GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Grand Rapids Griffins on Tuesday released their schedule for the 2007-08 season, their 12th overall and seventh as members of the American Hockey League.

The 80-game slate, which starts Oct. 6 at Lake Erie (Cleveland) and concludes April 12 versus Manitoba, includes 14 Saturdays and 11 Fridays at Van Andel Arena. After beginning the campaign with three straight road contests, Grand Rapids will welcome the Rockford IceHogs to Van Andel Arena on Saturday, Oct. 20 for Griffins Opening Night presented by Comcast – the latest date for a home opener in franchise history – as they look to extend their perfect streak of opening-night sellouts to 12.

Grand Rapids’ home schedule is highlighted by visits from three new AHL teams – the Lake Erie Monsters, Quad City Flames and Rockford IceHogs – including the seventh annual Griffins Matinee Game presented by Lake Michigan Credit Union on Tuesday, Nov. 13 against Quad City. Thanksgiving will be celebrated with home games on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, and the Griffins will host their 11th annual New Year’s Eve Bash on Monday, Dec. 31 versus Hamilton.

In a competitive improvement from last season, when the Griffins played three games in three nights on 10 different occasions, they’ll face only six three-in-threes this season. In addition, whereas the 2006-07 Griffins played 10 of their final 14 regular season games away from home, nine of 16 games during this season’s stretch run will be staged at Van Andel Arena.

With five exceptions, all Griffins home games will begin at 7 p.m. In addition to the noon start on Nov. 13 and 4 p.m. faceoffs for three Sunday games, the Saturday, Dec. 8 contest will start at 8 p.m. due to an arena event earlier that day.

Group tickets and mini-plans are now on sale along with 2007-08 full-season ticket packages, which feature substantially lower prices and an array of new benefits. Fans who purchase a full-season ticket will save an average of 33 percent off the single-game ticket price and an average of more than $160 off the cost of last year’s full-season packages. For more information, go to griffinshockey.com or call the Griffins office at (616) 774-4585.

Single-game tickets will go on sale to the public in September.

To view the schedule, click here.

To download a PDF version, click here.

For a PDF of the complete AHL schedule, click here.