Grand Rapids Griffins 17-18

[GrGriffins]

McCollum in net tonight for Griffins. Libor Suluk will be playing his first NA pro game tonight for the Griffins in San Antonio. Saarijarvi and Nastasuik will also be in tonight's lineup as Nelson is resting Tangradi, Lashoff, and Renouf.

 

[Perfect Human]

I may be a tad late to the party, but how is Saarijarvi?

Do you suspect he could make a push next season for top pair minutes or at least a spit in the chel?

 

[GrGriffins]

I may be a tad late to the party, but how is Saarijarvi?

Do you suspect he could make a push next season for top pair minutes or at least a spit in the chel?

He is defensive sound and has been snake bitten on the offensive end here in GR this season. He has not scored a goal, but had 2 goals taken away by the refs and 2-3 others by Matt Ford tipping pucks in the net on the PP.

Skates well just basically caught in the numbers games of too many d-men here in GR. He is currently the odd man out here in GR for this season. He can play in the ECHL playoffs if Grand Rapids exits out early and Toledo is still playing.

The logjam of D-man here in GR and in Detroit depends on where everyone shakes up for next season. Renouf is the only d-man in GR that has his contract up after this season, while the others still have next season. I figure he will be in Grand Rapids next season the whole time instead of splitting time between GR and Toledo.

 

[GrGriffins]

Grand Rapids Griffins 6 at San Antonio Rampage 2 - Status: Final
Thursday, April 12, 2018 - AT&T Center

Grand Rapids 2 2 2 - 6
San Antonio 0 1 1 - 2

1st Period-1, Grand Rapids, Shine 6 (Nastasiuk, Hicketts), 2:48. 2, Grand Rapids, McIlrath 6 (Campbell, Street), 12:06.

Penalties-Greer Sa (high-sticking), 13:20; Blais Sa (slashing), 19:03.

2nd Period-3, San Antonio, Agozzino 23 (Blais, Geertsen), 8:23. 4, Grand Rapids, Shine 7 (Elkins, Sulak), 9:23. 5, Grand Rapids, Street 20 (McIlrath, Puempel), 13:16.

Penalties-Russo Gr (hooking), 14:58; Puempel Gr (unsportsmanlike conduct), 19:42.

3rd Period-6, Grand Rapids, McIlrath 7 (Campbell, Yates), 4:03. 7, Grand Rapids, Hronek 10 (Elson, Russo), 14:03. 8, San Antonio, Poganski 1 (Dickinson, Kostin), 14:47.

Penalties-Saarijarvi Gr (hooking), 6:25; Blais Sa (tripping), 10:42.

Shots on Goal-Grand Rapids 12-6-6-24. San Antonio 15-11-12-38.

Power Play Opportunities-Grand Rapids 0 / 3; San Antonio 0 / 3.

Goalies-Grand Rapids, McCollum 20-14-3 (38 shots-36 saves). San Antonio, Husso 15-14-5 (24 shots-18 saves).

A-5,121

Referees-Evgenii Romasko (39), Stephen Thomson (15).
Linesmen-Libor Suchanek (60), Lucas Bisbee (86).

 

[GrGriffins]

Great night for Griffins as they beat the San Antonio Rampage in their last road game of the regular season with a 6-2 win. Libor Sulak (+3) and Trevor Yates (+2) each pick up their first pro point (both assists). Dominic Shine (+1) scored 2 goals (including the game winner) and was #2 star of the game, Filip Hronek scored his 10th goal of the season and +2. Dylan McIlrath was the #1 star of the game with 2 goals, assist, and +3.

 

[TheMule93]

how did Sulak play? Looks good on the stat sheet at least

 

[Mister Ed]

Love seeing Hronek getting points, he's really settling in.

 

[lilidk]

how did Sulak play? Looks good on the stat sheet at least

him and Dylan McIlrath. I wonder about Dylan . Can he replace Ericson ?

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

him and Dylan McIlrath. I wonder about Dylan . Can he replace Ericson ?

He just doesn't skate well enough. I like him, he is a heavy body and he is a really good AHL player. But it is his skating that has kept him out of the NHL.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

Great night for Griffins as they beat the San Antonio Rampage in their last road game of the regular season with a 6-2 win. Libor Sulak (+3) and Trevor Yates (+2) each pick up their first pro point (both assists). Dominic Shine (+1) scored 2 goals (including the game winner) and was #2 star of the game, Filip Hronek scored his 10th goal of the season and +2. Dylan McIlrath was the #1 star of the game with 2 goals, assist, and +3.

First NA pro point is probably how that should be phased. Sulak has been a professional hockey player for a long time now.

 

[GrGriffins]

First NA pro point is probably how that should be phased. Sulak has been a professional hockey player for a long time now.

NA (North American) pro game.

 

[GrGriffins]

With the Chicago Wolves victory in Rockford 6-4 and the Manitoba Moose lost in Cleveland 3-1 tonight, the Chicago Wolves clinched the Central Division and will play the Rockford IceHogs in the first round of the playoffs.

Griffins will play the Manitoba Moose in the first round. If the Griffins win their last game tomorrow night at home vs the Cleveland Monsters (playing their 3rd straight game), the Griffins will have home ice in the first round and will finish in 2nd place in the Central Division. If the Griffins lose tomorrow night and the Moose win their game on Sunday in Chicago, then the Moose will have home ice advantage.

 

[Fil Larkmanthanasiou]

With the Chicago Wolves victory in Rockford 6-4 and the Manitoba Moose lost in Cleveland 3-1 tonight, the Chicago Wolves clinched the Central Division and will play the Rockford IceHogs in the first round of the playoffs.

Griffins will play the Manitoba Moose in the first round. If the Griffins win their last game tomorrow night at home vs the Cleveland Monsters (playing their 3rd straight game), the Griffins will have home ice in the first round and will finish in 2nd place in the Central Division. If the Griffins lose tomorrow night and the Moose win their game on Sunday in Chicago, then the Moose will have home ice advantage.

I don't understand how Chicago clinched it when the Griffs and Moose are only 2 points behind them and have less loser points.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

I don't understand how Chicago clinched it when the Griffs and Moose are only 2 points behind them and have less loser points.

The AHL runs their finishes on Points Percentage earned. They don't play an exact same game amount because of the Western Conferences Pacific division. No matter what happens the Wolves have locked in a higher percentage at this point is what that means. They have the ROW tie-breaker if we were to catch them in that category, but the first tie breaker is to look at the percentage column. My guess is they get a point anyway so it is moot.

Manitoba must be very nervous. The Griffins have owned them this year.

 

[GrGriffins]

The AHL runs their finishes on Points Percentage earned. They don't play an exact same game amount because of the Western Conferences Pacific division. No matter what happens the Wolves have locked in a higher percentage at this point is what that means. They have the ROW tie-breaker if we were to catch them in that category, but the first tie breaker is to look at the percentage column. My guess is they get a point anyway so it is moot.

Manitoba must be very nervous. The Griffins have owned them this year.

But with Lorito and Turgeon both out for the entire playoffs and Bertuzzi not coming down from Detroit, the Griffins are considerably weaker now than when we played them during the regular season. Power play without Lorito is not doing well, and it will be interesting to see how our PK will take a hit with Turgeon out. Might be a much tighter series than you think.

 

[GrGriffins]

I don't understand how Chicago clinched it when the Griffs and Moose are only 2 points behind them and have less loser points.

Chicago has 93 points with 2 games left. Griffins has 91 with tonight's game left. Manitoba has 90 with tomorrow night's game in Chicago. If Griffins win tonight, we would have 93 points. Even if Chicago loses both games in regulation and the two teams end up tied in points, Chicago has a better ROW and much better head to head record vs the Griffins, so they would still end up on top. I know the AHL goes by points percentage, but that mainly applies to the Pacific Division for the most part since the rest of the divisions play the same number of games.

 

[GrGriffins]

2018-04-14

Mike Borkowski (C)

Grand Rapids

ADD

Recalled from loan to Toledo (ECHL)

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Mike Borkowski looks like he will be in tonight's lineup.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

But with Lorito and Turgeon both out for the entire playoffs and Bertuzzi not coming down from Detroit, the Griffins are considerably weaker now than when we played them during the regular season. Power play without Lorito is not doing well, and it will be interesting to see how our PK will take a hit with Turgeon out. Might be a much tighter series than you think.

I agree, but you have to think they were hoping for any other team.

The Griffins aren't quite as powerful as they can be, but they have had a ton of success against that team. A couple breaks and Manitoba will have to be saying here we go again psychologically.

 

[GrGriffins]

I agree, but you have to think they were hoping for any other team.

The Griffins aren't quite as powerful as they can be, but they have had a ton of success against that team. A couple breaks and Manitoba will have to be saying here we go again psychologically.

Compared to Chicago and Rockford, I would rather play Manitoba as well. Chicago had our number all season and with Rockford, the IceHogs dominated us at the beginning of the season, only for us to catch them in the 2nd half of the season. But this is playoff time and anything can happen.

 

[Fil Larkmanthanasiou]

Chicago has 93 points with 2 games left. Griffins has 91 with tonight's game left. Manitoba has 90 with tomorrow night's game in Chicago. If Griffins win tonight, we would have 93 points. Even if Chicago loses both games in regulation and the two teams end up tied in points, Chicago has a better ROW and much better head to head record vs the Griffins, so they would still end up on top. I know the AHL goes by points percentage, but that mainly applies to the Pacific Division for the most part since the rest of the divisions play the same number of games.

Doesn't more OT and SO losses mean a lesser ROW?

 

[GrGriffins]

Doesn't more OT and SO losses mean a lesser ROW?

ROW means Regulation/OT Wins. Your ROW consists of wins in regulation and OT games. SO wins do not go into this column. If a teams wins a lot of games in SO, your ROW is low. The more wins in regulation and in OT a team gets, the better your ROW and that is usually the first tie-breaker in most leagues if two teams are tied in points (or points percentage if you are in the AHL).

 

[GrGriffins]

Coreau starting in goal for the Griffins in the last regular season game tonight here in GR vs the Cleveland Monsters. Nelson will be resting more players night as Hicketts, Russo, and Ford will not play night. Marcus Crawford might get his pro debut tonight for the Griffins.

 

[Fil Larkmanthanasiou]

ROW means Regulation/OT Wins. Your ROW consists of wins in regulation and OT games. SO wins do not go into this column. If a teams wins a lot of games in SO, your ROW is low. The more wins in regulation and in OT a team gets, the better your ROW and that is usually the first tie-breaker in most leagues if two teams are tied in points (or points percentage if you are in the AHL).

Chicago, GR and Manitoba all have 41 wins but Chicago were awarded more points for losses than the other 2.

 

[GrGriffins]

Griffins won 6-4 tonight to clinch 2nd place and will play the Moose in the first round. Here are the dates of the best of 5 series:

Game 1	Sat., April 21	GRIFFINS at Manitoba Moose	3 p.m.
Game 2	Sun., April 22	GRIFFINS at Manitoba Moose	3 p.m.
Game 3	Wed., April 25	Manitoba Moose at GRIFFINS	7 p.m.
*Game 4	Thu., April 26	Manitoba Moose at GRIFFINS	7 p.m.
*Game 5	Mon., April 30	Manitoba Moose at GRIFFINS	7 p.m.

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

 

[GrGriffins]

Campbell's hat trick and Hronek 4 point night (G, 3 A) +3 lead the Griffins to 6-4 win over Cleveland. Game sheet posted shortly.