Patrick WilliamsTheAHL.com Features Writer
Griffin Della Penna it took a minute or two to take it all in.
For one, he’s a 25-year-old play-by-play announcer who has already made it to the American Hockey League as the new voice of the Rochester Americans.
And two, he was taking the mic from a legend Don Stevenswho retired last spring.
A native of Batavia, New York, Della Penna grew up a fan of the Buffalo Sabers and Buffalo Bills, and this whole broadcasting idea came to him at a young age. On Oct. 2, he did his thing, naming the Americans to open the 2026-27 season. The team also did its job, defeating the defending Calder Cup champion Toronto Marlies 3-1.
And many other people had to do their jobs well to get Della Penna to where she is today. People like his parents and the teams of doctors and other medical professionals who helped him 22 years ago.
The AHL again partners with the NHL and the NHLPA Hockey Fights Cancer powered by the V Foundation for Cancer Research presented by AstraZeneca the campaign. The effort began in 1998 and aims to “support life-saving cancer research and inspire action through increased participation in recommended screenings.” The Americans are one of about 22 AHL teams to host a Hockey Against Cancer night this season; theirs is scheduled for February 12.
Flash back to 2004. November 27 Griffin’s joints began to ache. Soon the pain became so intense that he could not stand up. His worried parents Matthew: and: Elenhe was taken to the local ambulance.
“The doctors quickly realized that something much more serious was going on,” he recalls.
So serious that she was put in an ambulance for a trip to Buffalo Children’s Hospital.
The diagnosis was acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), a cancer of the blood and bone marrow. According to the Mayo Clinic, it is a rapidly spreading disease and is the most common type of cancer in children.
Within 24 hours, Griffin entered a trial that would last him the rest of his life. Those treatments required a hospital stay of three to four days. Regular trips to Buffalo for treatments including spinal taps and chemotherapy.
Dexamethasone, the steroid used in the treatment, isn’t typical in preschoolers’ vocabulary, but it was for Della Penna.
“When I say that word, I still get the taste in my throat of how bad it tasted.”
But that potent mix worked. On June 1, 2007, the family received news that Griffin was cancer free.
Since then, advances in treatment and care have dramatically improved survival rates for childhood and adolescent cancers, according to a study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The trial that Griffin participated in has become part of today’s treatment regimen.
“Even since I was diagnosed, science has made incredible progress,” she said.
It’s the research component, clinically, that people love Dr. Martin BrecherThe chief of pediatrics at Buffalo’s Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center serves as another weapon. Brecher, who died in September, was a pediatric hematologist-oncologist who assisted Pastor Della Penna during her treatment. The two have built a close relationship.
And those personal contributions to such a fight also come from people outside of medicine.
Growing up, Della Penna became close to the Americans and the Sabers goaltender Ryan Millerwhose charitable activities included the Courage of Carly Fund. Carly Colland-Cottone The 8-year-old was diagnosed with medulloblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer, in 1999. Cancer had already claimed both of his parents, and he lost his own battle in 2002.
And there was Michael NapoleonA Batavia native battling Burkitt’s lymphoma and leukemia, a fast-growing blood cancer. Della Penna and Napoleone bonded as two children trying to navigate their way through cancer. He remembers the meeting between Miller and the Sabers forwards Jason Pominvilleholiday parties and connecting with her younger peers who were going through the same medical challenges she faced.
“Not only did it make me feel more normal as a kid going through that, but it was great for my family and I to take our minds off all the negative things that were going on at that stage in our lives,” Della Penna said. “I think that’s also why I have such a deep connection with the Sabers and now the Americans, just for the impact they’ve had on me off the ice when my family needed it.”
Those connections became essential as her health also became a family challenge. His mother had returned to college. his father ran a local power washing and painting business to pay the bills. They bartered to go to the hospital.
“It’s not just you going through it, really,” Della Penna said. “It’s what you all go through. The fact that they were able to protect what they were going through financially, emotionally, all of that, from my sister and me… They are my heroes. For them to go ahead and make everything comfortable and try to give us the best and ideal childhood, I use that as motivation to be able to give them back at least some of what they did.”
Griffin’s parents sat in the stands at Blue Cross Arena on opening night as his broadcast call rang through their headphones. Her older sister, Allisonis a child life specialist, a career that includes age-appropriate education and emotional support to help children and their families cope with medical problems.
It’s a tight-knit family made stronger by the diagnosis, and it’s also one that fueled her career choice.
“My dad was flipping through the channels, he stopped at ESPN, and I saw SportsCenter for the first time,” Griffin said. “And I was just amazed that you could put on a cool suit and sit at a desk and talk about sports.”
He also excelled competitively as a three-sport high school athlete who went on to play Division I baseball as a walk-on at Canisius College. But after his sophomore year, he concluded it was time to put baseball aside and go “full-on” into his broadcasting ambitions. An internship followed at Pegula Sports and Entertainment, then the Sabres’ holding company. Then came on-air work for ESPN+, the ACC Network and WPRI-TV in Providence, RI, which included coverage of the New England Patriots. He joined the Americans as a rink-side reporter for their local television broadcasts and was also an inside-the-Sabres announcer.
However, in 2024, Griffin started having pains in his back and legs. Eventually, an MRI revealed the cause: she had a tumor in her spinal cord. He returned to Buffalo for eight hours of surgery to remove the tumor, which proved to be non-cancerous. But he needed six months of physical therapy to relearn everyday tasks, such as walking and climbing stairs.
“Now as a 23-year-old at that point in time, I was working towards this life goal and it felt like it was just going to be taken away from me again,” he recalls.
But it wasn’t like that. In July, he landed the Rochester Broadcasting job, and as he settled into the role, he remembered Michael Napoleone, his childhood friend who died in 2007. It’s a connection that remains, as Griffin’s mother serves on the board of directors of the Michael Napoleon Memorial Foundation. And Griffin still tries to fit in visits to Roswell Park or Golisano Children’s Hospital in Rochester.
Cancer is not an experience anyone wants. But Della Penna says going through it at such a young age motivates her now to help children today.
“The lessons learned along the way have been incredibly valuable.”
Griffin is an optimistic person who wants people with cancer to stay positive. There is hope. Remember those research and treatment discoveries. Researchers and doctors work every day to get more people on the road. Many who work in oncology cite a personal connection that inspired them to enter the field, and Della Penna understands that motivation.
“We are going to honor their lives.”
With more than two decades in the American Hockey League, TheAHL.com feature writer Patrick Williams also currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor to SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. He was awarded the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for outstanding coverage of the league in 2015-16.
