The IceHogs had 2 more games this weekend; these were the first two games since the Hawks traded forward Jimmy Hayes and defenseman Dylan Olsen to the Florida Panthers organization on November 14th.
On Friday, November 15th, the IceHogs were in Grand Rapids for another game against the rival Griffins. Despite the Griffins scoring first in the contest, the first period ended in a tie at 1 courtesy of Jeremy Morin scoring his 5th goal of the season—and in his first game back in the Rockford line-up since returning from the Blackhawks. The Griffins went onto score 3 consecutive goals on Rockford goaltender Kent Simpson before Hogs forward Alex Broadhurst was able to get one back for the visitors at 10:20 of the third. The Griffins and Hogs then traded one more goal each with Joakim Nordstrom recording his 1st goal of the season, but Grand Rapids took the victory and the 2 points, 5-3.
The following night, the Hogs were back at home at the BMO Harris Bank Center where they hosted Dylan Olsen and the San Antonio Rampage. With Antti Raanta in net, the Hogs were on top of things early as they received a shorthanded marker from Terry Broadhurst and a power play tally from Jeremy Morin in the first period alone. The Rampage’s Vincent Trocheck single-handedly tied the game up for San Antonio with a late 1st period goal and an early 2nd period marker, but the Hogs were able to battle back. Brad Winchester broke the tie at 6:19 of the 3rd period as he deflected in a Bobby Shea shot for his 5th goal on the 2013-14 campaign. Klas Dahlbeck added an empty net goal with 37 second left to give the Hogs the 4-2 win.
NOTES
-Grand Rapids outshot Rockford 33-29 on Friday night; San Antonio outshot Rockford 37-34 on Saturday night.
-Power play numbers from the weekend: Friday: RFD—0-2, GR—2-4; Saturday: RFD—1-2; SA—0-3.
–Jeremy Morin led the IceHogs in shots on Friday night with 6 and Kyle Beach led the team with 6 shots on Saturday night.
-Defenseman Blake Kessel (wearing no. 7) made his IceHogs debut on Friday night against Grand Rapids; he was signed to a PTO earlier in the week.
-Defenseman Adam Clendening is wearing a cage these days after Jason Zucker hit him on November 9th.
-Defenseman Klas Dahlbeck was wearing an A on his jersey on Saturday against the Rampage.
-The IceHogs scratches from this past weekend: Friday—Pat Mullane, Kyle Beach, Bobby Shea and Brad Mills; Saturday—Wade Brookbank, Byron Froese, Theo Peckham and Brad Mills.
-The IceHogs’ lines and D pairs looked like this on Saturday:
Joakim Nordstrom – Phillip Danault – Mark McNeill
Garret Ross – Alex Broadhurst – Jeremy Morin
Terry Broadhurst – Brad Winchester – Kyle Beach
Pat Mullane – Drew LeBlanc – Maxim Shalunov
Klas Dahlbeck – Adam Clendening
Viktor Svedberg – Bobby Shea
Blake Kessel – Jared Nightingale
OBSERVATIONS
–Mark McNeill was throwing the body around a lot early on in Saturday’s contest and finished his checks throughout the evening.
–Bobby Shea had a great night on Saturday night. The rookie defenseman recorded 2 assists, was +2 and was named first star of the game. It took a few games early on for him to get adjusted to the AHL game, but he has looked fairly solid on the blueline for the IceHogs lately.
–Viktor Svedberg returned to the IceHogs line-up after his upper body injury on Friday night against Grand Rapids. During Saturday’s game, he appeared to have not missed a beat despite missing the past 6 games. It’s especially good news for the Hogs that he was able to come back with Dylan Olsen being traded.
-In his first two games back into the IceHogs line-up since being reassigned to Rockford, Jeremy Morin has scored in each game. Might I add that his defense was just fine, especially when he was on the penalty kill on Saturday…
TRANSACTIONS
–Wednesday, November 13 – Defenseman Joe Gleason was loaned to the Toledo Walleye and defenseman Blake Kessel was signed to a PTO.
–Thursday, November 14 – The Blackhawks recalled and then reassigned forward Alex Broadhurst, reassigned forward Jeremy Morin to the IceHogs, and recalled forward Jimmy Hayes and defenseman Dylan Olsen for the purpose of trading them to the Florida Panthers.
–Friday, November 15 – The Blackhawks reassigned Brad Mills to the IceHogs.
–Saturday, November 16 – The Blackhawks recalled goaltender Antti Raanta after the game on Saturday night.
–Sunday, November 17 – The Blackhawks reassigned goaltender Mac Carruth and forward Philippe Lefebvre to the IceHogs from the Toledo Walleye.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR ROCKFORD?
-Wednesday, November 20 vs. Abbotsford at 7 pm
-Saturday, November 23 at Charlotte at 6 pm CDT
-Sunday, November 24 at Charlotte at 12:30 pm CDT
-Wednesday, November 27 vs. Milwaukee at 7 pm
