The Malik Report

The Grand Rapids Griffins have filed their weekly press release, and the document prepares fans for the Griffins’ first-round playoff series against the Manitoba Moose:

GRIFFINS AND MOOSE CLASH IN CENTRAL DIVISION SEMIFINALS

Continue reading Griffins’ weekly press release sets up series vs. Manitoba

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan profiles Red Wings prospect and Grand Rapids Griffins defenseman Filip Hronek this afternoon, discussing Hronek’s rapid ascent through the Griffins’ depth chart:

Griffins coach Todd Nelson was impressed with how Hronek kept elevating his performance throughout the long season.

“I didn’t think he’d develop as quickly as he has, which is great,” Nelson said. “From Christmas on to now, he’s been playing his best hockey. Maybe a month ago I thought, ‘Man, he’s really developed, he’s playing extremely well for us, not just the offensive numbers but you look at his plus-minus, he’s playing well defensively’.

“And when I thought he’d be peaking, he cranked it up another gear last month, and that’s great for us and the organization. He runs the No. 1 power-play unit, and he’s been one of our go-to guys He’s put himself in that position, so that’s a great story.”

The adjustment of going from junior to pro hockey, along with a glut of defensemen in Grand Rapids in the early going, made getting into the lineup difficult for Hronek.

But gradually it all began to work out. The Red Wings made trades to reduce the logjam, and near the halfway mark of the season, Hronek began earning the trust of Nelson and the coaching staff.

“Guys are stronger, faster and smarter (in the AHL),” Hronek said of the adjustment from junior hockey where Hronek starred in Saginaw. “You have to make (quick) decisions. The start was hard, it was tough to get tempo (with lack of playing time), and trust from the coach. Then when I started to feel comfortable, I was feeling better.”

Kulfan continues…

It’s official, per the Grand Rapids Griffins:

JUSTIN FAZIO SIGNED TO ATO

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Grand Rapids Griffins on Thursday signed goaltender Justin Fazio to an amateur tryout.

Fazio, 20, led the Ontario Hockey League with a 0.918 save percentage and placed second in wins with 37 while making 51 appearances for the Sarnia Sting this season. He also ranked sixth with a 2.85 goals against average and tied for ninth with a pair of shutouts. The 6-foot-1 netminder added a 6-6 record, a 3.04 GAA and a 0.890 save percentage in 12 postseason games as Sarnia fell in six games to Kitchener in the second round of the OHL playoffs.

A native of Sarnia, Ontario, Fazio has skated in 176 games with the Sting since 2013 and has logged 50 or more appearances in each of the last two seasons. He has claimed 20 or more victories in three consecutive campaigns, capped off by a career-high 37 this season. In total, Fazio shows a 92-62-13 career record, a 3.26 GAA, a 0.900 save percentage and six shutouts with Sarnia. He adds a 6-8 record in 15 playoff appearances to go along with a 3.66 GAA and a 0.877 save percentage.

Red Wings prospect and Tri-City Americans captain Michael Rasmussen has shifted from center to wing since returning from wrist surgery, and MLive’s Ansar Khan reports that the positional change has benefited Rasmussen, per Wings director of player development Shawn Horcoff:

He had 31 goals and 59 points in 47 games during the regular season, playing mostly center, his natural position. He played a little on the wing toward the end of the year, which the Red Wings encouraged.

Rasmussen’s posted 10 goals and 14 assists for 24 points over the course of 8 playoff games played…

“He’s learning how to (play wing),” Horcoff said. “He’s normally been a center. We know him to be that and view him as that. But at the same time, it’s always good to learn how to play wing, which makes him more of a complete player.”

Horcoff said Rasmussen is skating much better. That was the main concern when he was drafted. He has tremendous hands and offensive instincts.

“When he first started playing (the wing) it took a little bit, but once the playoffs started he found his groove and is more comfortable,” Horcoff said. “He’s hard on the puck. With his size and strength in that league he’s hard to knock off the puck down low.

“He’s making some great offensive plays, some great passes, showing some really good vision from below the tops of the circles, which is a nice asset to go along with his good hands and scoring touch out front.”

Khan and Horcoff continue…

Via Mark MacDonald on Twitter, CHOK Radio Sarnia’s Josh Boyce reports that Sarnia Sting goaltender Justin Fazio has signed an Amateur Try-Out (ATO) with the Grand Rapids Griffins:

Graduating @Stinghockey goalie @JustinFazio97 has signed a Amateur Tryout Contract with the @TheAHL@griffinshockey. Congrats, Justin! #SLOnt

— Josh Boyce (@JTBoyceCHOK) April 19, 2018

Fazio, a 20-year-old who’s 6’1″ and 189 pounds, played 51 games for the Sting this past season, going 37-11-and-3 with a 2.85 goals-against average and a .918 save percentage.

He’ll probably serve as a Black Ace and goaltender on the Griffins’ practice squad; he signed an ATO with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers last spring, ultimately spending his spring with the ECHL’s Reading Royals.

The NHLPA has been posting videos from its early 2000’s-era “Be a Player” show, and today, they posted a video of Sergei Fedorov from 2004, who was then a member of the Anaheim Ducks. In retrospect, the 23-minute video is campy, but it’s an interesting “watch”:

 

Ahead of the Grand Rapids Griffins’ first-round series against the Manitoba Moose, the Winnipeg Free Press’s Mike Sawatsky penned a profile of Griffins defensemen Dylan McIlrath and Joe Hicketts:

In 2010, when Dylan McIlrath was drafted in the first round (10th overall) by the New York Rangers, he was a prime prospect and a prototypical shutdown defenceman.

He was big, a capable fighter with a nasty edge and a fearsome nickname (The Undertaker) — all qualities scouts savoured when he graduated from the Western Hockey League’s Moose Jaw Warriors.

Nearly eight years later, the way the game is played has changed dramatically, but McIlrath is still working to find permanent employment in the NHL. Traded twice last season (from the Rangers to the Florida Panthers to the Detroit Red Wings), the 25-year-old Winnipeg product has finally found a stable hockey home with the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins, Detroit’s chief farm team.

He also hasn’t given up on his big-league aspirations.

“Last year, I bounced around — five different teams and three organizations — so it was a lot of hotels, a lot of people to get to know and different cities,” said McIlrath via telephone from Grand Rapids, where the Griffins were preparing for Game 1 of their first-round playoff series with the Manitoba Moose in Winnipeg on Saturday afternoon. “I was lucky to be in one place this year and I re-signed here because I love it here and knew I had a good opportunity in this organization to move up, hopefully.”

Sawatsky continues…

The Free Press has published an excerpt from Murray Howe’s book, Nine Lessons I Learned From My Father, and here’s a taste thereof:

So many great memories flooded over me as I stared at my laptop. I thought long and hard about this one-of-a-kind man I called Father. Obviously he was larger than life to hockey fans and friends. But he was even bigger than that to me, his son, the one he called “the little guy,” even when I was 55. I idolized him for all that he was, and did my best to follow his lead. But although he was a man of strong conviction, he spoke softly and judiciously, and taught mostly by example.

Staring at the screen, I asked myself, What did I learn from my father? What did he stand for? My first thought, without hesitation, was live honorably.

Honorable: honest, moral, ethical, principled, righteous, right-minded; decent, respectable, estimable, virtuous, good, upstanding, upright, worthy, noble, fair, just, truthful, trustworthy, reliable, reputable, creditable, dependable, law-abiding.[1]

Yep, that was Dad. A man who stood up anytime a woman entered the room. Even when he was 88 years old.

Mr. Hockey stood for nothing if not for honor. Honor through loyalty, respect for self and for others, and excellence in every endeavor.

Continued

Of prospect-related playoff note:

In the OHL, Kaden Fulcher stopped 26 of 28 shots as the Hamilton Bulldogs won 6-2 over the Kingston Frontenacs, taking the first game of the teams’ Conference Final series;

And in the USHL, Filip Larsson’s Tri-City Storm struggled without him during the regular season, and they struggled without him during the playoffs, losing 3-0 to the Fargo Force.

Tri-City dropped both games 1 and 2 of a 3-game series, and thus, they’ve been eliminated.

The Toledo Walleye won a 3-1 decision over the Indy Fuel on Wednesday night, taking a 3 games-to-0 lead in the teams’ best-of-seven series.

Kyle Bonis scored 2 goals, A.J. Jenks scored an empty-netter, and Pat Nagle stopped 30 of 31 shots along the way.

The Walleye’s website posted a recap:

Continue reading Toledo Walleye win 2-1 over Indy, take 3-games-to-0 lead