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.