Official 3/26/08 Game Thread - Monsters at Griffins

Lake Erie Monsters (25-33-5-7) at Grand Rapids Griffins (27-36-2-5)
Date: Wednesday, March 26th
Time: 7:00 p.m. EDT
Arena: Van Andel Arena
Radio: Listen live here to ESPN 850 WKNR
Webcast: Live through B2

Wednesday's Quick Facts:
Tonight is the second half of a back-to-back for the Monsters, and second of five games in six nights this week.

Tonight is also the second straight night of North Division competition for Lake Erie. They fell to Manitoba last night, who is in second place in the division. Tonight they match up with the Griffins, who sits right below the Monsters in the rankings. Lake Erie is currently in fifth place, while the Griffins are in sixth. The two teams have flip-flopped those spots all season.

Tonight will be the 10th meeting of the season for Lake Erie and Grand Rapids. The Monsters are 4-5 against the Griffins so far, including 2-2 in Grand Rapids. Most recently, the Monsters came out victorious on March 15th in Michigan.

The following Lake Erie players have been hot as of late: Wyatt Smith has posted 11 points in the past eight games; Eric Healey has 14 points in 10 games; and T.J. Hensick has recorded nine points in as many games.

Someone , if you could please tell me why Lundmark is so disliked by other teams. Again tonight Kyle Quincey... who is one of my favourite players... seems to be so offened by him. Really curious here!

it's a good thing friday is free hat day. the way the monsters have been playing...

I thought Purinton was off the team.

didnt listen to the game and i'm glad i didn't. well we are now back where we belong in sixth place.
can't wait until friday to see what happens, its feee hat night but i dont know if i want one, and to show my support i will be wearing my doug gilmour sweater!

Purinton got HOSED. Listening to the game, he got HOSED. The fight clearly started by Quincey and it STARTED BEFORE THE GOAL WAS SCORED.
The AHL needs to take a pill when it comes to Purinton. He got the same thing that Quincey got but didn't get a 2 minute minor for instigating. Then he gets a Gamer for Persisting? WRONG WRONG WRONG, The AHL is GARBAGE.

Made the Roadie. Guys seemed to get a ton of energy in 2nd and seemed like we may get back in the game. Then we had a bad turnover that led to the goal to make it 4-1. Downhill from there.
Purinton certainly got hosed. He got body slammed, laying on his back on the ice and guy is still pounding. He has to try and protect himself. The linesman tackled Quincey twice while Purinton just stood there calmly. Quincey was immediately sent to tunnel. Purinton went to box and then some 5 minutes later they give him the boot. BS.
Just like the parent club we have to convert better on power play. We had ample opportunity an unfortunately gave up another goal when we had 5 on 3.

i have come to the realization that the ahl, is not only just a developmental league for the players but also for the referees. i have seen some really bad calls, especially the first penalty that the monsters took against manitoba. i dont remember who it was but the monsters player got his stick in the manitoba players midsection which would be a standard hooking call but then manitoba player grabbed the stick of the monsters player and wouldnt let go and would then be considered a holding the stick penaly on manitoba but who gets the gate, you guessed it the monsters. plus the refs in this league look younger than i am so...
yeah but purinton is a marked man and its a shame, i know he takes some really dumb penalties but he is an intimidating player and that is always a plus.

Purinton has brought all of this attention from referees on himself from so much of the dumb stuff he's done in the past. That being said, I still think the AHL needs to chill out. He's such a marked man that it honestly is ridiculous and hurts the Monsters as a team. It's okay to watch the guy a little more than others, but he sure is getting shortchanged on a lot of penalty calls.

Maybe we should put Purinton in goal, that way the refs will be watching and can call interference properly.

they'd probably call it the wrong way. in a sense, the worse the end of this season is the better it is for the franchise in that when the inevitable roster changes come, it will be seen as a rebuilding opportunity. if there is an expansion team added next season, we could lose a few. look how many of our guys were river rats.