Milwaukee Cruises by IceHogs 4-1 on 4/4/09

In front of a Sell Out Crowd of 6229, the Rockford IceHogs fell to the Milwaukee Admirals. It seemed the Admirals could do no wrong last night and the IceHogs could do no right. Milwaukee came out strong and did not let up in their the push for the win. IceHogs netminder Corey Crawford, appeared to struggle at times and was handed the evening's Loss. While the Admirals, Mark Dekanich, was solid between the pipes. Dekanich went home with the Win and the 2nd Star of the Game. Referee Kyle Rehman handed out a total of 55 pim for 15 infractions to Rockford, while Milwaukee only received 29 pim for 10 infractions. IceHogs' Assistant Coach Ted Dent was ejected from the game late in the 3rd frame, Game Misconduct-Coach (40.5) was the charge. Also ejected was Akim Aliu, also a Game Misconduct-Abuse of officials (40.4).

Rockford's roster is still missing two key players, both Jack Skille and Bryan Bickell have missed several games each due to injuries received in games last weekend. Bickell reportedly took a puck to the left eye and Skille remains out with a upper body injury. The IceHogs have recently seen two new additions to the team. Prospect, RW Akim Aliu, was assigned to Rockford on Friday April 3rd by the Chicago Blackhawks. Veteran winger, Jeff Christian joined the team last weekend.

Saturday night, the MetroCentre hosted a multitude of special events. The NHL Stanley Cup made it's first ever appearance in Rockford. The Ceremonial Puck Drop was done by Chicago Blackhawks President, John McDonough. During the first intermission, fans witnessed a beautiful Wedding on center ice between contest winners, Tatum Haag and Marc Glas. After the game, the IceHogs hosted their Annual Jersey Auction. This years jersey theme was "The Dark Hammy", featuring black jerseys with red & white trim and team mascot, Hammy, decked out in a superhero type costume. The evening's auctions raised $40,355 for the IceHogs Charitable Foundation. To date, fans have raised almost $550,000.

As the regular season is winding down, it seems the IceHogs need 1 point to clinch a playoff spot in the West Division. Defending Calder Cup Champions and divisional rivals, the Chicago Wolves, have a much harder road to travel if they want to make the playoffs. They need to win all of their remaining games. To quote good friend Jane, "Can you hear Brunhilde warming up?".

Swimming with the Sharks

My sister and I, along with a friend were given free tickets to a hockey game last weekend. Now mind you, we are 1st & formost Rockford IceHogs fans. But the IceHogs were out of town, playing back-to-back games in Texas, so no chance of us attending those games. Tickets in hand, we jumped in the car this past Saturday and headed east to the AllState Arena to take in a game between the Chicago Wolves and the Quad City Flames. During the AHL IceHogs' debut season last year, it became an instant rivalry between the Wolves & the IceHogs, for both of the teams & their fans. Going to games at the AA has always been a little intimidating to say the least. While we've become friends with quite a few Wolves fans, there's always a few there who have to throw the verbal taunts & jabs. That's not to say that the IceHogs don't have their own "jerks" back at the BOB too. Every arena has them. I just try to not be that person.

So...we donned our IceHogs and Blackhawks jerseys and entered into enemy waters. Why wear IceHogs jerseys to a game that they aren't playing in you ask? Why not? Even better...sitting in seats 1 row behind the Wolves team bench...wearing said IceHogs jerseys. No, we didn't go looking for trouble. We were just showing support for our teams, while having a good time. Period. The looks & comments received from Wolves fans and the looks from Wolves players were priceless. LMFAO! Nancy and Chris had a grand old time standing up and cheering for QC when they scored too. Harmless fun. I sat there with them for the 1st frame, but then moved across the arena for the remainder of the game to sit with a good friend. I took a few hundred pics, visited with Jane and let her play a bit with my new camera. LOL, she has since ordered and just received today, her very own new Canon 50D. It was very much a planned purchase for her, but I think seeing & using my 50D may have spurred her into ordering it a few weeks earlier than originally planned. Sweeeeeeeet!

Tickets to a Wolves game - FREE

Miles driven - 140

Gas & Tolls - $20.00

Parking - $11.00

Supper - $ 4.44 each

Looks & Comments received - PRICELESS!!!

What is it about hockey players and spitting anyway?

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.

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.