Andrew Shaw tallied in one of the IceHogs’ games in Week 11. (Photo Credit: Kim Wrona)
Week 11 brought about three games for the IceHogs before the Christmas break. Two of them were against their rival to the North, the Milwaukee Admirals, and the other was their first match-up of the year against the Abbotsford Heat.
Wednesday, December 19 at Milwaukee – A mid-week contest in Wisconsin was up first for the IceHogs in week 11. The home team got on the board first at 2:51 of the first period. Admirals right winger Juuso Puustinen scored his third goal of the year as he put one by IceHogs netminder, and birthday boy, Carter Hutton to put Milwaukee up 1-0. Brandon Pirri answered back for Rockford at 5:54 of the first with his ninth goal of the year. The first period continued to be a busy first twenty minutes as the IceHogs tallied twice more in the period. At 8:51, Andrew Shaw scored his seventh of the year from Peter LeBlanc and Brandon Bollig. Jeremy Morin added his tenth goal of the year at the 14:44 mark to make it 3-1 Rockford and that’s how the final score of the game would look when all was said and done.
-Rockford outshot Milwaukee 33-30.
-The IceHogs didn’t score on their one power play opportunity of the night and the Admirals didn’t score on any of their four man advantages.
-IceHogs forwards Brandon Saad and Brandon Pirri both fired five shots on goal.
-The three stars were: 1 — Carter Hutton 2 — Andrew Shaw 3 — Jeremy Smith
-The scratches were: Joe Lavin (injured), Kyle Beach, Shawn Lalonde, and Jimmy Hayes (healthy).
Friday, December 21 at Milwaukee - The world wasn’t ending even though the IceHogs found themselves in Milwaukee for the third time in eight days. But this contest wouldn’t be as kind to the visitors as Wednesday’s was. Milwaukee scored another early goal in this one. At 2:29, Admirals center Jani Lajunen scored his first goal of the season to make it 1-0 Milwaukee. IceHogs left winger Brandon Bollig tied the game up at one with his third goal of the year at the 9:33 mark of the first period. Rookie defenseman Adam Clendening registered the only assist on that tally. The game remained locked like that until Ads right winger Taylor Beck scored at 9:50 of the third period to give Milwaukee the 2-1 lead and the victory.
-Milwaukee outshot Rockford 38-34.
-The IceHogs went 1-for-4 on the power play and the Admirals didn’t convert on their four power play opportunities.
-IceHogs skaters Brandon Pirri, Adam Clendening, and Brett Lebda led Rockford with four shots on goal.
-IceHogs forward Jeremy Morin was injured towards the end of the second period and never returned to the game.
-The three stars were: 1 — Jeremy Smith 2 — Taylor Beck 3 — Carter Hutton
-The scratches were: Joe Lavin, Kyle Beach (injured), Shawn Lalonde, and Peter LeBlanc (healthy). LeBlanc was a late scratch; Rob Flick was originally supposed to be sitting out.
Saturday, December 22 vs. Abbotsford – The Abbotsford Heat came into the BMO Harris Bank Center for the first time in 2012-13 on Saturday night. The game didn’t start out that great for the IceHogs as defenseman Adam Clendening was shaken up early on as he went awkwardly into the end boards. He was in a lot of pain and was slow to get back to the bench. It looked like a possible shoulder injury, but after the game Chris Block reported that it was Clendening’s jaw that gave him the issue. Clendening went on to finish the game though. Abbotsford then went on to score on their first power play of the night. At 5:44, Krys Kolanos scored his sixth goal of the season with a one timer from the bottom of the left circle. Kolanos added his second of the night at 16:32 of the first to give the visitors a two goal lead. Ben Smith got the IceHogs on the board with his 12th goal of the year. From the right circle, he went short-side on Heat goalie Danny Taylor to make it 2-1 at 18:36. The second period was mostly an uneventful one besides when the IceHogs killed off a four minute penalty to Wade Brookbank for holding and high-sticking.
At 7:33 of the third period, defenseman Nick Leddy dazzled the BMO faithful with a fantastic goal that was set up by Marcus Kruger. Kruger led a rush into the Heat’s zone and held up in the left circle. From there, he found Leddy splitting the middle of two Heat skaters and dished the puck over to him and Leddy was able to put it over Taylor for his third goal of the year and to tie the game at two. Brandon Pirri gave Rockford its first lead of the game at 12:09 of the third as he fired a shot from the right circle past Taylor for his tenth goal of the season. The Hogs were able to hang onto the 3-2 lead for their 15th win on the 2012-13 campaign.
-Abbotsford outshot Rockford 33-31.
-The Heat killed off all five IceHogs power play opportunities and the Heat went 1-for-5 on their man advantages.
-Brandon Pirri led the IceHogs with five shots on goal.
-Four IceHogs skaters were +2 on the evening: Brandon Saad, Brandon Pirri, Adam Clendening, and Nick Leddy.
-IceHogs goaltender Carter Hutton was credited with the secondary assist on Ben Smith‘s first period tally.
-The three stars were: 1 — Nick Leddy 2 — Krys Kolanos 3 — Brandon Pirri
-The power play units that the IceHogs used were:
Andrew Shaw — Marcus Kruger — Martin St. Pierre
Nick Leddy — Adam Clendening
Brandon Saad — Brandon Pirri — Ben Smith
Nick Leddy — Adam Clendening
Andrew Shaw — Marcus Kruger — Martin St. Pierre
Dylan Olsen — Brett Lebda
-Some of the penalty killers that the IceHogs used were: Ben Smith, Brandon Bollig, Ryan Stanton, and Klas Dahlbeck; Brandon Saad, Andrew Shaw, Dylan Olsen, and Nick Leddy; Marcus Kruger, Ben Smith, Ryan Stanton, and Klas Dahlbeck.
-The scratches were: Joe Lavin (injured), Jeremy Morin (day-to-day, torso injury), Peter LeBlanc (sore from a car accident), and Shawn Lalonde (healthy).
-The lines and D pairs were:
Brandon Saad — Brandon Pirri — Ben Smith
Martin St. Pierre — Marcus Kruger — Jimmy Hayes
Brandon Bollig — Andrew Shaw — Kyle Beach
Wade Brookbank — Rob Flick — Philippe Paradis
Ryan Stanton — Klas Dahlbeck
Nick Leddy — Adam Clendening
Dylan Olsen — Brett Lebda
Roster Notes
-Saturday, December 22 – Defenseman Brett Lebda agreed to another 25 game professional try-out contract with Rockford (as per Chris Block’s report). Lebda is currently on game 21 of his first 25 game pro try-out contract with the club.
Tidbits
-The IceHogs’ leading scorer is captain Martin St. Pierre, who has tallied 26 points (12 G, 14 A) in 30 games. St. Pierre also leads the IceHogs in the plus/minus category with a +10 and is tied for the lead in goal scoring with Ben Smith, who also has 12 markers on the year.
-Adam Clendening leads the IceHogs in assists with 17. In 27 games played, Clendening has a total of 21 points.
-Brandon Bollig leads the IceHogs in penalty minutes with 114.
-Brandon Pirri leads the IceHogs in shots on goal with 87. Jeremy Morin is one behind him with 86.
-Kyle Beach leads the IceHogs in shot percentage (17.8%) as he has 8 goals on 45 shots.
-The IceHogs currently have a record of 15-13-1-1 (32 points) and they are 2nd in the Midwest Division, two points behind Grand Rapids. They are only two points in front of 3rd place Chicago. The Hogs have the most games played in their division as well (30).
-Check out Ryan Stanton’s game day routine:
Part One:
Part Two:
-Just watch this again because it’s golden:
Upcoming Games
Thursday, December 27 vs. Chicago at 7:05 p.m.
Saturday, December 29 vs. Milwaukee at 7:05 p.m.
Monday, December 31 at Grand Rapids at 5:00 p.m. CST
