Game Delayed By Missing Gear

After a long morning of traveling, Rockford's starting goaltender Antti Niemi was faced with the major dilemma. As the fans were starting to arrive at the MetroCentre, Niemi, along with two other IceHogs players, were anxiously awaiting the arrival of their missing gear. It seems several bags of gear didn't arrive from San Antonio with the team. Niemi participated in warm ups wearing an old set of pads and a mask borrowed from teammate Corey Crawford. With the AHL's consent, game time was pushed back by 30 minutes to allow the missing gear to arrive for the players. The missing bags were delivered during warm ups and Niemi was able to start the game wearing his own gear.

Despite the baggage snafu, it was another stellar night in goal for Niemi, stopping 29 of 30 shots. Niemi seems to have found that much needed confidence that has been missing for many games. It looked like he was headed for a shutout until Houston's Morten Madsen found the back of the net at 17:35 of the 3rd frame. Rockford's Jack Skille left the game during the 1st period with a upper body injury. Word is he may be out possibly 4-6 weeks, if the initial diagnosis holds true.

Houston pulled goaltender Nolan Schaefer late in the 3rd to give them the extra skater advantage, but it wasn't enough. Rockford takes the win, 2-1. This puts Rockford in 3rd place with 80 points in the West, right behind Houston and Peoria who are tied for 2nd place with 82 points each. According to the AHL website, the Milwaukee Admirals have clinched the West Division title. With just 2 weeks left in the regular season, it's going to be a tight race to secure those remaining playoff spots within the west division.

Flame Broiled Hogs 3/6/09

Catch Up Hockey. That seems to be the game plan that the IceHogs have been following lately at home. Hello...this is not the way to win hockey games. Too many times this season, the Hogs have let the fans go home disappointed. What is it about a full house that makes the Hogs play badly? Now, don't get me wrong...not everybody can win every game. We'd like them to, but the reality is...for every winner, there's got to be a loser. They just seem to be going through the motions. Unmodivated? Uninspired? What's it goning to take to light a fire under the team? Who will be "that guy" that jump starts their team mates into playing good hockey again? Will someone please step up and be that guy.

Once again, the IceHogs turned in a lack luster performance. The Quad City Flames roasted the Hogs 4:1 this past Friday night in front of a crowd of 5119 in Rockford. Tim Hambly scored Rockford's lone goal late in the 3rd. Once again...too little, too late. Corey Crawford was lit up 3 times by the Flames before being replaced by Joe Fallon at the 12:47 mark of the 2nd frame. Crawford was handed the L, while the Flames' Leland Irving received the W. Congrats to the Flames, job well done.

I really don't have much faith in the IceHogs making it to the playoffs. Oh, they might make it into the first round, but if they continue to play as they are now...they won't make it into the second rounds. I really hope they prove me wrong.

IceHogs Past...Revisited

A small group of friends and I traveled to Ohio this past weekend to watch the ECHL Elmira Jackels play the Cincinnati Cyclones. The Jackels roster contains several former UHL IceHogs players and Coach. We first caught up with Nathan Lutz, Benoit Doucet, Steve Yetman and Coach Martinson in the hotel lobby as the team was heading to the arena for Friday's game. Nathan Lutz, had been playing hockey in Europe prior to joining up with the Jackels late in 2008. Nathan wears the "C" for the Jackels Team. Steve Yetman, was a IceHog for the 2005/06 season and 13 games into the 2006/07 season. Benoit Doucet, signed with the IceHogs for the 2006/07 season playoffs on a ATO and Kaleb Betts, was a member of the 2006/07 Championship Team. Also playing for the Jackels is Mike Sgroi, who was with the IceHogs back in 2001/02. Coach Steve Martinson has been with the Jackels since leaving Rockford. He and his family appear to enjoy the quiet small town life that Elmira, NY offers them.

Elmira dominated Cincinnati on Friday night, winning 4:1. Jackel players Nathan Lutz and Michael Teslak were named #1 & #2 Stars of the Game, respectively. Nathan scored the game's first goal at 15:00 in the 1st frame. The remaining Jackel goals that night, were scored by Brandon Roach, Chris Korchinski and Mike Sgroi. Justin Johnson tallied the Cyclone's lone goal for the night. If you're wondering if Nathan still has a lethal slapshot, the answer is YES.

Saturday's game had a very different ending, with Elmira taking the loss 2:4. As fans, we expect the Officials to call the game with a unbiased eye. Not so with the Referee assigned to Saturday's game. Am I making excuses for Elmira losing? No. Can good teams overcome bad officiating? One can live in hope. There was a total of 53 PIM's handed to Elmira that night. Including Game Misconduct penalties to Kaleb Betts and Mike Sgroi.

Ironically, on the Cyclones roster this year is a name well known to IceHogs fans, goaltender Ryan Nie. Ryan was the starting goaltender for the Kalamazoo Wings during the IceHogs' run for the 2007 Colonial Cup. He also attended the IceHogs Training Camp prior to the start of this season. According to a fan in the Cincinnati stands, Ryan is the #1 goaltender for the Cyclones. On Friday night, he was watching the game from the bench. Apparently on Saturday morning he was called up to the AHL Milwaukee Admirals, so we did not get to see him in net at all this weekend.