Players to Watch: RFD vs IA (10/22/21)
(Photo by Ross Dettman via Chicago Wolves Flickr)
It’s that time of the week again - Rockford IceHogs game day! The IceHogs are 1-1 on the season after their opening weekend bouts against the Grand Rapids Griffins and Chicago Wolves. Tonight, they kick off a back-to-back mini series against the Iowa Wild.
It’s extremely early in the season - Rockford and Iowa have both only played two games a piece. But, goal differential is fun. So, let’s take a look!
Through two games, the Iowa Wild have scored 3 goals while allowing 3 goals. They are at an even 0 DIFF.
Through two games, the Rockford IceHogs have scored 6 goals while allowing 9 goals for a DIFF of -3.
While the Hogs have scored 3 more goals than the Wild so far, their two games were extremely uneven. Rockford scored 1 goal in their season opener against the Griffins. They broke out for 5 goals against the Wolves. It’s way too early to see any trends, so let’s just hope they can get some more goals tonight.
One thing to keep in mind - the Iowa Wild always give the IceHogs fits when they face off against each other. Grabbing 2 or more points from this weekend would be huge for a young IceHogs team.
There are so many players worth watching closely, but I’ve narrowed it down to three. Here are your players to watch.
Arvid Söderblom
Arvid Söderblom made his regular season debut for the IceHogs last Saturday in Rosemont. He put in a stellar performance - stopping 40 of 43 shots. That led the Hogs to their first win of the season. They needed him to be fantastic that night. It would be great if he had a bit less work tonight, but can he put in another good performance? Obviously hoping so.
Andrei Altybarmakian
Andrei Altybarmakian was a scratch for Saturday’s matchup against the Wolves. He’s back in the lineup tonight on the 4th line with Garrett Mitchell and Dmitri Osipov (who I guess is playing up front again). To me, his talents aren’t being properly utilized on the 4th line. It’s up to him to prove he deserves to play higher up.
Alex Nylander
Alex Nylander had a 2-goal performance on Saturday. One of them was an empty-netter, but he did have to win a foot race in order to score it. After missing the entire 2020-21 season while recovering from a knee injury, the Blackhawks have him playing down in Rockford. His first game was forgettable, but he was all over the place in game 2. I’m looking for him to build off of that for game 3. It’s difficult with nearly a week between games, but that can’t be an excuse.
The puck drops at 7:00 pm CST tonight and 6:00 pm CST tomorrow (Saturday, October 23). You can watch both games on AHLtv or listen along to Joey Z on IceHogs.com