The Griffins won game 1 of their Calder Cup Finals against the Syracuse Crunch. It came down to Tomas Nosek’s game winning goal with 13 seconds left in a tied game, and it was glorious. What made Nosek’s game winner even sweeter, is that it was on the power play, becuase Syracuse took a too many men penalty with 28 secondes left in said tied game. There were three things that happened in the last minute and a half of the game, that just made my night. But rather than try to use a million words to describe the comical nature of the events, let me just show you.
First, we find out that Jake Dotchin missed his afternoon nap and is really cranky.
Then Adam Erne is nominated to accept his team’s too many men penalty, but he’s also feeling cranky. His crankyness is obviously due to him being way too warm and really thirst. So he opts for the easy solution… Throw a fit and break your stick, strip your jersey off, throw your elbow pads, and chug a beer. See? Easy peasy!
[In truth, this was a promo video they showed on the AHL Live feed and the jumbotron, but it was timed just so perfectly]
Now for the icing on the cake. While Erne was still sulking in the box, Tomas Nosek gave the Griffins their winning goal with 13 seconds left.
The way this game ended was purely comical and fantastic, but I want to give Tomas Nosek full credit here. He’s been perhaps the Griffins MVP all playoffs long. He scored the Griffins first and third goals tonight, was supurb defensively, was killer on faceoffs, and kicked butt. And that’s what he’s done all along. His defensive skill has been long touted, but he’s also tied for 1s in goals (9) in the playoffs, 5th in points, and leads Grand Rapids in both catagories. He was fantastic again tonight, and a big reason why the Griffins have a 1-0 game lead against Syracuse.
Game 2 is tomorrow night at 7:00 pm in Grand Rapids, and don’t forget you can watch for free via AHL live. Just sign in/up HERE and use the promo code FINALS17 to watch all the Calder Cup finals for free.
What will happen in game 2? I can’t wait to find out.
[Update: Video highlights from the Griffins]
