Duncan Keith is coming with us, of course. (Photo: Bridget Samuels/flickr)

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Good to have you back again, Hossa. (Photo: Bridget Samuels/flickr)

Welcome to the post-trade apocalypse, brought to you by…wait, this isn’t the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Twitter account. Anyway, tonight we shall see a new St. Louis Blues take on the Chicago Blackhawks. Ho hum, didn’t they beat the Blues twice already? Yeah, they did.

The Blues will try to win this game, oh, they’ll try. They added Jay Bouwmeester and Jordan Leopold to their defense. You remember Bouwmeester, the guy who tied the first Calgary Flames game? Yeah, that’s him. I promised a friend that I wouldn’t pick on him, so I won’t.

But hark, who comes upon this ice against this foe? ‘Tis Marian Hossa, back from his upper-body injury (thanks, new Toronto Maple Leaf Ryan O’Byrne!). Have we missed Hoss? Judging from the way I screech during every power play, the answer is a rather shrill yes. Poor Michael Frolik will go back to the bottom six, but that’s all right. We’ll never forget his two goals.

This will be the first time we see Michal Handzus in the Indian Head jersey. I really, really want him to have the kind of game Ryane Clowe had on Wednesday, just so Sharks fans can gnash their teeth and have wailing fits in the streets. So what if Handzus only has a goal and an assist to his name this season? Clowe didn’t have a goal, and look what he did. It would tickle me to see Handzus do the same.

Unfortunately, Patrick Sharp won’t be playing tonight, much to the despair of everyone. Picture people camping out before Black Friday, ready to break down the doors of Best Buy for that elusive $100 laptop. That’s Sharpie, banging on the doors of Injury Jail. He needs to be fully healed, especially for the playoffs, so it’s good that he’s not rushing things.

If you paid any attention on Wednesday, you noticed that Patrick Kane was absent from practice due to illness. He’ll play tonight, but the first person to make a “he wasn’t sick, he was hung over” comment will watch me stuff my Game of Thrones books into my purse before I hit them with it. Kaner will be on the ice if he has to tape an IV to his arm and stuff the bag in his shorts [insert obligatory 'Michael Jordan playing while sick with the flu' mention here].

The only thing I worry about is the power play. I can’t with this power play anymore, I swear. The week I spent in agony from food poisoning was more fun than the power play. I could be nice and call it “not good” or “wretched,” but let’s face it, it’s just gross and makes me want to punt babies. Hopefully with Hossa back, it’ll do better. Please, tell me it’ll get better.

One more thing: if the Hawks blow the third period again, they will incur the wrath of whatever from high atop the thing. And by that, I mean I’ll shove all of them in the little windowless room of my basement and lock them in there until they remember how to play hockey correctly.

All that being said, I can’t wait to watch this game. Remember, HOSS IS BACK.

Don’t believe the haters – Toledo is a lovely city Kelly / Photo via ECHL Hall of Fame

It seems like just yesterday the 2012-13 ECHL season had just started, and I was still struggling to spell (much less pronounce) a bunch of the Walleye players’ names. Alas, the Kelly Cup playoffs start this week, and through force of will, luck and playing the Wheeling Nailers a billion times, the Walleye have made it to the postseason.

Before I dive into the playoff preview, there’s a little bit of business to finish up. The Walleye played two games on the road last week to finish off the 72-game regular season. Last Wednesday night the Walleye traveled to Fort Wayne to take on the Komets. Goals by Aaron Bogosian and Ben Youds gave the Walleye a 2-1 lead heading into the third. The Komets scored early in the final period on the power play to tie the game at two. With 4:32 left in regulation, Kyle Rogers potted a rebound past Komets goalie Charlie Effinger to regain the lead for Toledo, and that is where the game would finish. Fort Wayne outshot the Walleye 28-27, and Kent Simpson picked up his 19th win of the season.

The regular season finale happened last Friday against the Wheeling Nailers. The game did not start out well for Toledo, as the Nailers scored four in the first period including two in the final minute. The Walleye did manage to score twice in the first twenty minutes, with goals by Kyle Rogers and Ben Youds. After letting in 4 goals on twelve shots, Jordan Pearce was pulled in favor of Kent Simpson to start the second period. The Walleye exploded for three goals apiece in both the second and third periods. Joey Martin, Willie Coetzee, Randy Rowe, Trevor Parkes and Travis Novak all got the puck past Peter Delmas for a commanding lead. Martin added his second of the night on an empty net to cap off a 8-5 Walleye win. Toledo finished the night ahead in shots, 35-30.

It’s Playoff Time!

Due to the Walleye winning their last two games and the Greenville Road Warriors tanking their last three, Toledo finished in the #7 spot in the Eastern Conference. This pits them against the North Division Champion and rival Cincinnati Cyclones in the first round. The playoff schedule is as follows:

#7 Toledo vs. #2 Cincinnati (Best-of-Seven Series):

Game 1 - Fri Apr 5 7:35 PM Cincinnati at Toledo
Game 2 - Sat Apr 6 7:35 PM Cincinnati at Toledo
Game 3 - Wed Apr 10 7:35 PM Toledo at Cincinnati
Game 4 - Fri Apr 12 7:35 PM Toledo at Cincinnati
Game 5 - Sat Apr 13 7:15 PM * Toledo at Cincinnati
Game 6 - Tue Apr 16 7:35 PM * Cincinnati at Toledo
Game 7 - Wed Apr 17 7:35 PM * Toledo at Cincinnati

This schedule is a bit odd, seeing as the lower seeded team gets the first two home games of the series. This is due to monster trucks being scheduled at the US Bank Arena in Cincinnati this weekend – woo!

The teams both finished 4-3-1 against one another in the eight-game regular season series, with the Cyclones winning the final two games. The teams actually played better against each other on the road, which would work to the Walleye’s advantage if the trend continues. Cincinnati enters the playoffs in a bit of a slump, having lost six of their last eight games.

As for rosters, the Walleye enter the postseason with a fairly stable lineup, having lost most of their AHL-contracted players due to callups in the months prior. Adam Hobson has returned off the IR and is available to play and Byron Froese was just sent back down to Toledo from Rockford, and is available for the playoff roster if needed. Cincinnati has recently has had several of their better players returned from the San Antonio Rampage which should give them a boost. The Rampage are solidly out of AHL playoff position while the IceHogs are still battling for a final spot. It will be interesting to how the happenings in the AHL will affect the rosters for both teams.

If the Walleye can perform up to their ability, it would not be a huge upset to see them beat Cincinnati in the first round. Neither Toledo and Cincinnati have great power play percentages (16th and 17th respectively) and the teams are also in the middle of the pack in terms of their penalty kill. The Cyclones average an additional 2 PIMs per game more than Toledo, so it would be to the Walleye’s advantage to score on the power play occasionally. Michael Houser has been the Cyclones’ number one goaltender as of late, and looks to start the series as Brian Foster was recently recalled to the Rampage. Houser was 17-10-1-1 on the season with a 2.55 GAA and .917 SV%. Kent Simpson looks to carry his strong play as of late into the postseason for the Walleye with Jordan Pearce as his backup.

Can the Walleye win this series – I think they can. There are a lot of ECHL veterans on Toledo, and their experience will prove to be very valuable. With good goaltending and better than average special teams, I think the Walleye take the series in six. Just don’t throw things at me if I’m wrong.

Blackhawks Prospects Update: Kent Simpson finished the regular season with a 20-14-2-3 record for the Walleye with a .912 SV% and a 2.36 GAA – all Walleye team records….Ben Youds finished with 34 points (7G, 27A) and a +11…as for other Blackhawks prospects, Bryon Froese had 33 points (12G, 21 A), and Terry Broadhurst had 31 points (12G, 19A).

Final Regular Season Stats-O-Rama: Willie Coetzee led the team with 28 goals (10th in the ECHL), 40 assists and 68 total points…Cody Lampl finished with a +20…Kent Simpson led the Walleye with a 20-14-2-3 record a .912 SV% (6th in the ECHL) and a 2.36 GAA..Aaron Bogosian led the Walleye with 154 PIMs…Trevor Parkes had 7 PPGs…Coetzee finished fourth in the league with 260 SOGs…the Walleye’s power play was 15.7% (16th) and had a 83.1% penalty kill rate (12th)…Toledo was 22nd out of 23 teams, averaging 13.6 PIM per game…Toledo set new team records for total wins (37), points (83) and road wins (18)…The Walleye set a single-season franchise record for attendance, drawing 226,743 fans in 36 home games

Brad Mills has been a solid addition for the IceHogs this season. (Photo Credit: Kim Wrona)

Week 25 brought about three games for the IceHogs. To keep in close contention with the rest of the Western Conference for a playoff spot, the Hogs needed to take at least 4 out of 6 points. Could the boys from RockVegas do it? Find out after the jump.

Wednesday, March 27 vs. Toronto – The IceHogs welcomed the Marlies into the BMO Harris Bank Center for the only time during the 2012-13 regular season on Wednesday night. Spencer Abbott opened up the scoring in favor of the visitors at the 12:06 mark of the first period as he got his 10th marker of the season by IceHogs netminder Carter Hutton. The Hogs had been pressing all period long before the Toronto goal and continued to do so after, although they were held off the scoreboard for the rest of the opening frame.

Once the second period started, the game took a turn in favor of Rockford. It began at 4:36 with a power play tally from none other than Jeremy Morin. His bomb of a shot from the right circle was able to beat Marlies goalie Drew MacIntyre for Morin’s 26th goal of the season. Hutton had to make a few big saves for Rockford towards the middle of the period. He stopped an excellent Mike Zigomanis chance from the slot. Then, the Thunder Bay, Ontario native made a huge save on a shorthanded toe drag by Will Acton and the subsequent rebound. The Hogs did a good job of staying out of the box and didn’t receive their first minor of the game until 14:45 of the period when Byron Froese was called for hooking. That didn’t deter the Rockford offense though. At 16:16, Morin struck again with his second goal of the night as another one of his bombs found the back of the net, this time from the left circle. The shorthanded marker was Morin’s third shorty of the season.

The Hogs took their 2-1 lead into the third period and added to it at 4:06. Veteran defenseman Steve Montador’s shot from the left point was deflected by a Toronto stick and it got past MacIntyre to make it 3-1. Brandon Pirri had a chance to make it 4-1 Rockford later on in the frame. He was all alone in front of MacIntyre and tried to go high glove side on a backhanded shot, but he missed the net. The Hogs did get that 3 goal lead, and the win, with 22 seconds remaining in regulation as Brad Mills registered an empty net goal for his 4th tally of the year.

-Rockford outshot Toronto 30-20.

-The IceHogs went 1-for-5 on the power play and they killed off both of Toronto’s man advantages.

-IceHogs forwards Jeremy Morin and Brandon Pirri led the team with 4 shots on goal each.

-Some of the power play units that the IceHogs used were:

Kyle Beach – Martin St. Pierre – Rostislav Olesz

Steve Montador – Adam Clendening

Ben Smith – Brad Mills – Brandon Pirri

Jeremy Morin – Shawn Lalonde

-On the 5-on-3 power play, the Hogs used:

Rostislav Olesz – Brandon Pirri – Jeremy Morin

Martin St. Pierre – Adam Clendening

-Joakim Nordstrom saw a brief amount of power play time in the first period after the 5-on-3 power play expired.

-Some of the penalty killers that the IceHogs used were:  Brad Mills, Ben Smith, Dylan Olsen and Ryan Stanton; Jeremy Morin, Brandon Svendsen, Klas Dahlbeck and Steve Montador; Martin St. Pierre, Brandon Svendsen, Dylan Olsen and Ryan Stanton; Brad Mills, Kenndal McArdle, Dylan Olsen and Ryan Stanton.

-The three stars were:  1 – Jeremy Morin (2 G, +1, 4 SOG) 2 – Brandon Pirri (3 A, +2, 4 SOG) 3 – Drew MacIntyre (26 saves).

-IceHogs center Brandon Pirri registered his 100th AHL assist with his helper on Steve Montador’s third period goal.

-IceHogs winger Jeremy Morin recorded his 100th AHL point with his power play goal in the second period.

-IceHogs forward Brad Mills tallied his 100th AHL point with his empty net goal.

-IceHogs defenseman Steve Montador was +3 on the evening.

-The scratches for Rockford were:  Philippe Paradis (upper body), Joe Lavin, Wade Brookbank, Terry Broadhurst and Rob Flick (all healthy).

-The lines and D pairs were:

Rostislav Olesz – Martin St. Pierre – Jeremy Morin

Ben Smith – Brandon Pirri – Brad Mills

Mathieu Beaudoin – Joakim Nordstrom – Brandon Svendsen

Kenndal McArdle – Byron Froese – Kyle Beach

Ryan Stanton – Adam Clendening

Dylan Olsen – Shawn Lalonde

Klas Dahlbeck – Steve Montador

Friday, March 29 vs. Milwaukee – This contest against the Admirals was essentially a must win for Rockford, considering both teams’ positions in the chase for the playoffs. The first period almost ended up a scoreless one at the BMO Harris Bank Center, but the Ads spoiled the party. Ryan Ellis tallied with 2 seconds left in the period to give the visitors the lead.

Any momentum the Hogs had going into the second period was now gone and they never even had a chance to catch their breath at the beginning of the middle frame. 11 seconds in, Kevin Henderson gave Milwaukee a 2-0 lead with his 14th goal of the season. Jeremy Morin had a chance to cut the deficit to one with a one-timer from the bottom of the left circle after a nice Brandon Pirri pass, but Ads goalie Jeremy Smith was able to make the save. At 12:31 of the period, Michael Latta gave Milwaukee a 3 goal lead with his 8th goal of the season while the Ads were on a power play. Brandon Svendsen broke Smith’s shutout bid with 2:01 left in the period. Adam Clendening found Svendsen all alone in front of Smith’s crease and with the netminder facing Clendening towards the right circle; Clendening sent a pass over to Svendsen who hammered one in to the wide open net for his 3rd goal of the year.

56 seconds into the third period, the Hogs found themselves on the power play with Brad Winchester in the box for holding. Morin had another chance to score on this man advantage, after he took a fancy between-the-legs pass from one of his teammates, but he fired it over the net. On one particular shift a little later on in the period, the Hogs had several good scoring chances to cut Milwaukee’s lead down, but they missed the net a ton—literally around 5 or 7 times. They were able to cash in at 9:14 of the final frame when captain Martin St. Pierre was left all alone in the offensive zone. He walked in and used some pretty moves to slip the puck around Smith’s right pad for his 22nd goal on the 2012-13 campaign to make it 3-2. Hogs goalie Carter Hutton kept Rockford close with a big save while he was down and out. That momentum then led to another Morin chance not too long after. Morin’s one-timer went wide of the Milwaukee cage, but he was able to get the puck back and get a solid shot off, but once again, Smith was there to close the door. The Hogs weren’t able to mount a comeback though, and dropped a heartbreaker of a tilt.

-Milwaukee outshot Rockford 44-37.

-Rockford didn’t score on any of their 4 power plays and the Admirals converted on 1 of their 5 man advantages.

-Martin St. Pierre, Jeremy Morin, Kyle Beach and Steve Montador all fired 5 shots on goal for Rockford.

-The three stars were:  1 – Michael Latta (1 G, 2 A, 7 SOG) 2 – Carter Hutton (41 saves) 3 – Ryan Ellis (1 G, +1, 4 SOG).

-The power play units that the IceHogs used were:

Kyle Beach – Martin St. Pierre – Rostislav Olesz

Steve Montador – Adam Clendening

Jeremy Morin – Brandon Pirri – Kenndal McArdle

Brad Mills – Shawn Lalonde

-Some of the penalty killers Rockford used were:  Brandon Svendsen, Brad Mills, Ryan Stanton and Klas Dahlbeck; Mathieu Beaudoin, Joakim Nordstrom, Klas Dahlbeck and Shawn Lalonde; Brandon Pirri, Mathieu Beaudoin, Dylan Olsen and Ryan Stanton; Martin St. Pierre, Jeremy Morin, Steve Montador and Klas Dahlbeck.

-IceHogs forward Jeremy Morin skated in his 150th AHL game on Friday night.

-The scratches for the IceHogs were:  Ben Smith, Philippe Paradis (both upper body), Joe Lavin, Rob Flick and Wade Brookbank (all healthy).

-The lines and D pairs were:

Rostislav Olesz – Martin St. Pierre – Jeremy Morin

Terry Broadhurst – Brandon Pirri – Brad Mills (wearing an ‘A’ in Smith’s place)

Mathieu Beaudoin – Brandon Svendsen – Joakim Nordstrom

Kenndal McArdle – Byron Froese – Kyle Beach

Ryan Stanton – Adam Clendening

Dylan Olsen – Shawn Lalonde

Klas Dahlbeck – Steve Montador

Saturday, March 30 vs. Oklahoma City – The IceHogs looked to bounce back with a win the following night against the Barons. Rockford got out a fabulous start as Brandon Svendsen put home a backhanded shot from right out in front of OKC goalie Yann Danis at 8:02 of the opening frame. The goal was Svendsen’s 4th goal of the season and his 2nd in as many games. At 11:50 of the period, two big things happened for Rockford. The first was that Brad Mills banged home a loose puck to the left of Danis to give Rockford a 2-0 lead and the second was that Brandon Pirri left the ice and went to the dressing room with the trainer as the Hogs’ leading scorer held his left wrist area. Fortunately for Rockford, Pirri made his return at the beginning of the second period and seemed to be just fine. Before Pirri’s return though, Barons forward Anton Lander cut the lead to 2-1 at 16:37 of the first.

Teemu Hartikainen was up to his usual on-ice, pretty stick-handling antics to open up the second period. At 2:48, he scored a pretty goal from right out in front of IceHogs goalie Carter Hutton to tie the game up at 2. Lander struck again at 12:27 to give the Barons their first lead of the night as he snuck one by Hutton’s left toe and the post after a defensive zone breakdown. That was all she wrote for the Hogs though as OKC took control of the game and blew the doors off of the home team. Jonathan Cheechoo tallied at 14:13 to make it 4-2 Barons, and that ended Hutton’s night as Henrik Karlsson then came in to replace him. Hartikainen and Taylor Fedun both tallied for OKC before the period was over to make it 6-2.

In the third, the Barons added to their lead with Lander’s 3rd goal of the night—and his 6th point of the contest. The Hogs got a late period goal from defenseman Shawn Lalonde to only change the final score to 7-3. Otherwise, it was all Barons, all the time. This loss put Rockford at an even bigger disadvantage in terms of 8th place in the Western Conference standings. With that loss, the Hogs dropped to 11th.

-OKC outshot Rockford 34-27.

-The IceHogs didn’t score on their 2 power plays and the Barons went 2-for-5 on their man advantages.

-Forward Brandon Svendsen led Rockford with 4 shots on goal.

-The three stars were:  1 – Anton Lander (3 G, 3 A, +4, 3 SOG) 2 – Teemu Hartikainen (2 G, 1 A, +3, 4 SOG) 3 – Taylor Fedun (1 G, 2 A, +1, 1 SOG).

-The power play units that the IceHogs used were:

Kyle Beach – Martin St. Pierre – Rostislav Olesz

Steve Montador – Adam Clendening

Kenndal McArdle – Brad Mills – Brandon Pirri

Terry Broadhurst – Shawn Lalonde

-Some of the penalty killers that the IceHogs used were:  Brandon Svendsen, Brad Mills, Ryan Stanton and Klas Dahlbeck; Brandon Pirri, Byron Froese, Steve Montador and Joe Lavin; Brandon Pirri, Rostislav Olesz, Ryan Stanton and Steve Montador.

-The scratches for Rockford were:  Ben Smith, Philippe Paradis (both upper body), Rob Flick and Wade Brookbank (both healthy).

-The lines and D pairs were:

Rostislav Olesz – Martin St. Pierre – Brandon Svendsen

Terry Broadhurst – Brandon Pirri – Kyle Beach

Kenndal McArdle – Brad Mills – Mathieu Beaudoin

X — Byron Froese – Joakim Nordstrom

Ryan Stanton – Adam Clendening

Joe Lavin – Shawn Lalonde

Klas Dahlbeck – Steve Montador

Dylan Olsen – X

Roster Transactions

-Friday, March 29th –The Blackhawks recalled forward Jeremy Morin after the Hogs’ game against Milwaukee.

-Sunday, March 31st –  The Blackhawks reassigned center Mark McNeill from Prince Albert of the WHL to Rockford. The Blackhawks also reassigned center Phillip Danault to Rockford from Moncton of the QMJHL.

-Monday, April 1st — The Blackhawks reassigned forward Brandon Bollig to Rockford.

Tidbits

-On Monday, April 8th, forwards Mark McNeill and Phillip Danault and assistant coach Ben Simon will be on Hog Talk. Come out and watch the taping of the show at District Bar and Grill in Rockford from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Watch the airing of the episode on Channel 23.2 in Rockford from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday.

-In the last two games, Rockford has gone 0-for-6 on the power play. In the 4 games before these last 2 where the Hogs went 3-0-1-0 (7 of 8 points), they went 6-for-20 on the power play. This goes to show that a big part of Rockford’s success is due to the power play, which is ranked first overall in the AHL. This also indicates that Rockford hasn’t been doing what they need to in order to draw penalties and get power play time; if you double the power plays they had in the last two games, it still doesn’t come close to the 20 they had in a 4 game span.

-In the Western Conference standings, the Hogs sit in 11th place with a record of 34-30-2-1 (71 points). They are 3 points out of 8th place, which is held by the Barons. Here’s a look at the standings:

Upcoming Games

Tuesday, April 2 vs. Milwaukee at 7:05 p.m.

Friday, April 5 at Milwaukee at 7:00 p.m.

Saturday, April 6 at Peoria at 7:05 p.m.

Sunday, April 7 vs. Peoria at 5:05 p.m.

My God. It’s full of rhinestones. (Photo: Ali)

To find out why this bedazzled Chicago Blackhawks jersey is relevant, you’ll have to listen to the podcast! Click on the green button below to get started.

Download this podcast (Right-click the link and “Save Link/Target As…” to do so.)

Topics include:

• Last week’s Blackhawks’ games against the Los Angeles Kings, Calgary Flames, Anaheim Ducks, and Detroit Red Wings
• Other stuff that happened across the league, including the Jarome Iginla debacle and Sidney Crosby‘s mouth injury
• Questions from the public! If you submitted a question, listen to us answer them!
• The Line Cocktail for this week might make you vomit a little in your mouth.
• This week’s question: What did you think of our answers to the questions posed to us? Were we wrong? Why or why not?
• As always, follow us on Twitter: I’m (of course) @RunsOnDuncan, and Casey is @raedances.

It was difficult to find a picture of Handzus I could use that wasn’t blurry. Now I see why. (Photo: Dinur Blum/flickr)

The Chicago Blackhawks have reportedly acquired Michal Handzus from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for a fourth-round draft pick (a draft pick that originally belonged to the Sharks, according to Kevin Kurz of CSN Bay Area).

Way back in the dark ages of 2006, Handzus was traded to the Blackhawks from the Philadelphia Flyers. He only played eight games before he tore his ACL and sat for the remainder of the season. This season, he has exactly one goal and one assist in 28 games for the Sharks.

So why in the world would the Blackhawks trade for this guy again (even though the “trade” was really just giving back the pick they took from the Sharks in the first place)? Oh, right, because he wins faceoffs — he’s at 55.6% for faceoff wins right now, more than any other Blackhawks center not named Jonathan Toews.

The best part of this deal? To make room for him, the Blackhawks sent down Brandon Bollig to the Rockford IceHogs. This automatically makes this trade a winner.

It’s Ben Smith, y’all. (Photo Credit: Kim Wrona)

The IceHogs only had two games on their slate for week 24 and they were back-to-back games north of the border in beautiful British Columbia.

Friday, March 22 at Abbotsford – The IceHogs needed to grab two points on Friday night to get closer to being in the top eight spots in the Western Conference points standings, and they did just that. They got off to a great start with forward Brandon Svendsen’s second goal of the season at 7:23 of the first period. With ten seconds left in the opening frame, IceHogs captain Martin St. Pierre tallied his 21st goal on the 2012-13 campaign to extend the Rockford lead to 2-0.

Newcomer to Rockford/veteran blueliner Steve Montador chipped in on the scoresheet at 2:11 of the second period with a power play goal to give the Hogs a three goal cushion. The Rockford train kept rolling at 9:22 of the period when Brad Mills was awarded a penalty shot while the Hogs were shorthanded. Mills was able to convert for the IceHogs’ first penalty shot goal in five attempts this season. The goal also gave Rockford a four goal lead. Hogs netminder Henrik Karlsson’s shutout was broken at 13:13 of the period with a shorthanded goal by Heat center Carter Bancks. Greg Nemisz tallied for Abbotsford with 36 seconds remaining in the period to cut the Rockford lead to two goals.

In the third period, Hogs forward Rostislav Olesz tallied in his first game of the season with just under six minutes remaining to make it 5-2 and to help give Rockford a big win and a two game winning streak.

-Abbotsford outshot Rockford 35-26.

-The IceHogs went 1-for-4 on the power play and killed off all three Heat man advantages.

-IceHogs forward Brad Mills led the team with four shots on goal.

-The three stars were:  1 – Henrik Karlsson (33 saves) 2 – Martin St. Pierre (1 G, 2 A, +2, 2 SOG) 3 – Carter Bancks (1 G, +1, 2 SOG).

-Blackhawks prospect and IceHogs forward Joakim Nordstrom made his AHL debut on Friday night. He’s wearing No. 32 for Rockford.

-IceHogs forward Mathieu Beaudoin registered his 150th AHL point with his assist on Brandon Svendsen’s first period tally.

-IceHogs captain Martin St. Pierre became the IceHogs’ leader for power play assists in the AHL era with his helper on Steve Montador’s power play goal.

-In the AHL era, the IceHogs have had 18 penalty shots, and have only converted on three of them.

-The IceHogs scratches were:  Philippe Paradis (upper body), Jeremy Morin, Wade Brookbank, Shawn Lalonde and Kenndal McArdle (all suspended).

Saturday, March 23 at Abbotsford – Like the night before, the IceHogs needed to take two more points from Abbotsford to keep them in a good position in the Western Conference standings. Unlike the night before, the first period was a scoreless affair and Abbotsford opened up the scoring with Ben Walter’s 13th goal of the season at 11:49 of the second period. The Heat extended their lead to 2-0 with a tally from Tyler Ruegsegger with less than two minutes remaining in the frame.

Rockford began mounting a comeback in the third period. It was started by Brandon Pirri’s power play marker at 4:27 after he put home a Jeremy Morin rebound. Less than four minutes later, Ben Smith got on the board and tied the game up with his 19th goal of the season. The Heat deflated the Rockford balloon for a brief moment at 15:35 when Sven Baertschi gave Abbotsford the lead back with his eighth marker of the year. With a minute and five seconds left in regulation, the Hogs found themselves on the power play as Ben Street took a seat for holding. The number one ranked power play in the AHL came through with a Rostislav Olesz tally with ten seconds left on the clock to tie the game at three. This sent the game into overtime. Unfortunately for Rockford, Roman Horak scored the game winner for Abbotsford at the 2:17 mark. Despite not getting the two points, it was great for Rockford that they were able to battle back and at least salvage a point out of this contest.

-Rockford outshot Abbotsford 42-25.

-The IceHogs went 2-for-4 on the power play and killed off the lone man advantage that the Heat had during this tilt.

-Center Brandon Pirri led the IceHogs with seven shots on goal.

-Henrik Karlsson was in net again for Rockford.

-The three stars were:  1 – Danny Taylor (39 saves) 2 – Roman Horak (GWG, +1, 1 SOG, 2 PIMS) 3 – Brandon Pirri (1 G, 1 A, -1, 7 SOG).

-Brandon Pirri and Ben Smith both played in their 150th AHL games on Saturday. Pirri also registered his 100th pro assist on Smith’s goal in the third period.

-The power play units that the IceHogs used were:

Jeremy Morin – Brandon Pirri – Ben Smith

Brad Mills – Shawn Lalonde

Kyle Beach – Martin St. Pierre – Rostislav Olesz

Steve Montador – Adam Clendening

-Some of the penalty killers that the IceHogs used were:  Ben Smith, Mathieu Beaudoin, Klas Dahlbeck and Steve Montador; Brad Mills, Brandon Svendsen, Dylan Olsen and Ryan Stanton; Brandon Pirri, Kenndal McArdle, Shawn Lalonde and Dylan Olsen.

-The scratches were:  Philippe Paradis (upper body), Joe Lavin, Wade Brookbank, Terry Broadhurst and Rob Flick (all healthy).

-The lines and D pairs were:

Ben Smith – Brandon Pirri – Brad Mills

Rostislav Olesz – Martin St. Pierre – Jeremy Morin

Kenndal McArdle – Byron Froese – Kyle Beach

Mathieu Beaudoin – Joakim Nordstrom – Brandon Svendsen

Ryan Stanton – Adam Clendening

Dylan Olsen – Shawn Lalonde

Klas Dahlbeck – Steve Montador

Tidbits

-Check out IceHogs forward Terry Broadhurst’s interview on the Stone and Double T show on WXRX in Rockford.

-The IceHogs now have a record of 33-28-2-1 (69 points). They are tied for third in the Midwest Division with Chicago. The Wolves hold the spot since they have two games in-hand. In the Western Conference standings, the Hogs are in a four-way tie for eighth place, which is the final playoff spot. They are tied with the Wolves, Oklahoma City and Abbotsford. As a result, the Hogs are slotted in the tenth spot.

Upcoming Games

Wednesday, March 27 vs. Toronto at 7:05 p.m.

Friday, March 29 vs. Milwaukee at 7:05 p.m.

Saturday, March 30 vs. Oklahoma City at 7:05 p.m.

Tuesday, April 2 vs. Milwaukee at 7:05 p.m.

**Notice this is a HUGE four game homestand for Rockford…

Hi Benny / Photo via Walleye Facebook

With six games left in the regular season, and four games on last week’s schedule, the Walleye needed a good effort to ensure a spot in the Kelly Cup playoffs. I guess the effort was there, but thank the lort the teams behind the Walleye had even less.

Toledo Walleye 3, Evansville IceMen 0

Kent Simpson was in net for the for the Walleye last Wednesday, opposed by the IceMen’s James Reid. Both goalies posted a shutout in the first period, with Simpson & Reid stopping 13 and 8 shots respectively.

The scoring started just 1:46 into the second period, when Randy Rowe deflected a shot off an Evansville defenseman for this 13th of the year. Willie Coetzee added his team-leading 25th goal of the year just 1:14 later, and the Walleye headed into the third period with a two-goal lead.

Despite 10 shots and two power plays, the IceMen weren’t able to crack Simpson in the final twenty minutes. Trevor Parkes added an empty-net goal with 37 seconds left in regulation to secure the win. Toledo led in shots for the game 43(!!) to 26. This was Simpson’s second shutout of the season.

Toledo Walleye 4, Kalamazoo Wings 1

Friday night’s game in K-Zoo featured Kent Simpson again in net for Toledo against Wings netminder Joel Martin. The scoring started early, when Joey Martin wristed the puck past Joel Martin (confused?) to give the Walleye a lead just 1:32 into the game. Tyler Brenner put a rebound past Martin at 10:09 to give the Walleye a 2-0 lead. The Walleye had 17 shots in the first twenty minutes.

We’ll just call the remainder of the game the Willie Coetzee show – he scored his 26th and 27th goals of the year at 14:31 of the second and 3:48 of the third respectively. The Wings’ Mitch Versteeg (Kris’s brother) scored at 14:18 to break Toledo’s shutout bid – U TRIED BRO. K-Zoo outshot the Walleye 34-33, but it was Toledo who left town with two points.

With this win, the Walleye needed just 2 points the rest of the weekend to clinch a playoff berth. More on that later…

Reading Royals 3, Toledo Walleye 1

Things started out ok for the Walleye in this game against the Eastern Division leading Royals. After one period, the game was scoreless, with Kent Simpson stopping all 13 Reading shots. Unfortunately the Walleye got 2 SOGs all period. TWO.

Things went south quickly in the second. Nikita Kashirsky scored 3:30 into the period to give the Royals a 1-0 lead. At 5:33, Toledo defenseman Cody Lampl was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct for kneeing – he also was later suspended for Sunday’s game. On the ensuing 5-minute power play, Yannick Tifu scored to give Reading a 2-goal lead after two periods.

Kashirsky scored his second of the night 2:50 into the third to basically ice the game for the Royals. Willie Coetzee scored his 28th goal of the year while on the power play late in the period, but it was all for naught. Toledo mustered just 16 shots the entire game. Yeesh.

Reading Royals 2, Toledo Walleye 0

Mel is lazy, watch the “highlights”

The important thing to note is that even though the Walleye failed to get a single point in their final two games this week, they still clinched a playoff spot. How? Even though the Kalamazoo Wings won against the IceMen Saturday night (thanks Evansville), they only managed a single point in a shootout loss to the Wheeling Nailers on Sunday. Therefore, the Walleye have a 6-point lead with only 3 games remaining for the Wings, with Toledo holding the tiebreaker. THANKS K-ZOO!

Kelly Cup Playoff Scenarios:

At the end of Sunday’s games, here are the standings in the Eastern Conference (we’re ignoring the West because they suck):

Stats via ECHL.com

All of the playoff spots in the Eastern Conference are now set – all that’s left is the seeding. As it stands, if the Walleye win their final two regular season games, they could finish as high as 5th in the conference. Unfortunately, Florida (4 games left) and Greenville (3 games left) all have games in hand over Toledo, giving them a better shot at a higher seed. If teams are tied in points, the first tiebreaker is wins excluding shootouts. Seeing as the Walleye haven’t won a shootout all season (Jesus Wept), they definitely have an advantage with 35 wins. That is more than Florida (33), Greenville (28), and South Carolina (32). The second tiebreaker would be goal differential – the Walleye sport a +25, ahead of Florida (+5), Greenville (+16) and South Carolina (+21).

If the Walleye stay where they are, they’ll meet the Royals in the first round. No thanks. Personally, I’d love for Toledo to face the Cyclones in the first round – a little North Division hatred does the body good.

Blackhawks Prospects Update: Kent Simpson sports a 18-14-2-3 record for the Walleye with .911 SV% and a 2.39 GAA….Ben Youds has 28 points (5G, 23A) and a +9 for the Walleye

The Week Ahead: The final two regular season games for the Walleye take place on the road. The Walleye visit the Fort Wayne Komets on Wednesday, March 27th and finish the season against the Wheeling Nailers on Friday, March 29th. The first possible playoff game for the Walleye would be on Wednesday, April 3rd.

Stats-O-Rama: Willie Coetzee leads the team with 28 goals (8th in the ECHL), 35 assists and 63 total points…Cody Lampl and Aaron Bogosian sport a +17…Kent Simpson leads the Walleye with a 18-14-2-3 record a .911 SV% (6th in the ECHL) and a 2.39 GAA..Aaron Bogosian leads the Walleye with 154 PIMs…Trevor Parkes has 6 PPGs…Coetzee is fourth in the league with 256 SOGs…the Walleye’s power play is 15.2% (18th) and have a 83.1% penalty kill rate (11th)…Toledo is 22nd out of 23 teams, averaging 13.7 PIM per game…The Walleye set a single-season franchise record for attendance, drawing 226,743 fans in 36 home games

Shaw will be in the lineup tonight. (Photo: Mel Boysen/flickr)

• The Chicago Blackhawks take on the Los Angeles Kings tonight at the United Center at 7:00pm CT. The game will air on Comcast Sportsnet in Chicago.
• Previews: NHL, Chicago Tribune, The Committed Indian, Second City Hockey
• Corey Crawford will be in net for the Blackhawks. (@TramyersCSN) Jonathan Quick will most likely backstop the Kings. (@lakingsinsider)

• Injury Report: Marian Hossa (upper body) will sit tonight. He is still considered day-to-day. Patrick Sharp (shoulder) is still a week to ten days away from returning to the lineup. For the Kings, Willie Mitchell (knee) is day-to-day, while Matt Greene (back) is out indefinitely. (NHL)
• With Hossa out of the lineup, Michael Frolik will get a chance to show his stuff on the top line. (Chicago Tribune)
• The Blackhawks’ faceoff success can determine the difference between winning and losing a game, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. So why is it that Jonathan Toews is the only one who can be depended on to win a draw?
• If you don’t get a little choked up reading about Keith Magnuson on the Chicago Blackhawks website… I don’t know, man. You might not have a heart.
• Speaking of Keith Magnuson, he and Glenn Hall are the final two Blackhawks with retired numbers in the rafters to become immortalized in bobblehead form. Here are all of the bobbleheads together, courtesy of @nhlblackhawks on Instagram.

Via @nhlblackhawks on Instagram

• Finally, Phillip Danault is the focus of this System Spotlight, courtesy of BHTV: