This Week’s Games

GRIFFINS at Colorado Eagles // Fri., Oct. 20 // 9:05 p.m. EDT // Blue Arena
GRIFFINS at Colorado Eagles // Sat., Oct. 21 // 9:05 p.m. EDT // Blue Arena

Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 8:45 p.m. EDT on Friday; 96.1 The Game at 8:45 p.m. EDT on Saturday

Watch: AHLTV

Season Series: Third and fourth of four meetings overall, first and second of two at Blue Arena

All-Time Series: 2-0-0-0 Overall, 0-0-0-0 Away

NHL Affiliation: Colorado Avalanche

Noteworthy: The Griffins began the all-time series against the Colorado Eagles last weekend with a 2-0-0-0 record and will make their first-ever trip to Colorado this weekend. Eagles’ first-year head coach Aaron Schneekloth competed for Grand Rapids as a defenseman from 2002-04 and showed eight points (1-7—8) in 58 games.

Rare Company: Dan Watson made his debut behind the Griffins’ bench on Friday and came away with a 3-2 victory. Watson became the first Griffins head coach since Mike Stothers in 2007 to win his debut. Grand Rapids followed that performance with a 5-2 victory last Saturday over Colorado to kick off the season with a 2-0 start for the second time since 2007-08. Watson joined Mike Stothers (2007-08) and Bruce Cassidy (2000-01) as the only head coaches to begin their tenure with a 2-0 ledger. The Griffins’ last 2-0 start was seven years ago (2016-17), when they won the first three games of their eventual Calder Cup championship season. Grand Rapids’ last 2-0 start at home was three campaigns ago (2020-21), when the schedule commenced in February due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Holy Goalie: Goaltenders Sebastian Cossa and Michael Hutchinson made history last weekend, as it was the first time that Griffins goalies made 40-plus saves in each of a season’s first two games. Hutchinson began the campaign with 40 saves on 42 shots in the season opener and Cossa followed with 41 saves on 43 shots in game two. Cossa’s 41 saves were the most by a Griffins rookie since Jared Coreau stopped 47 of 49 shots in a 3-2 shootout loss to Rockford on Dec. 31, 2014. Cossa’s 41 saves rank as the second-most all time by a Griffin in the season’s first two games, while Hutchinson’s 40 saves place third.

Let’s Go Streaking: Jonatan Berggren (0-3—3), Austin Czarnik (2-1—3), Simon Edvinsson (1-1—2) and Taro Hirose (2-2—4) all began the season on a two-game point streak. Berggren and Hirose each bagged at least one assist in each of the first two games and Czarnik potted a goal in both outings. Last season, Hirose paced the team with a career-high 57 points (16-41—57) and 41 assists, and he currently leads the squad with four points (2-2—4) in two outings. Czarnik was recalled by the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday.

Home Sweet Home: Under first-year head coach Dan Watson, the Griffins began a 72-game schedule when they hosted the Colorado Eagles for the very first time on last Friday. The Griffins swept the weekend series against the Eagles, outscoring Colorado 8-4. Since 2004, the Griffins are 6-3-0-1 (.650) in season openers at Van Andel Arena and have outscored their opponents 32-27. Also since 2004, Grand Rapids is 10-7-2-1 (.575) in season openers at any venue. The Griffins have won six of the last eight home openers.

The Climb: Dominik Shine became just the third player in franchise history to reach eight seasons, while Tyler Spezia became the eighth player to compete in his sixth campaign. Shine is tied with Nathan Paetsch for sixth with 359 career games played for the Griffins and stands 10^th with 404 penalty minutes. Taro Hirose also continues to climb the Griffins’ all-time leaderboard, as he is currently ranked 10^th in points (169) and sixth in assists (126).

You Must Be This Tall to Ride the Rollercoaster: Ten players on the Griffins’ roster are listed at 6-foot-3 or taller, with five players at least 6-foot-5. Elmer Soderblom, standing at 6-foot-8, became the tallest player to play for the Griffins when he made his AHL debut on Dec. 9, 2022 at Springfield. Soderblom edged out former 6-foot-6 players in Jared Coreau, Francois Leroux, Brad Norton, Michael Rasmussen, Dan Turple, and teammate Simon Edvinsson, and 6-foot-7 teammate Sebastian Cossa. In addition to Cossa and Edvinsson, newcomer Tim Gettinger also stands at 6-foot-6 while rookie Antti Tuomisto comes in at 6-foot-5. Both of the Griffins’ goaltenders are at least 6-foot-3.

How Swede It Is: The Detroit Red Wings have a rich tradition of possessing some of the top talent to come out of Sweden, such as Niklas Kronwall and Nicklas Lidstrom, and more recently Lucas Raymond. This year is no different, as the NHL franchise has sent down a handful of Swedes to the Griffins. In fact, five players hail from Sweden, including Jonatan Berggren, Simon Edvinsson, Albert Johansson, Elmer Soderblom and William Wallinder. Grand Rapids also features its first-ever Austrian, Marco Kasper, and two Finnish players in Antti Tuomisto and Eemil Viro. Austria becomes the 19^th country to produce a Griffin.

Pour Me A Draft: The Griffins’ roster is littered with high-end draft picks from previous years. The roster features three former first rounders in Sebastian Cossa (15th overall in 2021), Simon Edvinsson (6th overall in 2021), and Marco Kasper (8th overall in 2022). In addition, Grand Rapids is highlighted with six former second-round picks from the Red Wings, including Jonatan Berggren (33rd in 2018), Cross Hanas (55th in 2020), Albert Johansson (60th in 2019), Jared McIsaac (36th in 2018), Antti Tuomisto (35th in 2019), and William Wallinder (32nd in 2020). The Griffins roster is also comprised of two third round picks and 16 total draft picks.

New Coach, Who Dis: Dan Watson was named the 12th head coach in franchise history this past offseason after serving six seasons as head coach of the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye. A season ago, Watson guided Toledo to a 45-19-5-3 (.681) record before going 9-4 in the Kelly Cup Playoffs to reach the Western Conference Finals. The 44-year-old has been with the Red Wings organization for the past 14 seasons, holding multiple roles with the Walleye since the team’s inception. Watson has never missed the playoffs as head coach, reaching the Kelly Cup Finals twice (2019, 2022) and leading Toledo to three division titles (2016-17, 2017-18, 2021-22), three 100-point seasons (2016-17, 2017-18, 2021-22), two regular-season championships (2016-17, 2021-22), and four Western Conference Finals berths (2017, 2019, 2022, 2023). In 2016-17, he garnered the John Brophy Award as the ECHL’s Coach of the Year in his first year as head coach, when the Walleye won the Central Division behind a franchise-record 51 wins (51-17-2-2, .736) and reached the Western Conference Finals. As a head coach, the Glencoe, Ontario, native possesses a 272-112-22-13 (.691) ledger during the regular season and a 51-34 (.600) mark over only five playoff campaigns. Watson leaves Toledo as the franchise’s winningest head coach and the fastest coach in ECHL history to reach 100 wins.

New Faces in the Crowd: In addition to new head coach Dan Watson, assistant coaches Brian Lashoff and Steph Julien, and goaltending development coach Roope Koistinen (ROH-peh KOI-stih-NIHN) each begin his first year on the staff. Lashoff starts his first season as a coach after spending all or part of 14 seasons on the Griffins’ blue line, including the last three as the team’s captain. Lashoff ranks second on the Griffins’ all-time games played list with 629, behind only Travis Richards’ 655 and his games played rank third in league history among one-team players. Julien was the head coach of the Sherbrooke Phoenix in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) for the past eight seasons. In 2022-23, Julien was named the QMJHL Coach of the Year as well as the QMJHL General Manager of the Year. Koistinen comes to North America for the first time after being with Karpat’s youth programs in Finland since the 2014-15 campaign. The Griffins’ support staff also features many new faces. Austin Frank was named the head athletic trainer, Katie Berglund as the assistant athletic trainer, Zack Harvey as the team’s physical therapist, and Kyle Hornkohl as the assistant equipment manager.

Milestones: On Oct. 14, Dominik Shine tied Nathan Paetsch for sixth on the Griffins’ all-time games played list with 359 and Elmer Soderblom appeared in his 150^th pro game. Austin Czarnik recorded his 200th pro assist on Oct. 13 against the Colorado Eagles, while Albert Johansson skated in his 200th pro game and Simon Edvinsson secured his 50th pro assist.
Zach Aston-Reese—Four points from 50 in the AHL
Jonatan Berggren—One assist from 50 as a Griffin and in the AHL
Taro Hirose—Three goals from 50 as a pro
Jared McIsaac—Two points from 50 as a pro and as a Griffin
Brogan Rafferty—One game from 200 as a pro
Tyler Spezia—One goal from 50 as a pro
William Wallinder—Two assists from 50 as a pro

Photo by Nicolas Carrillo/Griffins