BARBER & BERGGREN COLLECT AHL MONTHLY AWARDS

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The American Hockey League announced on Monday that right wing Riley Barber was named AHL Player of the Month for April while Jonatan Berggren was selected as the AHL Rookie of the Month.

Barber becomes just the second player in franchise history to win the AHL Player of the Month award, joining Chris Minard from Feb. 2012. The seven-year pro scored in all 13 games he played in April and compiled 21 points (15-6—21), two hat tricks and five multi-point outings. Barber ended the season on a career-best five-game goal streak, lighting the lamp nine times during that span. He capped off the campaign against the Cleveland Monsters on Saturday by recording his second hat trick of the month and first four-point night of the season. The Pittsburgh native concluded the year on an AHL season-high and career-high 17-game point streak (18-8—26). This stretch is tied for the second-longest run in franchise history (Derek King, 2000-01) and is the longest by a Griffin in more than 16 years, since Donald MacLean’s franchise-record streak of 19 games in 2005-06. Barber finished the season with 53 points (28-25—53) in 49 contests.

Berggren joins Justin Abdelkader (Oct. 2008) and Tomas Kopecky (Feb. 2003) as the only three Griffins to achieve AHL Rookie of the Month. He finished the month with 20 points (6-14—20) in 14 contests and seven multi-point outings, including two points in each of his last four games. The Uppsala, Sweden, native closed April on an 11-game point streak (6-13—19), which tied for the seventh-longest in franchise history and is the second-longest ever for a Griffins rookie, behind only Evgeny Svechnikov’s 12-game run in 2016-17. On April 24, Berggren became the first rookie in Griffins history to record 60 points in a season and with that became Grand Rapids’ rookie single-season scoring leader. Berggren concluded the campaign with 64 points (21-43—64) in 70 outings, which placed second among rookies and tied for 12th among all AHL skaters. The 21-year-old became the first rookie to ever lead the Griffins in assists (43) and the third to pace the team in either points (64) or game-winning goals (7).

Fans can secure their full-season, select-season or group ticket packages for the 2022-23 campaign by calling (616) 774-4585 ext. 2 or visit griffinshockey.com for more information.

Photo by Nicolas Carrillo/Griffins