Home Ice Highlights: Griffins Sweep Four Game Home Stand – Earn Eight Points

Grand Rapids finished the week with all eight possible points. Moving from dead last in the division, to now third, the Griffins have been relentlessly pursuing that top spot. They’re 7-2-0-1 in their last ten games and only three points out of the second-place spot in the Central Division with 28 points. Their special teams have dramatically improved thanks to the return of Colin Campbell to the penalty kill unit and Dylan McIlrath to the blueline. The power play is still second to last in the conference but has improved to 12.6% (it was just over 10% last week). The penalty kill is eighth in the conference and has gotten a decent bump to 82.8% efficiency (it as sub-80% last week).

San Antonio is last in the Central Division and Texas is second to last, but their numbers don’t reflect their play. Both teams are very offensive and worked incredibly hard against Grand Rapids. Texas boasts top scorers like Erik Condra, Nicholas Caamano and Joel L’Esperance who all average about a point a game. San Antonio has draft pick, Jordan Kryou, and veteran goaltender, Ville Husso.

The Griffins finished a long four game in six days streak and earned all eight points. For a team that has struggled to find chemistry this season, the feet is an encouraging one. The locker room is a winning one and they’ve been playing like it. It may be too soon to say whether they’ll be cup winners this season, I can say they will definitely be hardcore contenders.

Its common knowledge that defenseman Filip Hronek is having a very impressive sophomore season with Grand Rapids. Ending the weekend with a six-game point streak, Hronek seemed to be flying under the radar a bit until Friday night. He not only lit the lamp for Grand Rapids off a gorgeous feed from Wade Megan and Turner Elson, but he finished the night with two points (1G, 1A). Just as a penalty on Megan expired, he nabbed the puck out of the box, sauced it to Elson who gave to Hronek for the final slap shot.

Colin Campbell was desperately missed in the lineup. In only nine games played since coming back from injury, Campbell has tallied five points – two of which were earned Saturday night against the Stars. Colin, all alone in front of Texas goaltender Landon Bow, snatched a pass and threw a backhander at the net. It was a top-shelf beauty that surprised him and Bow. Talking to Campbell following the game, he said that it did surprise him – he just kind of threw it at the net and hoped something happened. Colin’s goal put Grand Rapids up 2-0 early in the first period.

Though three players for Grand Rapids finished with multi-point nights (Zadina, Hronek, Elson), the goaltender Rybar stole the show for me. In nine starts, he holds a .908 save percentage and 2.230 GAA. His confidence and reflex in net, I believe, gave Grand Rapids not only more of an edge on the penalty kill, but gave the team confidence when pursuing a more aggressive offensive style. Pat came up with several incredible game-saving stops. His work and focus on the little things, like a simple poke check and foot placement in the crease, has shown to be very mature. Goaltending Coach, Brian Mahoney-Wilson has been working tirelessly with him in practice and has stated that his ability to learn and adapt is what is giving him the confidence in the net. Friday night, that was very evident.

I know he’s not from the home team, but I have to give credit where its due. Landon Bow is a phenomenal goalie. The final 6-3 score doesn’t reflect on his ability – most of that was defensive breakdowns for Texas. Prior to Saturday, Bow held a 1.85GAA in six games against Grand Rapids. He’s a menace in the crease for the opposition and that’s much to his credit. He robbed the Griffins scorers numerous times with amazing glove saves and point-blank stops. The defense crumbled a bit for Texas, which made Bow’s job a little tougher, but his athletic ability and tending should be acknowledged.

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Grand Rapids has really stepped up their power play and penalty kill so its nice to not have to say anything about that being an issue. On the other hand, the five on five Friday night was a bit questionable. The Griffins would take the lead and then San Antonio would almost immediately tie it up. The volleying seems to be happening a lot lately. The defensive pairings were slightly different (i.e. Sulak & Chelios) in the absence of Dylan McIlrath, so chemistry could have been a factor. They had a hard time controlling neutral which resulted in a few goals for the Rampage.

Harri Sateri is a good goalie but he scared me a few times on Saturday. He came so far out of his crease at times that I had flashbacks of Jared Coreau getting trapped behind the net and Joe Hicketts having to save a shot or two. Sateri is competent and technical – he reads the puck well – but he had moments which resulted in the Stars scoring, that could have been avoided. I will do him the justice of saying that at those times he was out of his crease, our defense was scattered. He’s big on reflex and not so big on technique (opposite of Rybar) and unfortunately, his reflexes seemed a bit raw.

“We’re helping each other out – supporting each other on the breakouts. We’re getting pucks in, banging bodies…Our PP is finally going..everything’s clicking now…You just got to go with your instinct and shoot where you think you can score. That’s what we did tonight. ” – Turner Elson on his two-point night.

“He doesn’t get rattled by much and doesn’t take himself out of position or overcommit too much. He does have a calming presence in the d-zone.” – Head Coach Ben Simon on Patrik Rybar

“I’m trying to play the same way. I’m lucky I think. The first one, I think I was just lucky. The second one…Camps (Camper) set it up for me and I just shoot.” – Filip Hronek on his back-to-back overtime gamer winners and his point streak.

“I was actually surprised…both those pucks just bounced out to me in front of their net. Just trying to get a quick release.” – Colin Campbell on his first two goals of the season.

I’m going to pick on Dominic Turgeon a bit – but in the best sense. The team as a whole is playing very well in spite of a rather slow start to the season. The only takeaway from Friday that really stood out to me was that Turgeon needed to get some goals. He had several really good opportunities and couldn’t capitalize. He’s getting assists and has had a couple of goals. Now that Campbell is back, his energy has been enormously boosted. He’s got incredible talent as a player. He’s a big asset for Grand Rapids and will be for Detroit in the future. With his energy boost, it’d be nice for him to have a few more goals to add to his record.

Grand Rapids did a great job over the last week, pushing hard and keeping the momentum going. In the few moments they’ve allowed a lull on the offensive end, the opposition has scored. Saturday really only allowed about three total minutes of a Texas takeover, but they were able to score in those few minutes. Overall, they played very well this last week so if they can keep that momentum going, they’ll be able to extend their win streak and move further up in the standings.