September ended in a blink of an eye.
Below is all the Grand Rapids Griffins news from this past month you may have missed.
Game Time Change
The start time for Grand Rapids’ home game versus the Toronto Marlies on November 11 has been changed from 8pm CT to 7pm CT.
Hockey Operations Additions
On September 26, the Griffins announced four additions to the hockey operations staff for the 2023-24 season.
After spending the past two seasons as the primary trainer for the Western Michigan University’s hockey team and overseeing the Bronco’s dance program, Austin Frank was named Grand Rapids head athletic trainer. Frank also spent two years at Kent State University as an athletic trainer for the men’s basketball team. While at Kent, he also aided the baseball and women’s field hockey programs.
Katie Berglund will work alongside Frank as assistant athletic trainer for the 2023-24 season. Bingham Memorial Hospital in Idaho Falls, Idaho has been home to Berglund for the past three years, where she has also been working as an athletic trainer for the USPHL Premier’s Idaho Falls Spud Kings.
Currently, Berglund is attending virtual classes at A.T. Still University in Mesa, AZ in order to earn her doctorate degree in athletic training.
Around The AHL
Zack Harvey comes to the Griffins after spending the 2022-23 season as the sports physical therapist resident at the University of Toledo. Harvey will be Grand Rapids’ physical therapist. Harvey started his career in 2021 at Country Roads Physical Therapy in Buckhannon, West Virginia. While there, he provided physical therapy services for various musculoskeletal conditions that deal with the lower back, knees, hips, and shoulders.
Harvey earned a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology exercises and movement science from the University of Wisconsin in 2017. He also has a doctorate in physical therapy from Wheeling University.
Michigan native Kyle Hornkohl joins the Griffins as assistant equipment manager for the 2023-24 season. Hornkohl is no stranger to the organization. From 2014-20, he served as a locker room attendant for Grand Rapids. In prior years, the Detroit Red Wings had the pleasure of having Hornkohl as a volunteer stick boy at the Traverse City Prospect Tournament from 2007-09 and then locker room attendant from 2010-13.