Promotional Calendar

DETROIT Photo credit: Getty Images RED WINGS

With a young core powered by former Griffins such as Tyler Bertuzzi, Filip Hronek and Filip Zadina, the 202021 Detroit Red Wings achieved the NHL’s largest improvements last season in terms of both points percentage and goal differential. Moritz Seider, Michael Rasmussen, Gustav Lindstrom and Givani Smith are among the Griffins alumni who’ve joined them in Hockeytown for 2021-22, the 20th season of affiliation between Grand Rapids and Detroit.

TOP AFFILIATE: Grand Rapids Griffins • 20th Season ARENA: Little Caesars Arena • Seating Capacity: 19,515 CONTACT: (313) 471-7000 • detroitredwings.com STANLEY CUPS: 1936, 1937, 1943, 1950, 1952, 1954, 1955, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2008

MANAGEMENT

EXECUTIVE VP/GENERAL MANAGER: Steve Yzerman ASSISTANT GENERAL MANAGER: Pat Verbeek

COACHING STAFF

HEAD COACH: Jeff Blashill ASSISTANT COACHES: Doug Houda, Alex Tanguay GOALTENDING COACH: Jeff Salajko VIDEO COACH: LJ Scarpace ASSISTANT VIDEO COACH: Jeff Weintraub

GRIFFINS WHO HAVE EARNED THEIR WINGS

Justin Abdelkader 2008-09 Adam Almquist 2013-14 Joakim Andersson 2011-12 Andreas Athanasiou 2015-16 Sean Avery 2002-03 Ryan Barnes 2003-04 Tyler Bertuzzi 2016-17 Patrick Boileau 2002-03 Darryl Bootland 2003-04 Madison Bowey 2019-20 Mathias Brome 2020-21 Fabian Brunnstrom 2011-12 Mitch Callahan 2013-14 Jake Chelios 2018-19 Dennis Cholowski 2018-19 Ty Conklin 2011-12 Chris Conner 2011-12 Jared Coreau 2016-17 Kyle Criscuolo 2021-22 Danny DeKeyser 2013-14 Aaron Downey 2008-09 Patrick Eaves 2013-14 Christoffer Ehn 2018-19 Matt Ellis 2006-07 Cory Emmerton 2010-11 Jonathan Ericsson 2007-08 Landon Ferraro 2013-14 Valtteri Filppula 2005-06 Martin Frk 2017-18 Luke Glendening 2013-14 Mark Hartigan 2007-08 Darren Helm 2007-08 Joe Hicketts 2017-18 Taro Hirose 2019-20 Jimmy Howard 2005-06 Filip Hronek 2018-19 Jiri Hudler 2003-04 Matt Hussey 2006-07 Doug Janik 2009-10 Nick Jensen 2016-17 Tomas Jurco 2013-14 Jakub Kindl 2009-10 Tomas Kopecky 2005-06 Niklas Kronwall 2003-04 Marc Lamothe 2003-04 Josh Langfeld 2006-07 Dylan Larkin 2015-16 Brian Lashoff 2012-13 Brett Lebda 2005-06 Ville Leino 2008-09 Gustav Lindstrom 2019-20 Matt Lorito 2016-17 Joey MacDonald 2006-07 Donald MacLean 2005-06 Anthony Mantha 2015-16 Alexey Marchenko 2013-14 Darren McCarty 2007-08 Tom McCollum 2010-11 Dylan McIlrath 2018-19 Derek Meech 2006-07 Wade Megan 2018-19 Drew Miller 2016-17 Kevin Miller 2003-04 Mark Mowers 2003-04 Petr Mrazek 2012-13 Jan Mursak 2010-11 Anders Myrvold 2003-04 Andrej Nestrasil 2014-15 Kris Newbury 2009-10 Tomas Nosek 2015-16 Gustav Nyquist 2011-12 Xavier Ouellet 2013-14 Calvin Pickard 2019-20 Matt Puempel 2018-19 Teemu Pulkkinen 2013-14 Kyle Quincey 2005-06 Michael Rasmussen 2018-19 Dan Renouf 2016-17 Mattias Ritola 2007-08 Jamie Rivers 2003-04 Nathan Robinson 2003-04 Stacy Roest 2002-03 Robbie Russo 2016-17 Moritz Seider 2021-22 Riley Sheahan 2011-12 Brendan Smith 2011-12 Givani Smith 2019-20 Ryan Sproul 2013-14 Garrett Stafford 2007-08 Ben Street 2016-17 Libor Sulak 2018-19 Evgeny Svechnikov 2016-17 Eric Tangradi 2015-16 Tomas Tatar 2010-11 Jordin Tootoo 2013-14 Dominic Turgeon 2017-18 Joe Veleno 2020-21 Jason Williams 2002-03 Filip Zadina 2018-19

EST. 1996

DEC. 18

Holly Jolly Holiday Celebration presented by Comerica Bank/Kids 25th Anniversary Jersey Giveaway/Santa Claus Appearance

DEC. 19

Salute to Frontline Workers presented by MET & MESP

DEC. 31

24th Annual New Year’s Eve Celebration/Post-Game Fireworks/6 p.m. Start (NO $2 Beers and $2 Hot Dogs)

JAN 22

MARK YOUR

JAN. 8

Heroes vs. Villains Night presented by Marathon/ Character Appearances

JAN. 15

Tyler Bertuzzi Champion Series Bobblehead Giveaway presented by Michigan Office Solutions

JAN. 22

The Mighty Griffs Night presented by Michigan First Credit Union/Poster Giveaway/Mighty Griffs Jersey Auction

FEB. 5

Princess Night presented by Lake Michigan Credit Union/Princess Appearances/Tea Party

FEB. 19

‘90s Night presented by Play Gun Lake/Michel Picard Jersey Number Retirement Ceremony/ Mini Van Andel Arena Replica Giveaway/ Throwback Jersey Auction

FEB. 26

Hockey Without Barriers & Sensory Friendly Game presented by Adventure Credit Union/Tomas Tatar Champion Series Bobblehead Giveaway

MARCH 5

Star Wars Night presented by DTE/Character Appearances

JAN. 15

DEC. 18

DEC 31

JAN 8

CALENDAR

MARCH 18

10th Annual Purple Community Game presented by Van Andel Institute/ Purple Jersey Auction

APRIL 2

Margaritaville Night presented by Centennial Securities/Jeff Hoggan Jersey Number Retirement Ceremony/Beach Hat Giveaway

APRIL 13

Jake Engel Memorial Dog Game No. 2 presented by Nestlé Purina

APRIL 22

Fan Appreciation Night presented by Huntington Bank

JAN. 22 FEB. 19 FEB. 26 APR 13

APR. 2

FEB. 19 APR 2

FEB 26

MAR. 18 FEB 19

FEB 5

MAR 5

PROMOTIONSCHECK OUT THESE SEASON-LONG Be sure to make note of these promotions occurring regularly throughout the season! Take advantage of cheap beer and dogs, free tickets, military and student discounts and more!

$2 BEERS AND $2 HOT DOGS

Every Friday, enjoy $2 domestic drafts and $2 hot dogs from 6-8 p.m., at select stands while supplies last.

MILITARY NIGHTS

Every home game, current members of our military can purchase up to four Upper Level Faceoff tickets for $14 each, four Upper Level Center Ice tickets for $17 each or four Lower Level Faceoff tickets for $20 each with a valid military ID. The offer also extends to veterans who present a VA ID or discharge papers.

FREE RIDE FRIDAY ON THE RAPD

Ride the Rapid to and from any Friday game and enjoy a complimentary fare by showing your ticket to that night’s game. Visit ridetherapid.org for schedule information, routes and maps.

WINNING WEDNESDAYS

Every time the Griffins win at home on Wednesday, each fan in attendance will receive a free ticket to the next Wednesday game. To redeem a Winning Wednesday ticket, please visit the box office following the Winning Wednesday game, The Zone during normal business hours, or the Van Andel Arena box office prior to the next Wednesday game beginning at 5:30 p.m. Fans who exchange their Winning Wednesday ticket at The Zone on a non-game day will receive 20% off the purchase of one item (excluding jerseys). One discount per person present.

LIBRARY NIGHTS

For all Wednesday and Sunday games, fans can present their Grand Rapids Public Library card or Kent District Library card at the Van Andel Arena box office on the night of the game or at The Zone anytime during the store’s regular business hours to purchase either an Upper Level Faceoff ticket for $14 (regularly $16 advance and $19 day of game), an Upper Level Center Ice ticket for $17 (regularly $19 advance and $22 day of game) or a Lower Level Faceoff ticket for $20 (regularly $22 advance and $25 day of game). Limit four tickets per card per person, subject to availability.

FRIENDS & FAMILY 4-PACKS

Presented by Buddy’s Pizza and available for all Saturday games, each pack includes four tickets, one four square cheese pizza at Buddy’s Pizza, and $20 in concession cash for a great low price. Visit griffinshockey.comf4p or call (616) 774-4585 ext. 2. Continuing this season, fans may use their concession cash to purchase healthy choice menu options at the stand located outside of section 126, including low-fat yogurt, apples, oranges, granola bars and smoothies.

SUNDAY IS FUN DAY

For all Sunday games, enjoy $1 small Pepsi drinks and $1 small ice cream cups from 3-5 p.m.

PEPSI READING GOALS

Children with Griff’s Reading Goals bookmarks who have completed the required three hours of reading can redeem their bookmark for two free Upper Level tickets to any of the following games: Bookmark #1 – Dec. 19 and 22; Bookmark #2 – Jan. 26; March 9 and 16; April 6.

POST-GAME OPEN SKATES

Bring your skates to the rink and take to the ice for a post-game open skate. Dates include Dec. 31, Jan. 15 and April 22. As a reminder, Van Andel Arena has a no-bag policy, but security will allow fans to use bags to bring in their skates.

MOS CORNER OFFICE

Presented by Michigan Office Solutions, this section, located on the terrace level above section 118, provides the best seats in the house for groups of up to 30 people, with La-Z-Boy chairs and an array of unprecedented amenities. Call (616) 774-4585 ext. 4.

DAVE & BUSTER’S FREE SUPERCHARGE

Take your Griffins ticket to Dave & Buster’s or show your mobile ticket to receive a free supercharge of your Power Card.

All promotions and dates subject to change. For more information, visit griffinshockey.com.

Playmaking defenseman Ryan Murphy has a renewed perspective since returning to North America.

Story and photos by Mark Newman

MAN ON A ON A MISSION

When Ryan Murphy was looking for a place to play this season, one destination stood out.

He saw the Detroit Red Wings as an organization on the rise and, if he was going to play in the American Hockey League, there was no better place to be than Grand Rapids.

“When I was figuring out where to play this year, I remembered playing the Griffins wherever I might have been,” he said. “They always have a heckuva team and they win and they win. It’s just a winning culture. I want to be in a winning culture and this is probably the best team in the minors if you want to experience that.

“Looking at the Detroit Red Wings, you see Steve Yzerman putting together a team just like he did in Tampa, where they have done something special by winning back-to-back Stanley Cups. I hope something special can happen here and I can be a big part of it.”

In his ninth full season as a professional, Murphy, 28, has a new perspective. For years, he struggled to secure his spot in the NHL, splitting season after season between the world’s top league and the minors, caught in a virtual netherworld where negativity can threaten to seep into the soul of any former firstround draft pick.

A year of playing in Russia helped set his psyche straight. Seeing friends enjoy the apex of success only strengthened his resolve.

“I want to win something before I’m done,” he said. “I’ve watched [as] two of my best friends have won Stanley Cups the past three years [St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington and Barclay Goodrow of the Tampa Bay Lightning]. I’ve seen them come home for the summer and I’ve watched them celebrating and how life is good.

“I want that. Seeing them both do it, even though they had different rides to the NHL, only made it real for me and showed that it is possible. It’s been cool to see because they have been awesome supporters of mine. Every year they say ‘Next year is your year.’

“I want to go into the summer with a championship that I can celebrate with my friends and family just because I’ve seen them do it. I’ve seen how cool it is and how rewarding it can be. And I think this is the place where it can happen.”

The desire to win is nothing new for the Aurora, Ontario, native. Growing up north of Toronto, he took to hockey at a young age, his skills overshadowing his smaller size – a reality

Murphy won the Eddie Shore Award as the AHL’s best defenseman last season while playing for the Henderson Silver Knights.

that was recognized by his minor hockey coach, Moe Catenacci, whose son Daniel was one of his close friends growing up.

Catenacci coached both boys in the York Simcoe Express Hockey Association for 10 years, from the time the boys were seven years old until they hit 16 and left for the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). He saw Murphy could be a special player if he maximized his offensive skills.

Having played 15 seasons in Europe, Catenacci believed that turning Murphy into a Euro-style blueliner presented his best chance at a future in professional hockey, because his size (5-11, 185 lbs.) was on the small side for NHL defensemen.

“I idolized Moe,” Murphy said. “He played one exhibition game for the St. Louis Blues, which I thought was so cool. He was the first guy to teach me the offensive side of the game as a defenseman. I was put on the back end by a coach named Dave Howie, who put all his good skaters on the defense.

“When I got to Moe, Moe started to tell me to go the other way when the puck started coming toward us to pick off passes and stuff. He developed my offensive side of the game. I didn’t start learning the defensive side until the NHL, to be honest.”

In the OHL, Murphy played four years for the Kitchener Rangers, where he was encouraged to pursue the same offensive mindset. “I played for Steve Spott, who preached the same thing,” Murphy said. “He let me play offense. He told me that defense was something I would learn later in life.”

While Murphy excelled at helping put the puck into the net, Spott kept guiding the Rangers to winning seasons until he left for the AHL’s Toronto Marlies and eventual assistant coaching positions in the NHL. During his draft year, Murphy tallied 26 goals, an impressive number by any measure for a defenseman.

That kind of success in junior hockey convinced the Carolina Hurricanes to take Murphy with the 12th overall pick in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.

Over the next five seasons, Murphy struggled to establish himself as a regular in the NHL, bouncing between Carolina and the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers.

“I didn’t know how to handle playing in the minors,” he now admits. “At first, I thought I was done. I was the 12th overall pick and now I was in the minors. What’s going on? It was the first adversity I faced.”

Disappointment, frustration and despair are emotions that have faced many high draft picks who find themselves in the minor leagues.

“It took me years, probably up until the time I went to Europe, to realize that you’ve got to be a professional and you’ve got to do the little things. You can’t just rely on your God-given talent,” he said. “There are so many little things that you have to do to become an everyday NHLer.”

It didn’t help his cause that there were five different head coaches between Carolina and Charlotte during his time in the organization.

“We had so many changes with coaches and management that it was tough to find my way as a young guy, especially because I was trying to establish myself as an NHL player. For the most part all of my coaches were great, but you’re learning from all these different coaches and it’s not as easy as it sounds.”

One thrill that will be forever etched in his mind is his first NHL goal, which he scored at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto two weeks into his first full season as a pro in 2013.

“I’m almost embarrassed to say that it’s the highlight of my career,” he said. “I was still young to the point where family members are still surprised that you made it. We had a partial breakaway and I missed the net but I looped back around and delivered a one-timer for a power-play goal.

“I had about 50 people in the crowd, including my parents with my older brother and younger sister. My grandparents were in the house, plus other extended family and friends. It was awesome. It’s a feeling I want to experience again.”

Even so, those kinds of moments were few and far between for Murphy. He eventually decided he needed a change of scenery. “It was just time,” he said. “I didn’t feel like my career was going in the right direction. I wanted out of Carolina because I wanted a fresh start somewhere.”

Murphy thought he had his new shot when Carolina included him in a three-player deal with an exchange of draft picks to Calgary during the summer of 2017, but he wasn’t a member of the Flames for even 24 hours. Calgary announced it would be buying out his 2017-18 salary.

“My agent was telling me that the Flames were interested and that Calgary was a good spot for me,” he recalled. “I was talking with my buddies and celebrating when I got another call about an hour and a half later saying that I was

Murphy was drafted in the first round (12th overall) of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft by the Carolina Hurricanes.

being bought out. I was confused. To this day, I still don’t know why. It was bizarre. To not be even given a chance was strange, but everything happens for a reason.”

He ultimately signed a one-year deal with Minnesota and started the 2017-18 season with the AHL’s Iowa Wild. When defenseman Jared Spurgeon was sidelined by a partial tear of his hamstring, Murphy was recalled for another stab at the NHL .

“I came into a top-four role and [head coach] Bruce Boudreau said ‘You play well, roll with it’ – no pressure but play well. It was probably the most solid hockey I played in my NHL career. I was averaging about 20 minutes per game and I thought that I had established myself there.”

Playing on the second defensive pairing in Minnesota, Murphy recorded two goals and three assists while being a plus-eight in 21 games.

So Murphy was surprised when the Wild didn’t issue a qualifying offer the following summer. Instead, the team signed him to a oneyear, two-way contract for the league minimum. “I ended up taking a pay cut, so it was clear that I wasn’t going to be their guy. That was frustrating. The coaches were great and I made some good friendships, but for whatever reason, things didn’t work out.”

In January 2019, Minnesota traded Murphy to New Jersey for Binghamton defenseman Michael Kapla. “I got a call that San Jose had put in a trade offer for me and Minnesota was nice enough to say that if I wanted out, they would do it,” he said. “San Jose was where my old coach from juniors [Steve Spott] was now, so I thought about it and said let’s do this.

“I thought this could be a good thing, so I said let’s pack up and get out of here. Then I saw I was going to New Jersey/Binghamton in a trade. I was shocked.

“Those were some dark days. We didn’t have a good team in Binghamton. I did get to go up for one game with the Devils and play against Carolina. We won 3-2 and I had the assist on the game’s first goal, but I got sent back down the next day and that was it for New Jersey. It was a tough experience.

“I thought I was done. I thought I was finished with hockey. You get into your head when you can feel the door closing. That summer the phone was not ringing.”

Murphy eventually got a job offer from Slava Butsayev, the former Griffins forward (19992001) who was the head coach of Nizhnekamsk Neftekhimik in the KHL. Nizhnekamsk is a city in the Republic of Tatarstan, a two-hour flight east of Moscow in the middle of Russia.

“I got a call that they were offering me a contract for decent money and that I essentially needed to let them know,” he said. “I didn’t know much about the KHL, but I was told that it was not the best place in the world or the most glamorous team, so I knew that going in.

“My way of looking at it was that I was going to go to Russia, I’d stick to myself and focus only on hockey. I wanted to find the offensive confidence that I had lost over the previous seven years from being beaten down by almost every coach along the way.”

Murphy quickly found that playing in Russia would require more than a little adjustment.

“Everything’s a little different over there,” Murphy said. “We had a translator who would translate what we needed to know, but it was tough. Whenever Butsayev was on the board describing the drills, you had to pay attention because most of the time the translator was kind of wrong about what we were supposed to do. He was a great guy but not the best translator.

“Butsayev spoke English but he didn’t really speak it to the North American guys, so there was a big language barrier. We only had a couple of Russian players who spoke any English and they didn’t go out of their way to speak to us. You definitely felt isolated at the time.”

As an assistant captain, Murphy felt a sense of responsibility.

“It was tough because we didn’t have the best team in the world. We had a lot of young Russians trying to make their way in the KHL and when you’re going up against the top teams every night, it was a little overwhelming. We were playing in our zone a lot and getting stomped on.

“As the year went along, I found little ways to individually create offense. And that’s what I used to be really good at – creating offense. Towards the end, I felt like I was catching my stride and we started winning games.”

In retrospect, Murphy believes playing in the KHL was almost the best thing that could have happened for his career.

“Going to Russia, I got so humbled,” he said. “There was a McDonald’s but there wasn’t much to do. On off days, you could fly to Moscow or drive to Kazan. In the sense of my career, it was what I needed. I started to appreciate stuff in

Murphy has NHL experience with Carolina, Minnesota and New Jersey.

Murphy is known for his ability to quarterback the power play.

ROAD TRIP!

Hockey players can have interesting summers. Like the time Murphy headed south to an unusual location with a buddy. “One weekend, I said to him, ‘Do you want to get away from here?’ So we each wrote down five destinations on our phones and swapped them to see what matched up. One of the places on both of our lists was Colombia.” Murphy had been obsessed with Narcos, the Netflix documentary about the life and death of Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar. His friend, meanwhile, knew a family in Colombia from a previous trip to the Bahamas. “He had gone up to the dad and said, ‘I think your daughter is very good looking. Can I talk to her?’ The dad thought that was amazing. He really appreciated him approaching him like that.”

The encounter led to a standing invitation to visit Colombia sometime in the future.

“I said, ‘Let’s do it!’” Murphy recalled. “So we booked our flight and they took care of us when we got there.”

Murphy admits that they were naturally a bit naive about the whole trip.

“It was a little weird,” he said. “We got picked up in a bulletproof car. Right away, I’m thinking, ‘What’s going on?’ They asked us what we wanted to do. I was obsessed with the Narcos documentary, so I wanted to do the Pablo Escobar tour.

“They said, ‘OK, we’ll set it up. Be outside your hotel at 11 and we’ll send a car.’ We weren’t sure what we were getting ourselves into with the bulletproof car and stuff.”

Sure enough, there was a vehicle waiting for them at the appointed time.

“We got in the car and we drove for about 10 minutes. We came to this house on the top of a hill. It was nothing crazy, but it was a nice house overlooking all of Medellín. The car dropped us off and this man starts walking toward us.

“He’s talking in Spanish and he sounded angry. Then this lady came out. She said, ‘Do you guys know where you are?’ We had no idea. She said, ‘This is where the Escobar family lives now. This is his brother Roberto.’ I was like, ‘What!?’”

Roberto Escobar, the older brother of Pablo, was the accountant who was responsible for the cartel’s money. The Escobar organization is said to have been responsible for thousands of murders and untold billions of dollars in drug traffic. So many billions that folklore says the cartel spent $2,500 a month on just rubber bands to keep the currency together in neat stacks.

North America better where I don’t care where I am now. I just want to play in North America in front of my friends and family.”

With the pandemic pushing the hockey season into limbo, Murphy wasn’t sure where he would be headed next.

“I had a decent season in the KHL, but not enough to open the eyes of people from the big clubs in Russia and not enough to earn an NHL contract,” he said. “I was still a little lost, but I knew I didn’t want to give up on the NHL. I knew I wanted to play in North America again.”

He approached his old coach, Steve Spott, who had become an assistant coach with the Vegas Golden Knights.

“They put an AHL deal on the table and I didn’t think twice and took it,” he said. “With our league being pushed back by the pandemic, I thought my best chance at hitting the ground running was to be ready for camp as much as I could.”

Murphy began last season with Minsk Dynamo of the KHL. “Belarus was a better experience because we had a North American coach, Craig Woodcroft, who was awesome,” he said. “The city of Minsk was beautiful, we had a good team and I knew a lot of guys. I needed

to go there to be able to take another stab at playing here.”

He played 12 games in Belarus before opening the season with the Henderson Silver Knights. In 37 games, he led all AHL defensemen with 22 assists and 27 points. He led the league with 13 power-play assists and ranked second with 14 power-play points. He began his eighth AHL season as an assistant captain but was promoted to captain late in the season after Patrick Brown was recalled by Vegas.

In recognition of his play, Murphy won the Eddie Shore Award as the AHL’s outstanding defenseman for the 2020-21 season, as voted by coaches, players, and media members in each of the league’s active member cities.

“My European experience helped my mindset,” he said. “My goal ever since I came back from Russia is to establish myself and not be a bubble guy. I just want to play a consistent role for a hockey team and not be disposable. I want to be leaned on.”

So life is good. Murphy, who is engaged to get married next June to his grade-school sweetheart, is happy to be playing hockey in Grand Rapids, where a winning culture has long been in place and veteran leadership is seen as being integral to the development of future Detroit Red Wings players.

“It starts at the top with Brian Lashoff,” Murphy said. “He’s not much older but I look up to him. The guy has been around forever and he’s been on the same team the whole time and that’s an achievement, to have one organization want you that many years. It’s a compliment to him.”

Murphy thinks this year’s team has the makings of being special.

“When you look up and down the lineup, we have such a good mix of young and old, with great goaltending, and the coaching staff is great. They’re approachable and you can talk to them,” he said. “Of course, you’d like to start your season by winning 10 games in a row, but we’ve had a lot of bright spots in our games. We haven’t even scratched the surface in terms of what this team is capable of doing.

“For so many years, my life has been a story of up and down, up and down, up and down. It takes its toll. But looking back now, I consider myself fortunate because I have met so many people and I have learned so many things from so many different coaches.

“I want to win something before I’m done. When I look at our team here, I’m excited.”

“So we ended up having coffee with Roberto and his nephew Nicolas and niece Laura. I told them about this place in Toronto named after the Escobar family and that everybody goes to this bar and everybody loves it.

“Somehow, lost in translation, they thought I said I owned this restaurant. The next thing I knew they started feeding me all this merchandise. Like T-shirts and stuff, and before we left, they gave me this big, thick book.”

Murphy didn’t recognize the book, but the leather cover identified it as Pablo Escobar Gaviria en Caricaturas 1983-1991, a self-published collection of political cartoons that the author completed while incarcerated in the prison he had built for himself.

Most of the copies of the book were burned after Escobar escaped from the prison, with only a handful of copies surviving the fire. The book turns up now and again on eBay at predictably ludicrous prices. Sotheby’s auction house has a copy listed for $10,000.

“All of the family members came out, signed it, and put their fingerprints in it for authenticity,” Murphy said. “When I got home, my dad looked it up. We couldn’t believe it. It was such a crazy trip.”

The book now sits prominently on a coffee table in Murphy’s home – a souvenir of his trip to Colombia and his meeting Roberto Escobar and family.

Turner Elson brings the kind of positive influence that coaches love.

Elson is in his fifth season with the Griffins.

In a quarter of a century of Griffins hockey, fewer than three dozen players have spent at least parts of five seasons in Grand Rapids.

If you reduce the ranks to those who have logged five seasons of at least 20 games and who came to the organization as undrafted free agents – players who were discovered without the pedigree of being a prized prospect of any NHL team – you can count those players on less than two hands.

Turner Elson is one of those rare examples.

Now in his fifth year with the Griffins, Elson joins Brian Lashoff, Dominik Shine, Joe Hicketts, Colin Campbell, Francis Pare, Joey MacDonald and Dave Van Drunen as the only players to claim that distinction. His longevity speaks to his value to the organization.

“He’s a hockey player – he loves the game of hockey,” said Griffins head coach Ben Simon. “He’s a versatile guy that you can use on the wing, at center, on the power play or the penalty kill. He can play different styles. Whatever you need, he’ll do. He doesn’t ask questions. He doesn’t ask why. He just works and he works hard.

“He’s one of those guys you know what you’re going to get because he competes. And he cares. He cares if the team wins or loses, which is not to say that the other guys don’t care, but he’s a soldier. He’s the kind of guy you go into a foxhole with.”

Elson fully appreciates the advantages that come with relative job security.

“At the start of my career I bounced around, so I know how it’s hard to get to know new people, new systems, new coaching staffs. You don’t know who is going to like you. It’s all of the unknowns. There are so many factors that can determine how your season might go,” he said.

“Being able to come back to Grand Rapids, I know where I stand. I know what they want from me as far as a position of leadership, my role on the team, and what they expect from me. It makes things so much easier when you’re able to come back to the same organization. I get to focus on my game.”

For his part, Elson takes nothing for granted. Being able to re-sign with the organization year after year is directly dependent on his

Elson set careerhigh totals for goals, assists and points during the 2018-19 season.

ability to excel – and that means nothing has changed for someone who has always thrived on his capacity to beat the odds. Give him even a little chance and he’ll turn it into a bigger opportunity.

This is a player whose favorite book is Lone Survivor, the heroic story of a U.S. Navy Seal who managed to survive an ambush by Taliban fighters. This is a player who finds inspiration in the quote “A trying time is no time to quit trying” because he is determined to show that surrender is not part of his vocabulary.

Elson has had that unflagging conviction for a long time. The fourth of five boys growing up in Alberta, Canada, Elson inherited his indefatigable spirit from his maternal grandfather, a marathon runner who competed in 30 marathons after finishing his first at the age of 50, and who also battled bladder cancer and a form of ALS.

It was that same never-give-up attitude that drove a 17-year-old Elson to call Western Hockey League teams in an attempt to talk his way into a tryout. When he got a camp invitation from the Red Deer Rebels, he literally fought for his place on the roster.

He did the same thing in Calgary, earning an NHL contract as a free agent by fighting to get noticed. “I felt like my junior experience inspired me,” he said. “It was working, so I kept doing it.”

Elson played sparingly during his rookie pro season with the AHL’s Abbotsford Heat in 2013-14. He played limited minutes, tallying two goals and an assist in 37 games before the Flames sent him to the Alaska Aces of the ECHL. In typical Elson fashion, he looked at the move as an opportunity rather than a demotion.

“I was just happy to play because I was barely playing in the AHL,” he said. “In Abbotsford, I was in and out of the lineup, playing only three minutes a night sometimes. I didn’t have the confidence to play in the AHL at that time, so I was happy to go down and play. Plus I knew the team had the potential to win the Kelly Cup.”

Elson finished the regular season with 15 points (5-10—15) in 18 ECHL games before adding seven goals and four assists in 21 playoff games to help the Aces capture the 2014 Kelly Cup.

“Playing with that team was probably one of

the most memorable experiences so far in my career,” Elson said. “We had such a good team and we were playing in Alaska, which meant no darkness, so we had a lot of fun. It’s a cool spot to play because you could find something to do all the time.”

More than whale watching, more than viewing the biggest glacier in the world, Elson remembers the genuine excitement that enveloped the team during its championship run. Being in Anchorage made it even more special. “The city got behind the team and whenever we flew, fans were waiting for us at the airport. They were cheering us on and it became this crazy experience.

“Ever since winning that championship, I want to touch [a cup] again.”

Elson spent two more seasons in the Calgary organization, moving from Abbotsford to the Adirondack Flames in 2014-15 and the Stockton Heat in 2015-16. He recorded 30 points each season, tallying 17 goals with the Flames and 14 with the Heat while playing 59 and 63 games, respectively.

At the end of 2015-16, Elson fulfilled a lifelong goal by getting to play in Calgary’s final game of the season. It is his only NHL game to date, which means that it remains his proudest achievement. “It was pretty awesome,” he said. “I didn’t think I played that well – nerves got in the way – but I did get an assist.”

At a crossroads, Elson decided to try his luck with a new organization. He signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Colorado Avalanche but appeared in just four games with the San Antonio Rampage before he was sidelined with a sports hernia. He ended up missing most of the 2016-17 season, appearing in just nine more games.

That lost year left him feeling like he had fallen off the radar of most teams. He was thrilled when the Red Wings offered him a one-year contract to play for the Griffins, who were coming off their second championship in five years. He celebrated his arrival with a four-point effort in the season opener when the team raised its second Calder Cup banner in Van Andel Arena.

While his point production slowed over the next four months, he continued to be a steady performer until February 2018. Out of the blue, he was struck with a mysterious ailment. “My legs felt like I had no strength and I could barely walk,” he said. “It felt like I had done a

Elson is considered a strong two-way forward who is defensively responsible.