Griffins Game #38 * Road Game #22 * AHL Game #547

Season Series: 2-4-0-0 Home Series: 1-3-0-0 Road Series: 1-1-0-0
All-Time Series: 100-68-7-7-8 All-Time Home Series: 54-33-2-2-3 All-Time Road Series: 46-35-5-5-5

Griffins at Admirals
Seventh of 10 meetings overall, third of five at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena…In the last meeting on Dec. 28 at Milwaukee, Turner Elson scored with 1:58 remaining in regulation to give the Griffins a 3-2 win…Grand Rapids’ victory on Dec. 28 halted the Admirals’ three-game winning streak in the series…Since the Admirals moved to Panther Arena at the beginning of the 2016-17 season, the Griffins are 13-5 at Milwaukee in the regular season with a +12 scoring margin (57-45)…Grand Rapids is 4-6-0-0 in the last 10 overall against the Admirals…Grand Rapids has faced Milwaukee more than any other opponent in the regular season – 191st meeting tonight – and the Griffins’ 100 victories against the Admirals are the most against any foe…Head coach Ben Simon skated in 18 games with the Admirals during the 2003-04 campaign and finished with four points (1-3—4)…Cole Schneider is the leading scorer in the series with six points (0-6—6) in six games.

Last Time Out (Sunday): Griffins 4 at Rampage 5 - Recap
Matt Puempel recorded his second AHL hat trick and both have come this season (Oct. 25 vs. MB)…Eric Tangradi returned to the lineup after missing five games due to injury and extended his goal streak to four with a power play tally at 0:51 of the second period…Grand Rapids faced a season-high 44 shots…The Griffins had their six-game winning streak overall against the Rampage and three-game streak at the AT&T Center snapped…Grand Rapids played three games in three days for the first and only time of the season.

Status Update
The Griffins finished this season’s only stretch of three games in three days last weekend with a 1-2 record and will conclude a four-game road trip tonight at league-leading Milwaukee. After tonight, which marks the midway point of the season, Grand Rapids will head back to Van Andel Arena for a Friday-Saturday set against the Manitoba Moose that kicks off an eight-game homestand.

Time to Tango
Eric Tangradi shows eight points (6-2—8) in his first eight Griffins games of the season, finding the scoresheet in seven of those contests. After missing the previous five due to injury, he lit the lamp with a power play goal in his return to the lineup on Sunday at San Antonio to extend his goal streak to a team-high four games. A 2017 Calder Cup champion with Grand Rapids, Tangradi is the team’s active goal leader with 82, which also ranks fifth on the all-time list and is five behind Tomas Tatar for fourth. Tangradi spent the 2018-19 campaign in the New Jersey organization, posted nine points (5-4—9) in 22 games for Astana Barys of the KHL this season and then was signed to a one-year contract by Grand Rapids 90 minutes prior to the opening faceoff against Rockford on Dec. 6.

Puemped Up
Matt Puempel, in his seventh pro year, notched his second career AHL hat trick, with both coming this season, in Sunday’s loss at San Antonio. He recorded his first on Oct. 25 vs. Manitoba in what was his 301st AHL game and netted his second in his 19th game after that. The last player with two or more hat tricks in one season was Teemu Pulkkinen in 2014-15 when he netted two in the regular season (Jan. 29 at Iowa, March 4 vs. Oklahoma City) and one in the postseason (May 6 vs. Rockford). Despite missing 11 games this season, Puempel ranks second on the Griffins in both points (25) and goals (12).

Ford, Terry Heading to All-Star Classic
The AHL announced last Friday that Chris Terry has been selected to the 2020 AHL All-Star Classic. Terry joins Matthew Ford on the all-star team, after the Griffins’ captain was named as one of the two playing captains on Dec. 18. Terry, in his 11th season as a pro and second in Grand Rapids, has earned his fourth straight AHL All-Star bid and fifth overall (2012). He becomes the sixth Griffin ever to be named an all-star in back-to-back years (Matt Lorito 2017-18, Xavier Ouellet 2015-16, Gustav Nyquist 2012-13, Niklas Kronwall 2004-05, Michel Picard 1997-98 in the IHL) and only the third Grand Rapids forward to earn consecutive AHL selections, joining Lorito and Nyquist. 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 Finish at WJC
Moritz Seider and Joe Veleno represented their respective countries at the recently concluded 2020 IIHF World Junior Championship in the Czech Republic. Veleno helped Canada take home the gold medal after ranking sixth on the team with six points (1-5—6) in six games. As captain of Germany, Seider led all team defensemen and tied for second overall on the club with six points (0-6—6) in seven games. Germany beat Kazakhstan in the best-of-three relegation series. This marked the second consecutive year a player 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.

Rotating Roster
Kevin Poulin made his Griffins debut last Saturday and became the fifth goaltender to log minutes for Grand Rapids this season, the team’s most since five suited up during the 2014-15 campaign (Pat Nagle, Jonas Gustavsson, Petr Mrazek, Jared Coreau, Tom McCollum). Including those five goalies, the Griffins have used 38 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 62 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. Lashoff, Smith and Zadina remain on recall.

Tar-Oh!
Rookie Taro Hirose has found the scoresheet in seven of his first 14 AHL games and his 10 points (4-6—10) since being assigned by Detroit on Dec. 3 are a team high.

This Date in Griffins History
2005: The Griffins’ franchise-record winless streak hits nine (0-8-0-1) as they fall 2-0 at Cleveland.
2014: The Griffins use a season-high three power play goals to rally for a 4-2 victory over Rockford, becoming the first team in the Western Conference to break the 50-point plateau (24-9-1-2, 51 pts.).
2016: Grand Rapids defeats Milwaukee 4-2 to extend a franchise record with its 12th consecutive home victory, but the game’s ultimate result is the least of anyone’s concerns, as Alden Hirschfeld suffers a seizure on the Griffins’ bench with 6:19 left in the second period. After being attended to by paramedics and Griffins medical and training staffs, he is taken to a local hospital for evaluation and eventually makes a full recovery.

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 979-675-27-60-114 (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’ 319 regular season wins since the 2012-13 campaign are third, behind Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s 321 and Toronto’s 337 while the Griffins’ 693 points in that span are fourth, trailing Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (696), Providence (703) and Toronto (730)…Since the affiliation began in 2002-03, 92 Griffins have gone on to play for the Red Wings.

Staycation
Friday’s game against Manitoba begins an eight-game homestand that lasts through Jan. 25. It is the team’s longest homestand since an eight-game stretch from Oct. 14-Nov. 4, 2006 (4-3-0-1 record). In fact, the only longer homestand Grand Rapids has enjoyed is nine games from Oct. 26-Nov. 18, 2004 (4-4-1-0 record). The Griffins have been shut out in consecutive home games (Dec. 27 vs. Milwaukee, Dec. 31 vs. Chicago) for just the third time in franchise history and own a goal drought of 160:36 at Van Andel Arena, having been blanked since Eric Tangradi scored at the 4:24 mark of the second period of their 2-1 shootout loss to Rockford on Dec. 6. Chris Terry (6-8—14) and Matt Puempel (6-7—13) lead the team in scoring at home this season. Since the 2016-17 season, Grand Rapids is 13-6-0-1 (0.675) on home ice in January.

Photo by Sam Iannamico/Griffins