The Rockford IceHogs season has begun! They faced the Chicago Wolves in an afternoon contest at the BMO Harris Bank Center. Did the IceHogs win? Nope. The final score was 5-4 Wolves. 

So how’d it go down?

We didn’t get a starting lineup until just before game time. I was interested to see who would be hitting the ice for game 1. There are a lot of players to choose from this year and a lot of intriguing Blackhawks prospects. We’ll have the chance to see all of them throughout the season. But, here’s who lined up for Saturday’s game (including their numbers because I’m still working on memorizing those).

L1: #47 John Quenneville “A” - #26 Evan Barratt - #84 Andrei Altybarmakyan

L2: #76 Tim Soderlund - #39 Dylan McLaughlin - #79 D.J. Busdeker

L3: #67 Matej Chalupa - #61 Chad Yetman - #53 Michal Teply

L4: #59 Mikael Hakkarainen - #14 Garrett Mitchell “C” - #42 Gabriel Gagne

D1: #48 Wyatt Kalynuk - #11 Cody Franson “A”

D2: #75 Alec Regula - #56 Dmitry Osipov

D3: #43 Chad Krys - #63 Michael Krutil 

#90 Matt Tomkins

#33 Scott Darling

The first things that stuck out to me were Barratt and Altybarmakyan on the first line and Wyatt Kalynuk being paired with Cody Franson. All three of those rookies have been talked about very highly by the coaching staff and others around the organization. It’s good to see that they showed they belong on the top units and it wasn’t just talk in Training Camp. 

Of course, you also see Scott Darling there as the backup goaltender. He’s still on his PTO. His future with the team is yet to be determined, but it would be cool to see him get a game in net first if he’s released. 

Today, it was Matt Tomkins against Jeremy Helvig in net. 

On to the game. 

The IceHogs came out in the first period looking like the better team. Chicago played Grand Rapids last night to open their season, and it showed in their skating. The first half of period one was great for the home team. Rockford took an early 2-0 lead. 

IceHogs Goal #1: John Quenneville (PP) - Cody Franson, Wyatt Kalynuk

IceHogs Goal #2: Chad Yetman (PP) - Evan Barratt, Cody Franson

The IceHogs got the first power play of the game and came out firing. The power play went 2/2 in the first period. They must have been inspired by the success of the Chicago Blackhawks’ power play. There’s no surprise that Cody Franson and Wyatt Kalynuk were the first D pairing at even strength and quarterbacked the first PP unit. Kalynuk was used as an offensive defenseman for the Badgers. It was good to see him thrown into that role right away in Rockford, and it paid off with him getting first professional point on the first goal of the game. 

That wasn’t the only first of the period for this IceHogs team. Chad Yetman grabbed his first professional goal on the Hogs’ second power play. Evan Barratt picked up his first professional point on the same goal with an assist. 

As I’ve said before, this is a very young IceHogs roster. There will be a lot of firsts this year. 

Quenneville’s goal came off of a nifty rush into the zone. Q grabbed the puck at center ice, walked right into the slot and rifled it over Helvig. It was a beauty.

Yetman’s goal was set up by some beneficial bounces from a shot block and a rebound. Cody Franson took the initial shot. After the shot block by Jeremy Davies, the puck bounced to Evan Barratt who got it to the net. Yetman found the puck in the blue paint and guided it to the back of the net. It was good to see the IceHogs parked in front of the net taking advantage of rebounds. The Hogs were lacking that in too many games last year. If that continues, they’re going to pick up a good number of garbage goals. Many times, those are the goals that lead to wins. The pretty goals are nice to see, but cleaning up the garbage in the blue paint leads to success. 

The first fight of the season came at 12:41 of the first. Dmitry Osipov (come on, who else would it be?) took on Tanner Jeannot after some shoving in front of Matt Tomkins. It wasn’t very long-lived, but you can’t argue with a player standing up for their goaltender. You could say that either Osipov drug Jeannot down to the ice OR Jeannot shoved Osipov down to the ice and fell on top of him. 

To make myself feel better, I’m going with the former. 

Those warm and fuzzy feelings just couldn’t last for an entire period. The Wolves came storming back in typical Chicago Wolves fashion. 

With neither the IceHogs or Blackhawks playing on Friday night, I took the time to watch Chicago’s season opener against Grand Rapids. The Wolves have a brand new roster this year with their Carolina Hurricanes affiliation and a 1-year deal with the Nashville Predators (Milwaukee Admirals not playing the 2020-21 season). I had no idea who was on their team or what their gameplay would look like. After watching their first game, I gathered that the Wolves are a fast team with loads of skill up front. Their roster features four recent 1st round draft picks. That just isn’t fair. 

One of those 1st round picks grabbed the first goal of the game for the Wolves. Because, of course he did.

Wolves Goal #1: Seth Jarvis - Jamieson Rees

Wolves Goal #2: Cavan Fitzgerald - Tom Novak, Jeremy Davies

Jamieson Rees took the puck down the right wing wall and got the better of Wyatt Kalynuk who chose some interesting defensive tactics on the play. After Jamieson took the puck through the blue paint and got a shot off, Seth Jarvis was parked right in front to take his turn as garbage man. What did I say about those goals leading to success?

2-1

A minute later, Cavan Fitzgerald was allowed to walk untouched right into the high slot with a clean look at the net. There were a few guys around the net but no real traffic. At that point, it was just between the shooter and the goaltender. The shooter was better. 

2-2

The good feelings left as quickly as they came. Then the first period of the season was over. 

END OF 1: 

IceHogs - 2

Wolves - 2

SOG: 14-10 CHI

The second period saw the IceHogs head to an early power play. After going 2/2 in the first period, this was a big chance to regain the lead. And, regain the lead, they did. 

IceHogs Goal #3: Wyatt Kalynuk (PP) - Cody Franson, Andrei Altybarmakyan 

More firsts! Wyatt Kalynuk picked up his first professional goal, and Altybarmakyan notched his first AHL point. Franson was scanning his options from the blue line. He found his man, and Kalynuk absolutely ripped home a one-timer from just wide of the right faceoff dot. 

3-2

If you’re keeping track, that put the IceHogs at 3/3 on the power play. More warm and fuzzies!

And then . . .

The Wolves tied the game immediately (less than a minute later) on a power play of their own. 

Wolves Goal #3: Tanner Jeannot (PP) - Alexandre Carrier, Tom Novak

The initial shot from Carrier went just wide of Tomkins’ glove (good). The puck took a friendly Wolves bounce back out to the front of the net (bad). Tomkins tried and failed to swat the puck away with his stick (very bad). Jeannot grabbed the puck and roofed it over Tomkins while the goaltender was falling to his belly (terrible). 

3-3

Don’t worry, it gets worse. 

About 3 minutes later, the Wolves took the lead on a goal that you really want Tomkins to save - or attempt to break up - or . . . anything. 

Wolves Goal #4: Jamieson Rees - Joey Keane

Jamieson Rees broke into the zone with his buddy Jarvis and took the puck to the net all on his own. He cut across the blue paint with the puck and tucked it behind Tomkins. It’s hard to blame a lot of goals on a goaltender, but that’s one where you need Tomkins to do more. He took away the short side shot by sealing the post. But, the cut across completely froze him. 

The AHL scoresheet lists that goal as Jarvis’s, so he may have gotten a stick on the puck as Rees cut across the crease. Either way - the puck went in, and the Wolves took the lead. 

4-3

With just over 5 minutes remaining in the second period, the Wolves increased their lead after an unfortunate offensive zone turnover by Rockford. 

Wolves Goal #5: Rem Pitlick - unassisted (or assisted by John Quenneville, but that won’t show up on the official sheet)

Rem Pitlick broke up a weak pass attempt from John Quenneville at the Hogs’ offensive blue line and had a clean breakaway all the way to the net. He went backhand - forehand - roof on Tomkins. 

5-3

Does it seem like I wrote about the Wolves a lot without much mention of the IceHogs doing anything good? Yep, that’s an IceHogs second period for you. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Big Sigh. 

END OF 2:

IceHogs - 3

Wolves - 5

SOG: 28-24 CHI

2 periods down, 1 to go. The IceHogs were only behind by 2 goals. That’s manageable. But, you already know they lost. So, let’s get to it. 

The third period didn’t see too much action. The teams each had 8 shots on goal. There were 2 penalties - 1 for each team. 

Matej Chalupa went to the box for cross-checking at 7:04 of the third. It was a weak call, in my opinion. But, a penalty is a penalty. The IceHogs killed that one off which led to some positivity. 

IceHogs Goal #4: Matej Chalupa - D.J. Busdeker, Dylan McLaughlin

More firsts! Matej Chalupa picked up his first AHL goal while D.J. Busdeker grabbed his first AHL assist. Busdeker picked up 4 points in 7 games with the Indy Fuel before coming up to Rockford to start the AHL season. It appears he’s got some good offensive awareness. 

I must also ruin your fun here and remind you that Chalupa is pronounced HUH-loo-pah. I know, I know. I’m sorry. 

5-4

The IceHogs weren’t able to grab that 5th goal and tie up the game, but they had a lot of good looks at the end. Chad Yetman snagged a rebound right in close, had a wide open net, and just sent it behind the goaltender and through the crease. Had he gotten a better handle on that puck, the game would have been tied. It is what it is. 

The IceHogs didn’t give up an empty net goal, and I choose to take that as a positive. They were pressing hard with the goaltender out, and they saw some 6on4 time with the Wolves taking a late penalty, but the clock wasn’t on their side and time ran out. 

The IceHogs lost the first game of the season. The final score was 5-4 in favor of the Wolves. 

Yes, it sucks. But let’s think about this for a moment. 

The Chicago Wolves have a roster with a ridiculous amount of forward talent. They have guys who have played together in Charlotte, and some players from the unbeatable 2019-20 Milwaukee Admirals team. Don’t forget about those four 1st round picks. They’re fast, they can score, and they’re going to be a rough opponent on any given night. 

The IceHogs roster has more new players than returning players. There are a lot of rookies, and they’ve only been together for a couple weeks. They put up a good fight today. 

Wyatt Kalynuk did not look good on the Wolves’ first goal of the game, but he was as solid as you could hope for after that. He looked good on the power play and flexed some of his offensive muscle. 

Andrei Altybarmakyan was all over the ice. He was my player of the game for the Hogs. He didn’t put up the most points on the team, but he got an assist and had some high quality chances of his own. 

Cody Franson came into game 1 and led by example. He’s here as a mentor for these young guys and put up 3 points. You can’t argue with that. 

The IceHogs special teams did their job. The PK was 4/5 and the PP was 3/6. 

You take this first game, learn from the mistakes, build on the good habits, and hope for a better result on Tuesday. 

Because, oh yeah, there were two more games against the Wolves added to the schedule. The next one is Tuesday, February 9th at 2:00 pm.