I bought tickets to five Rockford Icehogs games this season. For those not in the know, the IceHogs have been the Blackhawks' AHL affiliate since the 2007-2008 season. Rockford is about an hour to 90 minute drive northwest of the city. In all honesty there's not too much to do there unless you want to go to the Magic Waters water park or shop, since State Street is a miles long stretch of big box retailers and strip malls. They do have a lot of old signage and buildings I like to gawk at, but this is not the proper blog for that. In any case, I went up there Saturday night with my friend and fellow hockey-nut KofC from a little chippy. I always forget how long it takes to get up to Rockford and we didn't to the MetroCentre until about six when the doors opened. So I had a "cup of fries" (which were tasty, considering) and a bottle of water to hold me over until game's end. We got our free magnetic schedule upon entering, which really was a wipe board with magnets on the back. Not super conducive for my desk at work. We watched warmups and by the time we got settled, the game was about to begin. I really appreciate the fact that the United Center always opens 90 minutes before puck drop as I don't feel rushed after taking pictures of warmups. Anyway, onto the game itself:
Box Score
The IceHogs played the Chicago Wolves, the Atlanta Thrashers' AHL team. I used to be a pretty big Wolves fan back when they were still in the now defunct IHL. In fact, I was at the game that they clinched the Turner Cup back in the late 90s. The Wolves were really the only hockey games I went to in the dead period for me in my Hawks fandom - the tickets were cheap, the games were fun and god forbid, the Wolves actually put a winning team on the ice. But that was then, this is now. I will say it was incredibly odd to be rooting against a Chicago team (not counting the White Sox). Every time the PA said something about Chicago, I'd get excited for a moment before I remembered I was rooting for Rockford. The scoreboard even confused me as I'd gravitate toward the Chicago side of it. Both teams came in with a four-way tie for fourth place in the West Division with six points. Due to their proximity, the teams have a bit of a rivalry going on, as evidenced by the 80 minutes in penalties doled out during the game.
Period One
The game got out to a pretty rip-roaring start. Kyle Beach, the Hawks first round draft pick in 2008 and "shining star" in many people's eyes (I'll believe it when I see it), took a delay of game penalty a mere 1:15 into the game. 30 seconds later, Wolves' Captain Jason Krog put one past Hannu Toivonen to make the score 1-0. This was only the third game for Hannu as Alec Richards has taken the role of #1 for the Hogs. Less 45 seconds after the goal, the IceHogs' Kyle Hagel and the Wolves' Adam Huxley got into a scrap, with Hagel getting the takedown. As you can see above, he was pretty pumped. Less than a minute after that, Beach and Spencer Machacek got into it. Needless to say, the crowd was jumping - you really don't see fights where the refs just let them go until they fall to the ice or someone poops out much anymore in the NHL. At the five minute mark, Brandon Bollig took a elbowing call and the Hogs' penalty box was a bit tight with three men squeezed in there. Overall the IceHogs were shorthanded three times in that first period, and aside for the first goal, did a good job on the PK. The IceHogs still managed to get 14 SOG in the opening period, but Wolves' goalie Drew MacIntyre turned them all away to end the period 1-0, Wolves.
During the intermission they had human bowling. They bungee corded fans on a toboggan across the ice toward huge inflatable bowling pins. I guess you had to be there.
Period Two
The IceHogs had a power play early in the period and failed to capitalize. Beach went to the box again 6 minutes in, 2 of his 11 PIM for the game. In his defense, he was absolutely clotheslined by Mike Siklenka and went after him. Both Beach & Siklenka went off for roughing. The chippy play continued as Adam Huxley was again involved in a fight, this time with Hogs' defenseman Ryan Stanton. Ryan took exception to Huxley's hard hit on a teammate and got 2 for instigating, 5 for fighting and a 10 minute misconduct for his trouble. The Hogs killed off that penalty but was victimized a short time afterward by Andrew Kozek to make the score 2-0. Ben Smith got the dejected crowd back into the game with less than four minutes left on a beautiful shorthanded breakaway goal. The period ended with the Hogs still with the edge on SOG, 21 to 15.
I was eagerly anticipating the second intermission as it was chuck-a-puck time. You can purchase rubber pucks before the game and write your name on them. At the prescribed time, everyone throws their pucks on the ice - the object is to get your puck closest to the centre ice faceoff dot. I think you win cash if you do. My attempts were not so successful. I was standing too far away for my first throw and ended up beaning some kid in the front row in the back. I got closer for my other ones and maybe got past the blueline. And to top it off, I can't count and left one in my bag. Oh well, I guess it's a souvenir. After the dejection, I managed to score an autograph from Jeremy Morin - he was injured in the Hogs' last game and was signing in the lobby. Morin was acquired from Atlanta in the Buff/Eager/Sopel trade and very nearly made the Hawks out of camp. I expect great things from this kid.
Period Three
The Wolves again silenced the crowd with an early goal from Nigel Dawes to make the score 3-1. At this point the sense of urgency finally kicked in for the Hogs' and Rob Klinkhammer (I love that name) narrowed the gap again to one, two minutes after the Wolves tally. The IceHogs had three consecutive power plays in the middle of the period, finally tying the game with eight minutes left on a blast from the point from defenseman Ivan Visnevskiy. The Wolves had one last chance to take the game with a late power play, but Hannu shut the door, stopping 10 of 11 Wolves shots in the final period of regulation.
Overtime
As with most 4-on-4 overtimes, the action was fast and furious. The Wolves would end up making a fatal mistake though, as defenseman Mike Siklenka took a hooking call on a potential Hogs' break, giving Rockford a man advantage with a little more than a minute in the OT. The Hogs wasted no time, and Igor Makarov tapped in the winner with a mere 47 seconds left in the extra frame.
Overall it was an exciting game and of course I enjoyed the outcome. Afterward, the Hogs came out to the ice to sign autographs for the fans which was a nice gesture. I got a few of them to sign a mini goalie stick I had purchased - see below.
Taking a quick look at the numbers on the season for the IceHogs...
The Hogs currently stand at eight points in seven games (4-3-0) which is good enough to be tied for fourth in the West Division. Defenseman Brian Connelly leads the team in points with 7, all assists. Both Rob Klinkhammer and Ryan Potulny have six points and Klinkhammer & Morin lead the team in goals with three. Klinkhammer also leads the team in +/- at 5, but it is encouraging to note that young defenseman Shawn Lalonde is right behind him with a +4. Kyle Hagel leads the team in PIM with 27, which is not surprising to me as he got into a scrap in one of the other two Hogs games I've attended. As for other future Hawks, Beach is a 1-2-3 with 17 PIM, Igor Makarov is 2-1-3 with an abysmal -4, and Nick Leddy is -2 with only two games in the AHL. Neither goalie is setting the world on fire - Alec Richards is the better of the two with a 3-1 record, 2.94 GAA and .888 SV% (eep). But he has a really bitchin' mask.
It's really hard to gauge how the team will do over the course of the season with only seven games under their belt - especially since several players (Cullimore, Pirri, Leddy & Brophey) have already had their cup of coffee with the Hawks in the young season. With good output from the scorers (Morin, Makarov, Klinkhammer) a little brute force (Beach, Hagel) and some consistent goaltending, I think the IceHogs will be in the AHL playoffs come spring. From there, it's anybody's guess.
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