The Grand Rapids Griffins will begin their season this Friday and will do it with a brand new team captain.

According to WOOD, longtime Griffins defenseman Brian Lashoff has been named the 17th team captain in the teams franchise history.

Lashoff has come a long way since his youth days of playing hockey for the New York Rangers minor hockey team. He has been an alternate captain for the Griffins for six seasons but the last time he was an official captain since being a junior hockey player for the Ontario Hockey League's Kingston Frontenacs.

Lashoff made his first appearance with the Griffins in 2009 where he has been on and off the team ever since not to mention he has lots of ice time with the Detroit Red Wings.

Last March, Lashoff played his 500th game as a Griffin and is just one of two players to do so with the team in 24 years. He has ice time with the Griffins in from 2009 to 2020 with part of that time spent with the Red Wings.

Since being a Griffin, Lashoff has lifted the Calder Cup two times, once in 2013 and a second time in 2017. Hopefully the new captain gets to hold the cup again in 2021.

Lashoff has been a Griffins alternate captain six time throughout his career with the team. There are 4 alternate captains for the team this season and there are Dominic turgeon, Dylan Mcilrath, Kyle Criscuolo and Turner Elson.

The Lashoff and the Griffins will hit the road in game one of the season in Chicago against the Wolves on Friday. It won't be until February 20th until the team plays at home against the Cleveland Monsters.

Don't expect to be in the stands at Van Andel Arena on February 20th, but there is talk of a limited number of fans being able to attend games later in the season. The good news is of their final 12 games of the season, 9 of those will be home games. So Griffins fans do have something to look forward to.

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