Over the weekend, the Rockford IceHogs faced the Grand Rapids Griffins in a home-and-home series and came away with wins in both games over the defending Calder Cup champions. On Friday, the IceHogs took the first game in Grand Rapids 4-1, before turning around and taking a 7-2 win over the Griffins on Saturday back in Rockford. With the victories, the IceHogs stay in second-place in the AHL Central Division behind the red-hot Manitoba Moose.
The IceHogs headed into the weekend’s action without their top-scorer Vince Hinostroza after he was recalled to the Chicago Blackhawks and Tanner Kero was assigned to Rockford in his place. Hinostroza had been pacing the IceHogs offense all season, notching 22 points (9G, 13A) in 23 games played. Kero did not play in Friday night’s game but was in the lineup on Saturday for the IceHogs. In his AHL career, Kero has 64 points (32G, 32A) in 94 games played, all with Rockford, prior to Saturday’s game.
Friday: Rockford IceHogs def. Grand Rapids Griffins, 4-1
On Friday, the IceHogs came out pacing the Griffins early on, but it was a Matt Puempel powerplay goal mid-way through the first period that opened the scoring between the two sides. But, the Griffins’ lead would last less than three minutes as Rockford pulled even late in the period with a goal from Tomas Jurco. Jurco’s eighth goal of the season and the teams headed to the locker room tied at 1-1.
In the second period, the Griffins had the better scoring chances but the IceHogs and starter Jeff Glass were up to the task. With under three minutes to go in the period, Andreas Martinsen put the IceHogs ahead 2-1 with his third goal of the season and they would hold the lead for good form then on.
The third period saw the IceHogs dictate more of the action and get rewarded for it at the end of the period as Robin Norell made it a 3-1 game with under two minutes to play with his first goal of the season and Luke Johnson put his sixth goal of the season home on an empty net and Rockford came away winners, 4-1 over the Griffins. Glass made 33 saves on 34 shots faced and earned his eighth win of the season, third win in a row and improved to 8-2-1 on the season.
Saturday:Â Rockford IceHogs def. Grand Rapids Griffins, 7-2
Turn right around and do it all again on Saturday night in Rockford, this time the result was far more in favor of the IceHogs.
It was J.F. Berube to start the game after being reassigned to the club from the Chicago Blackhawks the day before. He would make 18 saves on all 18 shots he faced before exiting the game mid-way through the second period with an apparent left-leg injury after collision with Carl Dahlstrom. Berube left the game and did not return, Jeff Glass stepped in and made 18 saves on 20 shots faced in the remaining period and a half.
It was Martinsen in the first period to get the IceHogs on the board first with his fourth goal of the season and second of the weekend, to give Rockford the 1-0 lead after one period of play. The second period would see more offensive power from the IceHogs as Tomas Jurco and Darren Raddysh combined to put Rockford ahead 3-0 with their ninth and third goals of the season, respectively.
The IceHogs would jump out to a 6-0 lead after scoring three goals in just over the first three minutes of the third period. Goals coming from Matthew Highmore, his team-leading 11th of the season, Carl Dahlstrom on the powerplay, and Matheson Iacopelli to put Rockford ahead by a touchdown. The Griffins would add two goals in the period before David Kampf made it a 7-2 game with just under two minutes left in the game. Although leaving the game with an injury, Berube was credited with the win, his seventh of the season.
Who Are The IceHogs After 25 Games?
With the IceHogs taking four points out of four against the Griffins, they improve to 15-9-1 on the year, good for 31 points in the standings and a .620 points percentage. The IceHogs have won four games in a row to start the month of December, backed by the offensive production of Carl Dahlstrom, who has eight points (1G, 7A) during the four-game win streak, and sit in second place in the AHL Central Division behind the Manitoba Moose (18-5-3, 39pts, .750 pt%) who have not lost in regulation since Nov. 12.
While the special teams for Rockford leave a lot to be desired (28th ranked powerplay/ 27th ranked penalty-kill), their offensive production at even strength and two-goalie system has allowed them to be successful so far this season.
Outside of the play of Hinostroza, the IceHogs have relied heavily on a core of rookies to drive the ship. Rookies like Matthew Highmore and David Kampf have generated a lot of chances and offensive upside for Rockford. Along with the rookie production from the forwards group, the defensive rookie duo of Darren Raddysh and Luc Snuggerud have been bright spots on the blue-line and give the Blackhawks organization depth at the position that already has players like Ville Pokka and Erik Gustafsson ready for call-ups.
With a core group of regular players being first full-year AHL rookies (10 rookies have played 18+ games this season), the IceHogs have benefited from having “veteran” players around the young guys all season. Top contributors like Tomas Jurco, Luke Johnson, and Laurent Dauphin, although all still under 25-years old, have been able to lead this group to a much more promising season and future than has been seen in Rockford in the last few years.
The big question moving forward now becomes what will the IceHogs do in net without J.F. Berube for the foreseeable future? Jeff Glass has been solid all season for Rockford, but the success has come hand-in-hand with Berube. In his place, Collin Delia becomes the next man up in net after Berube’s injury. Delia has seen just one game with the IceHogs this season, a road loss to the Iowa Wild on Nov. 9 where Delia made 12 saves on 16 shots faced. He has 10 games played with the Indy Fuel of the ECHL, with a 1-7-2 record. Glass will be the workhorse in Berube’s absence for Rockford and he will need to continue his hot start to the 2017-18 season if the IceHogs are going to stay at the top-end of the Division and Conference.
What’s Next?
The IceHogs prepare for a Tuesday night home game against the rival Chicago Wolves before heading to San Antonio for a short weekend series with the San Antonio Rampage. Rockford is 2-1-0 against the Wolves in the Illinois Lottery Cup rivalry this season with both a shootout and overtime win over Chicago. The weekend action marks games number two and three against the Rampage this season. The IceHogs lost the first matchup against San Antonio on Nov. 10, a 6-0 loss.
Puck drop on Tuesday night is scheduled for 7pm CT at the BMO Harris Bank Center in Rockford. Friday night in San Antonio is scheduled for a 7:30pm CT puck drop and Sunday will be a 3pm CT afternoon puck drop against the Rampage.