The Griffins Had Their Best Season on Record. It Still Wasn't Enough.
Game 4 of the Division Finals came down to this: the Grand Rapids Griffins outshot the Chicago Wolves 35-21, and lost anyway. Wolves goaltender Cayden Primeau stopped 33 shots that night and was named the series MVP for it. Every game in that four-game set was decided by a single goal. The Griffins, who had just finished the most dominant regular season in their 30-year history, went home in the division round.
If you only half-follow the Griffins, the version of this story you probably heard was the record-breaking part. What most West Michigan fans missed is the part that actually matters heading into this fall: a team can be historically great for six months and still lose a short series to a team that plays four good games at the right time. That's not a knock on the Griffins. It's the reason the 2026-27 season, which drops single-game tickets on sale September 9, is worth paying attention to in a way that "here's the new schedule" posts never quite capture.
Under fourth-year head coach Dan Watson, Grand Rapids went 51-16-4-1 last season for 107 points, the best regular-season record in franchise history. They clinched a playoff berth on February 27, with 20 games still left to play, the earliest clinch in team history and the earliest by any AHL team since the 1992-93 Binghamton Rangers. They wrapped up the Central Division title on March 26, their first division crown since 2014-15 and their first specifically as Central Division champions since 2002-03.
None of that translated into a longer playoff run. Grand Rapids beat Manitoba in the Central Division Semifinals, then ran into Chicago. The margins were absurdly thin: one-goal games, a hot goaltender, a series the Griffins arguably should have won on the shot sheet and didn't win on the scoreboard. Fans who watched that series already know the ending. What's less obvious is what it means for the season now on deck.
Watson returns for a fourth season with a roster that's proven it can win 51 regular-season games. The stated aim this year, per the organization, is a fourth straight playoff berth, which would be a new streak for a franchise that's made 20 playoff appearances in 30 seasons but never strung together four consecutive trips under one coach.
This season also happens to be a milestone one. It marks the Griffins' 31st season overall, their 26th as an AHL member, and their 25th as the primary affiliate of the Detroit Red Wings. Griffins president Tim Gortsema tied the two threads together in the team's own season announcement, pointing to a roster built to keep developing NHL-caliber talent in Grand Rapids while chasing what he called
"our milestone 25th season of affiliation with the Detroit Red Wings."
Read that against the Game 4 shot chart and the season stops looking like a victory lap. It reads like a team with something specific left to settle.
The 72-game schedule opens on the road, Friday, October 2, against the Cleveland Monsters at Rocket Arena, the second-earliest season opener in franchise history behind only October 1, 1999. The home opener follows a week later, October 9 at Van Andel Arena, against the Manitoba Moose, presented by Huntington Bank. That date is notable on its own: it's the Griffins' earliest home opener in nine years, and the last time they opened this early at home, back in 2017, the opponent was also Manitoba.
The schedule itself is heavier on familiar rivals and lighter on surprises, with 54 games against Central Division opponents, 14 against the North Division, and four against the Pacific. Two matchups stand out for local fans who track this closely: Grand Rapids will play its first-ever games against the Hamilton Hammers, an expansion franchise affiliated with the New York Islanders, hosting them January 15-16, and the Toronto Marlies, last year's Calder Cup champions, return to the schedule as well.
Single-game tickets for all 36 regular-season home dates go on sale to the public on Wednesday, September 9, through griffinshockey.com/tickets.
Beyond the standings race, the promotional calendar gives residents a reason to plan around specific dates rather than just checking the schedule week to week:
Van Andel Arena sits in the heart of downtown, close enough to walk to most of the neighborhood's better-known food and drink spots. The original HopCat location is steps away, in a historic downtown building, with a dog-friendly patio and the Cosmik fries the chain built its reputation on. Stella's, known for stuffed burgers that GQ once named best in America and a whiskey list running past 250 varieties, is another short walk. The B.O.B., short for Big Old Building, houses its own on-site brewery alongside a comedy club, a live-music venue, and a beer garden, making it a reasonable stop whether the plan is dinner before puck drop or a drink after the final horn.
Inside the arena itself, the ConsumersCU Club Restaurant + Bar operates on the lower level, run by Legends Global Food & Beverage, and opens two hours before most events for fans who'd rather not leave the building at all.
Two logistics notes worth knowing before a first visit this season: Van Andel Arena requires mobile tickets saved to a phone wallet in advance, since printed tickets aren't accepted at the gate, and the arena's no-bag policy only permits small clutches (4.5 by 6.5 by 2 inches) or medical bags.
| Deal | What it gets you | When |
|---|---|---|
| Free Ride Fridays | Complimentary fare on The Rapid with a game ticket | All Friday home games |
| $3 Beers & Hot Dogs | $3 domestic drafts and hot dogs | Friday home games, 6-8 p.m. |
| Family Meal Deal | Four hot dogs, four fries, four sodas | $32, any home game |
| Friends & Family Ticket Pack | Tickets from $24 plus $5 concession cash per ticket | Saturday home games |
| Library Nights | Discounted upper and lower level seats with a GR Public Library or Kent District Library card | Wednesday and Sunday home games |
The Library Nights discount is easy to miss if you're not already a card-holder: an Upper Level Faceoff ticket drops from $28 to $22, Upper Level Center Ice from $31 to $25, and Lower Level Faceoff from $34 to $28, up to four tickets per card. For anyone who already has a library card sitting in a drawer, that's one of the better-kept deals in the building.
None of this changes the fact that the Griffins enter the season having done almost everything a hockey team can do over 72 games and still come up short in a five-game series. That's the part worth sitting with before October 9. A record-setting regular season bought Grand Rapids a division banner and a lot of good hockey to watch. It didn't buy a longer spring. This year, with the same coach, a milestone anniversary, and a schedule that opens against the same opponent that ended last year's home opener nine years ago, the Griffins get another six months to find out if the shot totals eventually catch up to the scoreboard.
Single-game tickets go on sale September 9 at griffinshockey.com. For everything else happening around West Michigan this season, from restaurant openings to neighborhood events, Bialik Real Estate keeps a close eye on the details that make this region worth calling home.
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