JURCO TO MAKE NHL DEBUT, PARKES REASSIGNED

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Detroit Red Wings on Sunday recalled right wing Tomas Jurco from the Grand Rapids Griffins and reassigned forward Trevor Parkes from the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye to their AHL affiliate.

Detroit’s 1st choice (35th overall) in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft, Jurco, 20, leads the Griffins in scoring and ties for seventh in the league with 27 points (11-16—27) in his second professional season, including his first professional hat trick against the Rockford IceHogs on Nov. 15. A native of Kosice, Slovakia, Jurco recorded 28 regular season points (14-14—28) in 74 games with Grand Rapids in 2012-13 and tallied 14 points (8-6—14) during the 2013 Calder Cup Playoffs, helping to lead the team to its first-ever Calder Cup championship. The 6-foot-2, 195-pound Jurco’s eight playoff goals led all AHL rookies in the playoffs, while tying for sixth on the Griffins in scoring overall.

Parkes, 22, leads the Walleye in scoring with 24 points (13-11—24) in 21 games this season. Since beginning his professional career in the 2011-12 season, Parkes has split shifts between the Walleye and the Griffins, tallying 58 regular season points (31-27—58) and five playoff points (3-2—5) with Toledo and 17 regular season points (5-12—17) with Grand Rapids.

The Wings will host the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight at 5 p.m., when Jurco is slated to make his NHL debut and become the 138th Griffins alumnus to play in the NHL.

The Griffins (19-5-1-1) finished a seven-game home stand with a 5-0 victory over the Milwaukee Admirals last night and will hit the road once again this Wednesday for a match against the Iowa Wild at 8:05 p.m. at Wells Fargo Arena, when Parkes will be available to play.

Fans can secure their full-season, select-season or group ticket packages by calling (616) 774-4585 ext. 2. Single-game tickets for all home games are now available for purchase at all Star Tickets locations, including The Zone, online through griffinshockey.com, or by phone through Star Tickets at (800) 585-3737.