AHL Rockford IceHogs

Hogs and Wolves Faceoff Tonight

Published on January 20, 2012 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Rockford IceHogs News Release


Rockford, Ill.- Coming off a 2-0 blanking of the Texas Stars on Monday, the Rockford IceHogs look to keep rolling as they host their Midwest Division rival Chicago Wolves tonight at the BMO Harris Bank Center. The puck will hit the ice at 7:05 p.m.

The Illinois Lottery Cup matchup is the sixth of 12 meetings between the two clubs and first of a home-and-home series against the Wolves, as tomorrow night the IceHogs will travel down I-90 to battle Chicago for the second consecutive night.

The first 2,500 fans into the building for tonight's contest will receive a Ted Dent bobblehead courtesy of Dental Dimensions.

For tickets to tonight's game, or any IceHogs game, call (815) 968-5222, visit icehogs.com or stop by the BMO Harris Bank Center Box Office.

Tonight's tilt can be heard on 100.5 NTA FM and 1330-AM WNTA beginning at 6:35 p.m. with the U.S. Cellular Pregame Show. The game can be seen live on Comcast channel 57 or on the web through icehogs.com.

The Hogs show a 21-21-2-1 all-time record against Chicago, including 15-7-0-0 on home ice at the BMO Harris Bank Center.

Goaltender Carter Hutton has had a hot glove as he recorded the first shutout of the season for the IceHogs on Monday and the third of his career. Rockford's puckstopper has allowed just three goals over his last three tilts dating back to Friday's 2-1 overtime win in Oklahoma City. Over that stretch, Hutton is 2-1-0-0 with a .960 goals against average and a .963 save percentage.

Winger Jeremy Morin comes into tonight's contest with six points (2g-4a) in five games against the Wolves. Over his last four games, Morin has tallied three goals.

Next Home Game: Sunday, Jan. 22 vs. Milwaukee Admirals. Rockford battles the Milwaukee Admirals on Blackhawks Night at the BMO Harris Bank Center. Game time is 5:05 p.m. Current Blackhawks players Bryan Bickell and Nick Leddy, along with Assistant Coach Mike Haviland, will be on hand to sign autographs and meet with fans. Jim Cornelison will sing the National Anthem.

For every goal that the Rockford IceHogs score in 2011-12, IceHogs head coach Ted Dent will make a donation to children's cancer research. BMO Harris Bank will also make a donation for every goal to the "BMO Harris Bank Goals For Grades"

Rockford IceHogs Chicago Wolves

Record 15-21-1-3 -- 34 points 21-14-1-3 -- 46 points

Past 10 Games 4-5-0-1 6-4-0-0

Streak 1-0-0-0 0-2-0-0

Home/Away 7-11-0-1 9-7-1-1

PP (Overall) 30/186 (16.1) 30/169 (17.8)

PK (Overall) 43/182 (76.4) 27/157 (82.8)

Leading Scorers Pirri (15-22-37) Haydar (11-24-35)

Bacon Bits:

Mmmmm, Donuts: Carter Hutton and the IceHogs recorded the team's first shutout of the season on Monday, a 2-0 win over the Texas Stars. Hutton made 31 saves to earn his third career AHL"ˆshutout. Rockford's last blanking came on March 11, 2011 at Milwaukee when Hannu Toivonen shutout the Admirals 2-0 on 28 saves.

Brick"ˆWall Included: Hutton has allowed just three goals over his last three starts dating back to Friday's 2-1 overtime win in Oklahoma City. Hutton is 2-1-0-0 with a 0.96 goals against average and a .963 save percentage. Over Rockford's past seven games, the combo of Hutton and Alec"ˆRichards have a 2.40 GAA"ˆwith a .911 SPCT. The IceHogs are 4-3-0-0 in those games. Rockford is still last in the AHL, giving up 3.55 goals per game.

How Sveet It Is: Winger Brandon Svendsen tallied the game-winning goal on Monday against Texas, his first goal as a member of the IceHogs. Svendsen has played nine games in the AHL this season, including four in Rockford and five in Binghamton, registering a goal and an assist. In 28 games with the ECHL's Kalamazoo Wings this season, Svendsen has 13g-22a-35pts.

2-0 Is Nice:"ˆWhen winger Jeremy Morin put Rockford up 2-0 with his third period power-play goal at 16:01 on Monday, it marked the first time since Wednesday, Nov. 22 against San Antonio in which the IceHogs held a 2-0 lead, a span 22 games. The only other two times Rockford has led a game 2-0 this season came on Oct. 14 and 16, both in Abbotsford in the Hogs third and fourth games of the season.

Huff And Puff And See You Tomorrow:"ˆTonight's game is the front end of Chicago and Rockford's second home-and-home set this season. Beginning tonight, the IceHogs will play the Wolves in five of their next 10 games running through Feb. 11. From tonight until Sunday, Feb. 26 (the final meeting in 2011-12), Rockford and Chicago will match up seven times in 16 games.

PK Lock Down: The IceHogs penalty kill continued it's recent resurgence on Monday, stopping all four of the Stars' power plays to run their penalty kill streak to 17-straight kills dating back to Wednesday, Jan. 11. After Chicago scored a power-play goal on their first advantage on Jan. 11, the IceHogs haven't allowed a power-play strike since. Like the goals against average, the recent PK hot stretch hasn't pulled the IceHogs special team's unit out of the cellar as the team's penalty kill has stopped 76.4% of their opponents man advantages this season.

On The Other Hand..: Rockford's power-play broke out of a three-game power play slump with Morin's third period power-play goal on Monday. But the power play's struggles have run deeper than that as the team is just 4-41 on the advantage over their past 11 games dating back to Dec. 26, a conversion rate of 9.8%.

Pay Back"ˆTime: Dating back to last season, the IceHogs are 3-7-0-0 against the Wolves over their past 10 games, including 1-4-0-0 this season. All-time,"ˆRockford is 21-21-2-1 against their foes from down I-90. After going 13-3-0-0 on home ice against Chicago, the IceHogs are 2-4-0-0 at the BMO"ˆHarris Bank Center dating back to Dec. 15, 2010.

Check out the Rockford IceHogs Statistics

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American Hockey League Stories from January 20, 2012


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