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Depleted Griffins Gut Out 5-3 Win
Callahan adds 2 goals in win over Monsters...
By Jason Kasiorek
www.griffinscentral.com
February 15th, 2013

The Griffins had every excuse to roll over to the visiting Lake Erie Monsters as injuries and recalls have cost them the services of their top four scorers, two regular defenseman and their all-star goalie. The Griffins wrote another script as they refused to use that as an excuse and battled back a couple of times to take a gritty come from behind 5-3 win. Mitch Callahan led the way with a pair of goals (7,8), and the home team also got tallies from Billins (3), Paetsch (4) and captain Jeff Hoggan (9). Thomas McCollum made 26 saves for the Griffins to pick up the win, his 12th of the season, establishing a new career high.

Aubry and Maggio dropped the gloves in front of the penalty boxes for a long bout. Aubry held his own until the end. Great work in the corner by Glendening. He eventually worked the puck out and hit Callahan in the slot. The gritty winger snapped it past Patterson for his 7th of the season. McNeely one on one with Evans and somehow got a shot past the veteran defender that cleanly beat McCollum to even things up with just over two minutes left in the period. Shots on Goal: GR 7 - LE 13.

Carey picked up the puck and zipped a shot past McCollum's outstretched glove and off the post to regain the lead just over a minute into the period. It looked like Parkes may have evened things up again, but after further review it was no goal. Hoggan on a 2-on-1 with Callahan. Callahan fired the puck behind the net and Hoggan went in after it. He centered to Callahan on the doorstep who buried it to tie the game at two. Midway through the second, Evans and Malone came to blows in front of the monsters bench. You have to give Malone full marks for standing in until the end, but Evans was clearly the victor. Monsters blueliner Stollery's shot from the line found its way through a lot of bodies and in under McCollum for a powerplay goal and the lead with about 5 minutes left in the period. Great play at the line by Skinner to hold the puck in, then Jurco worked his magic to hit Billins in the slot and the diminutive defenseman buried it into the open side of the net to knot the score at three. Callahan almost had another with a sweet shorthanded wraparound after stealing the puck off a defenders stick behind the line. Shots on Goal: GR 8 - LE 11.

Nestrasil threaded a shot through traffic to Paetsch who banged it home backdoor for another powerplay goal and a one goal lead. A few minutes later Callahan made a jaw dropping move to drag the puck around a defender for a wide open trip to the net. He just couldn't get it over Patterson's leg pad after making another nice move. Jurco stole the buck and broke in alone on the net but ran out of room to get the puck off. Lake Erie with an empty net the last minute of the game. Great work by the Griffins penalty killers to take away the puck, and Hoggan shot it the length of the ice for an empty netter to seal a 5-3 Griffins win. Shots on Goal: GR 16 - LE 5. For the Game: GR 31 - LE 29.

Lines:
Pare - Sheahan - Jurco
Hoggan - Glendening - Callahan
Nestrasil - Aubry/Sheahan/Raedeke - #8 Coetzee
Parkes - Raedeke - Grant

Pairings:
Paetsch - Almquist
Evans - Billins
Fournier - Skinner

Starter: McCollum
Backup: Pearce

Scratches:
Ferraro - Injured
Nicastro - injured



PP:
Nestrasil - Glendening - Hoggan
Paetsch - Almquist

Jurco - Sheahan - Pare
Fournier - Skinner

PK:
Callahan - Glendening
Paetsch - Almquist

Hoggan - Sheahan
Evans - Skinner

Aubry - Raedeke

Observations:

The Griffins showed a lot of guts in fighting back against the monsters. The Grinders all stepped up and it was a very entertaining game. Glendening, Hoggan and Callahan really stepped up, and the blueline was involved in the offense with both Paetsch and Billins getting scores.

Callahan in particular has really been taking advantage of the extra ice time and responsibilities as of late, notching his 7th goal in his last 13 games. He was buzzing around the net all night and was great on the penalty kill. His linemate Glendening did not look out of place with a larger role, and I still think we have not seen his limit yet.

Jurco was also very noticeable, he did a great job of creating offense and using his big body to battle for space. He had 5 shots on goal, and several great passes that set up others.


Official Game Sheet