GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- At times this season, the Grand Rapids Griffins have seemed almost unbeatable.
"We're built around winners," says Griffins forward Eric Tangrad. "We have a lot of guys on our team that have won on every level and regardless of the score or what's going on in the game we feel like if we play the right way, we are going to win the hockey game and that's the way things have been going."
Amazingly, the Griffins have two double-digit winning streaks this season, a franchise record 15-game streak from mid-November to late December and a 13-game streak that was just snapped on Sunday. Outside of the winning streaks though, the Griffins have been much more pedestrian with a 13-22 record.
"We've had a couple times this year when we've went on some good runs and we feel like maybe we took our gas off the pedal a little bit in between," said Tangradi. "I think going through it a little bit, starting the year losing some games , losing some games after our last streak, I think we know that we can't just be good for a couple weeks we have to be good for a long period of time."
The Griffins are now on a 2-game losing streak, but return home Saturday night for their only home game during a 26 day stretch.
"You know, we kind of knew that coming in when we saw the schedule," said Griffins forward Andy Miele. "We had a lot of home games at the start. We know we have to bear down here and make a good push here. "
"Coming back home after dropping a couple in San Antonio is, I think, a good recipe for us," says Griffins coach Todd Nelson. "I think the guys really like playing at the Van Andel in front of our fans and I think the guys are really geeked about being back home here. But you know, it's a tough stretch we have coming at the end. We saw this summer where we're gonna need to put ourselves in a good position to move forward, but it's a situation where we're playing playoff games now, which I think is healthy for us going into the playoffs."
The Griffins take on division rival Erie at 7 p.m. on Saturday at Van Andel Arena.
