Hogs Sink Adirals last Friday Night 6:1

When IceHogs took to the ice last night in Rockford, they had two huge obstacles to overcome. The first was facing the Milwaukee Admirals for the first time since their post season playoff losses to them, 4-0. The second obstacle was that the IceHogs were fresh off a embarrassing loss on Wednesday to Peoria. The desire to win was burning brightly in their minds.

Rockford's Evan Brophy, assisted by Mike Brennan, was the first to light up Milwaukee's net minder Mark Dekanich at 10:04 into the 1st frame. Jack Skille, Rockford, was next in line to score, assisted by Kyle Greentree and Mark Cullen. Skille was recently reassigned this week again to Rockford by the Chicago Blackhawks. It's become very hard to keep track of his movements this season so far, as Chicago was recalling & reassigning him every other day it seemed.

IceHogs' Danny Bois opened the 2nd period, scoring at 2:11, with assists going to Rob Klinkhammer and Evan Brophy. Milwaukee was not able to answer back until 6:11 of that frame. Mark Santorelli, assisted by Peter Olivecky and Jonathon Blum. The Admirals pelleted Rockford with 16 shots on goal that frame alone, but Corey Crawford was stellar in net.
Rockford went onto score 3 more goals in the 3rd frame, defeating the 2008/09 Western Division Conference Champions. They were able to prove to both themselves and the 3926 fans in the stands, that they could indeed overcome those obstacles in their way. Corey Crawford was awarded the game's 1st Star, but it was Mark Cullen, of Rockford, who went onto to win the AHL's 3rd Star of the Night on Friday.

On a side note, Rockford's David Phillips succeeded in winning his very first AHL fight ever, against Milwaukee's Ian McKenzie. McKenzie out sized Phillips by 2 inches and 56 pounds. Phillips, a native of the UK, is playing his very first season in North America with the AHL. Phillips had taken offense to McKenzie's actions towards his teammate & goalie, Corey Crawford. Welcome to North America David!

Rivermen Capitalize on IceHogs' Inabilities; Win 4:1

The Rockford IceHogs and the Peoria Rivermen met last evening in Peoria for their 3rd of 10 games scheduled this season. I fear the IceHogs forgot to get off the bus, for they seemed absent for the the first 30 minutes. The Rivermen absolutely dominated the game. They even posted more goals scored than the IceHogs had in total shots on goal for the 1st frame. The Rivermen went on to win, 4-1.

In goal for the IceHogs was Joe Fallon for the 1st & 2nd frames and was replaced by Corey Crawford at the top of the 3rd. Crawford was able to stop all 7 SOG the Rivermen sent his way. Peoria's Ben Bishop was stellar, stopping 32 of 33 SOG. Bishop was later named #1 Star of the Game. Credit goes to Peoria's Barry Tallackson, Yan Stastny, Nicholas Drazenovic and Chris Porter for goals they each scored. Kyle Greentree was the loan scorer for Rockford.

The action between Bracken Kearns and Mitch Love and several heated scrums marred the evening. IceHogs Nathan Davis' hit on Peoria's Ben Bishop behind the goal was the catalyst to a very heated scrum at 12:36 of the 3rd frame. Bishop had gone behind the net for the puck and was starting to come back around to the front when Davis appears to hit him head-on. I look for things to heat up more as the season goes on between these two teams. They almost seem to be more of a rival this season than the Wolves right now.

Hogs Bite Back at Wolves in Season Home Opener

Last Friday evening started out with tremendous amount of loud cheering and clapping throughout the MetroCentre, as Jim Cornelison proudly sang the Star Spangled Banner to a crowd of 4425 fans. It ended with a whimper by the Wolves, as the IceHogs took a big bite from them, winning 4:1. The game was paced with many glass rattling hard hits. Rockford came out of the gate with a force that did not let up until the final buzzer sounded. But Chicago, it seemed, was all bark but no bite. Neutered pups maybe? Rumors were heard of a possible Coaching change for Chicago if things didn't start turning around.

Danny Bois started the night at 9:24 in the 1s frame to score, with assists going to Brian Connelly and Daryl Boyle. It took Chicago until 6:15 of the 2nd frame to answer back, with credit going to Tim Stapleton. He was assisted by Spencer Machacek and Angelo Esposito. Rockford's Bryan Bickell rung the pipes after a beautiful breakaway. Mark Cullen of Rockford, assisted by Danny Bois and Simon Danis-Pepin scored little over midway into the 2nd. But it was Nathan Davis, of the IceHogs, who finished his own breakaway run by beating Chicago's nettie Manny Legace. Davis went on to seal the game for the IceHogs late in the 3rd with a empty netter. Crawford was in goal for Rockford.

Chicago's Captain, Jason Krog, apparently had a fit of temper and received a 10 minute Misconduct at 9:35 in the 3rd frame for striking the glass to the Visitor's Penalty Box. The shattered glass was scattered onto the ice below. This caused a delay in the game of approximately 20 minutes while the glass was cleaned up, a new glass set into place and the ice gone over by the Zamboni. Amazingly, there were no fights on Friday between these rivals, just a scrum or two.

Numb3rs

Are scratching your head trying to figure out what number goes with what player as this Rockford IceHogs season begins? You're not alone. There appears to be quite a few changes to the numbers that are assigned to the players here in Rockford. You might want to get out paper & pencil and keep track for yourself. Are you ready? These are the changes so far...I think.

Jack Skille was #12 but is now #20. He's #20 in Chicago too...makes sense to have same #.

Akim Aliu was #20 but is now #19. He's also worn the #32 for the IceHogs.

Ryan Flinn was #49 but he has been released from his PTO...Buh Bye.

Pete MacArthur was #15 last season but is now #24.

Justin Hodgman was #19 pre-season...he's in Toledo right now and the Roster still has him still as #19. Weird, because Aliu is now #19.

Corey Crawford has always been #29 in Rockford and #50 in Chicago. But the IceHogs have assigned Joe Palmer #29 also. Palmer is currently in Texas and Crawford in Rockford.

Maxime Tanguay has been assigned #26 this year...that was Niklas Hjalmarsson's number the past 2 seasons. So that must mean that Hjalmarsson is sticking in Chicago?

Bracken Kearns has been assigned #6 this season...that was Jordan Hendry's number for the past 2 seasons. So, he must be sticking in Chicago with Hjalmarsson?

Danny Bois is #15 this season...this was Pete MacArthur's # last season.

Derek Nesbitt is #9 this season, previously had been #15 in the 2007/08 season.

Brian Connelly was #11 last season but he is now #10.

I think that's all the changes for now. Get it? Got it? Good. Whew!

Wolves Captalize on Power Play Goals

The Rockford IceHogs wound up their five game road trip in Rosemont, IL last night, losing to the Chicago Wolves 5:4. While the Hogs seemed to dominate the 1st & 2nd periods, it was their 3rd period slide that lead to the loss. Multiple penalties during the 3rd frame allowed the Wolves to capitalize on the IceHogs' mistakes. At one time, there were multiple IceHogs players occupying the PB. Come on boys...let cooler heads prevail.

The Allstate Arena crowd appeared quite sparse, despite the announces attendance of 3,228. But, it was the middle of the week and the Wolves had yet to have won a game since the season opened. Fickle Fair Weather Fans I think. But it allowed us to spread out in our row and not sit on top of each other.

The game produced two fights in the 2nd frame, with the first one between Rockford's Adam Kearns and Chicago's Rylan Kaip. With the nod going to Kaip. But things heated up later that frame when Jake Dowell of Rockford and Nathan Oystrick of Chicago went at it. Oystrick was handed the loss, but apparently words continued between the two players, even after the linesmen separated them. Oystrick was then given both a Misconduct and a Game Misconduct penalties for his actions and was removed from the game. It will be interesting to see if any of this anger will be carried over to tomorrow night's game in Rockford between these two rival teams.

Netminders for the night were Corey Crawford for Rockford and Manny Legace for Chicago.

Goal credits for the night for Rockford go to Bois, Cullen, Aliu and Klinkhammer. Chicago players Machacek, Postma and Stapleton each scored, while Matt Anderson tallied twice. His actions also netted him AHL's #1 Star of the Night honors.

The IceHogs play next: Friday October 16, 2009 in Rockford at the MetroCentre against the Chicago Wolves. Game starts at 7:05pm. Renowned singer, Jim Cornelison, will be singing the National Anthem at the Season's Home Opener. The MetroCentre has also announced that the new entrance will be open too. On Saturday night, the IceHogs will host the Peoria Rivermen at home, puck drops at 7:05pm. Tickets still available at the box office 1-815-968-5222 for both nights.