Griffins Game #33 * Road Game #18 * AHL Game #489

Season Series: 1-4-0-0 Home Series: 1-3-0-0 Road Series: 0-1-0-0
All-Time Series: 99-68-7-7-8 All-Time Home Series: 54-33-2-2-3 All-Time Road Series: 45-35-5-5-5

Griffins at Admirals
Sixth of 10 meetings overall, second of five at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena…The Griffins are 4-6-0-0 in the previous 10 matchups overall with Milwaukee winning the last three…Grand Rapids has not scored against Milwaukee since the 16:31 mark in the second period on Nov. 22, a drought of 143:29…Despite their last two visits to Panther Arena resulting in 5-0 wins for the Admirals, the Griffins have won 10 of the last 13 matchups in Wisconsin…The Griffins’ last tally at Panther Arena came at 9:02 of the third period in a 3-2 shootout win on March 16, 2019, which equals a 135:58 time frame...Since the Admirals moved to Panther Arena at the beginning of the 2016-17 campaign, the Griffins are 12-5 at Milwaukee in the regular season…Since 2013-14, the Griffins are 40-22-2-1 against the Admirals, including 21-11-1-1 at home and 19-11-1-0 away…As an Admiral, goalie Troy Grosenick, a Wisconsin native, is 7-3-1 with a 1.50 GAA, a 0.954 save percentage and two shutouts in 11 games against the Griffins…The Griffins and Admirals began their rivalry in 1996-97 in the International Hockey League and Milwaukee is Grand Rapids’ most frequent opponent as the two will clash for the 190th time tonight…Head coach Ben Simon skated in 18 games with the Admirals during the 2003-04 campaign and finished with four points (1-3—4)…The Griffins own 99 regular season wins against the Admirals, the most of any foe…In its history, Grand Rapids has squared off against 57 different teams since 1996-97 and next in line in terms of wins versus opponents are Chicago (85-63-2-6-3) and Manitoba (63-33-1-1-7).

Last Time Out (Friday): Admirals 3 at Griffins 0 - Recap
Grand Rapids played its first home game since Dec. 6...Pat Nagle made his first start in a Griffins uniform at Van Andel Arena since Jan. 23, 2015 and collected 28 saves…The Griffins were on the short end of a combined shutout for only the third time in their history with the other occurrences coming April 13, 2019 at Milwaukee (Troy Grosenick four saves/Tom McCollum 20 saves) and March 30, 1997 at the IHL’s Detroit Vipers (Jeff Reese one save/Rich Parent 19 saves)...Grand Rapids tallied a season-high 37 PIM...The Griffins outshot Milwaukee 34-31, finished 0-for-3 on the power play and 3-for-4 on the penalty kill...Milwaukee’s power play goal at 18:01 of the second period snapped Grand Rapids’ streak of consecutive penalties killed at 32.

Status Update
The Griffins finish off a weekend home-and-home set against the league-leading Milwaukee Admirals tonight. Grand Rapids rounds out the 2019 calendar year with a New Year’s Eve date against the Chicago Wolves and then will open 2020 with a four-game road trip that travels through Texas and concludes in Milwaukee.

Rotating Roster
Including four goalies, the Griffins have used 36 players already before the halfway mark this season. Here is how the current usage stacks up to the final player counts in recent seasons: 2018-19 – 41 players, 2017-18 – 32, 2016-17 – 39, 2015-16 – 37 and 2014-15 – 39. Since the AHL’s season began on Oct. 4, the Red Wings have recalled or assigned a player from or to Grand Rapids a total of 60 times.

Red Wings Report
There have been 12 players who have played for both Detroit and Grand Rapids this season – Madison Bowey, Dennis Cholowski, Jonathan Ericsson, Jimmy Howard (conditioning), Joe Hicketts, Taro Hirose, Brian Lashoff, Dylan McIlrath, Calvin Pickard, Givani Smith, Evgeny Svechnikov and Filip Zadina.

Away for the Holidays
The Griffins play just four home games this month, their fewest in December in franchise history. Grand Rapids will make up for it in January as an eight-game homestand from Jan. 10-25 is the team’s longest since an eight-game stretch from Oct. 14-Nov. 4, 2006.

Lights Out
Milwaukee’s power play goal at 18:01 of the second period last night snapped Grand Rapids’ streak of consecutive penalties killed at 32. Since the third period at Chicago on Nov. 27, Grand Rapids’ penalty killers have gone 44 for its last 46 (95.7%). On Nov. 28, the Griffins sat 30th in the league in penalty killing and have since climbed into 14th.

Time to Tango
Signed to a one-year contract by Grand Rapids 90 minutes prior to the opening faceoff against Rockford on Dec. 6, Eric Tangradi has seven points (5-2—7) in his first seven outings during his return to a Griffins uniform. His seven points tie for the team’s most in the month and his current three-game goal streak ties for the longest by a Griffin in 2019-20. A 2017 Calder Cup champion with Grand Rapids, Tangradi ranks among the team’s all-time leaders with 171 points (9th), 81 goals (5th), 23 PPG (T8th), 14 GWG (4th), three OT goals (T3rd) and nine unassisted goals (3rd) in 207 games since 2015-16. Tangradi posted nine points (5-4—9) in 22 games for Astana Barys of the KHL this season and spent the 2018-19 campaign in the New Jersey organization.

Tar-Oh!
Assigned by Detroit on Dec. 3, rookie Taro Hirose’s seven points (4-3—7) in nine games this month tie for the team lead.

Back Up, Terr
Chris Terry ties for fifth in the AHL in points (30) while pacing the Griffins in goals (13), assists (17), multi-point games (10) and power play goals (8). In his 11th-year pro, Terry guided the Griffins with 61 points last season and the most recent player to lead GR in scoring in back-to-back seasons was Andy Miele in 2014-15 and 2015-16.

Goalvani
Givani Smith shows 13 points (4-9—13) in 21 AHL games this season and has already equaled the production from his rookie campaign when he appeared in 64 contests (6-7—13). He ranks third on the team in December scoring with six points (1-5—6).

Ford Named Playing Captain
The AHL announced on Dec. 18 that Matthew Ford will serve as one of the two playing captains for the 2020 AHL All-Star Classic, to be held January 26-27 in Ontario, Calif. Hershey Bears forward Matt Moulson was also selected. A SoCal native, Ford is in his third season as the Griffins’ captain, fourth in Grand Rapids and 12th in the AHL. He becomes the fourth Griffin to be chosen as a playing captain for an AHL All-Star Classic, joining Jeff Hoggan (2016, West), Kip Miller (2007, PlanetUSA) and Travis Richards (2004, PlanetUSA).

Seider, Veleno at WJC
Moritz Seider (Germany) and Joe Veleno (Canada) are representing their respective countries at the 2020 IIHF World Junior Championship. Through Dec. 27, Seider and Veleno both show one assist in one game. This marks the second consecutive year a player has left the Griffins mid-season to compete in the World Junior Championship after Filip Zadina represented the Czech Republic at the 2019 event. Tomas Tatar also suited up for Slovakia during his rookie campaign with Grand Rapids in 2009-10.

This Date in Griffins History
2001: Petr Schastlivy, tied for the AHL lead with 22 goals, is recalled to the Ottawa Senators and suffers a season-ending knee injury the following night at Pittsburgh.
2011: The Griffins fight their way out of a four-goal deficit to claim a point at Lake Erie, ultimately dropping a 6-5 decision in overtime.
2016: Ben Street’s power play marker with 4:12 remaining gives the Western Conference-leading Griffins their season-high fifth consecutive victory, 3-2 at Cleveland, and garners Grand Rapids points for the for the 13th time in its last 14 outings (10-1-1-2).

Griffins in General
Grand Rapids is in the franchise’s 24th overall season of play, 19th as a member of the American Hockey League and 18th as the primary affiliate of the 11-time Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings…Grand Rapids is 977-672-27-60-114 (0.583) in the regular season since 1996-97 to go along with 17 playoff appearances, seven division titles and two Calder Cups (2017, 2013)…The Griffins have earned 40 or more wins and accumulated 90 or more points in six of the last seven seasons…Grand Rapids has qualified for the Calder Cup Playoffs in a franchise-record seven consecutive seasons and advanced to at least the second round on five occasions…The Griffins’ 8-5 season-opening win at Chicago on Oct. 5 marked the club’s 750th win in the AHL…Grand Rapids’ 317 regular season wins since the 2012-13 campaign rank fourth, behind Providence’s 318, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s 320 and Toronto’s 336 while the Griffins’ 689 points in that span are fourth, trailing Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (693), Providence (703) and Toronto (728)…Since the affiliation began in 2002-03, 92 Griffins have gone on to play for the Red Wings.

Photo by Sam Iannamico/Griffins