GROwl

I'm boycotting any discussion of last night's game and jumping right to today. The Griffins started it off by appearing in their Friday night jerseys and Throwback Night socks (they won Friday wearing them, why not try it again)! Same results. Guess we can expect the Friday night attire to be worn more often. Goals by Gagnon, Haydar, Walsh, Mursak and Pyett - so a great team effort for a very worn out team. They are still hampered by their recent long road trip, followed by 3 games in 48 hours and a ton of injuries. They came close to losing their lead toward the end, but the scare of a tie and overtime helped them hang tough when they needed to. Griffins will get a well-deserved rest now until next Friday. Well done.

I'm still not talking about Saturday's game, but I don't recall him getting injured during it. Kindl was signing autographs in a suit after the game - so he wasn't ill. He was very polite (as he always is) to my daughter when he gave her his autograph. I was too speechless at seeing Galvin after the game to even think about Jakub. Tom was pretty banged up and in a lot of pain. It looked like his back - but could have been his ribs. I think he also had an ice pack shove down the front of his shirt. I don't think Ritola is 100% yet. He didn't have the energy, speed or timing he usually has. Could just be the fact that it was his first game back, but I think he may be playing through his injury due to lack of other resources. Also, Manitoba lost tonight, so the Griffins are within 2 points of the lead of the entire AHL again!

You missed the part that this is his second son. Jakub was a toddler when Tomas was here in Grand Rapids, so he must be like 6 years old now. If Tomas didn't call it quits on an AHL salary with a family to support, he's certainly not going to while bringing in NHL dollars!

Kyle used to drop the gloves periodically here in Grand Rapids. Not often enough to be considered a fighter, but enough to keep his opponents in line when he needed to. He said that he got together with Aaron Downey several times over the summer to work on his fighting because he knew that Detroit need him to be more physical. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to overcome his puck handling skills and skating speed (or lack of) compared to Meech and Lebda. He's a good guy, but with Detroit's puck possession style of play, he never would have fit in. We knew it; he knew it. If he had cleared waiver, he would have continued to only get sporadic chances to play in the NHL to cover for injuries. Getting picked up by L.A. gave him the opportunity to make his NHL career dreams come true.

My spouse and I vacationed in Stockholm last summer. What an awesome city! Each time we walked back to our hotel, we could see The Globe off in the distance. What I wouldn't give to go back again this Fall...Red Wings or not... Guess we'll have to go to Detroit instead.

I've come to realize that its not my stick...its me. No matter how great my stick is, I'll never be a Dats.

So what? These guys are professional athletes! Bring up more Griffins if there are issues that two nights in a row is too much of a physical/mental challenge. The Griffins regularly play 3-in-3's and 4-in-5's. With long bus rides to the next destination in between. Back-to-games are the norm rather than the exception in the AHL. Ask any Griffin...they would trade places in a second.

Listening to today's game against Toronto...Ericsson's wrist sounds pretty serious. At least another 2-3 weeks before he could be back. Tom Galvin's now out injured, so Brett Peterson is in. Downey is back in the line up looking for a fight according to Bob Kaser. No takers so far.

Injured according to Bob Kaser. He said to what body part...but I don't remember. Bob said that a number of the Griffins were playing through injuries (Ritola, Jozsa, and others). The only healthy scratch was Brett Peterson - the guy recently brought up from the ECHL.

Hmmm... Downey's out injured.

It continues to surprise me how much Ville Leino's been playing in front of the net in Detroit (ala Homer)...and how well he is doing at it. Not only is he screening the goalie, but he's also making some pretty good offensive plays. I don't think the opposition is even aware of the threat - last night's goal is proof. With Homer and even Cleary, the goalies and defense are constantly hacking and whacking. Leino's left alone (relatively!) and scores. Why did he never work the crease in GR? For that reason, why doesn't any of the Griffins play that role? We need a Homer-in-training. I would think that would be an ideal role for one of the less puck-skilled but bigger bodies. Maybe someone with less skating ability, but quick hands to jam at the puck or lift it top shelf when the goalie is down. GR replicates a lot of the Wings' style of play, why not this piece?

I've seen it before in these forums when it was suggested that Hudler's being #3 in the AHL in points in the year before he moved up to the Wings was attributable to his "better" teammates. Its not true. Hudler didn't play on the MacLean line when Don MacLean was the AHL goal leader (Matt Ellis and Nate Discasmirro were MacLean's linemates). Hudler didn't play with Kopecky and Filppula (Darryl Bootland was their linemate). Hudler's main linemates were Eric Manlow and Kent McDonell - both of whose aggregate NHL games don't add up to one season. The year they played with Hudler was by far the best season either of them ever had. That wasn't a coincidence. The common thread was Hudler. His teammates didn't make him better. He made them better. Whether he plays with Detroit or ends up on another team, its my opinion that his stats will continue to move upward.

Justin is the only one of the current Griffin forwards big (solid) enough - the others would go flying across the ice if the defense or goalie shoved them hard. I actually think it could be a really good fit for Justin - and maybe get him to the NHL faster. Homer has had success at the role - yet as he's aged, he's getting injured (back pain/groin) more frequently. Its an untapped opportunity for the right guy. Of course, Ryan O would give it a shot if asked. It'll be better if he muscled up a bit more first though.

When DMac was in GR last month, he said that he would be back playing with the Griffins to begin conditioning in three weeks (from 1/24/09) or so.

My pre-teen son was whining about something - i.e., nothing - one day. My daughter (even younger) yelled at him in disgust. "Ryan, stop creating such a hullabaloo!" She then looked at my spouse and me. "Mickey Redmond taught me that." We about wet our pants. Sure enough, later that night, Mickey was talking about some hullabloo a player was causing about a penalty.

Best of luck to Staffan - he always played very well when he was in town with the Marlies against the Griffins.

I sure hope so. He's a kids not only with a lot of potential and talent himself, but he has that ability to make everyone around him better too.

Good character-building win considering the Griffins were missing Helm, Leino, Ericsson, Ritola and Tardif. Going into the last third of the season, they need to keep up their confidence that they can scrape out a win even without key players. Good effort from the veterans Garrett Stafford and Darren Haydar to keep the team rolling.

50 Man Roster? Detroit Andreas Lilja Brad Stuart Brett Lebda Brian Rafalski Chris Chelios Chris Osgood Daniel Cleary Darren McCarty Derek Meech Henrik Zetterberg Jiri Hudler Johan Franzen Kirk Maltby Kris Draper Marian Hossa Mikael Samuelsson Nicklas Lidstrom Niklas Kronwall Pavel Datsyuk Tomas Holmstrom Tomas Kopecky Ty Conklin Valtteri Filppula GR Aaron Downey Cory Emmerton Daniel Larsson Darren Haydar Darren Helm Evan McGrath Jakub Kindl Jamie Tardif Jan Mursak Jimmy Howard Jonathan Ericsson Justin Abdelkader Logan Pyett Mattias Ritola Ryan Oulahen Sergei Kolosov Ville Leino Other Brian Lashoff Dick Axelsson Brent Raedeke Johan Ryno Randall Gelech Thomas McCollum 23 + 17 + 6 = 46 signed. Do drafted but unsigned count? If not, I'd offer Pare before final roster day ...just in case. If he stays hot, he'd be a good Black Ace for the playoffs.

No, except for Downey, they are still waiver exempt. They can continue to go up and down as long as their is roster room and cap space for them. No one wants Stuart to be injured or on the LTIR, but it does give the Wings the flexibility to take a look at these kids. I'd also like to see Ritola and maybe McGrath up in Detroit for a game or two before Stuart returns.

Don't pick Section 124. I changed from our normal seats to Section 124 for last night's game. Its a terrible view. You can't see the Griffin bench or anything much on that side/corner of the ice.

I didn't notice it so much last night - although I wasn't in my normal seat behind the goal where it is very obvious when there is a defensive misplay. It was very apparent a week ago Saturday though. In that game, Leino and Oulahen (and others) beat our D back several times.

Brodeur was replaced after the first period. At the game, all the arena announcer said was the name of the new goalie (Beckford-Tseu). If Brodeur got injured during the first, I didn't see it. For those of you who heard the game on the radio or watched it on the internet, was anything more said? Brodeur was pretty impressive in my opinion. I thought Rochester did a good job skating with the Griffins up until the mid-point of the third period when the game started getting chippy. Also, Beckford-Tseu began getting pulled with like 6 minutes left. I think he was in at out of the net 3-4 times. The game got pretty wild from that point on.

So, I was talking with my daughter. Even though she's much too young for Ville herself, she came up with the answer: Sounds like Leino needs a spa day! Now Douglas J/Aveda Institute is not only a team sponsor of the Griffins, it is just down the street from the arena. He couldn't possibly get lost. One of the people who work in the Griffins front office needs to call and schedule a day of pampering for dear Ville. Start him out with a massage, to be followed by a self-renewal facial, a manicure, a pedicare and a nice haircut. The front office should specify that they want Douglas J girls to do the various spa treatments; the guys who work there do good work too, but that would defeat part of the purpose. The girls will have a field day fussing over him. At the end of the day, Ville ought to have multiple wife possibilities. If not, he will at least be relaxed and feeling too good to care!

Depends on what you like. Our seats are at the south end. When the play is there, feels like are right on top of it along with Jimmy/Daniel. Of course, the opposite is true - when the play is all down on the north end, you can't see it as well.