GRAND RAPIDS CONTINUES HISTORIC RUN, DEFEATS IOWA 6-2
Dec 19, 2025DES MOINES, Iowa – The Grand Rapids Griffins continued a historic hot start to the 2025-26 season and defeated the Iowa Wild 6-2 at Casey’s Center on Friday night.
The Griffins jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the opening minutes of the first period. Alex Doucet opened the scoring after forcing a turnover in the Iowa defensive zone 2:09 into the game and Chad Hillebrand doubled the advantage 41 seconds later. Michael Brandsegg-Nygård hammered a one-timer over Samuel Hlavaj (24 saves) on the power play at 4:34.
The Wild broke through on the man advantage at 6:18. After Hunter Haight sent a pass into the left circle, Gerry Mayhew found David Spacek with a cross-ice feed and Spacek rifled a shot over Sebastian Cossa (23 saves).
Sheldon Dries finished off a backdoor tap-in three minutes later to restore a three-goal lead for the Griffins.
Dylan Gambrell scored his first goal in an Iowa uniform on the power play at 14:42 when he converted on a pass through the net mouth. Mayhew and Spacek picked up assists on Gambrell’s goal.
Grand Rapids outshot Iowa 14-9 in the first period.
Antti Tuomisto and Ondrej Becher added goals for Grand Rapids and 10:13 and 13:43 of the middle frame.
Grand Rapids outshot Iowa 30-25. The Wild went 2-for-5 with the man advantage while the Griffins went 1-for-7 on the power play.
Iowa travels to Allstate Arena to visit the Chicago Wolves on Saturday, Dec. 20 at 7 p.m.
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