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.
The IceHogs had 2 more games in week 4 of the AHL schedule and they both came on home ice as they welcomed the Charlotte Checkers and Texas Stars into town. These games came after a successful road trip to Ontario, Canada earlier in the week where they took 3 of 4 points from Hamilton and Toronto.
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Game Time: 7:00PM Central
TV/Radio: WGN, WGN-AM 720
Frustrated, Incorporated: Hockey Wilderness
With a three point Florida swing now in the books, the Hawks will return home for only their third divisional game so far this season. Tonight it comes in the form of new divisional opponent Minnesota, who some may or may not remember as being the first stop on a nice little tour last summer.
The IceHogs’ road swing continued in week 2 of the AHL schedule with back-to-back games in Lake Erie against the Monsters this past weekend. After splitting their opening weekend set in the Lone Star State, the Hogs were looking to add to their win total for this season and to continue their streak of sweeping the Monsters; they went 4-0 against them in 2012-13.
The puck finally dropped on the IceHogs’ 2013-14 season this weekend. The boys from RockVegas started off the season with a road trip down to Texas for tilts against the San Antonio Rampage and the Texas Stars.
The IceHogs’ 2013 preseason schedule only featured two contests. Both games were on the road as the BMO Harris Bank Center is undergoing seat renovations. First up for the Hogs was a trip to West Meadows Ice Arena in Rolling Meadows for a tilt against the Wolves, and then it was up to the Kern Center in Milwaukee to take on the Admirals.
It’s been a long summer for the IceHogs and their fans after the team missed the playoffs by a mere 2 points to the Milwaukee Admirals in 2012-13. The Hogs finished 9th in the Western Conference with a record of 42-31-2-1 (87 points). The roster turnover will be noticeable this year for Rockford, which is different from last season where the majority of the team was the same from the year before.
This was it. Week 28 in the AHL schedule. The IceHogs had 2 games left in their schedule and they needed all 4 points to keep their playoff hopes alive. They weren’t in complete control of their own destiny though—they needed the Milwaukee Admirals to lose just one, measly game in order for Rockford to make their first playoff appearance since 2009-10. Only half of the plan worked.
The IceHogs needed to keep on racking up the points in their games in week 25 and Tuesday of week 26 in order to maintain the pace of the Western Conference points race. During this four game homestand, they needed to take at least 6 of 8 points, but they only got half of the available points.
Week 24 of the AHL’s schedule had Rockford playing back-to-back games against the Abbotsford Heat in British Columbia. These two teams are a part of the AHL’s insane fight for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference, and that fight got even crazier once the weekend was over.
