AHL Rockford IceHogs

Let's Make It Four - Hogs Take on Admirals Tonight

Published on January 22, 2012 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Rockford IceHogs News Release


Rockford, Ill. - Coming off a 3-2 win in Chicago last night, the Rockford IceHogs return home riding their first three-game win streak of the season and will clash against the Milwaukee Admirals tonight at the BMO Harris Bank Center. Game time is set for 5:05 p.m.

It's Blackhawks Night as fans have the opportunity to meet current Blackhawks players Bryan Bickell and Nick Leddy, along with assistant coach Mike Haviland.

The group will be at the game signing autographs on the main concourse beginning at 4 p.m. until 4:55 p.m. The Blackhawks players will then return to sign autographs and greet fans during the first intermission. To get an autograph, 300 wristbands for each player and coach will be dispersed at each entrance to the arena. Only fans with a wristband will be allowed into the autograph line and the bands will be available on a first come, first serve basis. The doors to the arena will open at 4 p.m.

To accommodate every fan with a wristband, each fan will be permitted one item to be autographed.

The IceHogs will also welcome Blackhawks anthem singer Jim Cornelison to the game on Sunday as he'll sing his renowned rendition on the Star Spangled Banner before the game. Blackhawks mascot Tommy Hawk will also be on hand for the game as well.

The first 2,500 fans into the building will receive an IceHogs poster courtesty of BMO Harris Bank.

Tonight's game can be heard on 100.5-FM NTA, 1330-AM WNTA, 1380-AM ESPN or nta.fm beginning at 4:35 p.m. with the U.S. Cellular Pregame Show. The game can be seen live on Comcast channel 57 on or on the web through icehogs.com.

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

The matchup between the Hogs and Admirals is the fourth of 12 on the season. The IceHogs are 1-1-0-1 on the campaign against Milwaukee and 20-19-1-3 all-time.

Goaltender Carter Hutton earned his third straight win last night (and fifth in six games) after making 37 saves. Hutton has started an IceHogs season-high five straight games dating back to Jan. 13 in Oklahoma City and over the five-game stretch the IceHogs goalie has a .950 save percentage and a 1.36 goals against average to go with his 4-1-0-0 record. Hutton hasn't allowed more than two goals in any of the five starts.

Peter LeBlanc and Brandon Pirri lead the IceHogs in scoring against the Admirals with four points (2g-2a) a piece.

Next Home Game: Saturday, Jan. 28 vs. Milwaukee Admirals: The puck drops at 7:05 p.m."ˆRockford and Milwaukee meet up once again at the BMO"ˆHarris Bank Center for the IceHogs Annual Pink in the Rink Night. The ice will be pink and the IceHogs will be wearing special pink jerseys that will be auctioned off to benefit breast cancer research and awareness.

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"

Milwaukee Admirals Rockford IceHogs

Team Record 22-14-1-1 -- 46 points 17-21-1-3 --38 points

Past 10 Games 3-6-1-0 6-4-0-0

Streak 1-0-0-0 3-0-0-0

Away/Home Record 8-8-0-1 8-11-0-1

PP Overall (33/151) 21.9% (30/193) 15.5%

PK Overall (37/165) 77.6% (43/189) 77.2%

Leading Scorers Mueller 18-11-29 Pirri 16-23-39

Building A Streak: Last night's 3-2 win over Chicago stretched Rockford's winning streak to three straight games, a team season-long stretch. All three wins have come during Week 17, beginning Monday against Texas (2-0) and a pair of 3-2 victories over the Wolves. Rockford has won four of their last five contests and haven't scored more than three goals in any of those games.

That's What We Call A Bounce Back: After limping through a penalty kill slump from 12/26/11 to the their first PK on 1/11/12 when they allowed 15 power-play goals on 37 penalties (59.5%), the IceHogs have turned around their PK, killing off their last 24 penalties dating back to Jan. 11 at Chicago.

And Now A Power Play Update: The IceHogs power play has been quiet lately, registering just four power-play tallies over their last 13 games dating back to Dec. 26. During that time Rockford is 4-48 on the man advantage, an 8.3% conversion rate.

Comeback Kids: Rockford earned their third, third period come-from-behind win last night in their last seven games, dating back to Jan. 8 in Texas. The IceHogs are now 3-16-1-0 when trailing after two periods. Rockford topped the Stars 6-5 in overtime on Jan. 8 after trailing 5-4 heading into the frame to start the streak. Rockford then beat Oklahoma City 2-1 in OT after being down 1-0 in the third and topped Chicago 3-2 last night despite trailing 2-1 entering the final frame of regulation.

Apparently He Isn't Rusty: Rostisalv Olesz tallied a goal for the second straight game last night since returning from injury. Olesz missed five straight tilts before scoring the game-winning tally on Friday against the Wolves and then opening the scoring 2:01 into last night's game at the Allstate Arena. Overall this season, Olesz has 9g-10a-19pts in 21 games with Rockford.

Toledo Connection: Paul Zanette made his IceHogs debut after getting recalled from Rockford's ECHL affiliate, the Toledo Walleye, on Tuesday. Zanette became the eighth different IceHogs skater to play for both the IceHogs and Walleye this season. That figure doesn't count Brandon Svendsen, who began the season with the ECHL's Kalamazoo Wings. Of those nine players, seven of them (Zanette, Svendsen, Ben Youds, Rob Flick, Chris DiDomenico, Byron Froese and Carter Hutton) were in the lineup last night in Rockford's 3-2 win at Chicago.

Check out the Rockford IceHogs Statistics

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American Hockey League Stories from January 22, 2012


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