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 Updated: Apr. 21, 2007 at 10:37 PM CDT
Griffins steal home-ice with 4-1 victory


By Travis Kondratuk
www.moosehockey.com

Matt Ellis scored a hat-trick and Jimmy Howard made several good saves for the visiting Griffins as they evened the best-of-seven North Division Semi-Final at one game apiece. The Griffins have stolen the home-ice advantage from Manitoba with the next three games coming in Grand Rapids. Game 3 is on Monday night at 6:00PM CDT and will be broadcast live on MTS TV.


>> Click to view photos of tonight's game.

>> Click here to see official scorer's sheet




First Period

The Griffins starting lineup tonight is #23 Matt Ellis at centre, #8 Ben Simon on left wing, and #9 Kip Miller on right wing, while #4 Dan Smith and #28 Derek Meech get the start once again on defence for the Griffins. Meech led all players last game with 29:35 of ice time. #33 Jimmy Howard gets the start again in goal for the visitors after a strong showing in Game 1.

After a good performance in Game 1 the Moose starting lineup remains the same with #18 J.J. Hunter, #7 Mason Raymond, and #12 Mike Keane at forward and #2 Alex Edler, and #27 Maxime Fortunus on defence. #1 Drew MacIntyre gets the start in goal for the Moose after posting his first career playoff shutout in Game 1.

The Griffins struck first when Brad Norton wristed a shot on goal from the point that MacIntyre made the pad save on, but Matt Ellis was left all alone on the doorstep to deposit the rebound past the Moose netminder. The opening goal came at 5:14 of the first period.

Lee Goren and Darryl Bootland got into a shoving match between the player benches which caused a scrum at centre ice. Both players were sent to the box for roughing, leaving the teams 4-on-4.

Just seconds later Prestin Ryan accidentally high-sticked Ryan Oulahen but was given a 5:00 major leaving the Moose to kill a large portion of the major 4-on-3.

The Griffins took full advantage with the extra skating room as Matt Ellis potted his second of the game to give the Griffins a 2-0 lead. Jakub Kindl fired a shot from the right point that MacIntyre made the right pad save on, but he kicked the puck right out to Ellis who banged in the rebound. Kip Miller drew his second assist of the game on the goal with Kindl getting the other.

The Griffins took a 3-0 stranglehold on the game when Darryl Bootland wristed a shot past Drew MacIntyre from the high slot to increase the visitor's lead to three. Bootland celebrated by taunting the fans of the MTS Centre along the glass. The goal came at 11:42 of period one with Tony Voce and Derek Meech assisting.

The Griffins then got into penalty trouble as Kip Miller and Brad Norton took back-to-back minor penalties to give the Moose an extended 5-on-3 advantage.

Goren missed early on in the advantage as he fired a shot off the crossbar on a beautiful cross-crease feed from Brad Moran. But the Moose would cut into the Griffins' lead as Moran finished off a beautiful tic-tac-toe play at the left post for his first goal of the post-season. Goren fed a crisp pass to Jaffray in the slot who one-timed the puck to Moran at the side of the net and he made no mistake re-directing it past a helpless Jimmy Howard. The goal came at 17:25 of the first cutting Grand Rapid's lead to 3-1.

The Griffins took a bench minor for too many men at 18:55 to give the Moose another crack with the man-advantage. Jason Jaffray skated down the wing and put a shot off the post before the period ended but that's as close as they would come before time ran out. The Moose still have 0:55 left on the man-advantage to start the second period. Manitoba trails the Griffins 12-6 in shots after period one.


Second Period

The Moose couldn't capitalize with their remaining powerplay time to start the second and the teams returned to 5-on-5.

Colby Genoway powered through a pair of Griffin defenders for a good chance on goal but he fired the puck over the head of Jimmy Howard.

J.J. Hunter was sprung for a good chance off a nifty pass that was threaded through several players. Hunter blasted a shot on Howard that he stopped with his left pad and the rebound just missed Keane at the left post. The play was blown dead when the Griffins touched the puck as Brad Norton was assessed a roughing penalty on the play.

The Moose failed to capitalize with the extra-attacker although they did put a few point shots on net, but Howard was able to see them all. The Griffins did a good job of clearing the rebounds.

Just seconds after Norton's penalty expired Darryl Bootland took an interference penalty when he ran into Drew MacIntyre in the crease to put the Moose back on the powerplay. Once again the home side failed to capitalize with the man-advantage leaving them 1-for-5 on the game.

Lee Goren threaded a cute pass from behind the net out front to Brad Moran, but Jimmy Howard somehow made the save on the one-time effort from Moran when it looked like he had no chance.

Manitoba couldn't find the back of the net in the second frame and find themselves down by two heading to the final period.


Third Period

Jimmy Howard absolutely robbed Yannick Tremblay on a fantastic re-direction just in front of the crease. Mason raymond fired a shot along the ice from the left point where Tremblay was streaking in from the far boards. Tremblay made a nice tip on the puck but Howard flashed the leather and held it up a-la-Patrick Roy to show everyone that he indeed made the save.

Howard made a few more saves at the right post when first Mike Keane and then former Griffin Brendan Brooks whacked away at a loose puck at the right side of the net.

Eric Himelfarb took a hooking penalty at 6:24 to give the Moose their sixth powerplay chance of the game.

Once again Manitoba managed to get a few shots through on Howard but they failed to get one past the Griffins netminder.

Jason Jaffray worked hard along the left wing boards as he earned another powerplay opportunity for the home side when Kip Miller hooked the Moose regular season leading scorer off the puck.

Jaffray made a nice tip on a Yannick Tremblay point blast at the right post then took a few extra whacks at the puck, drawing a huge pileup behind the Griffins goal.

Jaffray was given the only penalty on the play for slashing effectively ending their powerplay.

Then Ben Simon took a high-sticking minor just seconds later to restore the man-advantage for the home side.

Marc Chouinard brought an end to that man-advantage when he was called for hooking Ryan Oulahen at the Moose blueline as the two teams git a little loose with their discipline.

The Moose were able to kill off the minors but were quickly running out of time to get themselves back in the game.

With Drew MacIntyre on the bench for the extra-attacker Matt Ellis completed his hat-trick as he fired a puck into the vacant net with exxactly 1:00 to go in regulation.

With that, the Griffins evened the North Division Semi-Final at one game apiece with a 4-1 victory, stealing home-ice advantage from the Moose with the next three games of the series coming at the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids.

Moose scratches: Daniel Rahimi, Brandon Reid, Tyler Bouck, Patrick Coulombe, Shaun Heshka

Griffins scratches: Danny Syvret, Matt Hussey, Jon Insana, Jamie Tardif, Jonas Johansson, Adam Keefe

Video Clips
Game Summary

SCORING 1 2 3 T
Grand Rapids 3 0 1 4
Manitoba 1 0 0 1

Apr 21, 2007 - MTS Centre

FIRST PERIOD:

1. Grand Rapids, M. Ellis (1) (B. Norton, K. Miller) 5:14  
2. Grand Rapids, M. Ellis (2) (J. Kindl, K. Miller) 7:27 PP
3. Grand Rapids, D. Bootland (1) (T. Voce, D. Meech) 11:42  
4. Manitoba, B. Moran (1) (J. Jaffray, L. Goren) 17:25 PP

Penalties - D. Bootland Gra (roughing) 5:53, L. Goren Mtb (roughing) 5:53, P. Ryan Mtb (major - high-sticking) 6:31, E. Himelfarb Gra (roughing) 11:18, J. Jaffray Mtb (roughing) 11:18, K. Miller Gra (holding) 15:39, B. Norton Gra (holding) 15:54, Served by T. Voce Gra (bench minor - too many men) 18:55


SECOND PERIOD:

No Scoring

Penalties - B. Norton Gra (roughing) 11:02, D. Bootland Gra (goaltender interference) 13:35


THIRD PERIOD:

5. Grand Rapids, M. Ellis (3) (K. Miller) 19:00 EN

Penalties - E. Himelfarb Gra (hooking) 6:24, K. Miller Gra (hooking) 10:59, J. Jaffray Mtb (slashing) 11:46, B. Simon Gra (high-sticking) 12:10, M. Chouinard Mtb (hooking) 13:21, D. Bootland Gra (goaltender interference) 19:21

SHOTS 1 2 3 T
Grand Rapids 12 6 9 27
Manitoba 6 7 17 30


POWER PLAYS:

Grand Rapids Griffins 1-3. Manitoba Moose 1-9.

GOALTENDERS:

Grand Rapids Griffins
Howard 3-4-0
Start: 1st 0:00 Min: 60:00 SV: 29 GA: 1 [W]


Manitoba Moose
MacIntyre 4-6-0
Start: 1st 0:00 Min: 58:46 SV: 23 GA: 3 [L]



Attendance:
7567

Three Stars
  1. GRA- #23 Matt Ellis
  2. GRA- #33 Jimmy Howard
  3. GRA- #9 Kip Miller

What's Next

  • The Moose and Griffins now move to the Van Andel Arena for games 3, 4, and 5 as the North Division Semi-Final continues in Grand Rapids Monday, April 23rd at 6:00PM CDT. The game will be broadcast live on MTS TV from Grand Rapids.
Moose Image Gallery






















Photos by John Kozub. Click on one of the thumbnails below to view a larger version above.
Photos by John Kozub. Click on one of the thumbnails below to view a larger version above.

                          
                             
                 
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