GRIFFINS ENJOY CUP O' JOE

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Grand Rapids Griffins will commence their second annual training camp at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit this Sunday, Sept. 28.

The vast majority of projected Griffins will be practicing and playing with the Red Wings’ two player groups – Team Howe and Team Lindsay – for the duration of the Griffins’ camp, which concludes on Friday, Oct. 3. Head coach Curt Fraser and assistant coach Jim Paek will lead a smaller group of players who are fighting for American Hockey League roster spots in practices that will immediately follow or precede the Red Wings’ daily workouts.

Scheduled practice times are currently:

Sunday, Sept. 28: 9:30 a.m. – Team Howe; 11:30 a.m. – Griffins
Monday, Sept. 29: 10 a.m. – Team Howe; Noon – Team Lindsay; 2 p.m. – Griffins
Tuesday, Sept. 30: 10:30 a.m. – Team Lindsay; Noon – Team Howe; 2 p.m. – Griffins
Wednesday, Oct. 1: 10:30 a.m. – Team Lindsay; Noon – Team Howe; 2 p.m. – Griffins
Thursday, Oct. 2: 10:30 a.m. – Griffins; Noon – Red Wings
Friday, Oct. 3: 9 a.m. – Griffins; 10:30 a.m. – Red Wings

Potential members of the 2008-09 Griffins squad who’ve been dispersed among the three teams include (subject to change):

Team Howe: Justin Abdelkader, Tom Galvin, Jimmy Howard, Jakub Kindl, Sergei Kolosov, Evan McGrath, Jan Mursak, Ryan Oulahen, Francis Pare and Jamie Tardif;

Team Lindsay: P.J. Atherton, Cory Emmerton, Jonathan Ericsson, Randall Gelech, Darren Haydar, Darren Helm, Daniel Larsson, Francis Lemieux, Logan Pyett and Mattias Ritola;

Griffins: Josef Fojtik, Jason Jozsa and Brett Peterson.

The Griffins’ first practice in the Grand Rapids area is slated for Tuesday, Oct. 7 at 11 a.m. at Griff's IceHouse, when they’ll ramp up preparations for the season opener in Cleveland on Saturday, Oct. 11 against the Lake Erie Monsters.

After playing their first three games on the road, the Griffins will make their 2008-09 Van Andel Arena debut on Saturday, Oct. 25 against the Hamilton Bulldogs at 7 p.m. Single-game tickets for all 40 home games are now on sale at all Star Tickets outlets, including the Zone and Meijer stores, or online, while group, full-season and mini-plan ticket packages are available by calling the Griffins at (616) 774-4585.