Griffs win weird one at Van Andel

By Jim den Hollander

Midwesthockey.info

The Grand Rapids Griffins advanced to the American Hockey League’s Central Division championship with a 4-1 win over the visiting Milwaukee Admirals in one of the strangest games seen at Van Andel Arena Tuesday (April 26) night.

The Griffins, hosting it’s first game in a Best-of-Five series after back-to-back wins in Milwaukee on the weekend, wiped out a 1-0 deficit with two goals 34 seconds apart early in the second period.

Now, that in itself is not strange — happened many times.

The weird part is that both goals came after video review having escaped through what must have been a rip in the mesh on the net being protected by Marek Mazanec, goaltender for the Admirals.

The first came 77 seconds into the middle period, off the stick of 25-year-old Brian Lashoff who hammered a shot through a crowd from the point. The puck ripped through the mesh beside the left side post so quickly and seamlessly, nobody seemed to realize it was in. Well almost nobody, one of the officials must have suspected something  Play continued for nearly a minute and at the next whistle the four officials huddled by the penalty box for a lengthy period. Finally, to the shock of everyone, the referee signaled a Griffins’ goal and time was added to the clock.

Then, 30 seconds later, Anthony Mantha fired a wrister from near the faceoff dot that appeared to go just wide. This time Griffins players started frantically pointing — appearing to be saying it went through the net again. Another delay and ultimately, another goal awaded. Just like that, the Admirals found itself staring up at a 2-1 deficit in a must win game with two goals that somehow managed to squeeze through the mesh on the net. Not wanting any more of these shenanigans, the officials wisely asked arena officials to switch out the nets.

This writer has seen pucks go through a net — of course its possible. But two in 30 seconds seems beyond improbable.

However, a quick look at video provided by the Griffins the next day showed both goals actually did travel through the net with direction and speed unimpeded. It seems unreal until you actually see it.

The Admirals never recovered from those goals. Having notched the game’s first on a shot by 25-year-old Adam Payerl in the opening period, the Ads fell behind and couldn’t get back into it. Another goal by Mantha late in the second padded the margin and 25-year-old Colin Campbell added a fourth just past the halfway mark of the final period to put this one away.

With the win, the Griffins earned a series sweep, knocking off the regular season division leading Ads in three straight and moving on to play the Lake Erie Monsters who also earned an opening round sweep against the Rockford IceHogs.

Dates and times are still TBA on a Best-of-Seven Division championship series that will advance one of those teams into the Conference finals agianst the Pacific Division champion. The series will likely begin in Cleveland on the weekend.