wings in relief of Jimmy Howard. He stopped seven of eight shots faced during the final frame of Detroit's 5-1 loss at Atlanta.

Milestones: Francis Pare needs just one more point to become the 21st player to reach 100 as a Griffin and five goals to become the 14th player to score 50...Jamie Johnson is six points shy of 200 in the AHL (64-130 - 194)...Chris Minard stand six assists shy of 200 as a pro...Ilari Filppula, who has missed the past three games due to injury, needs six more appearances to reach 400 professional games...Joey MacDonald (currently with Detroit) needs just one more win to break a tie with Jimmy Howard (90) for franchise supremacy...Jamie Tardif has played in 261 career games as a Griffin, putting him one game shy of eighth-place Evan McGrath on the team's all-time list. He also stands two games shy of 300 as a pro.

Scouting Report

Fri., Dec. 3 at Milwaukee Admirals (11-6-1-4) ‚¬" Bradley Center ‚¬" 8 p.m.Radio: ESPN 96.1 FM at 7:45 p.m. Web Casts: Video web cast at AHLLive.com, free audio available through griffinshockey.com. All-Time Series: 51-38-7-5-5 Overall, 21-21-5-4-3 Road. Season Series: 0-1-0-1 Overall, 0-0-0-0 Road. Third of eight meetings overall, first of four in Milwaukee. NHL Affiliation: Nashville Predators. Head Coach: Lane Lambert (4th season). Notes: Admirals center Blake Geoffrion won the 2010 Hobey Baker Award as the top player in college hockey as a senior at Wisconsin, where he was a teammate of Griffins defenseman Brendan Smith...Milwaukee earned a 1-0 shootout win over the Griffins in their Nov. 10 meeting at Van Andel Arena, with Grand Rapids goalie Thomas McCollum getting credit for his first pro shutout with 24 saves...The Admirals, who just finished a 10-game road trip, own a 4-0-1-1 record on home ice...Milwaukee goalie Mark Dekanich ranks fourth in the AHL with a 1.63 GAA and third with a 0.943 save percentage.

Sat., Dec. 4 vs. San Antonio Rampage (15-6-1-0) ‚¬" Van Andel Arena ‚¬" 7 p.m.Sun., Dec. 5 vs. San Antonio Rampage ‚¬" Van Andel Arena ‚¬" 4 p.m.Radio: ESPN 96.1 FM at 6:45 p.m. (Sat.) and 3:45 p.m. (Sun.). Web Casts: Video web cast at AHLLive.com, free audio available through griffinshockey.com. All-Time Series: 29-15-1-1-0 Overall, 15-7-1-0-0 Home. Season Series: First and second of four meetings overall, first and second of two in Grand Rapids. NHL Affiliation: Phoenix Coyotes. Head Coach: Ray Edwards (2nd season). Notes: After winning 28 of 40 games (28-10-1-1-0) against the Rampage over their first seven seasons as rivals, the Griffins dropped five of six meetings to San Antonio last season...The Rampage, who recently ripped off seven straight wins (Nov. 9-26), sit atop the West Division standings...Former Griffin Garrett Stafford has 16 points (3-13 - 16) in 17 games with San Antonio, tying him for third among league defensemen...Mathieu Beaudoin (11-13 - 24) is tied for eighth in AHL scoring.

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American Hockey League Stories from November 30, 2010


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