2/22 - Griffins 5, San Antonio 4

[GROwl 5]

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.

[Aussie_Wing 354]

Downey with 2 assists, scoring machine!

Pyett with the GWG, he's really developing nicely.

Ritola once again producing with a pair of assists straight back into the line-up. Where was Kindl?

Abdelkader is dominating too, and Haydar is scoring like a mad man. The depth of the team came to the fore today.

[uk_redwing 495]

Downey with 2 assists, scoring machine!

And a plus-3...do you wanna touch him?? DO YOU WANNA TOUCH HIM?!?!

[cnot19 191]

One of the few Griffens game I have watched and he puts up the assists

[Coyote0106 2]

Stafford had a real tough night. Couple really bad turnovers, and a dumb penalty.

This game reminded me of some earlier in the year. It was a offensive game, with no real defense to speak of.

[Aussie_Wing 354]

Stafford had a real tough night. Couple really bad turnovers, and a dumb penalty.

This game reminded me of some earlier in the year. It was a offensive game, with no real defense to speak of.

Any idea why Kindl was absent?

[Dimaline312000 51]

Nice job Griffins. Keep racking up those Wins and Points.

Edited February 24, 2009 by Dimaline312000

[GROwl 5]

Any idea why Kindl was absent?

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!

Edited February 23, 2009 by GROwl

[CapnSmitty 39]

I do believe it is a lower body injury to Kindl, and hope it isnt a long one to be sure

[Aussie_Wing 354]

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!

Yeh Galvin’s in a bad way. It was stated a few days back that he missed a game due to ‘soreness’ and that’s obviously putting it mildly. To no identify what the actual injury and just classify it as soreness means he’s banged up in a few places. The Griffins sure do have a lot of injured bodies at the moment and to take 4 points from the 3 games in 3 day grind was a great effort.

And Ritola was awarded the 1st star with his two assists. If that's an injured and not 100% healthy Ritola, he's one fine prospect! And great to hear about Kindl being polite, he's my favourite prospect so that pleases me.

And lastly, Jan Mursak has been picking up his play, at least according to the scoresheet. And Pyett has been picking up the points this month too.

[Aussie_Wing 354]

Recap

"The guys have played a ton of hockey on the road and have traveled a ton, and they're tired," coach Curt Fraser said. "This was a real character-builder tonight. We showed a lot of pride." ... "We made a few mistakes tonight late, but that's three out of four games we won," Fraser said. "That's a pretty good accomplishment for a team that's played a lot of hockey lately and traveled a lot."

Darren Haydar and Aaron Gagnon also scored for the Griffins, and Justin Abdelkader, Aaron Downey and Mattias Ritola each had two assists. Ritola, who missed six of the past 10 games with a sore shoulder, said he was eager to return to the lineup after watching a recent five-game losing streak.

"It's frustrating. We've been losing a lot lately, and you just want to be out there to help the team as much as you can," Ritola said. "It's been a tough two weeks, but it's great to be back in there."

Ritola said he still isn't 100 percent, but Fraser said his presence made a big difference for the Griffins.

"He came up to me before the game and said, 'Hey, you need me to play. I'm ready to go,'" Fraser said. "That's a great thing to have, when players are excited to get into the lineup even though they're hurt."

I love this guy.