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7-4 Wings: Cleary and Lang are new Euro-twins

Published
by
Megan Hirdes
on December 29, 2006
in 2006-2007, Blue Jackets, Dan Cleary, Game Reports and Robert Lang
. 1 Comment

This will be another collaborative post by Sarah and myself (Megan). Yeah, we know Cleary’s not European. It’s an expression, people. Gosh.

First, a few notes about Babcock’s pre-game comments. Apparently Chris Chelios was out because he “jammed himself.” We’re not exactly sure what that is supposed to mean, and we’re not sure we want to know. Maybe he stubbed his toe. Lilja played in his stead. Lang was back, and Babcock had this to say about his return:

“Sounds like Langer’s back,” Babcock said. “He was giggling in there. He wasn’t giggling yesterday. He’s got few meals in him, so hopefully he can be back on track.’’

That’s right, Mr. Giggles is ready to go. He proved this with a first-star performance, notching three assists.

For a team that just played last night, the Red Wings looked surprisingly energetic tonight against the division “rival” Columbus Blue Jackets. The start of the game was very fast paced, with Detroit having immediate pressure. This caused the Jackets’ goaltender, Fredrick Norrena, to take a tripping penalty. The resulting power play didn’t look too terrible, with very quick and crisp passing. However, there were few shots and the Wings did not take advantage of this early opportunity.

At 4:31, Dan Cleary scored his first goal of the game. That’s right, his first goal, with more to come. Markov attempted a slapshot from the blueline. The rebound somehow found its way to Lang, who sent it back into the crease, where it came across the stick of Cleary, who shoveled it into the open net. 1-0 Wings.

Nineteen seconds later, Hudler was called for holding the stick that was hooking him. Now Jiri, you know it’s not okay to hold the stick of your opponent, even if just to remove it from your ribs. Lucky for Hudler, Columbus was rather listless on their first power play, failing to give us any reason to worry.

Hudler apparently did some thinking in the box, and he just felt terrible about his crime. So he flew out of the box, snapped up the puck, and rushed in on Norrena, eager to redeem himself. He executed a magnificent deke, and he had Norrena right where he wanted him - falling over. Hudler attempted to pull the puck to his backhand, and got the move perfect - minus one important detail (the puck). He might need a few more lessons with Datsyuk. Almost, but not quite, 2-0 Wings. (For those of you who are now entirely confused and would be more so after the next goal, at this point, it is still 1-0 Wings).

The game went back and forth at a very quick pace. However, Zherdev was apparently a little behind. And now for our Mickey Redmond quote of the night: “He’s thinkin in 8-track tapes right now.” Yes, Mickey is that old, in case you missed the other night when he was forced to ask Ken Daniels if a CD was “that thing that plays movies.” Oh Mickey.

Very soon after this (so soon, in fact, that Sarah missed it as she was writing down the Mickeyism), Cleary got his second of the night, right at the 16 minute mark. Lebda took a slapshot from the blueline, Lang pounced on the rebound (starting to sound familiar?) and passed it toward Cleary. Before it reached him, it was tipped by a Blue Jacket to a more convenient place, where Cleary was able to easily score. Here’s where we ask a question: when the heck did Cleary become our sniper? Not that we’re complaining. We’re just a little curious.

The Blue Jackets were jealous of all the scoring we were doing, so they tried to get in on the action. They tried to be a little too much like us, however, as they tried to score on themselves. They figured it out soon enough, though, and before long they had a scary 3-on-2, forcing Ozzie to come up big.

Columbus started the second the same way they started the first: with a penalty. 1:35 in, Klesla high-sticked Holmstrom and got to spend two minutes in the box. The Wings spent the first thirty seconds of the power play chasing the puck up and down the ice. There were a few high points of the power play, but not enough to make it a good one.

At 4:50, Norrena decided that the Jackets’ only hope was to take Cleary out, and we all know that if you want something done right….As Cleary was chasing down the puck, Norrena left his net, stuck his hip and elbow out, and Dan ended up on his back. Much to our dismay, it was not a penalty, and much to Norrena’s dismay, Cleary got up. Mickey was displeased, which prompted him to give us another lesson. No, he wasn’t telling us to keep our sticks on the ice. Apparently now he’s giving officiating lessons as well. He used this replay as a textbook example of interference.

At 8:45, Zetterberg scored on a play he started himself. He raced down to negate the icing, and the puck was picked up by Lilja to the left of the net, who passed it to Datsyuk in the left circle. Pavel passed it up to Lebda at the blueline, and he found Zetterberg waiting at the right side of the net. Hank had a pretty wide-open shot from that point, and he did not waste it. 3-0 Wings, and still a fun game to watch.

It started to get a little ugly at 12:32, when Hainsey took a shot. There were two Wings and two Jackets in front of Ozzie, and Hainsey shot right at this group. The puck found it’s way into our net, apparently avoiding the other two Jackets, as Hainsey got credit for the goal. 3-1 Wings.

Less than two minutes later, two Wings got entangled, and Vyborny was left alone right in front of Osgood. Chris went for the poke-check, but Vyborny shot high. 3-2 Wings.

At 2:31 of the third, Lang was called for holding. We weren’t watching at this point (sorry about that), but Mickey and Ken were apparently not happy with this call either. Fritsche scored on an ugly play. Kronwall missed a clear, sent the puck straight to Fritsche, who put the puck right between Ozzie and the post. Osgood had relaxed a bit, expecting that Kronwall had the clear. Basically, Kronwall made a sloppy play, and Osgood relaxed a little too soon. 3-3 tie, and the game is now a little less fun to watch. The Wings had surrendered their 3-goal lead. But wait, it gets worse.

At 3:45, Zetterberg were called for imaginary interference- apparently. Again we weren’t watching, and again, we’re very sorry. But Mickey Redmond was sent into fits over this one. Adam Foote took a slapshot from the blueline that went into the net. It was deflected by a Wings stick (it may or may not have been our favorite whipping boy, Andreas Lilja). 4-3 Jackets. Shortly after this, the Wings took their standard too-many-men bench minor. At this point, the game is no longer fun. If we were fans of a lesser stock, we would stop watching. But alas, we seem to enjoy the pain and suffering.

It is for games like this that no matter how bad the outlook is, we keep watching. So we whipped out our left over Big League Chew from the World Series (we had some left over because we forgot to chew it during the last few games of the series- sorry Tigers fans, our bad). Pavel Datsyuk apparently heard us chewing all the way in Columbus, and he responded accordingly. While I was panicking and mourning, Sarah assured me that Datsyuk the save the day. Very soon after that, he took the puck to the left side of the net, and took a beautiful shot that went between Norrena and the post (it took a few replays to figure out exactly how it went in). It was from a horrible angle, but that’s what we’ve come to expect from Datsyuk. 4-4 tie.

Hainsey took Norrena’s lead, and went after the most recent goal-scorer. Hainsey got his stick around Pavel’s ankle, and Dats forced to execute his pass mid-flip. Hank almost scored on the delayed call, but he hit the post. On the power play, our new dream pairing struck again. Kronwall got the puck to Lang, who took the shot. Cleary really wanted his first career hat trick, so he tipped the shot past Norrena. 5-4 Wings. Suddenly, we’re having fun again. I tell you, these games are hard on our stomachs.

Ozzie was forced to make a few big saves to preserve the lead. He was punished for this, as an undetermined Blue Jacket jumped on him. He may have been tripped, he may have fallen. We’re not really sure, as they went to commercial right after this.

At 18:15, Datsyuk decided to give us a little breathing room with another completely random goal. He shot the puck, and Norrena deflected it behind the net. Pavel chased it down and shot it from behind the net. He banked it in off the confused goalie for his second goal of the night (Norrena’s first!). 6-4 Wings, and the game is really fun.

This is where we start chanting for them to pull their goalie. I don’t know why, but I love empty-net goals. There’s nothing real impressive about them, but I love them anyway. With just under two minutes left, Hitchcock finally listened. With the empty net beckoning, Danny Markov took a shot from deep in our zone. He found the net with shocking accuracy. 7-4 Wings. This game was so much fun!!

If you are as shocked as us and want evidence of Dan Cleary’s hat trick, check out the official score sheet and shift chart.

Wings 5, Leafs 1: Penalty Workshop

Published
by
Megan Hirdes
on December 10, 2006
in 2006-2007, Game Reports and Leafs
. 2 Comments

This is a collaborative post by Sarah and myself.

This was, by far, the funniest game either of us has ever seen. From the expressions of Paul Maurice, to the excessive and outrageous penalties, to the random attack on Kirk Maltby in the Toronto net, to Andrew Raycroft’s antics … this game never failed to entertain. This was not the kind of entertainment one would usually expect from a hockey game. There were big checks and lots of goals — what you’d anticipate from a good game. But there was also so much more. There was dancing, hugging, and juggling. Yes, juggling. Disappointed with the way the game was going, Raycroft attempted a career change in the second period. His juggling ambitions were short-lived however, as he almost scored on himself.

Detroit took their first penalty at 5:06 (Dan Cleary for hooking). Toronto would not be outdone, and took their first of many at 7:49. Steen was sent to the box for interference - and so began the exodus to the penalty box. Cut to Paul Maurice: the emotionally battered Toronto Maple Leafs coach wears what will become a recurring sarcastic smirk. Chad Kilger thought Steen could use a little company in his shame, so he took a tripping penalty at 8:04. The Wings were rewarded with their first 5 on 3 opportunity.

This is when Detroit began a little trend of their own. Just after the Steen penalty expired, Pavel Datsyuk sent a pass through the crease, which was redirected by Cleary to a wide-open Mikeal Samuelsson, who promptly shoveled it into the net. 1-0 Detroit. Paul Maurice can only chuckle as he finds his team in an all-too-familiar position.

Near the end of the first, Tomas Holmstrom is knocked down to the ice, seemingly taken out of the play. Kilger will take no risks, however, and jumps on top of him to prevent him from … well, we’re not really sure. Standing up? Using his mind powers to put the puck in the net? It’s anyone’s guess, really. Meanwhile, Henrik Zetterberg backhands the puck past Raycroft. 2-0 Detroit.

At 2:06 of the second, the Wings take their standard too many men on the ice penalty, served by Tomas Kopecky. The Toronto power play resembles the Wings power play we’ve all become accustomed to - pass, pass, pass, chase the puck to the other end of the ice, pass, pass some more, blocked shot, pass, pass, missed shot, pass, pass, penalty over.

At 10:17 of the second, a shot of the Toronto bench finds Maurice smirking. Once again, one of his players has found his way into the box. The Wings take full advantage with another Samuelsson goal. Nicklas Lidstrom passes the puck back to Sammy, who lets loose a beautiful wrist shot, beating Raycroft gloveside at 10:42. 3-0 Detroit.

At 11:54, Andreas Lilja gets called for hooking. The Toronto power play finally catches a break ten second later when Dominik Hasek misreads a play and goes down way too early, leaving the left side of his net vulnerable to Bryan McCabe’s dangerous slapshot. 3-1 Detroit.

The next penalty that Toronto takes is a hooking call on Pavel Kubina at 15:14. Kubina hooks Maltby, the whistle blows, and Kubina becomes furious with Kopecky. Why, you ask? We don’t know either. Somehow, in Kubina’s mind, the whole thing is apparently Tomas’ fault.

Mats Sundin takes a hooking penalty at 19:38, and the Wings power play continues to roll. Datsyuk takes a backhand shot, a sure goal, one would think. But it hits the post, and our celebration is halted mid-high-five. We hover inches above our seats in suspended motion until Zetterberg finishes what Datsyuk started, scoring his second of the game at 19:58. 4-1 Detroit. At the same time, Matt Stajan sets the Wings up for their eighth power play to start the third, with a cross check.

The third period finds a new goalie in net for the Leafs as Jean-Sebastian Aubin relieves the failed juggler, Raycroft. Cleary promptly initiates him into the game, scoring at 1:15. 5-1 Detroit.

A shocking amount of penalties are called during the third, with Detroit doubling their minutes and Toronto very nearly doing the same, which is impressive considering the fact that they had already taken eight penalties. Jason Williams goes for hooking at 2:12, followed shortly by Kris Draper at 2:32. Toronto squanders their first and only 5 on 3. At 6:42, our friend Kilger becomes devastatingly homesick. To remedy the situation, he takes an interference call, allowing him to return to his beloved box.

At 15:32, Hasek leaves his net to negate a breakaway. He clears the puck away, has his right foot kicked out from underneath him, and is penalized for diving. Who knew that the inability to balance on one foot while spinning consitutes a penalty? Clearly, Dom just needs some figure skating lessons.

By the end of the game, the Maple Leafs have lost all self-control. This is evidenced by the cross-check of Maltby into the net, where he is subsequently jumped on and shoved repeatedly into the ice, much to the chagrin of Aubin, who would prefer that any and all fights take place outside of his net. Meanwhile, Maltby can only laugh. The look on his face seems to say, “Is this really happening?” The look on Paul Maurice’s face says the same thing, though in a very different way. For some reason he’d thought he was done coaching an AHL team… Fittingly, the Wings end the game with a 5 on 3.

In the end, the Leafs had 28 penalty minutes to our 16. We’re convinced that this is due to an effort on their part to educate new fans of the various types of penalties, showing as many as they could manage in two and a half hours. To give them credit, they did accomplish more than the refs awarded them.

Odds are Toronto will play a very different game next time they visit … in six years or so. (This is assuming the NHL sticks to its current ridiculous scheduling approach.)

Griffins Update (12/04/06)

Published
by
Megan Hirdes
on December 4, 2006
in AHL, Darryl Bootland and Griffins
. 0 Comments

The tables seem to have turned for the Griffins. Between November 7 and November 17, the Griffins went winless in seven games, getting one point in an overtime loss to the Milwaukee Admirals. Since then finally winning a game on November 24 (against rival Chicago Wolves), the Griffins have gone 4-1-1. Most notably, their two most recent wins came against the then league-leading Rochester Americans (affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres), defeating them 4-2 and 4-1. Their record is now 10-10-4. The team leader in points is still Kip Miller (AHL contract), with 10 goals and 28 points, and is +1. Josh Langfeld is second with 6 goals and 18 points. The +/- leaders are Darryl Bootland and Jonathan Ericsson, both at +5. The Griffins are now fourth in the North Division, which has six teams. They are 9 points out of first in the Division, but only 1 point separates them from both third and second place. GR has 70 goals for and 76 goals against.

Stefan Liv has been the huge disappointment for the season. He was expected to adjust much faster to the North American style of play. However, at 1-5-1 and a 3.66 GAA, he has not impressed many. On November 28, he was sent down to Toledo of the ECHL. Liv was pulled from the last three games he started in GR. He has not played well, and therefore has not been given opportunities to play. Thus, they sent him to Toledo in hopes that he could adjust there and hopefully work on his game. He fell a long way from being called up to Detroit to back up Hasek. Granted, he was never expected to play in the NHL, but within one month, Liv has been with three different teams. He was recalled to Grand Rapids today. While in Toledo, Liv was 1-1-1. However, he was apparently stellar in his one win. He gave up only one goal in this game against the Trenton Titans. He did, however, give up four goals in each of his losses (4-2 and 4-3 OT). I’m not really sure if the trip did him any good.

Meanwhile in Grand Rapids, Jimmy Howard has been good. I still don’t think he’s living up to the standard he set for himself last season. At the same time, he had a much better team playing in front of him than he does now. From what I’ve seen personally, he’s doing well and developing on-schedule. He has a tendency to give up soft goals from time to time, but separates them by exciting and impressive saves. His record is now 9-7-1, with a 2.81 GAA. Jimmy played a strong game last Friday against Rochester, making 26 saves.

Derek Meech is having a very strong season, playing like we’ve been waiting for since he was brought to GR. While he hasn’t done much scoring (0-3 for 3 pts), his defense has been quite strong. He is +4, tied for third on the team. He was really good in juniors, before he was brought to Grand Rapids. However, some have said that this was mostly because he was paired with Dion Phaneuf. While I’m sure this helped him, Meech is proving to be a good defenseman on his own. This season, he’s been honored with an ‘A’ on his sweater.

Darryl Bootland has come off his mysterious 3-game healthy scratch with something to prove, apparently. He has five goals in six games (5-0-5), and is just the 8th Griffin to reach 60 career goals, many of which came last season. He also only needs 3 penalty minutes to reach 1,000. He will be the first player in franchise history to reach that mark. He could very easily do it next game, and likely will, knowing Darryl. I have to say, it’s good to see him come back this strong. I was worried for a while. Perhaps the mysterious scratch was to light a fire under his butt. The team really needs him to play well. At this point, he’s a veteran on the team.

A surprise this season has been Eric Himelfarb. He has been a notorious underachiever. I have never liked him, because of his Lilja-esque tendencies. He turns the puck over in the defensive zone, he has trouble clearing the puck, he has great speed but no puck-handling ability, he fans on every other shot…well, you get the point. Himelfarb and I don’t get along. This is just from what I’ve seen in games I’ve been to. Lately, he’s actually been…dare I say?…good! He has 3 goals and 5 assists for 8 points in 15 games (he was out with a back injury early in the season). Griffins GM Bob McNamara speaks very highly of Eric, as reported at Redwingscentral. McNamara thinks that Himelfarb is the most improved from last season. That’s not so hard to say, since only seven players returned and the majority of them seem to have taken a step backward. From going to games, however, I can agree with this. He’s actually learning how to use his speed to do something other than run goaltenders.

This weekend features a home-and-home series against the Toronto Marlies. The Marlies are currently 5th in the North division, with 22 pts (9-11-4). They are obviously the affiliates of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Grand Rapids defeated them in the playoffs last year, despite Toronto having many NHLers on the team. GR has played Toronto twice already this season, winning the first 4-2 on the road and losing the second 4-0 at home. They just beat the best team in the league twice, so that should give the Griffins some confidence. They also managed to score 4 goals in two game in a row. This is a busy month for the Griffins. Hopefully they can win a few more than they did in November.

Griffins Woes

Published
by
Megan Hirdes
on November 20, 2006
in AHL, Darryl Bootland and Griffins
. 0 Comments

These days, to be a Griffins fan is to be in despair. Sure, the season is still young. Sure, anything could happen. But when your team has just lost seven games in a row, with positives being few and far between, it’s hard to even hope for the playoffs. Before Grand Rapids began this skid, they were 6-3-2, not an outstanding record, but good enough for second in the division. Their last win was November 4, against Manitoba. That game was the end of a three game win-streak. Sixteen days and seven games later, the teams stands at 6-9-3, fourth in a very unimpressive division. The worst of the streak was a matinee game on November 14, an 8-1 loss to Milwaukee.

So what’s going wrong? Well, everything, apparently. While Howard hasn’t been horrible, he’s not playing like we know he can-like he did last season. Jimmy was outstanding during the playoffs, but he doesn’t have the same confidence. Liv has been terrible. He lets in weak goal after weak goal, and when he does that, it seems like the team gets frustrated and self-destructs. The offense is not scoring and the defense is not helping the goaltenders.

You can basically point to one major factor for the Griffins’ struggles. That is a lack of a top line scorer, a clutch scorer. With MacLean, Hudler and Manlow gone, Filppula was expected to fill that role. But, as we all know, he is now gone as well. That leaves Kip Miller, Matt Ellis, and Darryl Bootland with a bunch of young guys. Kip Miller is 37, and the top scorer on the team, with 18 points. Matt Ellis has 10 points in 18 games. Darryl Bootland has been mysteriously scratched recently. Before being scratched, he had 5 points and was +3. Langfeld and Kolanos are doing fairly well, both with 12 points (6-6). There is not a guy out there taking control and scoring when we need it.

Some would suggest that the team just needs to gel. After all, they have less than half the same guys as last season. However, after 18 games and many more pracitices, they should be there or close. Another part could be a lack of confidence in the goaltending. But for having no confidence, they sure do hang those guys out to dry a lot.

Another reason is pure bad luck. The bounces are not going the Griffins way. In fact, they are directly going against the Griffins. In the game on Saturday, for example, against the Chicago Wolves. In the Wolves first goal, the puck deflected off a defenseman’s stick, over Jimmy’s head, and into the net. Later, Howard made a save, but the rebound went right into Ryan Oulahen’s back and bounced into the net.

Someone needs to step up, its that simple. Whether that be Ellis (the captain), or Langfeld, or someone else, someone just has to. Personally, I think they need to bring Bootland back. I don’t know why he’s being scratched to begin with, but they sure could use him on the ice. You can blame bad bounces or the team not gelling or whatever, but after seven losses in a row (granted, one being in OT), something’s gotta change. Their next game is Friday, at home against Chicago. Hopefully they can manage a win.

Homer and Ozzie to sit in Vancouver

Published
by
Megan Hirdes
on November 13, 2006
in Injuries
. 2 Comments

The Red Wings injury list is growing. Ansar Khan reports that two more Wings will be out of the lineup for Tuesday’s game against Vancouver. Tomas Holmstrom has a groin injury and Chris Osgood has a hand injury. Babcock assures us that neither are serious. Hopefully they’ll only be out one or two games. That brings the count to four, including Kronwall and Williams. This means that McDonald will likely back up Hasek, Lilja will actually get a chance to play, and both Kopecky and Langfeld will be in.

Langfeld Called Up

Published
by
Megan Hirdes
on November 13, 2006
in AHL, Griffins and Jason Williams
. 4 Comments

Griffinscentral reports that Josh Langfeld was called up from Grand Rapids today. This should suggest that Williams might not play at all on this road trip. DetNews had reported earlier today that Williams was still healing, but hoped to catch up with them later in the week–perhaps in Calgary on Friday, as the Freep suggested. This is still a possibility, and perhaps Langfeld is just a precautionary call-up, in case someone gets injured on the road. They have Kopecky, who is usually scratched, so they shouldn’t need a replacement for Williams otherwise.

The most interesting thing about this is the fact that the Wings completely skipped over Brad Norton. I’m wondering, as I’m sure Norton is, why this is. A major part of why Norton decided to go to the AHL rather than retire was because he could get called up. So why did they call up Langfeld over Norton?

Langfeld is having a good season thus far with Grand Rapids. He is second on the team in points, with only Kip Miller ahead of him. In 15 games, Langfeld has 6 goals and 12 points with a +/- of -3. Four of his six goals are on the powerplay.

Filppula and Quincey Make Quick Impact in GR

Published
by
Megan Hirdes
on November 3, 2006
in AHL, Griffins and Valtteri Filppula
. 2 Comments

Valtteri Filppula and Kyle Quincey wasted no time once returning to Grand Rapids. Filppula was sent down on Wednesday and Quincey was just sent down today. The Griffins played the Manitoba Moose tonight- AHL affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks. The Moose are a divisional rival and common playoff opponent.

Grand Rapids took the first of the eight game series, 4-0. No small amount of credit goes to the two players that just returned from Detroit. Quincey scored first at 4:49 of the first period. Filppula followed suit at 10:39 of the same period. In the second, Quincey assisted on Josh Langfeld’s goal at 3:31. Not to be outdone, Valterri assisted on Dan Syrvet’s goal exactly fifteen minutes later, at 18:31. Quincey’s game-winning goal earned him first star honors. If not for Jimmy Howard’s shutout, Filppula probably would have gotten second star. However, he was forced to settle for third. Sorry, Fil.

It was fun to see Filppula in Detroit, and he played especially well. However, as a Griffins fan, I must confess to a sense of relief now that he has returned to Grand Rapids. In just one game, he has already made an offensive impact. Unfortunately, as reported by George Malik, the likelihood of Filppula staying in Grand Rapids is not good. Babcock seems to be fighting harder and harder to keep him in Detroit. Valterri is doing his part, making it very difficult for the Wings to send him down.

Both their play in Detroit and strong return to GR further prove that Filppula and Quincey are two very important pieces of Detroit’s future.

Griffins Report

Published
by
Megan Hirdes
on October 31, 2006
in AHL, Darryl Bootland and Griffins
. 1 Comment

The start of the Griffins’ season has been just as disappointing as the start of the Red Wings’ season. Like the Wings, the Griffins are used to being at the top of the division and conference all season long. With a record of 4-3-2, they find themselves in an unfamiliar position-2nd in the Division and 6th in the conference. Now, second in the division isn’t so bad, considering that the Rochester Americans are having one of their best starts ever, at 8-1-0. Let’s also remember that the Americans are affiliated with the Buffalo Sabres. The sad thing is, being sixth in the conference puts the Griffins behind the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights, Iowa Stars, Chicago Wolves and Peoria Rivermen. Chicago is a bitter rival (think Colorado, here) and Omaha, Iowa and Peoria were all three expansion teams last season.

Grand Rapids also seems to be sharing the Red Wings’ offensive woes. They have 28 goals for and 27 goals against, strikingly similar to the Wings’ 29 GF and 27 GA. The Griffins top scorer is Kip Miller, with 9 points (3-6). The Wings top scorer is Nicklas Lidstrom with 10 points (2-8). A few days ago I could have compared the goaltending of the two clubs, but Ozzie and Dom have since played very well.

Jimmy Howard has been good for the Griffins, at 3-2-0, with a 2.69 GAA and a .908 Save %. I wish I could say the same for Stefan Liv. His numbers aren’t terrible, with a 1-2-1 record, 3.04 GAA, and .907 save % . Granted, they could be a lot better. But numbers don’t tell the whole story. I’ve been to two games in which he played, the last of which he was pulled from. He wanders from the net frequently, and gets in trouble doing it often. Many times, his teammates save him. I’ve seen him make a save three feet out of the crease and seemingly get stuck there. Needless to say, the other team scored on the rebound. Liv has a tendency to start games well, but fall off quickly. He appears to have trouble controlling rebounds. He’s really good up close, but put someone on the breakaway and he’s sure to give up the goal. In his one shootout loss, he gave up 4 goals on 7 shooters. One guy missed the net wide, one guy shot high, and Liv stopped one. He has made some great saves, as well, though. He’ll likely get better as the season progresses, as he gets used to the AHL.

Kyle Quincey looks to be playing well, despite his -5 plus/minus. Derek Meech has made drastic improvements over last season, earning an A on his sweater. Both defensemen show a lot of promise. Quincey could probably be playing in the NHL already, on the third defensive pairing. Meech is finally starting to show the ability that the Wings kept saying he had. Jonathan Ericsson is doing well, also, with a +/- of +4 and two assists.

Of the offensive prospects, Krys Kolanos is doing the best. He has four goals and eight points. Matt Ellis is not far behind, with four goals and seven points. Kolanos also has the best +/- at +4, tied with Ericsson. Darryl Bootland is continuing to do what he does best, with 20 penalty minutes in 9 games. I’ve seen two fights already, but they haven’t been particularly good. He does, however, have two goals and two assists. Evan McGrath has one goal and three assists, but it has been his defensive play that has impressed me. Eric Himelfarb continues to prove that he is not NHL material-giving up the puck at the blueline and virtually watching as opponents score less than two feet away from him, while scoring only one goal himself. He’s fast, but he couldn’t finish a play to save his life. His puck-handling skills are in serious need of improvement-though I’m not sure how one can improve upon something that does not exist. My biggest disappointment is Ryan Oulahen right now. Ryan was phenomenal last season, but thus far has yet to be a factor for the Griffins. He has only goal and one point, with a +/- of +1.

In their last game, Grand Rapids beat the Philadelphia Phantoms 6-2. Howard was in net, and basically solidified his position as the starter. He and Liv had been splitting games evenly, but after Howard’s strong game and Liv’s struggles, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Jimmy get more games. Scoring for the Griffins were Kolanos with 2, Himelfarb, Ellis, Bootland and Matt Hussey. McGrath earned third star with three assists, while captain Ellis received second for his game-winning goal. First star went to Kolanos.

The Griffins next four games are against their biggest division rival, the Manitoba Moose. The Moose are affiliated with Vancouver, and their backup goaltender is Drew MacIntyre-former Griffin and Wing prospect. The first two games of this series are in GR, Friday and Saturday nights. Next week Tuesday and Wednesday they play in Manitoba, followed by a Friday game against the Milwaukee Admirals and a Saturday game against the Albany River Rats.

Filppula Called Up

Published
by
Megan Hirdes
on October 19, 2006
in AHL, Roster Moves, The Team and Valtteri Filppula
. 0 Comments

The Red Wings today called up forward Valterri Filppula after the injury to Brad Norton. Norton has a left shoulder injury suffered in last night’s game against Anaheim. If he arrived in time, he could be in the lineup tonight. In two games with Grand Rapids, Filppula has recorded one goal and one assist, with a rating of +1.
Also, Brett Lebda will replace Anreas Lilja tonight.

Link

Griffins Update

Published
by
Megan Hirdes
on October 6, 2006
in AHL and Griffins
. 0 Comments

This is a new feature at On The Wings that Matt has asked me to write. Hopefully, I will write about once a week just to report what’s going on with the Wings AHL affiliate. The Grand Rapids Griffins are made up of players assigned by either Detroit or Edmonton, as well as a few with AHL contracts. I will focus mainly on Detroit prospects, though the general success of the team will be reported.

Tonight is the Griffins season opener. They play the San Antonio Rampage in San Antonio at 8:00 PM. When they take the ice tonight, the Griffins will hardly resemble the team from last year. Their roster is as follows:
Goaltenders
33- Jimmy Howard (DET)

1- Stefan Liv (DET)

Defense
3- Danny Syrvet (EDM)

4- Dan Smith (DET)

8- Nick Naumenko (GR Professional Tryout)

12- Tom Galvin (GR Professional Tryout)

18- Jason Becket (GR Professional Tryout)

22- Kyle Quincey (DET)

28- Derek Meech (DET)

Jonathan Ericsson (DET-Injured)

Offense
7- Stephane Goulet (EDM)

9- Kip Miller (GR)

10- Brock Radunske (EDM)

11- Krys Kolanos (DET)

14- Matt Hussey (DET)

15- Valterri Filppula (DET)

16- Ryan Oulahen (DET)

17- Evan McGrath (DET)

19- Eric Himelfarb (DET)

21- Josh Langfeld (DET)

23- Matt Ellis (DET)

25- Scott Barney (GR)

26- Brendan Brooks (DET)

27- Darryl Bootland (DET)

29- Ryan Keller (GR)

Only Howard, Quincey, Meech, Oulahen, Himelfarb, Ellis and Bootland remain from last season’s team. They had an incredible year, offensively, with 323 goals. 172 of those goals were scored by the top four offensive producers (Jiri Hudler, Donald MacLean, Eric Manlow and Tomas Kopecky)-all of whom are gone. The front offices of both the Red Wings and the Griffins have done a good job of getting some high production skaters.

The Griffins played only two exhibition games, and had a somewhat pathetic showing for both. The lost the fist to the Chicago Wolves, 3-2. The second was an 8-5 loss to the 05-06 Conference Champion Milwaukee Admirals. Hopefully, the regular season will have better results.

This season, there are a few key prospects to keep an eye on. Jimmy Howard is an obvious one. He’s already proven he can succeed at the AHL level in the regular season. He’ll be looking to prove that he can play in the post-season. Stefan Liv is a very exciting addition. It’ll be interesting to see how he adjusts to North American hockey. He and Howard will make a great tandem and will hopefully lead GR to the Calder Cup. On defense, the Wings have Kyle Quincey coming up. His skills were seen quite clearly during the Preseason games for Detroit. On offense, Darryl Bootland and Valterri Filppula will hopefully play on the same line once again, though their linemate will be absent (Kopecky). They were arguably the Griffins best line last season. Filppula is on track to reach the NHL quite soon. If Bootland has another season like this past one, it could give him a much better chance of making the Wings next season.