The IceHogs faced a 3-games-in-3-nights set this past weekend as they took on the Oklahoma City Barons in 2 contests at BMO Harris Bank Center then traveled to Iowa to take on the Wild.
The IceHogs made their way down to Charlotte, North Carolina again for another 2 game set against the Checkers during week 10 of the AHL schedule.
It came a little sooner than I expected it, but I think we all saw it coming once Brandon Pirri was kicked off the second line as soon as Handzus was removed from his iron lung. Today he was sent down, along with Mike Kostka who will be on a conditioning assignment. In their place Joakim Nordstrom was called up, as was Jeremy Morin.
The call-up of Morin is curious, as this was a player we’d all pretty much figured Q had written off and was never going to warm up to. It’s obvious Morin is too good for the AHL but he may not be good enough yet for a serious Cup contender in the Hawks (though I think he will be one day). Nordstrom has already gotten a few cartoon hearts to float of Q’s chest in preseason, and has played very well in Rock Vegas.
How this shakes out on the roster? I’m not sure I can tell you.
The IceHogs played in 3 games during the extended holiday weekend. 2 of the games were well played by the boys from RockVegas, while the other was one they would love to forget ever happened.
Week 8 brought 3 more games for the IceHogs with one coming at home against Abbotsford and two coming on the road against Charlotte. Unfortunately—or fortunately depending on how you look at it–for Rockford, they were only able to pick up one win.
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.
The end of week 3 and the beginning of week 4 featured a total of 4 games for the IceHogs with 3 of them coming on the road. For a young team like the IceHogs, it was crucial to sustain momentum throughout the 6 days that the games were spread out over. They did just that as they took 7 out of the possible 8 points that were up for grabs.
A few things to cover this week, some from Tuesday night’s affair and some that have nothing to do with Tuesday night.
–It only took about 15 seconds for the Capitals to put Joakim Nordstrom to the test. In their first four power plays, the Capitals were running their power play on whatever side Nordstrom was playing on. Nordstrom, understandably so, was caught in between a lot of times, having a difficult time deciding whether to take away time and space or give his man room. Skill guys like Mike Green and Alex Ovechkin chewed that up.
And we’re off and running. Had you forgotten what a season feels like when it starts in October? You probably did. I know I had. Let’s get right to the bullets.
-First, the ceremony. This is something the Hawks organ-i-zation really does well, if not a little over the top on patting themselves on the back. But the use of the ice as a big screen is always cool, and just like in 2010 they used interviews with the players to highlight the key moment (this time being the :17). It really brings it home that they were in just as much shock as we were. We were all kids then. Speaking of which, nice touch on having the kids bring the banner to the players, though it would have been better to give them a quick, personal introduction.
-I always find it a little off that Rocky is wildly cheered when introduced, same with McDonough, but then I hear all the moaning when ticket prices are raised. Who do you think does that? Still, they both deserve the cheers, because all we ask is that they provide us a winner for our money.
