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RWC Archives - March 25 Grand Rapids Griffins Update
Slumping Griffins fall out of first place in league...
By Jason Kasiorek
www.griffinscentral.com
March 25, 2004
The Grand Rapids Griffins became the first AHL team to make the playoffs on March 13 with a 1-0 victory over the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks.
It's not all good news, however, as the Griffins have lost four out of the last six games and have fallen out of first place in the league for the first time since the New Year. The Griffins are now in second place in the AHL standings, two points back of Western Conference rival Milwaukee Admirals.
The Griffins' usually potent offense has gone cold and the Griffins have scored just seven goals in six games. Young guns
Darryl Bootland
,
Jiri Hudler
and
Nathan Robinson
are mired in slumps, while
Kevin Miller
and
Derek King
haven't had much energy.
Even veteran goaltender
Marc Lamothe
has fallen to earth since returning from a brief NHL stint, and gave up five goals in a 6-0 loss to the Toronto Roadrunners before being pulled.
The following is a report on the most recent stretch of games for the Griffins:
March 12, vs. Milwaukee (home), L 2-1:
Robinson scored the only goal for the Griffins with his 22nd of the season, while
Danny Groulx
fired a team-high five shots on goal but couldn't net the equalizer.
March 13 vs. Cincinnati (home), W 1-0:
Joey MacDonald
stopped 26 shots for his fifth shutout of the season, while Todd Nelson provided the only goal Grand Rapids needed for the victory.
March 17 vs. Toronto (home), L 6-0:
The Griffins closed a three-game home-stand with an embarrassing loss, the worst loss in franchise history since a 6-0 loss eight years ago as part of the now defunct IHL.
March 19 vs. Rochester (road), L 2-1:
Recently recalled
Paul Ballantyne
scored his first career AHL goal against Rochester, but no one else could get the puck past all-star goaltender Ryan Miller.
March 21 v. Philadephia (road), W 3-2:
Danny Groulx
opened the scoring with his seventh of the season, and the Griffins never looked back to finish off the Phantoms 3-2.
March 24 v. Cincinnati (home), L 2-1:
Ilya Bryzgalov kept the Griffins at bay with 25 saves, and was only solved by
Jiri Hudler
.
Joey MacDonald
made 22 saves in the loss.
WHO'S HOT
Danny Groulx
leads the team with a plus-19 and continues to eat up the extra ice time that became available in the wake of
Anders Myrvold
's call-up. Groulx scored his seventh goal of the season against Philadelphia, and continues to play solid, physical defense.
Joey MacDonald
continues to turn heads this season with his stellar play. His season record sits at 20-7-3, and he has five shutouts, a 1.83 GAA and a .939 save percentage, putting him among the top-six in the AHL in all categories. He is playing with tremendous confidence and gets better every game.
Paul Ballantyne
has finally gotten into the AHL lineup after a slew of injuries cleared the way, and he's making an impact. The sophomore pro has a goal, an assist and six shots in three games since being recalled, and is playing with more confidence than ever in Grand Rapids.
WHO'S NOT
Jiri Hudler
has a minus-6 in the last six games, and appears tired. His trademark slick moves have not been evident in the past 10 games, and he needs to step up and break through the slump. He has just 10 points in the last 17 games, well off from the point-per-game he averaged earlier in the year.
Darryl Bootland
has had a hard time regaining his form since returning from a head injury. The second-year forward hasn't registered a point in the past 12 games and is a minus-7 during that stretch. Most alarming is that Bootland's physical, agitating game hasn't been at the forefront lately.
Kevin Miller
has just one assist and a minus-5 in the last six games ' not exactly up to par for one of the team's best two-way forwards. He has fought through a number of nagging injuries this season, which may be causing problems, but he's still managed 42 points in 65 games.
Scoring statistics (as of March 24):
PLAYER TEAM GP G A PTS PIM
Michel Picard GRA 66 13 35 48 33
Nathan Robinson GRA 59 22 22 44 41
Jiri Hudler GRA 48 13 30 43 38
Kevin Miller GRA 64 23 19 42 16
Jeff Nelson GRA 54 12 27 39 35
Derek King GRA 69 9 20 29 17
Hugo Boisvert GRA 70 9 14 23 46
Kory Karlander GRA 59 8 13 21 77
Travis Richards GRA 67 2 19 21 44
Danny Groulx GRA 70 7 12 19 82
Anders Myrvold GRA 63 0 18 18 78
Ryan Barnes GRA 62 5 12 17 158
Mark Mowers GRA 16 8 6 14 4
Niklas Kronwall GRA 25 2 11 13 20
Matt Ellis GRA 54 4 8 12 19
Darryl Bootland GRA 44 10 1 11 157
Tomas Kopecky GRA 45 6 5 11 28
Aaron Schneekloth GRA 55 2 6 8 14
David Van Drunen GRA 70 2 6 8 90
Blake Sloan GRA 7 4 2 6 4
David Brisson GRA 33 3 1 4 2
Ryan Bonni GRA 44 1 3 4 84
Jim Henkel GRA 15 2 1 3 4
Tim Skarperud GRA 18 2 1 3 10
Joey MacDonald GRA 31 0 3 3 4
Marc Lamothe GRA 41 0 2 2 2
Jim Baxter GRA 2 1 0 1 0
Paul Ballantyne GRA 7 1 0 1 6
Curtis Joseph GRA 1 0 0 0 0
Tyler Rennette GRA 2 0 0 0 0
Jamie Rivers GRA 2 0 0 0 4
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