Griffins Embark on Four-Game Week

This Week’s Games

GRIFFINS at Texas Stars // Tue., Feb. 15 // 8 p.m. EST // H-E-B Center at Cedar Park
GRIFFINS at Texas Stars // Wed., Feb. 16 // 8 p.m. EST // H-E-B Center at Cedar Park

Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 7:35 p.m. EST each night

Watch: AHLTV

Season Series: 1-0-1-0 Overall, 1-0-1-0 Road. Third and fourth of eight meeting overall, third and fourth of four at H-E-B Center at Cedar Park.

All-Time Series: 33-18-4-4 Overall, 15-12-3-1 Road

NHL Affiliation: Dallas Stars

Noteworthy: The last time the Griffins were above 0.500 at Texas was in the 2015-16 campaign when they finished with a 2-0 record. The home team has points in all of the past nine clashes.

GRIFFINS vs. Rockford IceHogs // Sat., Feb. 19 // 7 p.m. // Van Andel Arena
GRIFFINS at Rockford IceHogs // Sun., Feb. 20 // 5 p.m. EST // BMO Harris Bank Center

Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 7 p.m. on Saturday, WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 4:35 p.m. EST on Sunday

Watch: WXSP-TV and AHLTV on Saturday, AHLTV on Sunday

Season Series: 3-1-0-0 Overall, 2-1-0-0 Home, 1-0-0-0 Road. Fifth and sixth of eight meetings overall, fourth of four at Van Andel Arena, second of four at BMO Harris Bank Center.

All-Time Series: 55-37-9-11 Overall, 35-12-5-5 Home, 20-25-4-6 Road

NHL Affiliation: Chicago Blackhawks

Noteworthy: The Griffins will retire the No. 7 Michel Picard jersey on Saturday. Dating back to the final meeting of the 2019-20 season, Grand Rapids now has points in 11 of the last 13 meetings (8-2-2-1) against Rockford with a plus-16 scoring margin (42-26).

Last Week’s Results
Thurs., Feb. 10 // GRIFFINS 4 at Iowa 3 (OT) // 17-17-5-2 (41 pts., 0.500, 6th Central Division)
Fri., Feb. 11 // GRIFFINS 1 at Iowa 6 // 17-18-5-2 (41 pts., 0.488, 6th Central Division)

Last Week’s Notes
Thursday at Iowa (4-3 OTW) - Jonatan Berggren netted the game-winner 16 seconds into overtime, as the Griffins began their four-game road trip with a 4-3 victory over Iowa at Wells Fargo Arena. Berggren led the way for Grand Rapids with two goals in the contest while Taro Hirose (1-1—2) joined him with a multi-point outing. Calvin Pickard collected his first Griffins win since Jan. 18, mostly due to being recalled to the Detroit Red Wings. Head coach Ben Simon picked up his 100th win (100-83-18-11, 0.540) with Grand Rapids, becoming the sixth head coach in franchise history to reach the 100-win plateau. Luke Witkowski scored in consecutive games for the first time this season. This was just the second win for the Griffins when trailing after two periods this season (2-14-3-1, 0.200). Recap | Highlights

Friday at Iowa (1-6 L) - The Iowa Wild secured their first victory this season against the Griffins, winning 6-1, thanks to six unanswered goals at Wells Fargo Arena. Marco Rossi recorded two tallies, including one on the man-advantage, giving him five points (3-2—5) in the last two meetings against Grand Rapids. Former Griffin Dominic Turgeon notched an assist, which gave him his third point in four games against his former team. The loss halted Grand Rapids’ five-game point streak (4-0-1-0) against the Wild. Ryan Murphy recorded the lone goal for the Griffins with his eighth of the season, which is tied for the league lead among defensemen. After three straight games with a power play goal, Grand Rapids went 0-for-3 on the power play. The Griffins were outshot for the first time in three contests. Recap | Highlights

Keep it 100: Head coach Ben Simon became the sixth coach in franchise history to reach 100 wins with the Griffins with a 4-3 overtime victory over Iowa on Feb. 10. Simon joined Danton Cole (2002-05), Greg Ireland (2005-07), Curt Fraser (2008-12), Jeff Blashill (2012-15) and Todd Nelson (2015-18) as the only coaches to reach the 100-win mark in the regular season with the Griffins.

New Leader: Shawn Horcoff was named Red Wings assistant general manager and the fifth general manager of the Grand Rapids Griffins on Feb. 4, 2022, after the departure of former GM Pat Verbeek, now the GM of the Anaheim Ducks. Horcoff will work alongside Steve Yzerman on all hockey operations matters for the Red Wings, in addition to being responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Griffins, including personnel decisions, contract negotiations and player movement. Horcoff, 43, spent six seasons as the Red Wings' director of player development - in addition to the last three seasons as assistant director of player personnel - after joining the Red Wings prior to the 2016-17 season following a 1,008-game NHL career.

Murphy’s Law: Reigning AHL defenseman of the year Ryan Murphy has started to find a rhythm offensively for the Griffins. The nine-year pro is tied for sixth on the roster and leads all Grand Rapids’ blueliners with 19 points (8-11—19) in 38 outings. Murphy has climbed up the defensemen leaderboard in the AHL, as his eight goals are tied for first. The Aurora, Ontario, native signed a one-year contract with Detroit on July 28, 2021 and is the midst of his inaugural season with the Griffins.

Road Trip: The Griffins’ 13-game schedule for January featured eight home contests. However, that will change in February, as the team plays just three home games in the remaining weeks of the month. Grand Rapids is in the midst of a four-game road trip and will be on foreign ice in four of its next five games. Grand Rapids is 8-9-1-1 away from West Michigan and 9-9-4-1 at home this season. The Griffins’ next home contest will be on Feb. 19 against Rockford.

Not so Special: Following a 2019-20 campaign in which they finished sixth in the AHL’s power play rankings at 20.9%, the Griffins exceeded that mark in 2020-21 with a power play conversion rate of 21.5%, the fifth best on the circuit. The Griffins’ special teams have struggled this season after opening the campaign with high numbers. Despite converting on a power play in three of its last four games, Grand Rapids still ranks 30th in the league at 12.9%. The penalty kill for the Griffins has also struggled a bit this season, killing off 75.8% of their penalties, which places 29th in the AHL.

Road Trip: The Griffins’ 13-game schedule for January featured eight home contests. However, that will change in February, as the team plays just three home games in the remaining weeks of the month. Grand Rapids is in the midst of a four-game road trip and will be on foreign ice in four of its next five games. Grand Rapids is 8-9-1-1 away from West Michigan and 9-9-4-1 at home this season. The Griffins’ next home contest will be on Feb. 19 against Rockford.

Beijing Bound: A record 15 former Griffins are representing eight different countries at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China. The group features four Calder Cup champions and all three goaltenders from the 2018-19 team that went 38-27-7-4 (0.572). Valtteri Filppula was selected to represent Finland for the second time, as he claimed a bronze medal at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. Tomas Jurco (2012-14; 15-17) also received his second selection on to Team Slovakia, after playing for his home country in the 2014 Sochi Games while competing for the Griffins that season.

Huffin’ and Puffin’: So far this season, the Griffins are 2-10-1-2 (0.233) against the Central Division-leading Chicago Wolves and the second-place Manitoba Moose. The Griffins picked up their second win against either club on Jan. 14 against Manitoba, marking their first victory against Chicago or the Moose since Nov. 12. However, Grand Rapids is 15-8-4-0 (0.630) against the rest of the AHL.

Photo by Nicolas Carrillo/Griffins