As the calendar year of 2017 comes to a close, the Rockford IceHogs have their work cut out for them with three games in three nights to close the book on 2017. Starting Thursday night, the IceHogs begin a three game stretch that sees them travel to Iowa to take on the Wild, turn around to host the Wild back in Rockford on Friday before finishing the weekend in Chicago to take on the Wolves.
On top of the action-packed weekend, Rockford will be without goaltender Jeff Glass and forward David Kampf after they were recalled to the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday. Additionally, the IceHogs recalled goaltender Matt Tomkins from the Indy Fuel to split time with Collin Delia in net.
Entering Thursday’s action, the IceHogs sit in second place in the AHL Central Division with a 17-11-2 record (36 pts, .600 pt%) and trail the Manitoba Moose for the division lead. In the AHL Western Conference, Rockford ranks fourth behind the Manitoba Moose, Stockton Heat, and Texas Stars.
Thursday and Friday: IceHogs vs Wild
Thursday night, the IceHogs begin the three game stretch in Iowa taking on the Wild. It marks the seventh game between the teams this season with Rockford holding a 3-2-1 record over the Wild. Iowa sits just behind the IceHogs in third place in the Central Division with a 14-9-8 record (36 pts, .598 pt%).
The weekend’s action will have a new face joining Iowa as Zach Parise begins a conditioning stint with the Wild. Parise is recovering from a back injury that has forced him out of action all season. It will be Parise’s first AHL action since the NHL’s lockout season in 2004-05 where he played 73 games with the Albany River Rats, scoring 58 points (18G, 40A).
📰 #mnwild expected to assign Zach Parise to @iawild for a conditioning stint, a huge step in his return from injury → https://t.co/Q2Csh7fvm0 pic.twitter.com/keni6yzPLo
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) December 27, 2017
Special teams will be a big focus during the home-and-home with the Wild as they enter the weekend with the AHL’s fifth-ranked powerplay unit (20.4 percent) and the league’s top penalty-kill (88.6 percent) compared to the IceHogs’ 22nd ranked penalty-kill (80.6 percent) and league-worst powerplay unit (11.1 percent). Rockford has scored just four powerplay goals since Oct. 28 and have gone without a powerplay goal in their last 22 opportunities.
Puck drop for both games on Thursday and Friday night are scheduled for 7pm CT.
Saturday: IceHogs vs Wolves
After the back-to-back with the Iowa Wild, the IceHogs turn their attention to the Chicago Wolves and another installment of the Illinois Lottery Cup rivalry to close out the 2017 calendar year. In five meetings this season, Rockford holds a 2-2-1 record against the Wolves. Chicago sits in fifth place in the Central Division with a 13-12-6 record (32 pts, .516 pt%).
The previous five meetings between the teams have been consistently physical and have been played tightly with each team scoring 14 goals against the other with the IceHogs having a 15th goal credited in a shootout win. The sixth installment of this year’s rivalry should be no different.
With the losses of Glass and Kampf, the IceHogs will need players like Tomas Jurco and Matthew Highmore to lead to offensive charge and Delia and Tomkins to pickup where Glass left off in net. It will be a challenge for the goaltenders as Delia has just one game of AHL experience under his belt and Tomkins will be making his first trip up to the AHL after spending four years in net for Ohio State.
Puck drop for Saturday night’s game in Chicago is scheduled for 7pm CT.
IceHogs Close The Book On 2017
2017 has been an odd year for the Rockford IceHogs as they are a completely different team in look and feel than when the calendar year started. Ted Dent, Spencer Abbott, Mark McNeill, Kyle Baun, and Brandon Mashinter, to name a few, began 2017 with Rockford. As 2017 comes to a close, none of those players are around and Jeremy Colliton was brought in to replace Dent as Head Coach. In fact, only 13 players who played with the IceHogs last season out of 39 that suited up, are with the club to begin the 2017-18 season or were with the team at some point to begin the new season.
The end of the 2016-17 season saw the IceHogs finish last in the AHL Central Division and 27th out of 30 teams in the league overall. There was a large roster turnover, a change in coaching, and a change in philosophy. It has all worked so far in the 2017 portion of the 2017-18 season. Rockford has skated 10 rookies this season, with five of them scoring double-digits in points at this point in the season, led by an undrafted free agent signing in Matthew Highmore. The IceHogs are younger, faster, more highly skilled and for the first time in a while, have a bright future building up for the Blackhawks organization as a whole.