The Rockford IceHogs return to action this weekend on the road after having the week off. Starting on Friday, the IceHogs travel to the state of Texas for three games against the Texas Stars and San Antonio Rampage. Rockford enters the weekend sitting in sixth-place in the AHL Central Division, five points out of a Calder Cup Playoff spot.
IceHogs Head To Texas For Three-Game Trip
The IceHogs travel to Texas beginning on Friday with a road contest against the Texas Stars. This season, Rockford holds a 1-1-1 record against the Stars this season, having lost the last two meetings. Texas heads into the action on Friday night with 43 points in the standings, good for fifth-place in the Central division ahead of the IceHogs with 39 points. Texas also has played three fewer games than the IceHogs at this point of the season.
Rockford will hopefully be able to roll momentum into the Lone Star State after a breakout win over the Iowa Wild last Sunday. Rockford took home their first multi-goal win since early November with the 6-2 win over Iowa behind Anthony Louis and Jacob Nilsson‘s multi-point efforts. The win also marked the season debut for Andreas Martinsen and the return to Rockford for Dylan Sikura. Both tallied at least one assist in the win over Iowa.
Rockford IceHogs forward Dylan Sikura. (Courtesy: Rockford IceHogs)
The return of Dylan Sikura to the IceHogs lineup should be a shot in the arm to an offense that has lacked goal-production all season. When Sikura was first recalled to the Chicago Blackhawks, he was the team-leader in goals (9) and points (18). He enters the Texas road-trip ranked third on the team in total scoring with 20 points and is second in goals with nine still.
In his absence, the IceHogs held a 4-5-2 record, averaging 1.9 goals per game. With Sikura in the lineup this season, Rockford is averaging 2.4 goals per game. Still a far-cry from a well-oiled machine of an offense, but improvement is improvement. Rockford still holds the 30th ranked AHL scoring offense with 86 goals for this season, six ahead of last-place Manitoba Moose, who have played 4 fewer games than the IceHogs.
Following Friday’s game against the Stars, the IceHogs take on the San Antonio Rampage for two games in San Antonio on Saturday night and on Tuesday night. San Antonio sits in seventh-place in the AHL Central Division with 37 points in the standings, two behind the IceHogs. Rockford holds a 1-1-2 record against the Rampage this season, having lost three in a row against San Antonio after winning their season-opening matchup on October 24.
All three games are set for 7pm CT puck drops.
Roster Updates
The Rockford IceHogs made a few roster updates on Thursday afternoon as defenseman Neil Manning has been recalled from the Indy Fuel and forward Matheson Iacopelli has been assigned to the Indy Fuel. Additionally, injured defenseman Luc Snuggerud was cleared to practice with the team, but is still not cleared for game action. Snuggerud has been out with an upper-body injury since November 3.
This season with the IceHogs, Iacopelli has skated in 25 games with four points (2 G, 2 A). Last season, Iacopelli played in 10 games with the Fuel, tallying nine goals and one assist.
Manning has skated in three games with the IceHogs this season with no points to his name. With the Fuel in the ECHL, Manning has 17 points (2 G, 15 A) in 30 games and was named to the ECHL Western Conference All-Star roster.