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Griffins Maul Moose in Home Opener 5-2
Five different players score in romp...
By Jason Kasiorek
www.griffinscentral.com
October 17th, 2025
The Grand Rapids Griffins, celebrating the home opener of their 30th Anniversary season, scored early and often to top the visiting Manitoba Moose. The win moves Grand Rapids to 3-0 on the young season despite missing a murderer's row of talent due to injuries and 3 rookies making the parent Wings opening roster. Carter Mazur kept up his hot hand, notching his 4th goal in 3 games and adding an assist for good measure. The rest of the offense was provided by familiar faces Austin Watson (2), Sheldon Dries (SH 1), Dominik Shine (2) and Alex Doucet (1). Sebastien Cossa made 21 stops to record his 2nd win of the campaign.
First Period
The home team seemed to have some extra spark to start the game, likely a result of the staff and player introductions that saw the team form a circle at center ice. The crowd was definitely into it, and after several loud ovations, perhaps the largest of all was reserved for the last introduction, newly minted captain Dominik Shine.
The Griffins opened the scoring just past the seven-minute mark of the period when Tyler Angle spotted Watson streaking into the right circle and made a nice feed to the veteran winger. Watson wired a laser into the top corner, glove side, for a 1-0 lead. The Moose came right back, tying things up 45 seconds later when Fagemo sniped a shot from the circle past a partially screened Cossa, stick side. With Ian Mitchell in the box for high-sticking, Sheldon Dries stole the puck and shot in alone on DiVincentiis, deked and froze the netminder, and then slid the puck in, low glove side. Great play by Mitchell to hold off a Moose player and break the puck up ice. Carter Mazur with a heads up play to hit Shine in the circle, and Shine fired a shot in, high glove side to push the score to 3-1. Nice play by Carson Bantle on the zone entry to keep possession then set up a scoring play.
Shots on goal: GR 17 - Man 13.
Second Period
In the early going The Griffins appear to have more speed through the neutral zone than last season and are playing with more pace. The D as a whole was a little sloppier getting the puck out of their own end but appear to play heavier. Alex Kannok Leipert and Ian Mitchell in particular used their size and strength to make plays. Gabriel Seger with a great chance in front but DiVincentiis made the stop. Danny Zhilkin took advantage of Cossa being screened to whip a puck from the circle along the ice and into the net, glove side. Mitchell got beat and allowed an odd man rush. He didn't look happy and hustled to get back into the play. A few minutes later, Mitchell go beat again and ended up taking a penalty.
Shots on goal: GR 10 - Man 6.
Third Period
Grand Rapids killed off the balance of the Mitchell penalty to start the third. Tyler Angle with speed, shot up the middle for a good scoring chance. Ondrej Becher with a steal, set up a great chance in the slot. Kannok Leipert stripped the puck away from a Moose defender, went in alone, and made a nice move to get a shot off. He was out of gas at the end of shift and couldn't make much happen. Erik Gustafsson great time of possession, moving the puck up-ice through traffic to set up a couple of scoring chances. Gustafsson great play to set up Bantle on the doorstep for a blast. In what looked like a planned play, a dump in hit the end boards hard and then squirted out in front of the net where a couple of streaking Griffins were headed for a point-blank scoring chance. Great second effort by Alex Doucet to pick up the rebound of an Angle shot and burn it into the open side of the net, stick side. Big scrum in front of the Griffins net with William Wallinder in the middle. Kannok Leipert waded right in to help his teammate. Austin Watson argued with officials just a bit too much and got tossed for the rest of the game with a 10-minute misconduct. Right off the faceoff, Mazur shot in and blazed a shot through traffic for a 5-2 lead.
Shots on Goal: GR 14 - Man 4. For the Game: GR 41 - Man 23.
Starting Lines:
#43 Carter Mazur - #15 Sheldon Dries - #65 Dominik Shine
#51 Austin Watson - #93 Amadeus Lombardi - #77 Tyler Angle
#81 Jakub Rychlovsky - #25 Ondrej Becher - #34 Eduards Tralmaks
#21 Carson Bantle - #11 Gabriel Seger - #47 Alexandre Doucet
Pairings:
#37 William Lagesson - #55 Ian Mitchell
#56 Erik Gustafsson - #4 Antti Toumisto
#22 William Wallinder - #41 Alex Kannok Leipert
Starter: #33 Cossa
Backup: #35 Postava
Scratches:
#3 Justin Holl (Veteran Scratch)
#19 John Leonard (Veteran Scratch)
#20 Jacob Truscott
PP:
#15 Dries - #93 Lombardi - #43 Mazur
#56 Gustafsson - #55 Mitchell
#65 Shine - #25 Becher - #43 Mazur
#22 Wallinder - #51 Watson
PK:
#15 Dries - #65 Shine
#22 Wallinder - #41 Kannok Leipert
#51 Watson - #11 Seger
#37 Lagesson - #4 Tuomisto
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