Official Rockford IceHogs Forum Thread

[stormbolter73]

Neither were going to be NHL caliber. THey will be OK in the AHL but not great and with a young, offensively minded D in front, it could be an adventure. Cullimore and Stanton are the only Defensive Defensemen (with Connelly being a good 2-way D-man) so they are going to have to be ultra aware of where they are on the ice.

Regardless of that, i'm pretty jacked for the season. We should score a lot of goals which has been spotty in the past. We will miss Crawford for sure but that's the nature of the beast and i'm really happy he is finally getting the shot he deserves.

 

[icehogfan08]

Neither were going to be NHL caliber. THey will be OK in the AHL but not great and with a young, offensively minded D in front, it could be an adventure. Cullimore and Stanton are the only Defensive Defensemen (with Connelly being a good 2-way D-man) so they are going to have to be ultra aware of where they are on the ice.

Regardless of that, i'm pretty jacked for the season. We should score a lot of goals which has been spotty in the past. We will miss Crawford for sure but that's the nature of the beast and i'm really happy he is finally getting the shot he deserves.

Yeah but he can also throw up points

 

[stormbolter73]

Yeah but he can also throw up points

No doubt, it was more of an evaluation of their focus. Stanton can score but he thinks D first which I like out of D-men. He also doesn't mind throwing fists.

 

[icehogfan08]

No doubt, it was more of an evaluation of their focus. Stanton can score but he thinks D first which I like out of D-men. He also doesn't mind throwing fists.

I think we are really going to miss the Brennan and Richmond type of D-Man

 

[stormbolter73]

I always had a soft spot for Mike Brennan. He wasn't great but he was all heart. THis is where Cullimore is a great fit for the hogs. We are going to give up a lot of goals but we should be in line to score a ton too. It's going to be fun regardless of where the team finishes in the standings.

 

[icehogfan08]

After the opening period of hockey Manitoba 2 Rockford 0
Rockfords forwards are very skilled puck movers, lots og creativity out there so far, Makarov is an amazing dangler. Rockfords lines looked like this after the 1st period

Ryan Potulny/Jeff Taffe~~Taffe/Potulny~~Jeremy Morin (The two are switching depending on where the face-off.)
Kyle Beach~~Chris DiDomenico~~Ben Smith
Rob Klinkhammer~~Evan Brophy~~Igor Makarov
Brandon Bollig~~Peter Leblanc~~Kyle Hagel

Ryan Stanton~~Brian Connelly
Shawn LaLonde~~Jassen Cullimore
Ivan Vishnevskiy~~Wade Brookbank

Hannu Toivonen is the starter backed up by Alec Richards

 

[icehogfan08]

4-2 Manitoba leads 3rd period
Goals from Bollig and a beauty from Beach

 

[icehogfan08]

VETERAN D-MAN SIGNS WITH ICEHOGS

10/08/2010 1:39 PM -
Rockford, Ill.- Chicago Blackhawks General Manager of Minor League Affiliations Mark Bernard announced Friday that defenseman Garnet Exelby has signed a Professional Try-Out Agreement with the Rockford IceHogs of the American Hockey League.

Exelby appeared in 51 games with the Toronto Maple Leafs (National Hockey League) in 2009-10, notching four points (1g-3a) and racking up 73 penalty minutes.

The Ste. Anne, Manitoba native has played in 408 career games in the NHL with the Atlanta Thrashers and Maple Leafs. The tenth year pro has tallied 32 points in that span.

Exelby was selected by Atlanta in the eighth round (#217 overall) in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft. The 29-year-old skated in 128 with the Chicago Wolves, including the Calder Cup Championship team in 2001-02.

 

[zack54attack]

IceHogs got the W today

 

[stormbolter73]

Garnett Exelby is a really really good signing for the Hogs! NHL experiance, vet presence on a very VERY young team, and adds a bit more toughness. If Leddy keeps struggling, or Scott gets the boot (both I can see happening), Exelby could be a legt short term fix while waiting for Soup. He is atleast faster than Scott and has more NHL games than Leddy (granted with some pretty bad teams). Regardless, i'm excited about this one.

 

[icehogfan08]

I love it too, we get that defensive d-man. Exelby has been a fav of mine since his days with the trashers. Solid teammate, will stick up for them

 

[icehogfan08]

Week 1 Recap
The IceHogs kicked off their 12th season of professional hockey in Rockford and fourth in the American Hockey League as affiliates of the Chicago Blackhawks with a pair of home games. After falling to the Manitoba Moose in their opener, Rockford bounced back and topped the Grand Rapids Griffins on Sunday.

Week 1 Results
Saturday, Oct. 9: Manitoba 5 vs. Rockford 2
Sunday, Oct. 10: Grand Rapids 4 vs. Rockford 5

Week 2 Schedule
Tuesday, Oct. 12 at Peoria, 7:05 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 15 at Abbotsford, 9 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 16 at Abbotsford, 9 p.m.

Week 1 Recap
The IceHogs kicked off their 12th season of professional hockey in Rockford and fourth in the American Hockey League as affiliates of the Chicago Blackhawks with a pair of home games. After falling to the Manitoba Moose in their opener, Rockford bounced back and topped the Grand Rapids Griffins on Sunday.

Bacon Bits:
-Rockford netted seven goals during week 1 and all seven were scored by different skaters

-Dating back to the beginning of the 2009-10 season, Rockford is 8-0-0-1 against Grand Rapids

-Of those nine contests, seven of them have been one-goal games

-Goalie Alec Richards earned his fourth career AHL win on Sunday and three of them have come against Grand Rapids

-Including the two games Rockford played in Week 1, five of the IceHogs first six games are against North Division foes

-The IceHogs were 18-7-0-1 against the North Division in 2009-10

-Jeremy Morin and Peter LeBlanc both made their professional debuts with Rockford on Saturday against Manitoba

-The IceHogs have killed just two of six power plays in their first two games

-Rockford’s power play is 0-6

-The IceHogs faced two 5-on-3 penalty kills over the weekend at the MetroCentre after facing just five at home all of ’09-10



Hot Hog Week 1:

Entering his fourth season, IceHogs winger Rob Klinkhammer played a key role in Rockford’s 5-4 win over the Grand Rapids Griffins on Sunday. The winger notched a goal and an assist in the IceHogs first victory of the season with a plus/minus rating of +2 and a team high seven shots on goal.

Upcoming Games:
Tuesday, Oct. 12 at Peoria Rivermen: The game starts at 7:05 p.m. Rockford hits the road for the first time in 2010-11 and travels downstate to Peoria to take on the Rivermen. The game is the first of 10 on the season and first of five in Peoria at Carver Arena.

Friday, Oct. 15 at Abbotsford Heat: Game time is 9 p.m. The IceHogs head west for their annual Abbotsford visit. The game opens a two-game set in Abbotsford, BC and marks the beginning of three straight games against the Heat overall.

Saturday, Oct. 16 at Abbotsford Heat: The puck drops at 9 p.m. A three-game road swing concludes for the IceHogs in Abbotsford at the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre. The game is Rockford’s final regular season tilt in Abbotsford between the IceHogs and Heat.

 

[icehogfan08]

Peoria, Ill.- The season might only be three games old, but the special teams are becoming an issue for the Rockford IceHogs, particularly the penalty kill. Rockford gave up four power-play tallies to the Peoria Rivermen on Tuesday in a 6-2 loss at Carver Arena.

Rockford has now given up eight power-play goals on 12 short-handed situations while scoring just one power-play tally on 12 chances of their own.

A pair of power-play goals started the scoring on Tuesday. Peoria struck first when defenseman Nathan Oystrick blasted his second goal of the season past Hannu Toivonen, beating him over the glove off of a Graham Mink pass at 2:08.

Rockford found themselves on a 5-on-3 midway through the first period and capitalized when Jeremy Morin tallied his career professional goal. Ivan Vishnevskiy found Morin on the left face-off circle, and the rookie beat Ben Bishop at 9:58.

The first period featured six shots on goal, including four by Rockford, and all six combined shots came on the power play.

Peoria regained the lead in the second period when Phil McRae picked up a loose puck in traffic and flipped it past a screened Toivonen at 3:53. The lead was extended to 3-1 at 9:51 after David Spina caught the IceHogs sleeping in their own zone and potted his first goal of the season.

The penalty kill continued to give Rockford problems as Nicholas Drazenovic made it 4-1 on the advantage. In transition, Drazenovic picked up a Mink pass and beat Toivonen shortside for his first goal of the campaign.

The IceHogs responded with a transition goal of their own. Rookie defenseman Shawn Lalonde picked up a Brandon Pirri feed, split the Rivermen defensemen and beat Bishop high glove side at 17:30 to reduce their deficit to 4-2.

Rockford couldn’t carry the momentum over to the third period, however, as the penalty kill let the game get too far out of reach with a pair of Chris Porter goals.

Porter’s first marker came at 5:52 on Alec Richards, who replaced Toivonen after the second intermission, at 5:52. Porter then completed the scoring at 7:10 of the third slipping home his third goal of the season through the pads of Richards.

Rockford was outshot 24-22 in the game and Toivonen took the loss after making 10 saves.

Next Home Game: Friday, Oct. 22 vs. Abbotsford Heat. Game time is 7:05 p.m. The first 1,000 fans into the building will pick up an IceHogs Poster #1 in a series of six, compliments of Comcast, Q98.5 and Medicine Man.

 

[Capt. Serious]

Toivonen fucking sucks.

 

[icehogfan08]

The IceHogs followed up opening weekend by winning two of three games on the road in week two. After a loss to the Peoria Rivermen in the middle of the week, the IceHogs rebounded by taking two at Abbotsford against the Heat over the weekend.

Week 2 Results
Tuesday, Oct. 12: Rockford 2 at Peoria 6
Friday, Oct. 15: Rockford 5 at Abbotsford 0
Saturday, Oct. 16: Rockford 4 at Abbotsford 3 SO

Week 3 Schedule
Friday, Oct. 22 vs. Abbotsford, 7:05 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 23 vs. Chicago, 7:05 p.m.

Bacon Bits:
-After beginning the season by allowing eight power play goals on 12 (33.3%) shorthanded situations, Rockford has allowed their opponents to just 1-12 (91.7%) since

-Rockford’s power play is 6-18 (33.3%) over their last three games

-Rookie goalie Alec Richards posted his first career AHL shutout on Friday night in Abbotsford, making 27 saves

-The shutout was the first for Rockford since Nov. 20, 2009 against Chicago (Joe Fallon) and first road blanking since Oct. 10, 2009 at Lake Erie (Corey Crawford)

-Rookie winger Jeremy Morin leads Rockford with three goals on the season and all three have come on the power play

-Morin has a goal in three straight games, two shy of the IceHogs franchise record, last accomplished by Rob Klinkhammer from 12/31/08-1/9/09

-Defenseman Ivan Vishnevskiy has four assists, all coming on the advantage as well

-Vishnevskiy and Brian Connelly have assists in three-straight games

-Rookie center Brandon Pirri has a point in all four games in which he has played so far with Rockford, totaling 1g-3a

-Defenseman Nick Leddy was assigned to Rockford by the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday

-With Leddy on the IceHogs roster, Rockford now has three 19-year-olds on the roster including Pirri and Morin

-Through five games, 18 of the 21 position players to play in a game for the IceHogs have registered at least one point

Hot Hog Week 2:
Rookie goaltender Alec Richards picked up his first career AHL shutout on Friday, turning away 27 Abbotsford shots in Rockford’s 5-0 win over the Heat. The Robbinsdale, Minn, native then turned away 29 Heat shots, including a shorthanded breakaway attempt from Carter Bancks in overtime, to help knock off the Heat 4-3 in a shootout. Richards now has a three-game winning streak to start the 2010-11 season.

Upcoming Games:
Friday, Oct. 22 vs. Abbotsford Heat: Friday, Oct. 22 vs. Abbotsford Heat: Game time is 7:05 p.m. Rockford match up with Abbotsford for the third straight game, this time in Rockford. The first 1,000 fans into the building will pick up an IceHogs Poster #1 in a series of six, compliments of Comcast, Q98.5 and Medicine Man.

Saturday, Oct. 23 vs. Chicago Wolves: Game time is 7:05 p.m. The IceHogs welcome their West division rivals, the Chicago Wolves, for the first time of the 2010-11 season at the MetroCentre. The game is the first of 10 meetings this year. The first 5,000 fans will relieve an IceHogs refrigerator dry erase schedule courtesy of Mygofer.com

 

[tbo41fan]

This question is for our 2 icehog guys...

will Klinkhammer ever see time with the Hawks at the NHL level?

 

[stormbolter73]

He is a good player and I believe he will be in the organization next year as well but I just don't see it baring major injury issues with the big club. He is a 3-4 line guy but with the young talent that has flooded the system it got tougher for him this year. I wont say 100% no because I think he could hack limited time but I just don't see it. That being said, playing with the guys he is on the Hogs top lines, he could be looking at a real spike in production and end up making me eat my words.

 

[icehogfan08]

He is a good player and I believe he will be in the organization next year as well but I just don't see it baring major injury issues with the big club. He is a 3-4 line guy but with the young talent that has flooded the system it got tougher for him this year. I wont say 100% no because I think he could hack limited time but I just don't see it. That being said, playing with the guys he is on the Hogs top lines, he could be looking at a real spike in production and end up making me eat my words.

I pretty much agree, hopefully he keeps his play going, and earns a call up. If its typical Klinkhammer he has a tendency to go on hot streaks, then cold streaks.

 

[tbo41fan]

Thanks guys.

Ive been excited to see him for awile now

 

[DewsSox79]

Thanks guys.

Ive been excited to see him for awile now

stop yourself.