For 30-year Griffins season ticket members, cheering on the team they adore started on day one and has never let up.

Photo courtesy of Mollie Youngson

Whom do you think of when you think of a hockey superfan? 

A few spring to mind, including the Vancouver Canucks’ “Green Men,” who rattle the refs behind Kermit-colored spandex suits; and the Ottawa Senators' “Sensquatch,” who lumbers into the games in a red Sasquatch outfit, revving up the fans. 

The Grand Rapids Griffins have their own versions of superfans, dozens of whom have had season tickets since the franchise’s inception in 1996. These are the diehard supporters who consider Thanksgiving optional, but not a Griffins game, who want to spend New Year’s Eve with sticks and pucks, not sparklers and prosecco. It doesn’t even have to be a holiday for these fans to show up for their favorite team. 

Consider the fan who once attended a simple Wednesday night affair, and whose unswerving support was rewarded by witnessing a hometown boy make an unforgettable debut.

On Dec. 19, 2012, East Grand Rapids native Luke Glendening made his entrance with the Griffins at Van Andel Arena against the Rochester Americans. For Mollie Youngson, the moment is captured forever. “I was with my dad that night,” said Youngson. “Luke had just gotten on the ice for his first shift. I was telling my dad how cool it would be if he got a goal on his first shot on his first shift of his first game. I never got to finish that sentence before he scored.” Glendening gave the Griffins a 1-0 lead in their eventual 4-2 win. (That night was just the beginning: After winning a Calder Cup in 2013 and playing part of the next for Grand Rapids, Glendening played for the Red Wings for eight years, appearing in more than 500 games.)

For Youngson and other superfans, bolstering the team they adore started on day one and has never let up in nearly three decades. These fans may not be as flashy as Sensquatch, nor have they squeezed themselves into Spandex to prove their true blue (or black, red and gold) hearts.

No, these fans’ devotion has been revealed over the years with an unwavering commitment to their team, showing up for wins and losses, for championship glory, and unexpected moments of goal-scoring grandeur on a basic weeknight. These devotees show up to cheer on superstars and fourth-liners alike. Come rain or shine, snow or heat (in the case of a long playoff run), these boosters may have come to the Griffins’ inaugural game for the hockey, but they’ve stayed for so much more.

Thanksgiving Can Always Be Moved

Eric and Cindy Mis will never forget Oct. 11, 1996, the Griffins' inaugural home opener at Van Andel Arena. Though the team lost to the Orlando Solar Bears that night, Eric was thrilled to be one of the lucky ones who got to be season ticket holders. After driving back and forth to watch the K-Wings play in Kalamazoo, it was exciting to watch pro hockey right in his own city.

“I have a poster of the first game,” Eric said. “It shows how smoky it was in there because of the fireworks they had that night in the arena.” Smoky and packed. “You couldn’t buy a ticket because it was a sellout.”

That poster is just one of many pieces of Griffins and Red Wings memorabilia Eric has displayed in his basement “man cave,” a trove of pucks and giveaway goodies and jerseys with names such as Kronwall, Abdelkader, and Helm stitched on their backs. His collection includes every Griffiti magazine ever published. For Eric, the museum in his basement is a labor of love, another way to connect to his team. 

He and Cindy, and their two boys, enjoyed interacting with players off the ice, too. Eric recalls chatting with a then-22-year-old Niklas Kronwall at a “Tip-A-Griffin” fundraiser. Kronwall played a full season for the Griffins during the 2004-05 NHL lockout. “He was such a nice kid,” Eric said. (Yeah, “nice,” unless of course you were playing against him and were the victim of “Kronwalling” …)

Watching the young Swede deliver devastating hits was just one of the highlights the Mis family has experienced through 29 years of attending nearly every home game. When Cindy was in the hospital and the Griffins won the Calder Cup in 2013, they both listened to the game on the radio. So it was that much sweeter to be there in person when the team hoisted the Cup on home ice in 2017. “I looked around, and everyone had tears in their eyes,” Eric said. 

The Mises have become close to the fans who sit near them. “If somebody’s not there, we notice.” 

After all, there really is almost no excuse to miss a game if you can avoid it. New Year’s Eve? The Mises go to their friends’ place after the game. Even seemingly cemented holidays are shifted to make room for their priority: hockey. “We have moved Thanksgiving [to accommodate a hockey game],” Eric said. “We can eat turkey anytime, but once a game is done, it’s done.”

Hello, Again, Hockey

Like many local fans of a certain age, Andy Skiver felt a gaping hole in his life when the Grand Rapids Owls left the city and the International Hockey League in 1980. Oh sure, you could watch the Red Wings, if you had cable TV or drove to Detroit. But there was a major void. So when the Griffins leapt into town on lion’s hindquarters 16 years later, Skiver was all in. 

Finally, there was live hockey to watch in town, but Skiver almost missed the first game. “I didn’t have my ticket,” he said. “I had to call my ticket sales rep to bring me my ticket. I am one of the only people out there with an untorn inaugural game ticket.”

Skiver, the owner of three King’s Room Barber shops in the city, has loads of great memories, including that very first game. “It was super exciting,” he said. “Fun to watch and fun to have hockey back in Grand Rapids.”

Since that first night, Skiver has passionately followed the team through thick and thin, often giving his tickets to employees or customers as a way of expressing his gratitude. 

Besides the Calder Cup runs and wins, Skiver’s peak moments were watching Red Wings players such as Chris Osgood, Curtis Joseph, and Darren McCarty take the ice in Grand Rapids for brief stints. Kronwall also stands out as a favorite. “He was amazing with those big, open-ice hits,” Skiver said. “Those hits reminded me of [Red Wing Vladimir Konstantinov] before his accident.” 

Skiver continues to root for the home team whenever he can, proudly wearing his Griffins jersey, which he won for attending 40 home games. And he can’t wait to see the team hoist another cup. “A championship at home again would be the ultimate.”

A Family Tradition

When Mollie Youngson’s family moved back to Michigan in the late ‘80s, they became “avid” Red Wings fans. “When it was announced the Griffins were coming to Grand Rapids, my dad was excited to get our family season tickets.”

Over the years, Youngson’s family has evolved and changed, as have the players she loves to watch. Jonathan Ericsson, Tomas Tatar, Alexey Marchenko, and Teemu Pulkkinen are near the top of her list of “faves,” but “my longest favorite was Colin Campbell.”

One thing remains the same: For Youngson, being a Griffins fan is a family affair. 

“Now that my dad is a full-time Florida resident, my niece has taken over as the go-to person who goes to games with me,” she said. “She is 13 now and went to her first game at 6 months old.”

Whomever she goes with, Youngson honors the lore that goes back to the beginning. “A tradition that started with my dad is we would guess the Three Stars of the game,” she said. “I’ve gotten the family two rows behind me to join in on our game! By the way, we are usually right.”

The Best Seat in the House

When Kathy Pierce goes to a Griffins game now, she has an angel on her shoulder.

Her late husband, Harold “Doc” Pierce, who died in 2014, was a passionate fan, and a key part of the Griffins family as one of the team’s goal judges, a volunteer position he held from 1996-2014.

“He always said that behind the goalie was the best seat in the house,” said Kathy. That’s why from the start, Doc grabbed season tickets in section 102, row 8, behind the goalie, even before knowing he would serve as goal judge. 

Doc’s years in the booth, where his eagle eyes would determine whether a puck had crossed the goal line or not, became more than just a hobby. “He absolutely loved the job,” said Kathy. He loved the team and the organization, too. They loved him back.

When, in 2013, after 17 years and hundreds of games, Doc had to undergo surgery for throat cancer, the team was there for him. Bob Kaser, the Griffins’ renowned play-by-play voice, called the Pierces to ask if he could call them after the surgery. “[The team members] were on their way to a road game in the bus when Bob called,” Kathy said. “He said, ‘The guys would like to say hi,’ and he put every single player on the phone to talk to Doc.”

“Get better, Doc.”

“Thinking of you.”

“We wish you well …”

The players, coaches, and staff didn’t say much, but their sentiments rang loud and clear: We care about you, Doc.

Doc couldn’t say anything at all. His vocal chords had been removed in the surgery. But he listened to each member of the team – his team – and responded in a way that needed no words. “The tears just flowed down his face,” Kathy said. 

After he died in 2014, Doc was memorialized at a funeral so packed that mourners parked blocks away. They were there to remember a beloved man with a heart the size of an Olympic hockey rink, who would “give the shirt off his back” to someone in need. 

For Kathy, sitting in their old seats, watching the team they cheered on together, is a comfort and a gift. The first game she attended, though, after Doc’s death, “was tough.” 

“Another man was sitting in the [goal judge’s booth] who looked like Doc,” she said. “I wasn’t sure I was going to make it all the way through the game.”

It’s been nearly three decades since Kathy went to the first Griffins game with her husband by her side. She now feels close to Doc there, eight rows above the ice, behind the goalie. Sometimes she touches the necklace around her neck, a gift from her son. “It’s a hockey player with an angel’s wing,” she said. “So, I know he goes with me to every game.”

Lorilee Craker is the author of 16 books, including Anne of Green Gables, My Daughter and Me, the CBA and ECPA bestseller My Journey to Heaven with Marv Besteman, the Audie Awards nominee Money Secrets of the Amish, and the New York Times bestseller Through the Storm with Lynne Spears. A native of Winnipeg, Manitoba, she lives in a century-old house in Grand Rapids, with her husband, pets, and various international students from around the world. She has loved hockey since becoming a card-carrying member of the Winnipeg Jets Junior Booster Club at age 11.