Season Series: This is the eighth and final meeting this year between the Rivermen and Grand Rapids Griffins. The Rivermen are 4-3-0-0 against the Griffins this season.After dropping the first three meetings, the Rivermen have won each of the last four times these two teams have gotten together.The Rivermen stormed from down 3-0 to win 5-3 in their last meeting on Feb. 20.The Rivermen are 17-12-1-1 against the Griffins all time and 7-7-0-1 at Carver Arena.
Big Story: In just three days since their last game, the Rivermen roster has undergone some major changes.With the NHL trade deadline in between four players have left the Rivermen since Sunday.It started on Monday when goaltender Hannu Toivonen and defenseman Danny Richmond were traded to the Chicago Blackhawks for goalie Joe Fallon and defenseman Daryl Boyle from the Rockford IceHogs. Then late Tuesday night the St. Louis Blues traded Aaron Palushaj for right winger Matt D’Agostini from the Montreal Canadiens. D’Agostini will meet up with the Blues in Dallas for their game against the Stars tonight. Finally, Rivermen captain Yan Stastny was traded yesterday to the Vancouver Canucks for left winger Pierre-Cedric Labrie. Stastny was assigned to the Canuck’s AHL affiliate, the Manitoba Moose, while Labrie was assigned to the Rivermen.
Team Scope:
Rivermen – The Rivermen were shutout for the fourth time this season on Sunday afternoon as they fell 4-0 to the Milwaukee Admirals at Carver Arena. The game remained scoreless after the first period, but the Admirals score two goals in both the second and third periods. Ben Bishop stopped 23 of 27 shots and saw his record fall to 16-16-3. The Rivermen finished February 4-8-0-1.
Griffins – The Griffins fell 6-5 in the shootout to the Lake Erie Monsters on Sunday in Cleveland. After four straight goals by the Monsters, Patrick Rissmiller finally scored for the Griffins. Former Griffin Darren Haydar scored one more for Lake Erie before the Griffins scored four unanswered goals. Their luck ran out in the shootout by a 3-2 margin. Daniel Larsson was pulled after stopping only four of six shots. Thomas McCollum stopped 20 of 23 shots in relief but suffered the loss. The Griffins went 4-7-2-1 in February.
Next Up
The Rivermen are at home again Saturday when they face off with the Lake Erie Monster. The Rivermen are 1-1-0-1 against the Monsters this year. The game starts at 7 p.m. All games can be heard on Hippie 101.1 FM or viewed on AHL Live by clickingHERE.
