Coyote0106

I thought Chucko was going to just get jumped by Kindl at one point. To end the second period, Chucko's stick was on the ice. Kindl kicks all the way to the other side of the rink, I was just hoping to see him go. He got jumped by him earlier, and you could tell he wanted to have a REAL fight. Chucko just kept retreating with his tail between his legs when they came together. That said, Chucko did a good job for his team being the "agitator". But as a whole, QC did a great job with their game plan. They wanted to be physical, and they were ALL game. The Griffs didn't try, and we were LUCKY to get the 2 points. Howard played brilliant, hell, there were times I thought he was the only D-man on our team. Kindl is really regressing in my eyes. He is turning the puck over alot more than usual (this year). He needs to just calm down and get back to making the safe play. I was really high on him, but he can't keep causing these turnovers. It sounds like Ericsson might be out for a good bit, so he really needs to step it up. Be the anchor he was for the first part of the season. We got 4 out of 4 points, when we showed up for MAYBE 15 minutes TOTAL. The team needs to realize they got lucky, and go from there. Edit: Glad to see you back Aussie. It just wasn't the same without the usual GDT's.

That was another half-assed game. i don't know what is up with these guys, but this is just stupid. They are showing up in spurts. Something has got to change quickly. Kindl had a rough night, he had pucks jump over his stick, he made some bad passes. Larsson once again made some BIG saves, he's been playing lights out. He's been VERY impressive this year. Downey had a bad night. He got hit hard several times, and only hit people a few times. They were playing like they could get inside his head, and I'm surprised he remained calm. There was one shift where he lost it, but luckily no penalty. He needs to step it up tonight. Tonight's the throwback night, and we should see Howard in net. Hopefully we get 2 more points.

I would LOVE that. I still want to see Downey go after someone, I was gone the Milwaukee night when he fought that guy 8 seconds in.

That's one of the funniest things I've read on ANY hockey forum. On a serious note on the matter, when I talked to Leino at the beginning of the year, he was OK with being a Griffin. He said (and I'm loosely quoting) that once you are "in" with the Wings, you are "in". And he had the option to start the year with Chi-town, and a few other teams that I can't remember, and picked Detroit for that reason. He was only signed to a 1 year contract I believe. He knows that after this year he can go to whatever team he wants and play for their NHL club if Detroit says no. Honestly, if Detroit does say no, that might be a very large mistake on their part. There are players currently on the team that wouldn't deserve to be there over him, IMO. Edit: The other thing, we already knew this was the situation. He was a 1 year in the AHL player. Then he'd pick his team. The only "new" thing is the wife line.

This was a MUCH better game by everyone, until the 3rd period. We went back to our old ways, let in 2 goals and was forced to play OT. Luckily we scored the game winner. Mursak got hit hard, and never came back. Pare got hit awkwardly and never came back, either. I hope it is nothing serious. Helm is sill out, and Ericsson never even dressed. Jimmy made some REALLY good saves, but our team just let Toronto stick around.

It wasn't a fight at all. Everyone crashes the net, they both ackowledge each other, and separate. They take off the gloves, and helmets skate towards center ice, then fall on the ice. Tardif went for a hit and missed, his weight was thrown off, and got slammed to the ice. Only punch thrown was Tardif, it didn't land, and they got 5 min. a piece.

Not soon enough! I'll be able to get the one up tomorrow, but I work Saturday morning, so I can't do Saturdays.

That was a horrible game for the boys. Our passing wasn't crisp, our defense had MULTIPLE mental lapses, and that ultimately led to our defeat. It could have easily been a 4-0 Rockford game, but Larsson stood on his head and stole a point for us. The question about this team for me is still defense. How can a defense led by Ericsson, Kindl, and Stafford make as many lapses as they do? Why have they yet to figure out their "woes"? I guess it's the same for the Wings though, both teams have work to do on Defense if they are going to go far in the playoffs. Rockford's arena is pretty cool though. It was "kids day" at their arena on Monday, but they were an extremely loud bunch. All the fans were really nice to us, and better yet, we didn't have to get up once! My favorite, is after a home goal, they play "money, money, money" and yell something along the lines of "Hey, guess what, you're goalie sucks!". It's a classic! It's always fun to go to other arena's and see how different things are, and then decide how bad our own arena's "sound crew" really is.

Well, it's 2 - 0 already. Tardiff (assist by Leino) Oulahen (A by Ericsson, Gagnon) and Aussie, we'll make sure to keep it up to date so when you come back you are well informed of what the happenings were.

After the horrible play last night, hopefully tonight will be much better. I'll give a detailed recap of the Monday game, 3 of us are driving down for that one. Hopefully we get some points these next 2 games.

Salary cap issues for why we can't call anyone up. And Helm is injured.

It seems like we have alot of "big games" this year...last year we had hardly any. It's amazing how it works.

@ The Griffins are returning to the "Hamilton House of Horrors" for a matchup between the 1 and 3 seed in the division. With Hamilton only 4 points behind the Griffins, and Manitoba tied points are very big tonight. The Griffins have received points in their last 4 games, while Hamilton is coming off of a hard loss against Rochester. Possible line-up: Leino - Abdelkader - Downey Oulahen - Emmerton - Tardif Lemieux - Pare - McGrath Ritola - Gagnon - Haydar Ericsson - Pyett Stafford - Kolosov Kindl - Galvin Starter: Howard Backup: Larsson Scratches: Helm Mursak Atherton Jozsa Team Leaders: Goals Griffins: Haydar, Ritola (14) Bulldogs: Glumac (17) Assists Griffins: Leino (24) Bulldogs: Lehoux (25) Points Griffins: Leino (33) Bulldogs: Lehoux (37) Penalty Minutes Griffins: Downey (65) Bulldogs: Stewart (131) Notes Helm left the arena on crutches the last game, there's a likelihood he is sitting out this game. Leino is on a 3 game point streak.

Howard seemed to play OK, and Helm didn't play.

And just as an aside, holy crap GDT's are tough. Very nice job doing them Aussie_Wing... they're much tougher than they look.

I'm completely against "keeping your helmet on"...because IMO, it adds to the "hide behind your visor" idea....but I feel you missed the point. They want to keep the helmets on during a fight because a player DIED from it. He got hit, his head hit the ice, and later died.

According to the link, that is already a penalty. They can either A) put their helmet back on or B) skate to the bench. If they play with a helmet off, it's a penalty. They also have players wear "neck guards" as to protect against the Zednick injury last year.

Good ole Brett Angel taking a run at the goalie. He was a Griffin for a game or two.

The funniest part about that is how they got it right on the "figurine", but wrong on the box. I mean they have a PICTURE of it on the box with the correct spelling, yet in big letters it is wrong. What a mistake!

Yeah, there was blood all over Downey's jersey, and it wasn't his. The only issue, is that he must have beat some hockey sense into Szwez, because he came back and had a helluva game. 1 fight, 2 goals (including the GWG), and alot of hits.

Well I'm flip-flopping like crazy on this. I just went to the AHL site, and Tardiff wasn't on the ice when the Downey goal was scored. Helm WAS. So I really think it was Helm that got injured. It's a shame, because both teams were going for the big hit all night, and you almost *expected* something bad to happen. I hope it's just a "bruised" knee, and he will be back soon.

The other griffin site is saing it was Tardiff who left for repairs. While still bad, it's not Helm.

The real issue with tonight was the injury to Helm. We might have scored the 4th goal out of the deal, but if he is hurt for along stretch, it's not worth it. He got kneed pretty good, I hope it is nothing serious.

This was a weird game, where you knew there was going to be alot of scoring, and it seemed like both teams just hoped that when they dust settled, they'd be on top. Ericsson made a nice play on D, at the beginning of the game when everyone was scoring to keep a guy from getting a shot off. They were both rushing back, Ericsson tangled him up, and he never got the shot off. Larsson showed up in the shootout, and stopped a couple. It was REALLY nice to see that happen. If he is getting better at that aspect of his game, too, Jimmy better watch out.

Yes, he is much improved this season.