Griffins Rally but can't hang on in OT loss...
By Jason Kasiorek
www.griffinscentral.com
December 30th, 2011

Grand Rapids was well on its way to a 3-2 win over the Peoria Rivermen when a series of unfortunate events conspired to send it to an overtime loss. Frankie Pare (5), Brendan Smith (4) and Mitchell Callahan (3) scored three unanswered goals to rally back from a 2-0 deficit. Then with just four minute remaining in the game, netminder Jordan Pearce was bowled over in the crease and forced to leave the game with an injury. On the next shift the Griffins were assessed a questionable penalty allowing Peoria a powerplay chance on a cold goalie and they scored to tie the game, and a few minutes later the winner in overtime. Joey MacDonald took the loss despite paying just 8:52 making 3 saves on 5 shots.

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-Editor's Note: We'd like to welcome a new member to the WIIM family, as we got a great find in Jason "Stripe" Kasiorek, the manager of Griffinscentral.com, the web's best fan source for coverage and news on the Wings' AHL affiliate Grand Rapids Griffins.  Jason is going to be bringing us news from the western half of the state this season so we'll be able to keep track of how the future Red Wings are developing.  Please give him a warm welcome.-

Hello, my Name is Jason and I have been around hockey for most of my life at one level or another. I currently reside in Grand Rapids, MI with my wife, two daughters and Griffindog. I have been a Red Wings fan since Randy Ladoucer wore #19, but will admit to having a soft spot for the Oilers as well. I currently run www.griffinscentral.com a website primarily dedicated to Grand Rapids Griffins, current farm team of the Red Wings. I have been writing about hockey for the last ten years for a couple different sites most notably Red Wings Central. My favorite former Wing is Gerard Gallant closely followed by Chris Chelios.

I'm excited to be joining the WIIM crew to bring you Griffins news all season. We'll have recaps of almost every Griffins home game at Griffinscentral which will be linked here at WIIM and I'll be bringing you team and player status updates as the season goes along. Please let me know if you have any questions. There's also always a good group of people at the Griffinscentral message boards to help out if you're looking for info. Looking forward to another year of hockey!

With just 6 regular season games to go, the Grand Rapids Griffins are on the outside looking in for the AHL playoffs. The Griffins currently sit fifth in the North Division with 80 points, 1 point behind the Toronto Marlies. However, the Griffins have played fewer games than the Marlies at this point in the season.

The AHL playoff set-up is a bit different than the NHL: the Western Conference has two divisions, the North and the West. The West division has 8 teams while the North has 7 teams. The top four teams from each division make the playoffs. However, if the 5th place team in the West has more points than the 4th place in the North then the 5th place team gets the spot that the 4th place team would get. The way things sit now, the Peoria Rivermen sit in 5th with 83 points with the Oklahoma City Barons tied in points and the San Antonio Rampage a single point back. The Griffins will most likely need to move all the way up to 3rd place in the division to assure a spot.

Follow the jump for the rest of playoff talk for the Griffins.

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Don't look now, but the Griffins are on a roll.

The kids in Grand Rapids have won 9 of their last 11 games (9-1-1-0) and moved into 3rd place in the North Division.  If you're not up-to-date on your AHL rules, that means they're sitting in the final guaranteed playoff spot of their division.  They're only 2 points behind Manitoba for 2nd place and 4 points behind Lake Erie for 1st.

The Griffs have three big games this week as they continue their playoff push.  They'll square off at Van Andel Arena tonight against the Toronto Marlies and they will head to Texas to take on the Stars Friday and Saturday.

More Griffins love and, of course, a Brendan Smith update after the jump.

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I've been meaning to get some more Grand Rapids Griffins coverage on here this season but with school and work, things got a little sidetracked. I'm hoping to make this a bi-weekly feature to keep people up to date on the Red Wings' AHL affiliate and how certain players are doing this season on the West end of I-96.

Current/former Red Wings:

Jakub Kindl was sent down to Grand Rapids for a conditioning stint and in his 7 games played, he's tallied a goal and two assists to go with a -4. Despite spending some time in Detroit while Chris Osgood was out with a groin injury, Joey MacDonald leads the team in wins (6), GAA (2.45) and SV% (.896). Doug Janik has played in 25 games and has added 3 goals and 4 assists after spending some time in Detroit while Jonathan Ericsson and Brian Rafalski were out. Derek Meech has had a decent year so far in Grand Rapids, sporting a +11 to go with his 5 goals and 9 assists.

Standings, game results and scoring leaders after the jump.

ALSO, if any of you are regulars at Griffins' games and keep up with the team on a frequent basis and would like to try your hand at this posting series, by all means shoot me an e-mail.

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The Grand Rapids Griffins released its full schedule yesterday, with the season beginning at home at Van Andel Arena on Friday October 8th against the Abbotsford Heat. The Griffins close out the regular season's home games on April 8, also against Abbotsford.

Grand Rapids plays 32 of their 40 home games on the weekend (17 Friday, 9 Saturday, 6 Sunday) and the remaining eight games are all on Wednesdays. They play host to the Lake Erie Monsters, Peoria Rivermen, and Milwaukee Admirals four times each this season, the most of any of the AHL teams.

For a copy of the full schedule head here (PDF) or here (Calendar view).

Also of note, the Griffins will be switching their radio broadcasts from Newsradio WOOD 1300AM to ESPN 96.1FM.