IHL 2 Rockford IceHogs

IceHogs Take Three of Six Points to Begin Road Trip

Published on January 5, 2004 under International Hockey League 2 (IHL 2)
Rockford IceHogs News Release


Rockford began a stretch of 11 of 15 on the road with a three game road swing. The Hogs went 1-1-1, earning three of six points. The IceHogs also knocked off the UHL's top team, the Muskegon Fury. Week 12 marks another full week for the Hogs, including a pair of games against the Fort Wayne Komets and another three game weekend road trip.

Wednesday, December 31st: Rockford 3 at Fort Wayne 7: The Rockford IceHogs tallied three but it was no match for the Fort Wayne Komets and David Alexander Beauregard's hat trick as they fell at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum 7-3. The game was the first of three on the road for the Hogs this week. Beauregard got the Komets on the board at 5:37 of the first period. Forward Ryan Severson followed with Fort Wayne's second goal of the game at 8:28. Beauregard then extended the Komets lead to 3-0, 55 seconds in to the second period with a power play goal. The Hogs finally broke onto the scoreboard at 10:29 of the second when speedster Steve Cygan buried a breakaway opportunity. But Beauregard quickly took the wind out of the Hogs sails with his hat trick goal two minutes later. Colin Chaulk and Dustin Virag tacked on a pair of goals before the end of the period to take a 6-1 lead. Cygan however added his second goal of the game at 18:35, just eight seconds after the Virag goal to make the score 6-2 heading into the second intermission. Each team tallied in the third period. The Komets were first with a Bobby Stewart goal at 7:50. Hogs defenseman B.J. Adams scored the final goal of the game while the Hogs skated on their fourth power play of the contest. Komets goaltender Kevin St. Pierre recorded 23 saves on 26 shots. Goaltender Ronnie Vogel made 18 saves through the first two periods for the Hogs, while Paul Schonfelder stopped six shots in the third.

Friday, January 2nd: Rockford 2 at Port Huron 3 (so): The Rockford IceHogs came away with a point Friday night in a 3-2 shootout loss against the Port Huron Beacons that could have ended quite differently. The Hogs led in the shootout 2-0 before the Beacons tied it up in the final rounds, when the biggest controversy of the game erupted in round eight when Steve Cygan had his shootout goal, that could have been the game winner, taken away. After a scoreless first period Rockford got on the scoreboard first with a shorthanded goal from forward Donnie Margettie at 1:02 of the second. But the Beacons quickly pulled even with a goal less than a minute later. The goal came after Cygan received an elbow to the face. With Cygan down the Hogs anticipated an injury whistle that never came. Port Huron's Ian Jacobs would capitalize with the tying goal at 1:58. The third period also had a break not go the Hogs way, as defenseman Owen Walter blasted a shot on Beacons netminder Stu Dunn. The goal judge signaled goal but the referee allowed play to continue. Moments later, Michel Beausoleil put in a goal at 12:11 off a nice feed from Jason Firth. With under a minute to play the Hogs pulled the goaltender down 2-1. After Dunn barely missed the open net, the Hogs won a crucial face off, and center Jeff Johnstone tied the game 2-2 at 18:46 to force the shootout. In the shootout forward Kelly Miller and defenseman Bob Nardella scored in rounds one and three to put the Hogs up 2-0. But the Beacons struck back in rounds four and five to knot the score 2-2 and force the sudden death shootout. In round eight Cygan came in on Dunn, deeked left and came back right. As he did so, the puck jumped over his stick and continued towards the net. Dunn attempted to make the save but fanned, and the puck went in the net. Port Huron's Brent Gretzky then took the ice to attempt to tie the shootout up, but just before he was about to go the referee's reversed their decision and negated the Cygan goal, which would have won the shootout for the Hogs. Port Huron's Wade Winkler scored the game winner in round nine of the shootout. The two clubs combined for 88 shots on goal. Paul Schonfelder, getting his third start in net, made 45 saves for the Hogs while Dunn finished with 39.

Saturday, January 3rd: Rockford 5 at Muskegon 4 (so): For the second consecutive night, the Rockford IceHogs and goaltender Paul Schonfelder found themselves in a shootout. But this time around the results were different. Schonfelder stopped three of four Muskegon Fury attempts in the extra session to earn his first career win as the IceHogs topped the Fury 5-4. The Fury hopped on the board first when defenseman Garry Toor poked home a rebound at 10:22 of the first period. The Hogs would respond at 14:51 when center Jeff Johnstone flipped one over goalie Ryan Ashaber to extend his point streak to seven games. Winger Reggie Savage then notched his first goal of the season at 17:13 off of a perfect feed from Donnie Margettie. Muskegon would grab the lead back in the second period when Michel Pinc and Brant Blackned lit the lamp. Rockford however fought back in the third and tied it when defenseman Bob Nardella blasted home a power play goal at 11:21. Then just 24 seconds later rookie winger Adam Solnik put Rockford back in the lead. Muskegon, however, would tie the game on the power play when Robin Bouchard beat Schonfelder at 14:24. Kelly Miller, Johnstone and Nardella would all score in the shootout to propel Rockford to their third road win of the season.

Transactions

Defenseman B. J. Adams was activated from the 10-Day Injured Reserve on Wednesday, December 31st.

Bacon Bits:

Goaltender Paul Schonfelder has started four road games this season and three of them have gone to a shootout. He is 1-1-2 away from the MetroCentre.

Schonfelder picked up his first career win on Saturday, January 3rd at Muskegon when the IceHogs beat the Fury 5-4 in a shootout.

Center Jeff Johnstone is riding a seven game point streak dating back to 12/21/03. During his streak, the center has 3g-8a-11pts.

Winger Donnie Margettie's 17 major penalties are most in the United Hockey League.

Rockford is the only team in the UHL to not have given up a short-handed goal on the road. The IceHogs have given up only three shorties this season, behind only Columbus (2).

The IceHogs six shootout wins are the most in the UHL.

Rookie winger Adam Solnik has a point in four of five games (1g-3a-4pts).

Three games in the last month Rockford pulled their goalie with less then a minute in regulation in favor of the extra skater and scored the game tying goal. In those games, Rockford is 2-0-1.

Hot Hogs: Week 11

Center Jeff Johnstone: For the second consecutive week, Johnstone was nominated for the UHL's Player of the Week. During Week 11, the centerman had 2g-2a-4pts in three games and pushed his scoring streak to seven games.

Upcoming Games:

Wednesday, January 7th vs. Fort Wayne Komets. Game time is 7:05 p.m. The IceHogs host the Fort Wayne Komets, in the first of two meetings this week between the Western Conference rivals. Wednesday is this season's second WXRX $1 Beer Night with the Rock Station and the IceHogs.

Friday, January 9th at Kalamazoo Wings. Game time is 6:35 p.m. Rockford takes to the road once again as they travel to Kalamazoo, Michigan to battle the Wings. It's Rockford's second trip of the season to Wings Stadium.

Saturday, January 10th at Fort Wayne Komets. Game time is 6:35 p.m. For the second time in four days the Komets and IceHogs drop the puck, this time at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum. The game marks the third of five meetings with the Komets in Fort Wayne this season.

Sunday, January 11th at Quad City Mallards. Game time is 4:05 p.m. Rockford returns to the MARK of the Quad Cities to battle the Western Conference rival Mallards. The game is the first of four games in the month of January against Quad City.

All 76 on Y95:

Catch all 76 Regular Season and all Playoff games on the official radio home for the Rockford IceHogs, Y95, 95.3 FM. The broadcast begins with the SBC Pregame Show and make sure to give your opinion during the post game call in show following each home game at (815) 874-3953.

Check out the Rockford IceHogs Statistics

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International Hockey League 2 Stories from January 5, 2004


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