Monsters take on Griffins Saturday night
The Cleveland Monsters are looking to extend their current two-game winning streak at home against the Grand Rapids Griffins.
The last time the Grand Rapids Griffins came to town things did not go well for the Cleveland Monsters. Grand Rapids handed Cleveland a pretty definitive 5-2 loss and since then the Monsters are 3-1 including their recent 5-1 win over the Rochester Americans last weekend.
As previously mentioned, the Griffins won the last time they traveled to Cleveland. A combination of the Griffins being a superior team, Cleveland not playing for two weeks, and a last minute goalie decision did not end up well. This time around with the team a bit more fresh and a better idea of who will be in net should at least make things a bit closer.
Griffins right winger Riley Barber is currently 9th in the league with 18 points on the year. Barber’s 11 goals is tied for second in the league with two others. Taro Hirose is the Griffins leaders in assists with 10 in 12 games. Defenseman Joe Hicketts is right on his heels with 9 assists in 15 games.
The goaltending duo of Kevin Boyle and Pat Nagle have been quite formidable for Grand Rapids. There is not much difference in GAA between the two, 2.68 and 2.79 respectively. Same goes for their save percentages, Nagle’s 0.890 just edges out Boyle’s 0.887.
