Griffins clinch first playoff series win in seven years, finishing off Rockford with Game 4 win

Carter Mazur

Grand Rapids Griffins forward Carter MazurKristin Ostrowski

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GRAND RAPIDS -- For the first time in several years, the Grand Rapids Griffins are moving on.

With a hard-fought 4-3 win over the Rockford IceHogs in Game 4 of the American Hockey League Central Division Semifinals, the Griffins clinched their first playoff series win in seven years.

Head coach Dan Watson said everyone on the team is excited, putting in the hard work to get to this point.

“A lot of effort,” Watson said after the win. “A lot of compete out of our guys, really proud of that. That’s something they should be proud of.”

Watson said it was not easy to get through the rival IceHogs--a team Grand Rapids faced 12 times during the regular season.

“It was a hard series...a lot of close games, a lot of emotion to it. I think our guys are a little bit relieved, but with that, they’re proud of what just happened.”

Grand Rapids had not won a postseason series since 2017--the last time the team won the Calder Cup. The Griffins are also the first team to clinch a spot in the division finals this year.

Detroit Red Wings prospect Carter Mazur, a Jackson native, says one of the goals when he made the jump to professional hockey was to be part of a winning team, especially with a number of veterans on the roster.

“I wanted to come in and help this organization win,” Mazur said. “To help people in the locker room that have been here forever like Dominik Shine, Tyler Spezia, what they have done for the organization and to get that first playoff win for them is pretty special.”

The IceHogs struck first later in the first period, as Chicago Blackhawks prospect Lukas Reichel scored his first goal of the playoffs. However, just 11 seconds later, Mazur ripped home his first of the series to tie the game. The Griffins were not done, as Austin Czarnik potted his third goal in as many games less than two minutes later to give Grand Rapids the lead.

After a scoreless second period, the Griffins gave themselves some needed insurance, as Jonatan Berggren, the overtime hero from Game 3, potted his third of the postseason five minutes into the third period to put GR up by two.

Rockford closed the gap with Reichel’s second of the game just over a minute later and had a couple of close calls in their efforts to tie the game. However, Marco Kasper potted an empty-net goal to seal the deal.

Grand Rapids played a really controlling game for most of the night, at one point outshooting Rockford, 22-11. Watson says the effort in front of their goaltender is from the work of five-man units.

“We talk about playing tight,” Watson said. “Playing connected, not giving too much of the middle of the ice, making sure we’re hard around our net-front, and allow our goalies to see pucks. I thought our guys did a really good job protecting what Rockford was looking for the most part.”

The Griffins outshot the IceHogs 25-23. Sebastian Cossa put forth another strong effort in net, making 21 saves, turning away 11 shots in the third period.

Mazur says the team is very confident coming out of the series win, especially with Cossa between the pipes.

“We have the team in that locker room to win games,” Mazur said. “Especially with how Cossa’s playing right now, he’s been spectacular there and we really trust him. He can really take us far in these playoffs.”

Cossa allowed 12 goals on 88 shots in the four-game series. Breggen led the Griffins with five points in the series, while Czarink and Mazur each posted four.

Drew Commesso made 21 saves in the loss for the IceHogs. In three starts, the former Boston University product gave up eight goals on 94 shots. Rem Pitlick posted five points for Rockford in the set, with Reichel, Mike Hardman and Zach Sanford each scoring four points.

Watson says the biggest turning point in the series was how the Griffins responded after an abysmal loss in Game 2 last Wednesday; Time and time again, the players have focused on the task at hand and have been able to put past failures behind them.

“The players here bought in,” Watson confirmed. “They’re hungry to win, they’re hungry to try and get the job done. That’s what this is all about.”

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For Watson, a coach who led the Red Wings’ ECHL affiliate, the Toledo Walleye, to the Kelly Cup Finals, guiding a team to a series win in his first season in the AHL is just part of the process.

“It’s just one step at a time, to be honest,” Watson admitted. “The biggest thing for that is that you have to surround yourself with really good people. Our coaching staff worked extremely hard, right down to our equipment and our medical team. They do an unbelievable job day in and day out...It’s the best part of being a coach, being a part of a really good group of people.”

The Griffins now have to wait to see who will play in the Central Division Final. Currently, the Texas Stars are leading the division-champion Milwaukee Admirals 2-0, with Game 3 in Milwaukee set for Wednesday night.

Coach Watson says the Griffins will enjoy the win for now, but know they are going to have to stay focused during the time off.

“We’ll get right back at it. Texas and Milwaukee are extremely good teams, both of those teams gave us fits throughout the regular season...It’s about keeping our guys in the same mindset of coming to work, being competitive. We don’t want to take a step back from our competitive play. So, practice will be intense...they’ll be detailed to the point of what we think is going to help us win the next series.”

You can watch and listen to the Griffins all season long on AHL.TV

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