Schedule Change: IceHogs Open Season Against Chicago Wolves

(Photo by Brad Repplinger via IceHogs Flickr)

Would you look at that. COVID has impacted the IceHogs schedule before the season even began. 

The Rockford IceHogs were set to take on the Cleveland Monsters in a back-to-back series this weekend but, due to COVID-related issues, Cleveland will not be making the trip. Instead, the Chicago Wolves are coming to town Saturday afternoon. The puck drops on the 2020-21 Rockford IceHogs season on Saturday, February 6, at 3:00 pm CST. 

When the schedule was released, I was surprised that the Wolves weren’t Rockford’s first opponent, so this just seems fitting. I was all prepared to not see the Wolves until March, and now they’re facing off against the IceHogs right away. Even more *EXCITING* - it appears that this Saturday game has just been added onto the schedule. Instead of facing the Rosemont boys 8 times this season, it’s been bumped up to 9! WHY NOT!

Maybe it isn’t all negative. 

Maybe it’s a good thing that the IceHogs are kicking off the season against their biggest rival. There’s no easing into this year. This young Rockford roster is being tossed right into the fire. They’ll be led by their newly appoint Captain, Garrett Mitchell.

But it does get a little (see: a lot) negative. 

Not only is it a game against their rival, but it’s a game against a team with a ton of potential. Last season, the Milwaukee Admirals were far and away the best team in the league. They likely would have been the 2020 Calder Cup Champs had the season not been shut down. With the Admirals taking this season off, Nashville sent 13 of their prospects to Chicago - including their 2019 1st round pick, Philip Tomasino. 

There are three other recent 1st round draft picks on this Wolves roster from the Hurricanes prospect pool - Dominik Bokk (2018), Seth Jarvis (2020), and Ryan Suzuki (2019).

Back to the positive. 

The Wolves open up their season Friday night against the Grand Rapids Griffins in Hoffman Estates. They don’t have to travel far, but they’ll be coming into Rockford on the second half of a back-to-back. This is a great opportunity for an excited IceHogs team to take the ice and snag a win against a tired Wolves team. We’ll see if that’s how it plays out.

You can watch the game on AHLtv, which is free all weekend. It will also be available on 23.2 Antenna TV WIFR, SportsFanRadio 1330 AM, Sportsfanradio1330.com, IceHogs.com, and the IceHogs app!