On Friday night, the Rockford IceHogs and Chicago Wolves played the first of back-to-back games in a regular season finale home-and-home series. Game one of the back-to-back saw the Wolves defeat the IceHogs 6-4 in a hotly contested game that would end up being a preview to what is to come in the Calder Cup Playoffs. With the loss, Rockford is locked into the Central Division fourth-place spot and the Wolves secure back-to-back Central Division titles.
Friday: Chicago Wolves def. Rockford IceHogs , 6-4
Friday night saw Rockford turn to Jeff Glass in net as he took a 5-1-0 record over his last six games into the contest. The IceHogs begin the game with a bit of uneasy play. After starting with a 4-0 shots on goal favor, Rockford committed a few too many turnovers and untimely penalties and found themselves down 2-0 after the first period of play. A goal from Keegan Kolesar just over four minutes into the game and a 5-on-3 powerplay goal from Teemu Pulkkinen dug the IceHogs a hole after 20 minutes of play.
The second period wouldn’t be much different for Rockford as they earned a powerplay early in the period, but it was T.J. Tynan who would breakthrough and net a short-handed goal to give the Wolves a 3-0 lead early in the middle frame. It would figure that on Friday the 13th, the IceHogs would be victims to themselves mid-way through the game, having given up a powerplay goal, even-strength goal, and a short-handed goal in less than 30 minutes of work. It would take all the way until the final minute of the period for William Pelletier to bury a rebound goal behind Oscar Dansk and get Rockford on the board. Pelletier’s 14th of the season cut the Chicago lead to 3-1 heading into the final period.
Unfortunately, any momentum that Rockford amassed with Pelletier’s late second period goal was lost early in the third period as Teemu Pulkinen would bury his second goal of the game to make it 4-1 early in the third period. The Wolves would add a powerplay goal just over a minute later to make it a 5-1 game.
Rockford would respond with a goal on the man-advantage of their own, coming from Cody Franson as it would cut the Wolves lead to 5-2 with just over 15 minutes to play in the period. They would add another goal from Chris DiDomenico a few minutes later to make it a 5-3 game mid-way through the final frame. Rockford pushed their way back into the game and with the net empty, scored on a Gustav Forsling slap-shot to make it a 5-4 Chicago lead with just under two and a half minutes to play in the game.
Chris DiDomenico celebrates a goal against the Chicago Wolves. (Courtesy: Todd Reicher)
Coming back from being 5-1 down, Rockford had a huge momentum swing going in their favor for the first time in a serious way. But moments later, Glass made his way to the bench again, but the Wolves would find the back of the empty net to make it a 6-4 game and that’s how it would finish.
POSTGAME REACTION: Hear from Head Coach Jeremy Colliton after 6-4 loss to Chicago
Glass would make 24 saves on 29 shots faced on the night, Cody Franson would lead the IceHogs with a three-point night, but it wouldn’t be enough for an epic comeback win for Rockford in their final home game of the season. With the loss in regulation by Rockford, paired with a regulation loss by the Manitoba Moose against the Cleveland Monsters, the Chicago Wolves locked up back-to-back Central Division titles and the IceHogs were guaranteed the fourth-place finish in the Division, setting up a Chicago vs. Rockford first round matchup ion the Calder Cup Playoffs.
Rockford Names Team Award Winners
Prior to Friday night’s game, Rockford announced the winners of their team awards for the 2017-18 season.
Defenseman of the Year: Cody Franson
Cody Franson named the Rockford IceHogs defenseman of the year. (Courtesy: Todd Reicher)
Most Improved Player: Collin Delia
Collin Delia named the Rockford IceHogs most improved player of the year. (Courtesy: Todd Reicher)
Unsung Hero: William Pelletier
William Pelletier named Rockford IceHogs unsung player of the year. (Courtesy: Todd Reicher)
Rookie of the Year: Matthew Highmore
Matthew Highmore named the Rockford IceHogs rookie of the year. (Courtesy: Todd Reicher)
Most Valuable Player: Tyler Sikura
Tyler Sikura named the Rockford IceHogs 2017-18 MVP. (Courtesy: Todd Reicher)
What’s Next?
The regular season finale is Saturday night in Rosemont as the Wolves and IceHogs turn it around and square off at the All-State Arena for a 7pm Central time puck drop. As mentioned before, Rockford and Chicago will face each other in the Best-of-Five first round matchup in the Calder Cup Playoffs.
Here is the full first-round schedule for Rockford and Chicago:
- Game One – at Chicago, Saturday, April 21 – 7pm
- Game Two – at Rockford, Sunday, April 22 – 4pm
- Game Three – at Chicago, Thursday, April 26 – 7pm
- Game Four * – at Rockford, Sunday, April 29 – 4pm (if necessary)
- Game Five * – at Chicago, Monday, April 30 – 7pm (if necessary)
The Illinois Lottery Cup season series between the two teams also ends on Saturday in Chicago, with the IceHogs having the advantage 6-5-0 over their 11 meetings. If the Wolves are to win on Saturday, they hold the tiebreaker over the IceHogs and would win the rivalry Cup.
This is fun, isn’t it?