We’re still dealing with it, but at least we cover some actual gameplay this time around. Thank you again.
There is literally nowhere for this team to go but up after the worst week in this franchise’s long history of bad weeks, both on and off the ice. The Hawks extended their own streak in futility to start the season, came away with one point out of a possible six, and looked like disinterested shit while doing so. It all pales in comparison to the shockwaves still echoing across the league today for their arguable criminal negligence 11 years ago, but either way the games on the schedule still have to be played. Not that this standard is going to be adhered to, at this time in 2018 when the now disgraced Joel Quenneville was launched and the team was supposed to be competitive (as this one was to be), he was fired after 15 points in 15 games. With two points in 9 games so far, it is now not possible for Jeremy Trestman to even meet that meager threshold, but given the circumstances around the team, it remains unlikely he’ll be fired any time soon. Even at that point, the next choice on the bench to step in is Marc Crawford, who was the first head coach Quenneville served under, and was suspended himself for physical abuse of players. Around every every corner there seems to be a new and fresh pile of shit to step in, but perhaps most impressive is that in just a month, the Hawks have seemingly managed to absolutely crush the spirit of one of the league’s smiling faces for a generation in Marc-Andre Fleury, while basically playing themselves into a wasted season in the blink of an eye. If the Hawks new GM Kyle something or other has any humanity, he’ll get Flower the fuck out of here at the earliest possible convenience.
11/1 – vs Ottawa
Game Time – 7:00PM CDT
TV/Radio – NBC Sports Chicago, SportsNet1, WGN-720
Lance And Blake (One Son) – Silver Seven Sens
Perhaps the Hawks’ best chance to grab a victory comes tonight against the visiting Senators, though that’s not to say that it’s going to be in any way easy, as absolutely nothing about this team can be taken as a given at this point. The Sens are coming off a victory in Dallas, having last played on Friday, so they got to spend their Halloween here in the city. That marked the Senators first road win and second against the Stars so far this season, and to this point they’ve been fairly competitive. They’re obviously an incredibly young team that’s still figuring things out with all of the hallmarks – good power play, bad on the road, and needing excellent goaltending to prop it all up, which they’ve gotten from Matt Murray and Filip Gustavsson, but former Hawk legend Anton Forsberg has been another story. So far the younger of the Garbage Tkachuk Sons has yet to hit his stride after missing camp and the first three games of the year with his contract dispute, but he’ll likely round into form soon. Likewise Tim Stutzle has been slow out of the gates after showing plenty of flash in last year’s abbreviated campaign. The Senators have gotten contrtibutions elsewhere up front for the time being in Drake Batherson and Josh Norris, but they’ll need their marquee guys to step it up, along with getting the play driven from the back end by Thomas Chabot in order to hang around for longer than just a month before their inevitable descent into the oblivion that is Kanata.
11/3 – vs Carolina
Game Time – 7:30PM CDT
TV/Radio – NBC Sports Chicago+, TVA-S, WGN-AM 720
Larry Johnson’s Grandmama – Canes Country
The Hurricanes are now 8-0-0, with all eight wins coming in regulation. They will also have had two full days off coming into Wednesday night’s game, having played most recently on Sunday afternoon. This probably goes just about as well at Club 1901 as it did in Raleigh.
11/5 – at Winnipeg
Game Time – 7:00PM CDT
TV/Radio – NBC Sports Chicago, WGN-AM 720
Leave Them At “The Airport” – Arctic Ice Hockey, Jets Nation
So Kevin Chevyldayoff gets to keep his job despite the fact he was in the meeting where all of Hawks upper management effectively conspired to keep Kyle Beach’s claims swept under the rug because he was the only person who placed himself there, but still didn’t manage to do anything about it? This is why hockey culture is perversely fucked and needs to be burnt to the ground for any real improvements to be made. Anyway, on the ice, the Jets are the same mess they’ve been for what feels like 12 years now. The forward group is extremely solid top to bottom even if Blake Wheeler is somehow like 58 years old now, the blue line is a complete gas can in its own end, and Connor Hellebuyck needs to be in top form for them to have a chance. To this point he hasn’t been, with an .899 overall, but that’s been absolutely obliterated by the Jets’ horse shit PK, which is only operating at 63% right now, good for 31st in the league. Of the 24 goals Hellebuyck has allowed, a staggering ELEVEN have come on the power play, and his even strength save percentage is a fully respectable and sustainable (for him) .935. Good thing for them that Paul Maurice teams are known for staying out of the box.
11/7 – vs Nashville
Game Time – 6:00PM CST
TV/Radio –NBC Sports Chicago, SportsNet1, WGN-AM 720
It’s Just Fucking Everywhere Isn’t It? – On The Forecheck
Every year it seems like it might finally be the one where Nashville finally has the bottom fall out of it, and every year they seem to still make the playoffs by the hair on their ass. Of course, they won’t get to play a full 12% of their games against this stupid ass Hawks team like they did last year and took 15 of 16 possible points. Nearly 25% of their points came from games against the Hawks last year, and it’s not exactly like John Hynes has a throbbing brain in that big bald head of his. It literally just takes a single counter-measure to make Vinny Del Colliton look like a completely clueless asshole. Roman Josi is once again leading this team in scoring with 9 points in 8 games from the back end because that’s how this whole thing has to work with Filip Forsberg the only real threat offensively because Ryan Johansen is too busy chugging root beers. Juuse Saros has been solid at evens with a .931, but only has a .917 overall thanks to early season PK issues in Nashville as well, though clearly not to the extent of the Jets. He’ll have to be excellent for them to even stay on the fringes of the wild card situation even with as shitty as the Pacific is, if only because there’s simply almost no firepower up front.
It just keeps getting dumber.
The Hawks continued their slide into oblivion this week, with 2 regulation losses and one OT loss to Toronto. With the specter of the sexual assault of Kyle Beach fresh in everyone’s minds, combined with less than stellar statements by some of the Hawks longest-tenured players, the on-ice product continues to be secondary. That being said we’re still a hockey blog so I suppose we have to cover what’s actually occurring in the games as well, so for those who still give a shit (I’m still trying to process all this and where it leaves me as a fan of both the Hawks and the NHL in general) here’s a nifty recap of the week’s failings:
NUMBERS DON’T LIE
10/27/2021
Leafs 3 – Hawks 2 (OT)
Box Score | Natural Stat Trick
The Hawks absolutely did not deserve to get any points out of this game, but Toronto is something of an overturned clown car in their own right, so naturally the Hawks jumped out to a 2-0 lead on the backs of goals by Dach and DeBrincat. This ended the record setting leadless streak of the team, with the new Time To Beat at 365:44. Amazingly, the lead held up for almost a period and a half before reality came crashing back down in the form of Old Friend David Kampf potting the tying goal with 6 to go in the game. Once that happened it was just a question of if the Hawks could hang on until overtime before they urped up the losing goal.
Up until that point, Kevin Lankinen kept them in the game with a boatload of saves off high danger chances off the sticks of Toronto players. Despite the lead the Hawks maintained, they got fucking skulled in possession with the highest percentage in a period being the 2nd where they held a whopping 38% of the share. The ending was inevitable, and nobody was surprised when Nylander’s shot in OT found twine.
10/29/2021
Hawks 3 – Canes 6
Box Score | Natural Stat Trick
Wow, back to back games with a lead for the Hawks as Brandon Hagel scored his first of the season 6 minutes into the game. This one lasted less than a minute, and in typical Hawks fashion it was because Jake McCabe pinching in to try and keep the play alive, but instead missing the net and starting a 2 on 1 the other way, leaving Connor Murphy out to dry and allowing racist shitbag Tony DeAngelo to pot his first goal of the year.
After that, the floodgates opened and the Hawks ended the 1st down 4-2. Raanta had the answer to any question the Hawks were asking until a PP goal in the 3rd, but by then it was far too little too late. On the cooler side of things, Isaak Phillips made his first career start, making him the first ever alumn of Team Jamaica to play in the NHL. Sadly the Boy Genius paired him with Erik Gustafsson and now Phillips hates the sport of hockey.
10/30/2021
Hawks 0 – Blues 1
Box Score | Natural Stat Trick
If Marc Andre Fleury wasn’t questioning his sanity in coming to Chicago instead of retiring before, I guarantee he is now. Fleury did everything he could to keep the Hawks in this game, and was successful for 55 minutes of it before the inevitable happened. The 1-0 shutout leaves the Hawks winless and completely without answers to any fucking questions at all. If the Hawks can’t beat Ottawa Monday, there’s no end to this in sight.
There’s really nothing left to say about how this hockey team plays the game. They can’t get out of their own zone cleanly, and when they happen to get into the offensive zone they can’t generate any pressure at all. They’ve only scored 7 even strength goals in 9 fucking games, and average a 45% CORSI share (2nd lowest in the league) per. It’s like the early 2000s, but at least those teams had the excuse of being comprised of AHL talent. This team is capped out to the max, and nobody seems to know where they’re going or what they’re supposed to do. Colliton is a big part of this, but you could put Claude Julien in there right now and it wouldn’t make a TON of difference if the players had this level of urgency. It’s all one giant shrug emoji right now, and I don’t know what they can do about it other than keep losing.
Eat At Arby’s
The Rockford IceHogs will finally commence with the home portion of their 2021-22 schedule. The piglets finished their six-game road trip Saturday night with a 4-3 win over the Texas Stars, earning a split of the two game set in Cedar Park.
“I’m looking forward to getting home and just being home for a while,” Rockford coach Derek King admitted to Hogs broadcaster Joey Zakrzewski after the win. “Maybe get practicing on our own rink and have a couple days off here.”
Saturday’s win broke a three-game skid and hopefully builds some momentum for the IceHogs as they open play at the newly refurbished BMO Harris Bank Center. Rockford, who is now 2-4 and in sixth place in the AHL’s Central Division, begins a five-game home stand on Saturday, November 6. The Hogs host Grand Rapids in the home opener, then welcome Manitoba into the BMO the following afternoon.
Rockford won’t leave the state of Illinois in November; seven of its nine games are at home. The other two dates are in Rosemont with the Chicago Wolves.
The IceHogs will spend the entire month battling Central Division foes, including their first look at the Moose since the 2019-20 campaign. Rockford will also re-establish its rivalry with the Milwaukee Admirals, who opted out of the 2020-21 season, when the Ads arrive at the BMO November 26.
Roster News
Last Tuesday, Rockford sent D Cliff Watson to the ECHL’s Indy Fuel. Thursday, the Blackhawks recalled D Issak Phillips, who saw his first NHL action Friday night. Chicago also returned D Ian Mitchell to the IceHogs Thursday.
As was the case the previous weekend, D Chad Krys did not play in Texas. Krys was injured against the Wolves October 16 and has not played since. Also sitting out the weekend was F Evan Barratt, who left an Octover 23 game in Iowa with an apparent injury.
AHL forward Kale Howarth (lower body) and Hawks defensive prospect Alec Regula (back) have yet to take the ice for Rockford this season.
Musings
- Both IceHogs victories this season have come despite being badly out shot. Arvid Soderblom, who has both Rockford wins in net, has made 40 and 45 saves in those games.
- Among the 45 shots Soderblom turned away Saturday was a penalty shot. The Hogs also denied all six power play chances by the Stars to pick up the win. The penalty kill unit improved to 77.8 percent; Texas was 0-8 on the man advantage for the weekend.
- Not only are teams getting more shots than the Hogs, but they’re getting much better looks at the net. It is difficult to expect to win when you can muster only half the shots your opponent takes. Through six games, Rockford has been out shot 233-132. That’s an average of 39-22.
- Last year’s scoring leader, Dylan McLaughlin, was moved between Alexander Nylander and Brett Connolly for Saturday’s tilt. This left rookie Lukas Reichel to center Jakub Pour and Michal Teply. These two lines accounted for 14 of Rockford’s 19 shots.
- Josiah Slavin, Carson Gicewicz, and D.J. Busdeker brought a lot of energy to the ice in both games. The forward line posted a goal in each contest. Gicewicz picked up his first pro goal on Thursday, while Slavin’s tally was the game-winner on Saturday night.
- Lucas Reichel Reichel leads the IceHogs with five points (3 G, 2 A) in six games. He got a taste of AHL hockey Saturday night. While attempting to retrieve a puck in the offensive zone early in the second period Saturday, Reichel was pancaked by Texas defenseman Jaren Rosburg. The Blackhawks first-round pick from the 2020 NHL Draft was a little slow to get up, but got back to his bench and quickly returned to action.
- Nylander’s four goals this season leads Rockford in that category. He’s sent 17 shots to the net in his six games, which also leads the club. If the plan was for Nylander to play his way back to the Blackhawks, he’s doing his part so far.
- Jacob LeGuerrier, who signed an AHL contract on October 7, saw his first game action with the IceHogs this weekend. The newly-turned 21-year-old LeGuerrier was paired with 19-year-old Michael Krutil in both games with the Stars.
Recaps
Thursday, October 29-Texas4, Rockford 1
Defensive breakdowns by the Hogs coupled with a solid performance by Stars goalie Jake Oettinger sent Rockford to its third-straight loss.
It was all Texas in the opening period. Ty Dellandrea capitalized on a Hogs turnover to cap off an odd-man rush on Rockford goalie Malcom Subban eight minutes into the contest. Just over two minutes later, Riley Tufte hauled in a stretch pass from Fredrik Karlstrom, split the defensive pairing of Nicolas Beaudin and Ian Mitchell, and beat Subban for a 2-0 Texas lead.
The IceHogs cut the lead in half 26 seconds into the second period. The forward line of Josiah Slavin, Carson Gicewicz, and D.J. Busdeker worked the puck around the Texas zone, scoring when Buskdeker found Gicewicz at the left post. Gicewicz muscled the puck past Stars goalie Jake Oettinger for his first pro goal.
Texas re-established a two-goal lead at the 6:10 mark. Andreas Borgman was able to skate past Busdeker and found himself wide open for a pass from Jordan Kawaguchi. Borgman completed the back door tally and it was 3-1 Stars.
Oettinger was too good for the Hogs to rally in the third period. Subban kept the Stars at three goals, stopping 31 of 34 shots on the evening. Rockford was unable to get any closer; Oskar Back scored an empty net goal at the buzzer to close out the scoring.
Lines (Starters in italics)
Alexander Nylander-Lukas Reichel-Brett Connolly (A)
Jakub Pour-Dylan McLaughlin-Michal Teply
Josiah Slavin-Carson Gicewicz-D.J. Busdeker
Andrei Altybarmakian-Garrett Mitchell (C)-Dimitri Osipov
Jakub Galvas-Ryan Stanton (A)
Nicolas Beaudin-Ian Mitchell
Jake LeGuerrier-Michael Krutil
Malcom Subban
Arvid Soderblom
Saturday, October 30-Rockford 4,Texas 3
Arvid Soderblom picked up the win with 45 saves for the IceHogs, who broke a three-game skid despite being out shot 48-19.
Rockford took a 1-0 lead via the power play. With Joseph Cecconi in the box for hooking Cameron Morrison, Lukas Reichel won the ensuing faceoff at the left circle. Brett Connolly dug the puck out of the left half boards out to Nicolas Beudin at the left point. From there, the puck arrived to the blade of Alexander Nylander, who send a laser from the top of the right circle. The shot got by Stars goalie Jake Oettinger, struck the left post and settled into the net at 4:52 of the first period.
The Hogs doubled the lead at the 13:12 mark, when Lukas Reichel drove to the left post after taking a long pass from Beaudin. The shot attempt glanced off of Stars defenseman Thomas Harley and past Oettinger for a 2-0 Rockford advantage. Ian Mitchell picked up the secondary assist after retrieving the puck out of the corner of the Hogs zone.
Texas cut into the Hogs lead with a long-distance goal by Stars defenseman Andreas Borgman. Borgman’s offering from just inside the Rockford blueline fluttered through traffic before getting past IceHogs goalie Arvid Soderblom, off the crossbar and into the cage at 12:34, making the score 2-1 Rockford.
The Stars sent 22 pucks on Soderblom in the middle frame and had four power plays turned away by the IceHogs. After Rockford spent nearly four minutes shorthanded, Dylan McLaughlin and Garrett Mitchell wrested control of the puck from along the boards in the Hogs zone. Mitchell found Brett Connolly coming down the right side of the ice. McLauglin trailed the play, taking the feed from Connolly and beating Oettinger’s stick side 19:05 into the second for a 3-1 Rockford lead.
Rockford went up 4-1 just 2:09 into the third period. The scoring play was set up by a nice hold by Jakub Galvas at the blueline. Galvas sent the puck into the right corner, where it was retrieved by Carson Gicewicz. The resulting pass went to D.J. Busdeker, who hit Josiah Slavin as he was driving to the net. The shot went through the five hole of Oettinger to finish off an impressive shift.
The Stars kept up the pressure, scoring five minutes into the third on a Jacob Peterson goal. Soderblom had to deny a penalty shot by Jordan Kawaguchi after Beaudin tossed his stick at a shorthanded rush against the Hogs midway through the period.
Peterson cut the lead to 4-3 with 2:44 remaining and Oettinger on the bench for an extra skater. The IceHogs hung on in the final minutes despite a six-man push by Texas.
Lines (Starters in italics)
Josiah Slavin-Carson Gicewicz-D.J. Buskeder
Alexander Nylander-Dylan McLaughlin-Brett Connolly (A)
Jakub Pour-Lukas Reichel-Michal Teply
Cameron Morrison-Garrett Mitchell (C)-Chris Wilkie
Ryan Stanton (A)-Jakub Galvas
Nicolas Beaudin-Ian Mitchell
Jacob LeGuerrier-Michael Krutil
Arvid Soderblom
Collin Delia
Follow me @JonFromi on twitter for updates and thoughts on the IceHogs throughout the season.
It seems impossible to have to turn to on-ice concerns after what came to light yesterday, but that’s seemingly the case. For those looking for more reaction to what the hell is even going on anymore with all of this, Sam obviously has it covered, and this might be the rare instance where listening to the podcast might actually be beneficial. In any event, yesterday coupled with the fact that with literally every second that ticks off the clock as the game starts tonight, the Hawks will be extending an NHL record for futility to start the season, this could very well be the nadir of the franchise, and if it’s not, it’s certainly a low point of the past 40 years.
The fallout from yesterday’s revelations is far from over and is wide spanning, as there are bound to be consequences in Winnipeg, Sunrise, and potentially at the NHLPA. And on the ice the Hawks will be missing more players to covid protocols (including two lettered captains who were on this team when all of this happened) while they face far more skilled opponents. It’s going to get worse before it gets better.
10/27 vs Toronto
Game Time – 6:30PM CDT
TV/Radio – NBC Sports Chicago, SportsNet 1, WGN-AM 720
God I’m So Tired – PPP
As if to drive home the point of just how endemic sexual assault is in the culture of hockey, a day after these horrors are brought to light, the Leafs come to town, whose own current coach and GM are each separately involved in sordid, disgusting, and horrifying tales of sexual assault from their past. On the ice, the Leafs are off to a 2-4-1 start, which of course is causing all of THE SIX to rend their garments and self-immolate given the expectations of what this team is supposed to do after the longest cup drought evere and another flameout, but the fact remains that this forward corps is still one of the most talented in the league even if it’s getting by the PDO gods right now, Mitch Marner in particular. This defense still likely isn’t deep enough and entrusting Cup aspirations to Jack Campbell is undoubtedly a fool’s errand, but for late October, there should be more than enough here to help right the ship for them tonight.
10/27 at Carolina
Game Time – 6:00PM CDT
TV/Radio – NBC Sports Chicago, WGN-AM 720
Mop & Slop – Canes Country
The Hurricanes have started the season 5-0-0 with all five wins coming in regulation, and are second in the league with a +14 goal differential, and once again are solidly in control of the shot attempts ledger with a 52.24% share 5v5, good for 10th in the league. They are getting balanced scoring up and down the lineup, with 5 players at a point-per or better in the early going, led by Andrei Svechnikov at 9 points and Sebastian Aho not far behind with 9. Freddy Andersen has played all 5 games and has a .946 overall save percentage, .950 at evens. And no one gives a shit. This has all happened before, for a couple years now, and it has only translated into a couple of playoff round wins. It seems fitting that Andersen landed here, as this publication has always branded him “Just Good Enough To Break Your Heart”, and that’s what this entire Canes team has been for the past handful of years. None of this matters unless it translates to silver in the spring, and at a certain point the team has to know that. Tony DeAngelo is a racist piece of shit.
10/30 at St. Louis
Game Time (not that one) – 7:00PM CDT
TV/Radio – NBC Sports Chicago, WGN-AM 720
Oh God Dammit – SLGT
The Blues are also currently 5-0-0 with all five wins coming in regulation and have a +14 goal differential, however they are not as territorially sound as the Canes, being underwater with a 49 share, good for 18th in the league so far. They’ve feasted a little bit on the dog food (GET IT) that is the Kings (twice) and the Coyotes, but they’ve looked sound in doing so, but also have wins against the Knights and Avs too, two teams that the Bene Gesserit prophecy has foretold of meeting in the West finals for a couple years running now. Old friend Brandon Saad is currently in covid protocol, but if indeed literally everyone in the league other than Tyler Bertuzzi is vaccinated, he’ll likely be available for this game. David Perron has six goals to lead the Blues so far, which undoubtedly pleases Allan Walsh, and thusly pleases everyone, because Allan Walsh is a very normal person that everyone likes and roots for, and who has never ever done anything remotely weird.
We tried. Obvious content warnings here. Thank you for listening.
It’s not getting any better, folks.
The Hawks have now lost 6 games in the fledgling 2021-22 season (Motto: Good Seats Still Available) and have set an NHL record for shame and futility having now gone 360 straight minutes to open a season without having a lead in a game. In addition to that heaping pile of pathetic, the Hawks sellout streak ended in acrimony on Sunday night with an announced attendance of 19,042 but in reality looked a lot more like this (courtesy of Ben Pope on the Tweet Machine):
The end of the sellout streak resulted in this unintentionally hilarious statement from front office bobblehead Danny Wirtz, which basically implied that yes, good seats ARE INDEED STILL AVAILABLE:
With a slate of games upcoming against higher tier opponents like St. Louis and Carolina, its very possible that this Hawks team will start the season 0-8-1. While everyone assumes the team is going to HAVE to launch Jeremy Colliton into the sun if that were to happen, I’m not entirely convinced Stan will put him out of his misery. The two are irrevocably tied together, and Old Yeller-ing one would require the same of the other.
I personally have no evidence of this, but I’m wondering if the Wirtz Clan is keeping Stan around to take the fall for the sex abuse scandal when the discovery phase of the trial hits. Either way, this shit has become nigh unwatchable and based on ticket prices on Stubhub I don’t know if Danny Boy will be able to wait that long, or if there will be anyone left to care when he does.
TO THE BULLETS:
NUMBERS DON’T LIE
October 19th, 2021
Islanders 4 – Hawks 1
Box Score | Natural Stat Trick
One period into this game, it kinda sorta seemed like the Hawks were going to make an effort of it. They kept the Isles pinned in their zone to the tune of a 60% CORSI for (their highest number for a period thus far in the season), and had a couple of dangerous chances against Ilya Sorokin that should’ve had the Hawks feeling pretty good about themselves heading into the locker room after 1.
The reality of it all was, however, that the Isles were simply playing the perfect road game there on Madison and they merely waited for the Hawks to (inevitably) make a stupid mistake and then capitalized on it. That mistake came in the form of Henrik Borgstrom, Riley Stillman and Erik Gustafsson (of course) chasing Oliver Whalstrom below the fucking goal line, leaving Anthony Beauvillier all alone to slip one past a sprawling Marc Andre Fleury, making it 1-0 and giving the Isles a lead that they’d never relinquish.
The Isles made it 4-0 on two goals by Whalstrom and one by Cal Clusterfuck before MacKenzie Entwhistle was able to end Sorokin’s shutout bid with 26 seconds left in the game. As we’ve been saying all along, any coach worth his salt will eventually pants Jeremy Colliton right out of the building and Barry Trotz is worth mountains of it. This outcome was preordained and shouldn’t have been a shock to anyone with a functional parietal lobe.
October 21st, 2021
Canucks 4 – Hawks 1
Box Score | Natural Stat Trick
Once again, it seemed like the Hawks might have a chance in this one as the first really wasn’t the dumpster fire the other first periods were during week one of the season. The Canucks did score first, and predictably it came from Erik Gustafsson being out of position chasing a hit below the goal line again and leaving the slot wide open for a Jason Dickinson one timer. The Hawks were able to answer not 2 minutes later however when Kyle Burroughs was sent to the sin bin for tripping up DeBrincat. The Hawks power play (which has been the only fucking decent thing so far this year) went right to work, with Kane winning a board battle against Dickinson and Tucker Poolman (porn name) and sent the puck up to Seth Jones who set up DeBrincat with a nifty one timer that beat Thatcher Demko far side.
Looking at the CORSI for the game, you’d have to assume that the Hawks got goalied as they held a 52 and 61% share of the possession in the 2nd and the 3rd, and had a majority of the high danger chances the rest of the way, but it never really felt like Demko had to work much to keep the Nucks on top. Meanwhile at the other end, every time Vancouver crossed into the Hawks zone you pretty much expected the puck to end up behind Lankinen and that’s pretty much what happened. Demko made some choice saves and Lankinen didn’t. 0-4-1.
October 24th, 2021
Red Wings 6 – Blackhawks 3
Box Score | Natural Stat Trick
Honestly, there’s not much to say here. The Hawks got absolutely domed in all facets of the game by a team that had played the night before (and been scorched to a crisp by what had been a winless Montreal team up to that point) and was on it’s 3rd game in 4 days in 3 time zones. Marc Andre Fleury looked completely disintristed, and really who can blame him when most of his “defenders” avoid the area in front of his crease like Tyler Bertuzzi and scientific evidence.
With Patrick Kane out as a close contact exposure to BERTUZZI-19, the power play was pretty lifeless, pissing away two 5 on 3 opportunities. Tyler Johnson made a nice play in the 1st powering his way to the net, but then wiped it all away by taking 2 dumb stick penalties immediately after the Hawks had score, killing any momentum generated. The UC was half empty, and the half that was filled was at lest 50% Detroit fans. The sellout streak ended, but it’s been replaced by a much worse one with the Hawks now owning the dubious distinction of going the longest to start a season without a lead. Then the cherry on top of the shit sundae happened in the 3rd:
Hawks call timeout, Colliton hands the dry erase to the players, they appear to draw something up and hand it back. that’s…interesting pic.twitter.com/6LTNLBYbDe
— Liam McHugh (@liam_mchugh) October 25, 2021
Un-fucking-real.
There’s no end in sight for any of this, as much as we all want to get off this poorly maintained carnival ride. The roller coaster is out of tracks, and Stan Bowman is the carnie asshole who forgot to finish building it. There’s no coaching going on, there’s no fun being had by anyone, and there’s little hope that anything could possibly be turned around before the coaster flies into a brick wall, but at least there are still good seats available.
Eat At Arby’s
The Rockford IceHogs took some lumps in Iowa this past weekend. The Blackhawks AHL franchise continued what is going to be a six-game road trip in DesMoines, losing back-to-back games to the Wild.
Rockford led Friday’s affair twice before being snowed under by a four-goal middle frame by Iowa. The Wild outshot the Hogs 53-19 while pulling away to win 6-3. In the rematch, Rockford fell behind by three goals and dropped a 5-2 decision to Iowa.
As a result of the two losses, the piglets fall to the bottom of the Central Division standings, with the Wild soaring to the top. The IceHogs are 1-3 on the young season. They have two games this week with the team just above them in the Central, the Texas Stars. Rockford will play in Cedar Park Thursday and Saturday this week.
Roster News
On Saturday, after he posted a goal and an assist against Iowa the night before, the Blackhawks recalled forward Reese Johnson. Johnson looked good in his first three games with Rockford. His time up with the Blackhawks showed on the ice; Johnson has been a leader despite not being much older than the rookies.
Johnson also showed the desire to plant himself in front of opposing goalies and hold his ground against defenders. His goal Friday was a tip-in from the front of the net.
On Sunday, defenseman Ian Mitchell was recalled by Chicago in time to take part in that night’s game with the Red Wings. Mitchell was scoreless with a minus-four rating in two games with the Hogs.
Musings…
- Rockford coach Derek King has tried several combinations early in the season. However, he has been fairly consistent with having Lucas Reichel center Alexander Nylander and Brett Connolly. The Hogs have a potentially standout line for the time being. Reichel currently leads the team with four points (2 G, 2 A) and had points in both games this weekend.
- Nylander has looked very good in his return from a knee injury, pacing the IceHogs with three goals. He has also looked good at both ends of the ice.
- Jakub Pour has shown some scoring touch. The 22-year old Hawks prospect picked up a goal and an assist Friday night, then lit the lamp again in Saturday’s loss.
- Evan Barratt was in the lineup for both games this weekend. However, he was not on the bench for the third period of Saturday night’s contest.
- Chad Krys did not make the trip to Iowa. He may be missing some extended time after suffering a knee injury on October 16 in Chicago. Fellow defenseman Alec Regula is still working out some back issues that have kept him out of action for several weeks.
- Several of Rockford’s AHL contracts saw their first action in DesMoines this weekend. Forward Dylan McLaughlin was in for both games, picking up an assist Saturday. Defenseman Cliff Watson played both nights, assisting on Reese Johnson’s goal Friday. Forward D.J. Busdeker also drew into the lineup Saturday, making his season debut.
- In lieu of Johnson, who was one of Rockford’s alternate captains until his recall, Connolly donned the “A” on Saturday.
- No IceHogs defenseman has tickled twine in the first two weeks of action. Issak Phillips leads the defense with two assists. Phillips is seeing a lot of time in the top two pairings so far this season with several blueliners on the shelf in Rockford and Chicago. His plus-two skater rating though four games leads the club.
- Ian Mitchell, recently assigned to Rockford, skated both games this weekend. He was considerably less noticeable than Phillips.
- Andrei Altybarmakian was able to showcase his game with a thinner prospect pool last season. He’s been relegated to bottom-six duty in most of his three games this month. He did some nice work on the end boards with McLaughlin to set up Pour’s goal Saturday night.
- The Hogs power play went 1-10 over the weekend. Rockford’s man advantage units are hitting at a paltry 6.7 success rate. They’ve allowed more shorthanded goals (two) than they have scored (one).
- The penalty kill isn’t faring much better. Iowa was 2-4 on Saturday after the IceHogs stopped all four Wild chances the evening before. Overall, Rockford’s kill rate is near the bottom of the AHL as 68.4 percent.
Recaps From DesMoines
Friday, October 22-Iowa 6, Rockford 3
The Hogs were out shot 53-19 on the evening. Despite leading on two occasions, Rockford dropped the first meeting with the Wild this season at Wells Fargo Arena.
Rockford took a 1-0 lead late in the first period, courtesy of a nice give and go play by the piglets. Issak Phillips got the clearing pass out of his zone and to the stick of Jakub Pour. Pour sent a cross-ice pass to Reese Johnson in the neutral zone, then skated to the right circle to take Johnson’s drop pass. The shot beat Wild goalie Andrew Hammond low to the blocker side at 17:51 of the opening period.
Iowa tied the game 32 ticks into the middle frame on a Connor Dewar goal. Rockford re-established the lead at the 5:53 mark when Johnson sent a feed from Cliff Watson over Hammond’s glove. Two goals from Iowa’s Nick Swaney put the Wild up 3-2 midway through the second.
The IceHogs tied the game on a power play 11:30 into the period. Lucas Reichel was attempting to send a pass through the crease when the puck struck the skate of Wild defenseman Jon Lizotte. Hammond could only watch as the carom entered the goal, and the game was even at three goals.
Damien Giroux flipped a backhander past Hogs goalie Arvid Soderblom 14:51 into the second to give Iowa a 4-3 at the second intermission.
Things got out of hand in the final twenty, with the Wild going up 5-3 on a Mitchell Chaffee tally 3:45 into the third. Iowa made it 6-3 on Giroux’s second of the night.
Lines (Starters in italics)
Alex Nylander-Lucas Reichel-Brett Connolly
Dylan McLaughlin-Josiah Slavin-Michal Teply
Jakub Pour-Reese Johnson (A)-Evan Barratt
Andrei Altybarmakian-Garrett Mitchell (C)-Dmitri Osipov
Ryan Stanton (A)-Ian Mitchell
Cliff Watson-Issak Phillips
Jakub Galvas-Michael Krutil
Arvid Soderblom
Collin Delia
Saturday, October 23-Iowa 5, Rockford 2
After two goals the previous evening, Nick Swaney victimized the IceHogs for two more Saturday night, leading the Wild to their second-straight win over Rockford.
Swaney put Iowa up 1-0 early with a power play tally. With Lucas Reichel in the box for slashing, Swaney skated into the slot with the puck, beating Hogs goalie Collin Delia high to the stick side at 1:11 of the opening period.
The IceHogs were 0-6 on the man advantage for the game and whiffed on three power play chances in the first period. Iowa took advantage of a Reichel turnover in neutral ice to go up 2-0 at the 11:51 mark. Cody McLeod chased down the loose puck after the Hogs rookie lost the handle, leading Swaney on an odd-man rush toward Delia. Swaney converted on the tap in to put Rockford in a hole.
Another quick strike to lead off the second period saw the Wild take a 3-0 advantage. Delia left a long rebound on a Will Bitten shot; Mason Shaw collected it in the slot and fired to the twine 1:28 into the second.
The IceHogs got on the board with an Alex Nylander goal coming off of a faceoff win by Reichel. Nylander got the the puck near the top of the left circle and sent a shot past Iowa goalie Dereck Baribeau at the 4:30 mark.
Iowa restored the three-goal lead on the power play. Swaney set up Kyle Rau in front of Delia with Andrei Altybarmakian serving a penalty for high sticking. The goal came off of Rau’s leg and past Delia at 7:53 of the middle frame for a 4-1 Wild lead.
The Hogs would cut the lead to 4-2 on a Jakub Pour goal, set up by Altybarmakian and Dylan McLaughlin 10:51 into the second. The Wild responded with a goal by Adam Backman, who beat Delia from the left dot at the 17:08 mark. Rockford entered the locker room down 5-2; neither team scored in the final twenty minutes.
Delia took the loss for the Hogs, giving up five goals on 31 Iowa shots.
Lines (Starters in italics)
Alex Nylander-Lucas Reichel-Brett Connolly (A)
Cameron Morrison-Josiah Slavin-D.J. Busdeker
Jakub Pour-Dylan McLaughlin-Andrei Altybarmakian
Evan Barratt-Garrett Mitchell (C)-Dmitri Osipov
Issak Phillips-Ian Mitchell
Ryan Stanton (A)-Nicolas Beaudin
Cliff Watson-Jakub Galvas
Collin Delia
Arvid Soderblom
Follow me @JonFromi on twitter for thoughts on the IceHogs throughout the season.
The Rockford IceHogs continue their October tour this weekend. The action takes place in DesMoines, where the piglets will face the Iowa Wild on Friday and Saturday nights. After splitting the first two games of the season in Grand Rapids and Chicago, the Hogs could see their points percentage climb above the .500 mark for the first time since the 2019-20 campaign.
Roster News
On Monday, the Blackhawks called up forward Mike Hardman, sending defenseman Ian Mitchell to Rockford. The IceHogs assigned goalie Cale Morris to the Indy Fuel of the ECHL.
Morris joins goalie Tom Aubrun in Indy. In addition to the two netminders, Rockford has several AHL contracts assigned to the Fuel roster. These include forwards Liam Folkes, Riley McKay and Chad Yetman. Indy hosts Cinncinati on October 23 to open its schedule.
A Look At The Wild
Iowa has some new faces, though the Hogs should be familiar with some of them. Forward Dominic Turgeon and defenseman Joe Hicketts come over from Grand Rapids. Longtime Iowa forward Kyle Rau is back after spending last season with Minnesota. Center Connor Dewar returns for his third season after posting 23 points (12 G, 11 A) in 32 games for the Wild in 2020-21. He currently leads Iowa in scoring (2 points) following the first weekend.
The Wild split two games with the Texas Stars to open their season. Veteran goalie Andrew Hammond shut out the Stars on October 16. He’s coming off a solid season with Rochester last spring (2.53 GAA, .908 save percentage) and will likely split starts with prospect Dereck Baribeau against the IceHogs. Baribeau was 2-0 against Rockford last season, with a 2.10 goals-against average and a .925 save percentage. Overall, he was 6-1-2 in ten appearances (2.54 GAA, .914 save percentage).
The IceHogs were 1-4-1 at Wells Fargo Arena last season. Nicolas Beaudin had a lot of success against the Wild; in five games, the defenseman had six points (2 G, 4 A). In ten games with the Wild, Reese Johnson also posted six points (2 G, 4 A). Rockford was 4-5-1 in those games.
The Hogs will be leaving Malcom Subban at home for the weekend. Collin Delia looks to get his first start of the season. Arvid Soderblom, who will likely get the other start this weekend, shut out the Wild when the teams met in the preseason on October 23.
Nothing has been announced as of yet, but Chad Krys may be out for a stretch after suffering a knee injury on October 16 in Chicago. Mitchell will likely draw into the defensive mix regardless.
Follow me @JonFromi on twitter for updates on this weekend’s games, as well as my thoughts on the IceHogs all season long.
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