According to an agreement between ECHL and all its parent clubs, teams must provide housing to all their players. The Indy Fuel have done just that with fully furnished apartments for members of the club. The apartments sit right next to the Fuel Tank at Fishers, an ice rink owned by an affiliate company of the team. Despite the recently renovated rink being feet away from the player’s housing, Fuel President Larry McQueary told The-Rink that practices would continue to take place at the home of the team, Indiana Farmers Coliseum.

When asked about how these apartments would attract players to Indy, McQueary replied, “They’re brand new. No one else has new housing right now in the league. They can walk directly next door to work out, do a little stick and puck, it’s all right there.”

Apparently, the apartments were attractive enough to bring back forwards Logan Nelson and Mathew Thompson for their second seasons with the Fuel.

Logan Nelson

Nelson came to the Fuel in a mid-season trade with the Fort Wayne Komets that saw defenseman Anthony Cortese get sent up the interstate from Indy to Fort Wayne. The Rogers, MN native played in 21 games with Indy, tallying seven goals and 19 points, but boasts a fantastic defensive game as well.

“We brought him in last year to be a two-way guy,” Fuel assistant coach Ryan McGinnis said, “He plays a 200-foot game and a brand of hockey that we like.”

Nelson brings three seasons of ECHL hockey to the Fuel, his seventh different team in that span. With that experience comes leadership and that is exactly Nelson brings.

“He brings a good component to the locker room, which the guys like, and that helps at this level tremendously. If you can bring in enough locker room character guys like himself, the rest will take care of itself.”

It’s also worth noting that Nelson left Game 1 of the first round of the Kelly Cup Playoffs in Toledo with an injury. The 24-year-old never returned to the playoff series. According to McGinnis, “he is rehabbing” and “taking care of himself.”

Mathew Thompson

Bernie John and his staff brought in some key components to the team this season, but none of them overshadowed the signing of Adrian College captain Mathew Thompson. The Fuel brought the rookie in to close out the regular season and he sure did stand out.

Thompson suited up in seven games with Indy and netted two goals and six points, while also enjoying a +4 rating. The 2017-18 NCAA Division III Player of the Year also played in all four playoff games with Indy, scoring the first home playoff goal in the team’s four-year history. Along with that goal, Thompson added an assist to his playoff stat line.

When asked how much he thinks Thompson is going to help the team this coming season, McGinnis replied, “I think he’s going to help tremendously. We were able to get a good look at him last year in his seven-game sample during the regular season and that was enough for us. We’re glad to have him and he’ll add some great depth to our team.”

The Goaltending Situation

As of right now, the Fuel have no goaltender for the upcoming season. Standout rookie goaltender Etienne Marcoux signed with the Laval Rocket of the AHL this offseason and Matt Tomkins signed an AHL contract with the Rockford IceHogs, Indy’s AHL affiliate. Tomkins is currently the frontrunner for the starting job with Indy, but the backup position is still up in the air.

“When you get contracted players like [Marcoux and Tomkins] who are affiliated with Rockford and Laval, first and foremost it runs through them,” McGinnis said. “If we see them, we don’t know that. It’s going to be up to Rockford and Laval and their situations. You usually get guys like that at the end of the summer.”

The Chicago Blackhawks, the Fuel’s NHL affiliate, just announced the signing of goaltender Cam Ward, which would then push someone down to the Fuel through Rockford, barring any more roster moves.

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First of all, According to the ECHL rulebook, a team may not have more than four veterans on its roster at any time during the season. The ECHL website states that “A veteran shall mean a player, other than a goaltender, who has played in at least 260 regular season games of professional hockey.”

The Fuel currently have five players that meet that veteran threshold on the active roster: captain Michael Neal, defenseman Zach Miskovic, and forwards Josh Shalla, Ryan Rupert, and Darian Dziurzynski. Of the five players, four of them finished in the top five on the team in points.

At 32 years old, Miskovic might have seen his last season with the Fuel. The ECHL veteran has played the most games in a Fuel sweater in club history (186). In those 186 games, he has registered 55 points. The point total is not bad for a defenseman, but he is not producing like the Fuel need.

Miskovic seems to be far past his prime and unable to keep up with the speed of today’s ECHL game. In the three seasons that Miskovic has played with the Fuel, he has also had a -32 rating. A reasonable progression for Miskovic to continue his association with the Fuel might be a move behind the bench as an assistant coach.

Strengthening the defensive core is also something the Fuel could concentrate on in their long offseason. Defense has always been a weakness of the team and bringing in a solid offensive defenseman would be great. One of the best defenseman in team history, Robin Press, will most likely see more time with Rockford than he does with Indy next season. That would leave the team with only Brandon Anselmini, which would be fine, but he’s not the type of player you build your defense around.

Bringing in a legitimate goal scorer is something the Fuel have yet to do in their four-year history. Former Adrian College captain Mathew Thompson might be a player who would be worth bringing back for next season. He showed great potential after being brought in at the tail end of this past season. Thompson’s speed, skill, and a hint of physicality comprise just the type of skill set Indy has missed. Playing him along side Shalla and Dziurzynski could be a lethal option for the Fuel next season—if they all return.

Goaltending will also be an issue for the Fuel going forward. Unexpected breakout Etienne Marcoux may end up in the AHL with a team like the Chicago Wolves next season.  Based on his outstanding performance between the pipes in Indy, teams will take a look at him as a potential backup. Matt Tomkins might be back for another season, but it should be a priority for the team to find a backup goaltender over the offseason.  The Fuel’s AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs, have an abundance of goaltenders now with four on their active roster.

Something that differentiates the rest of the remaining teams in the playoffs from the Fuel are smart decisions in their own end, and not turning the puck over. In the defensive end, the Fuel seem to struggle with execution, such as making one simple pass to get it out of the zone or having the confidence skate the puck out past the blue line.

All too often, the defense either just ices the puck or blatantly turns it over in the slot. Focusing on these details early on in training camp and the preseason should help the Fuel get out to an early lead in the standings.

If the Fuel continue to make smart decisions in the front office and make the moves that will help the team in the long run, they could build on the playoffs this season make a deep run in the 2019 Kelly Cup Playoffs.

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After the weekend’s action, the IceHogs still sit in fifth-place in the AHL Central Division with a 29-24-6 record, 64 points, and a .542 point-percentage. Rockford is .040 point-percentage points behind fourth-place Iowa Wild, .043 point-percentage points behind third-place Grand Rapids Griffins, and are only .007 point-percentage points ahead of the Milwaukee Admirals in sixth-place. To say the AHL Central Division races is a tight one would be an under-statement.

Friday: Milwaukee Admirals def. Rockford IceHogs, 4-1

It’s no surprise this season that the IceHogs will out-shoot their opponents on almost any given night. What is rare is out-shooting them by twice as many shots and losing by more than a goal. On Friday, the Admirals were able to pull off that feat at home against Rockford.

It was not the start that the visiting team would have hoped for as the Admirals were able to get on the board early with a goal from Emil Pettersson on the powerplay. Just a minute and a half into the contest and the IceHogs were already in a hole to a division opponent. The second period saw the game get knotted up behind a Rockford powerplay goal from Cody Franson. His fourth goal of the season and second in as many games on the powerplay and the teams would head to the locker rooms tied at 1-1

Entering the third period, Rockford held a 22-7 shots on goal advantage and it looked as if it was just a matter of time before they were able to find their breakthrough against Milwaukee. But with just over five minutes to play, it was the Admirals who would break the 1-1 tie with a goal from Frederic Allard. From there the flood gates opened for Milwaukee and they would add another goal just over two minutes later from Emil Pettersson to make it 3-1 on his second of the game. With the net empty, the Admirals potted an empty net goal and the game would go final at 4-1.

55 minutes of hockey essentially saw the IceHogs and Admirals battle in a playoff-type atmosphere before the Admirals broke the game open. The final shots on goal total finished at 25-12 for Rockford. Jeff Glass made his third appearance in net for Rockford since re-joining the team. He made 8 saves on 11 shots faced and saw his record fall to 10-7-2 this season.

Since returning, Glass has lost all three of his starts in regulation, giving up four, six, and three goals in those losses. While not every goal given up is 100 percent the fault of the goalie, when your team in front of you only allows you to face 11 shots, sometimes having one of those back would be nice. With the loss, the Admirals inched closer to the IceHogs in the Central Division standings with just two more meetings between the teams left on the schedule, one in Milwaukee on Saturday, March 10 and the other in Rockford on Friday, March 23.

Saturday: Rockford IceHogs def. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, 3-0

Moving on to Saturday’s test against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, the IceHogs hoped to get a better result than what they came away with just eight days prior in Pennsylvania when they fell 6-3 to the Penguins. Rockford turned to rookie goaltender Collin Delia in net against the Penguins and opposite him was a familiar face to the Rockford organization, Etienne Marcoux.

Marcoux signed a Professional Tryout Agreement with the WBS Penguins earlier in the week and ended up getting the start against his former affiliate organization. Playing with the ECHL affiliate of the IceHogs, the Indy Fuel, Marcoux has a record of 16-11-1 in 30 appaearances with a 3.07 GAA and a .917 save-percentage. Saturday night’s game would be Marcoux’s first AHL start.

The IceHogs would get on the board first thanks to an Anthony Louis goal just about nine minutes into the game. Louis tallied his 11th goal of the season and Lance Bouma notched his first point since joining Rockford with a secondary assist. The game would be a tense and physical battle throughout the night and seemed to benefit this Rockford team as another playoff-type atmosphere against a team that is in the Calder Cup Playoff picture already can only do them good.

Andreas Martinsen and Collin Delia after an IceHogs victory. (Courtesy: Todd Reicher)

The game would head into the third period still 1-0 in favor of Rockford, but the Penguins would out-shoot the IceHogs 20-15 heading into the final frame. It only would take 10 seconds for some breathing room to come Rockford’s way as Andreas Martinsen scored his 10th goal of the season to give the IceHogs a 2-0 lead. Martinsen’s 10-second tally broke the previous franchise record of 11 seconds by Jeff Taffe for the fastest goal to begin a period set back in 2011.

Delia would shut the door on the Penguins from there and Martinsen would add an empty-net goal for good measure and the IceHogs came away winners, 3-0 over the Penguins. The shutout marked the first professional goose-egg for Delia, stopping all 34 shots he faced and improving his record to 11-6-2 on the season with a 2.78 GAA and a .901 save-percentage.

With the win over the Penguins, along with an overtime loss by the Iowa Wild and a win by the Milwaukee Admirals, the IceHogs find themselves right in the middle of a Central Division log-jam with third and sixth places split by only .050 point-percentage points.

Delia Making Claim To Be Starter Down The Stretch

Riding the wave of his first professional shutout, IceHogs goaltender Collin Delia put his flag in the ground for his case to be the starter for the rest of the season as Rockford pushes for the Calder Cup Playoffs. Over his last 14 starts, Delia is 10-2-2 with a 2.57 GAA and a save percentage of .894. With one outlier game against the Chicago Wolves on Feb 3, which he was pulled after two periods, Delia has been near lights out since the calendar turned over to 2018.

After a shaking start to his AHL season and a less-than-stellar start in the ECHL, Delia has settled into his different roles with the IceHogs and his progression from November-December to March has been enormous. With Jeff Glass returning to Rockford and not showing his old AHL form from early on in the season, it might be time for head coach Jeremy Colliton to look at Delia as the main net-minder Rockford the rest of the way this season.

What’s Next?

The IceHogs return to action on Saturday, March 10 when they travel north to face the Milwaukee Admirals. Puck drop for Saturday’s game at the Panther Arena is set for 6pm Central Time. After that, Rockford heads back south for a Sunday afternoon matchup against the Chicago Wolves. Puck drop at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont is set for 3pm Central Time on Sunday. The next ten games for the IceHogs come against Central Division opponents, seven of which are on the road. The month of March may end up making or breaking the season for Rockford. Strap in.

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