This Week’s Games

GRIFFINS at Cleveland Monsters // Tue., March 7 // 7 p.m. // Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse
GRIFFINS vs. Cleveland Monsters // Sat., March 11 // 7 p.m. // Van Andel Arena

Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 6:45 p.m. on Tuesday and Saturday

Watch: AHLTV on Tuesday and Saturday

Season Series: 2-2-0-0 Overall, 2-1-0-0 Home, 0-1-0-0 Road. Fifth and sixth of eight meetings overall, fourth of four at Van Andel Arena, second of four at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse

All-Time Series: 70-36-6-10 Overall, 40-18-2-2 Home, 30-18-4-8 Road

NHL Affiliation: Columbus Blue Jackets

Noteworthy: Grand Rapids is 16-5-1-0 (0.750) against Cleveland in the past two seasons and has points 11 out of the last 13 games overall (10-2-1-0, 0.808).

Promotion: Margaritaville Night presented by Adventure Credit Union

GRIFFINS vs. Rockford IceHogs // Fri., March 10 // 7 p.m. // Van Andel Arena

Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 6:45 p.m.

Watch: AHLTV

Season Series: 2-3-0-0 Overall, 1-1-0-0 Home. Sixth of eight meetings overall, third of four at Van Andel Arena

All-Time Series: 60-41-9-11 Overall, 37-13-5-5 Home

NHL Affiliation: Chicago Blackhawks

Noteworthy: On March 2, the IceHogs acquired forward Rocco Grimaldi from the San Diego Gulls for future considerations. The seven-year AHL veteran has 56 points (27-29—56) in 54 games, which ranks seventh on the circuit.

Promotion: 11th annual Purple Game presented by Van Andel Institute

GRIFFINS at Chicago Wolves // Sun., March 12 // 4 p.m. EST // Allstate Arena

Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 3:45 p.m. (Broadcast will air on 96.1 The Game if Michigan plays in the Big Ten title game)

Watch: AHLTV and NHL Network at 4 p.m.

Season Series: 3-2-1-0 Overall, 2-1-0-0 Road. Seventh of 10 meetings overall, fourth of five at Allstate Arena

All-Time Series: 94-83-2-8-3 Overall, 49-45-0-2-1 Road

NHL Affiliation: Carolina Hurricanes

Noteworthy: After beginning the season series with a 3-1-0-0 record against the Wolves, the Griffins have gone on to drop two straight against their Central-Division rivals.

Last Week’s Results
Wed., March 1 // GRIFFINS 3 vs. Chicago 4 // 22-25-3-2 (49 pts., 0.471, 7th Central)
Fri., March 3 // GRIFFINS 2 vs. Iowa 5 // 22-26-3-2 (49 pts., 0.462, 7th Central)
Sat., March 4 // GRIFFINS 3 vs. Iowa 4 (OT) // 22-26-4-2 (50 pts., 0.463, 7th Central)

Last Week’s Notes
Wednesday vs. Chicago (3-4 L) - The Griffins’ comeback efforts came up just short against the Wolves in a 4-3 loss at Van Andel Arena. After four-consecutive goals from Chicago, the Griffins inched within one on the behalf of Joel L’Esperance’s goal with 2:17 left but failed to find the tying tally. The Brighton, Mich., native pushed his goal streak to five games, a career high and the longest by a Griffin this season. Danny O’Regan extended his point streak to three games with two assists, moving him to 23 on the year and eight with Grand Rapids. In that stretch, O’Regan has five points (1-4–5) and eight in the last six outings (3-5–8). Recap | Highlights

Friday vs. Iowa (2-5 L) - The Griffins dropped a pivotal game in the playoff race in a 5-2 loss to the Wild at Van Andel Arena. Riley Sawchuk recorded his first professional goal and point in the opening stanza. Danny O’Regan pushed his assist streak to four games, tying Taro Hirose for the longest stretch by Griffin this season. Ben Simon led the team in his 300th game as the Griffins’ head coach, the second coach to reach that milestone for the franchise. Recap | Highlights

Saturday vs. Iowa (3-4 OTL) - The Griffins picked up a point in an 4-3 overtime loss to the Wild at Van Andel Arena. With two assists, Taro Hirose passed Jiri Hudler for the seventh-most all time by a Griffin with 115 helpers. Danny O’Regan extended his point streak to five outings with a goal (2-5–7) and has 10 points in his last eight games (4-6–10). John Lethemon made his Griffins debut in net, securing 37 saves on 41 shots. Michigan State has produced the most Griffins of any school, with Lethemon becoming the 22nd Spartan to play for Grand Rapids. Recap | Highlights

Didn’t Go as Planned: The Griffins dropped three straight games last week against Chicago and Iowa, the two teams that Grand Rapids is trying to catch for the final playoff spot. Grand Rapids finished its five-game homestand last Saturday with a 1-2-2-0 record. The Griffins return this week with four games in six days, which includes three games in three days this weekend. Grand Rapids is in seventh in the division and is now nine points out of a playoff spot with two games in hand (18 remaining) on fifth-place Iowa. Grand Rapids has points in 13 of its last 21 contests (9-7-3-1, 0.524). Since the new year, Grand Rapids has lost in regulation just nine times through 25 games (11-9-3-2, 0.540).

Momma We Made It: On Thursday, Adam Erne became the 200th Griffins alum to compete in the NHL and on Saturday, Alex Chiasson became the 201th alum to play in the NHL. Since 1996, 201 Griffins players (25 goalies, 176 skaters) have gone on to play at least one game in the NHL. Some of the more accomplished members of the Griffins’ alumni class include 18 Stanley Cup champions, two members of the Triple Gold Club — Stanley Cup champ, Olympic gold medalist, World Championship gold medalist — (Niklas Kronwall and Valtteri Filppula), one Calder Trophy winner (Moritz Seider), one Calder Trophy finalist (Jimmy Howard), and two Lady Byng winners (Pavol Demitra and Jiri Hudler).

Griffin Tenders: On Saturday, John Lethemon became the sixth goaltender to man the Griffins’ pipes this season, tying the franchise record for most goalies used that was set in 2005-06. That season, Jimmy Howard made his pro debut and was a stalwart for Grand Rapids, appearing in 38 games for the AHL’s regular season champions and earning a spot on the league’s All-Rookie Team. Joey MacDonald (32), Drew MacIntyre (13) and Logan Koopmans (1) saw action along with Chris Osgood (3) and Manny Legace (1), who both came to the Griffins on conditioning stints from Detroit.

Rewrite the Record Book: Taro Hirose has been known for his passing abilities throughout four seasons with the Griffins. The former Michigan State Spartan has continued to climb the Griffins’ all-time assist leaderboard, and with 115 assists he now ranks seventh in franchise history, passing Jiri Hudler (114). Hirose is now seven assists from tying Nathan Paetsch for sixth all time. Hirose is as consistent as they come, as he has had at least 22 assists in each AHL campaign in his career. The Calgary, Alberta, native has totaled a team-leading 32 helpers in 54 games this year. In addition, his 16 power-play assists this season are tied for 12th in the AHL. Hirose also leads the roster with 45 points (13-32—45) in 54 appearances.

Danny Boy: Danny O’Regan is starting to find a rhythm with the Griffins after joining the team on Dec. 19. After exploding for three points (2-1—3) in his Griffins debut, O’Regan had just three points in his next 12 games from Dec. 28-Feb. 15. However, the German-born forward is now on a five-game point streak (2-5—7) and has 10 points in his last eight games (4-6—10).

Just Keep it Close: The Griffins have had their ups and downs this season, but they have excelled at winning close games. In fact, Grand Rapids is 12-1-4-2 (0.789) in games decided by one goal and 4-0-4-0 in overtime contests. In comparison, the Griffins are just 10-25-0-0 (0.286) in games decided by two or more tallies. In the 2021-22 season, the Griffins finished with a 13-7-6-2 (0.607) mark in games decided by one goal.

AHL Leaderboard Tracker:
Austin Czarnik—Five game-winning goals are tied for sixth, three short-handed goals are tied for first
Simon Edvinsson—20 assists are tied for fifth among rookie defensemen, 25 points are tied for fifth among rookie defensemen, five goals are tied for sixth among rookie defensemen
Joel L’Esperance—10 power-play goals are tied for sixth, 172 shots are tied for fourth

Milestones:
Ben Simon coached in his 300th game as head coach for the Griffins on March 3, making him just the second coach in franchise history to reach 300 games. Joel L’Esperance recorded his 100th goal as a pro on Feb. 19 at Manitoba. Adam Erne eclipsed 50 assists in the AHL on Feb. 17 against the Cleveland Monsters.
Austin Czarnik—Two assists from 200 as a pro
Albert Johansson—One game from 200 as a pro
Steven Kampfer—One assist from 150 as a pro
Joel L’Esperance—One goal from 100 in the AHL
Alex Nedeljkovic—Two wins from 100 in the AHL
Wyatt Newpower—Four games from 100 as a Griffin
Danny O’Regan—Five points from 300 as a pro
Chase Pearson—Two assists from 50 as a pro, in the AHL and as a Griffin
Donovan Sebrango—Three games from 150 as a pro
Dominik Shine—Two goals from 50 as a pro, as a Griffin and in the AHL, two points from 100 as a pro, in the AHL and as a Griffin
Elmer Soderblom—Three games from 150 as a pro

Photo by Mark Newman/Griffins