Kiss Me, I’m Anton

Sorry, St. Pat, red was better than green on your day.

Sunday night’s contest had big playoff implications for the IceHogs. The team is still fighting for their playoff lives and sat one spot out coming into the game against the Texas Stars. You could say the IceHogs needed a bit of that Irish luck. To make the game even more important, the Texas Stars are the team that sat immediately ahead of the Hogs in the standings.

Anton Forsberg took to guarding the net. He put up a 46 save performance on Friday night in Grand Rapids and stole the show. He looked to recreate that magic at home.

Local boy Josh McArdle got the night off on Sunday as 6’4 newcomer D-Man, Dmitry Osipov, stepped into his first game for the Hogs. McArdle has been an awesome addition on the blue line for the IceHogs this season. His story is even sweeter because he’s a native of Roscoe.

Once the puck was down on this Sunday night contest, we settled in and hoped that fatigue didn’t become too apparent on the third game in three nights. Jordan Schroeder got a puck toward the net that fooled a lot of us up in the stands but unfortunately went off the post. Would have been a nice, early goal to settle down my nerves. But, alas...

The game continued 0-0.

After a fortunate bounce off the referee to our skater, Graham Knott had a great shooting chance but the goalie came up with a better save. That didn’t stop the determined Hogs. Spencer Watson corralled the rebound and took the puck for a wraparound adventure. Desrosiers made an incredible stop slamming the puck against the post with his skate blade, but Alex Fortin swooped in with his (imaginary) super hero cape and poked it in for the first goal of the game!

Things were going great until a cross-crease goal similar to the one the Monsters scored on Delia on Saturday tied the game on a defensive breakdown by Jokiharju and Gilbert.

Don’t count these pigs out, a dogged effort by Martinsen to drive to the net after not getting enough on an open net tip regained the lead for the Hogs. The Hogs were determined to not have a blemish on their weekend record.

END OF 1: Shots 12-5 Hogs. 2-1 Hogs.

Anton freakin’ Forsberg came up with some MASSIVE stops nearly 5 minutes into the second period on the penalty kill. He seemed to be down and out but battled for every shot. The goaltending performance put on by #31 this past weekend was remarkable. I don’t know what kind of water he was drinking, but I want some of that!

7:10 into the second, Hogs got their first powerplay. They fail to convert on first one. With 8 seconds left, Texas got another penalty. 5 on 3 . . .

The IceHogs failed to convert on all three power plays. Texas got a breakaway coming out of the box. It was incredibly similar to how Victor Edjsell scored on Saturday. Anton Forsberg made the save, albeit - controversial save. The refs called no goal, but he seemed to slide into the net himself with the puck. Either way, I’ll take it.

They ended the period still in the lead.

END OF 2: Shots 19-17 Texas. 2-1 Hogs

For a game that wasn’t tied, it was pretty crazy that there were only about four plays of note in the third period.

Anton Forsberg came up with a huge set of saves with 6:10 remaining to keep the Hogs up by one.

Delay of Game penalty on Jokiharju with just under 4:30 to go. Hogs killed it off.

Joni Tuulola had a massive stick tie-up with 2:42 to spoil a Texas breakaway

With 10 seconds to go, there was a mad scramble around Forsberg’s net off the faceoff. No harm done . . . HOGS WIN HOGS WIN! HOGS WIN!

The game ended 2-1 IceHogs. Shots 35-25 Texas.

Let’s just reflect a bit. The IceHogs went into Grand Rapids and Forsberg stole the win and 2 points. They came home for a Saturday night battle and Collin Delia led the team to an overtime win against the Cleveland Monster. They got to entertain their home crowd again on Sunday night and Forsberg led them to their 3rd win in 3 nights which put your Rockford IceHogs right back into a playoff spot!

This weekend was MASSIVE for the Hogs and their playoff hopes and they did everything right. I am still hyped up from the work they put in this weekend. It was great hockey. They got three great wins.

Even more exciting, they are back home on Wednesday night! Grab your tickets and let’s keep this thing rolling!