Fifth Season of Affiliation Begins Tomorrow in Traverse City

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. Nineteen players with Grand Rapids Griffins playing experience will be among the dozens of Detroit Red Wings stars, prospects and invitees who will take to the ice Friday for the start of Red Wings training camp at Centre ICE Arena in Traverse City, Mich.

Seventeen players who skated for the Griffins 2005-06 American Hockey League regular season championship squad are expected to be on hand, including goaltenders Jimmy Howard, Logan Koopmans, Joey MacDonald and Chris Osgood; defensemen Jakub Kindl, Niklas Kronwall, Brett Lebda, Derek Meech and Kyle Quincey; and forwards Darryl Bootland, Matt Ellis, Valtteri Filppula, Eric Himelfarb, Jiri Hudler, Ryan Keller, Tomas Kopecky and Ryan Oulahen.

Also participating in camp will be former Griffins forwards Josh Langfeld and Jason Williams, as well as several players who could spend time with Grand Rapids this season, including goaltender Stefan Liv; defensemen Jonathan Ericsson, Brad Norton and Dan Smith; and forwards Brendan Brooks, Matt Hussey, Krystofer Kolanos and Evan McGrath.

Griffins head coach Greg Ireland and assistant coach Jim Paek will assist the Red Wings coaching staff throughout the camp, which concludes next Wednesday, Sept. 20. Grand Rapids enters its fifth season as Detroits primary affiliate.

The camp schedule for Friday through Sunday calls for three player groups to practice separately at 9 a.m., 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., with two of those groups scrimmaging at 11:15 a.m. Monday will feature a championship game at 6 p.m., while the camp will culminate on Wednesday with a Red vs. White game.

The Griffins will commence their training camp on Monday, Sept 25. After playing their first three regular season games on the road, theyll make their Van Andel Arena debut in the home opener on Saturday, Oct. 14 against the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights at 7 p.m.

Group tickets for all home games, along with full season, 20-game, 10-game and five-game ticket packages, are currently available by calling the Griffins at (616) 774-4585 or (800) 2-HOCKEY.