Griffins Game #36 * Road Game #20 * AHL Game #536

Season Series: 1-1-0-1 Home Series: 1-0-0-0 Road Series: 0-1-0-1
All-Time Series: 31-16-2-4 All-Time Home Series: 17-6-0-3 All-Time Road Series: 14-10-2-1

Griffins at Stars
Fourth of eight meetings overall, third of four at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park…Grand Rapids has points in seven of the last nine meetings overall (6-2-0-1)…In the last matchup on Oct. 26 at Van Andel Arena, the Griffins came back to win, 6-4, after being down three goals for the first time since a 4-3 SOW vs. Iowa on Dec. 13, 2017…The Stars took the first two meetings of the season in Texas, winning 4-3 in a shootout on Oct. 18 and 3-0 on Oct. 19…Joe Hicketts (0-4—4) leads the team in the season series.

Last Time Out (Friday): Griffins 5 at Rampage 3 - Recap
Second-year pro Tyler Spezia netted his first two-goal game in the AHL in his 15th game...Calvin Pickard, making his first AHL appearance since Dec. 13 at Bakersfield, collected his 10th win of the season after matching a season high with 40 saves as Grand Rapids allowed a season-high 43 shots...Rookie Chase Pearson picked up his second two-point game of the season behind a goal and an assist...Turner Elson (5) and Ryan Kuffner (6) also lit the lamp...Grand Rapids has won six in a row against San Antonio and 16 of the last 18.

Status Update
The Griffins tallied a 5-3 win last night at San Antonio to start the new year’s four-game road trip. Grand Rapids is in Texas tonight before heading back to San Antonio tomorrow and then wrapping up the trip on Wednesday in Milwaukee. The Griffins will then enjoy an eight-game homestand from Jan. 10-25, which is the team’s longest since an eight-game stretch from Oct. 14-Nov. 4, 2006.

One for the Road
Grand Rapids has points in three straight road games (2-0-1-0) and is 5-2-1-0 in its last eight on foreign ice. During that eight-game stretch, the Griffins have eked out four one-goal victories and outscored opponents 27-25 while finishing 6-for-29 on the power play (20.7%) and 27-for-29 on the penalty kill (93.1%).

Ford, Terry Heading to All-Star Classic
The AHL announced yesterday 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 professional 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).

Three’s Company
The Griffins play three games in three nights for the first and only time of the season this weekend in Texas. Having just one stretch of three consecutive games comes as a stark contrast to previous seasons as Grand Rapids did so three times last year, four times in 2017-18, twice in 2016-17, four times in 2015-16, five times in 2014-15, six times in 2013-14, nine times in 2012-13, six times in 2011-12 and 10 times in 2010-11.

Seider, Veleno at WJC
Moritz Seider and Joe Veleno are representing their respective countries at the 2020 IIHF World Junior Championship. Seider has five assists in five games as captain of Germany. Germany leads Kazakhstan 1-0 in the best-of-three relegation series and Game 2 is today. Veleno shows five points (1-4—5) in four games for Canada, who faces Finland in the semifinals today. 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.

Rotating Roster
Including four goalies, the Griffins have used 37 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.

Lights Out
Despite allowing a power play goal in three of the last four games, Grand Rapids’ penalty killers still have shown an impressive stretch over the last month-plus, going 50 for their last 54 (92.6%) since the third period at Chicago on Nov. 27. In fact, from the third period on Dec. 4 to the second period on Dec. 27, the Griffins fended off 32 consecutive penalties. On Nov. 28, the Griffins sat 30th in the league in penalty killing and have since climbed into 16th.

Tar-Oh!
Rookie Taro Hirose has found the scoresheet in six of his first 12 AHL games and his nine points (4-5—9) since being assigned by Detroit on Dec. 3 are a team high.

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 finished second on the team in December and his current three-game goal streak ties for the longest by a Griffin in 2019-20. He has missed the last four games due to injury. 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.

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 979-673-27-60-114 (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 336 while the Griffins’ 693 points in that span are fourth, trailing Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (696), Providence (703) and Toronto (728)…Since the affiliation began in 2002-03, 92 Griffins have gone on to play for the Red Wings.

This Date in Griffins History
2013: Down 1-0 to Oklahoma City through 20 minutes, the Griffins explode for five second-period goals en route to a 5-2 win, tying a franchise record for goals scored in a home period.
2017: Thanks to two-goal, three-point nights by both Ben Street and Tomas Nosek, Grand Rapids prevails 6-5 over Iowa to improve to 21-8-1-2 and reclaim the top spot in the Western Conference. The Griffins, who win their fifth straight game on home ice to move to 6-0-0-2 at Van Andel Arena since Thanksgiving, begin the new year by earning points for the 15th time in their last 17 contests overall (12-2-1-2).

Photo by Texas Stars