HEADING UP TO TRAVERSE
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Thirty-three players with Grand Rapids Griffins playing experience will be among the 62 Detroit Red Wings stars, prospects and invitees who will take to the ice this Friday, Sept. 23 for the start of Red Wings training camp at Centre ICE Arena in Traverse City, Mich.
Twenty-three players who skated for the Griffins during the 2015-16 season are slated to participate, including goaltenders Jared Coreau and Jake Paterson; defensemen Nick Jensen, Brian Lashoff, Xavier Ouellet, Nathan Paetsch, Dan Renouf, Robbie Russo and Ryan Sproul; and forwards Andreas Athanasiou, Louis-Marc Aubry, Tyler Bertuzzi, Mitch Callahan, Colin Campbell, Kyle Criscuolo, Daniel Cleary, Martin Frk, Tomas Jurco, Anthony Mantha, Zach Nastasiuk, Tomas Nosek, Evgeny Svechnikov and Eric Tangradi.
Also present at camp will be 10 other former Griffins – Danny DeKeyser, Jonathan Ericsson, Luke Glendening, Darren Helm, Jimmy Howard, Niklas Kronwall, Gustav Nyquist, Teemu Pulkkinen, Riley Sheahan and Brendan Smith – and several players who could make their Grand Rapids debuts this season, including goaltenders Cal Heeter and Eddie Pasquale; defensemen Conor Allen, Matthew Caito and Joe Hicketts; and forwards Mike Borkowski, Matthew Ford, Alex Globke, Matt Lorito, Dylan Sadowy, Mathew Santos, Ben Street and Dominic Turgeon.
Additionally, former Griffins Justin Abdelkader, Dylan Larkin, Alexey Marchenko, Petr Mrazek and Tomas Tatar will all miss training camp due to their participation in the World Cup of Hockey.
Griffins second-year head coach Todd Nelson and assistant coaches Ben Simon, Bruce Ramsay and Mike Knuble will assist the Red Wings’ coaching staff, headed by former Grand Rapids bench boss Jeff Blashill, during the camp, which concludes next Monday, Sept. 26.
The camp schedule for Friday through Sunday will see three player groups hitting the ice for practice at 9:30 a.m., 11:45 a.m. and 12:45 p.m., with two of those groups scrimmaging from 10:45-11:40 p.m. Monday will see a Red vs. White Game at noon, with the players not participating in the game practicing at 10 a.m.
Upon breaking camp, the Red Wings will begin their eight-game preseason schedule with a home contest against the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins at Joe Louis Arena on Tuesday, Sept. 27 at 7:30 p.m., before hitting the road to take on Boston at the TD Garden on Wednesday, Sept. 28 at 7 p.m.
The complete Red Wings roster and camp schedule can be found at detroitredwings.com.
The Griffins will begin their training camp in Detroit on Wednesday, Sept. 28, with practice times and locations yet to be announced. Grand Rapids’ lone preseason contest will come on Friday, Oct. 7, when the Griffins take on the Chicago Wolves at 8 p.m. EDT at the West Meadows Ice Arena in Rolling Meadows, Ill.
The Griffins will open the 2016-17 campaign at home against Chicago on Friday, Oct. 14 at 7 p.m. before traveling to Chicago and battling the Wolves on Oct. 15.
Single-game tickets are currently on sale. Fans can secure their full-season, select-season or group ticket packages by calling (616) 774-4585 ext. 2 or visit griffinshockey.com for more information.