The Rockford IceHogs went into Thursday night’s game with the Grand Rapids Griffins looking for their first win of the season. They left Thursday night’s game the exact same way. Let’s recap it.

Here’s the lineup that the Icehogs rolled with:

L1: #47 John Quenneville “A” - #14 Garrett Mitchell “C” - #44 MacKenzie Entwistle

L2: #68 Riley McKay - #39 Dylan McLaughlin - #76 Tim Soderlund

L3: #67 Matej Chalupa - #26 Evan Barratt - #57 Chris Wilkie

L4: #84 Andrei Altybarmakyan - #61 Chad Yetman - #59 Mikael Hakkarainen

D1: #43 Chad Krys - #11 Cody Franson “A”

D2: #75 Alec Regula - #63 Michael Krutil 

D3: #41 Isaak Phillips - #56 Dmitry Osipov

#90 Matt Tomkina

#31 Cale Morris

On to the game!

This game started much like the previous one against the Chicago Wolves. Grand Rapids came out clearly looking like the better team. 

The themes of Thursday night for the IceHogs were sloppy passing and lazy skating. There were turnovers all over the ice, and the Hogs didn’t seem too concerned about getting the puck back. 

There were 3 penalties taken in the first - two by the IceHogs, but there was no damage done.

END OF 1:

IceHogs - 0

Griffins - 0

SOG: 12-5 GR

Time for the second period. What kinds of horrors did it present this time?

Well, the IceHogs didn’t have any shots 8 minutes into the second period. So, that was fun. By fun, I mean just kind of gross. 

And then, because it was the second period, the scoring opened up. 

Griffins Goal #1: Michael Rasmussen (PP) - Dennis Cholowski, Taro Hirose

Evan Barratt took a slashing penalty 3:31 into the middle frame. While it was the only IceHogs penalty of the period, it proved to be costly. Taro Hirose and Dennis Cholowski were playing catch for a little bit before Cholowski took the puck at the point and blasted it toward the net. Michael Rasmussen was in the perfect position and tipped the puck in behind Matt Tomkins. 

There was nothing the IceHogs goaltender could do on that one. It was just a good play that was allowed to happen by some very lazy penalty killing.  

Not really in a good position there to block the shot, eh? Stick also in the absolute *perfect* spot.

But, it wasn’t all bad.

In this season of firsts, we had another!

IceHogs Goal #1: Alec Regula - Garrett Mitchell, Chad Krys

The IceHogs went 0 for 5 on the power play, but this goal came right as their second of the night had ended. 

Andrei Altybarmakyan got the puck to Chad Krys at the point. Krys took the shot, the rebound got caught up in Garrett Mitchell’s feet, Alec Regula was able to grab it, and he sent it home for his first professional goal. 

That may have been the only time all night that the IceHogs parked themselves in front of the net. What do ya know? It worked! What a novel concept. 

Jokes aside, I love seeing these rookies getting their first goals and points. It’s been the one bright spot this season. 

What isn’t bright? The IceHogs had 2 shots on goal the whole second period.

END OF 2:

IceHogs - 1

Griffins - 1

SOG: 17-7 GR

The IceHogs went into the third period tied with the Griffins. That isn’t something we’ve really seen this year. Their second periods have been pretty horrendous. It was less catastrophic on Thursday, so there was hope. 

For about 7 minutes. 

Griffins Goal #2: Riley Barber - Taro Hirose, Dennis Cholowski

Hirose had the puck, completely untouched, in the right corner. He found the open passing lane to Riley Barber - GR’s point leader - at the right hash marks. He did what he does best and sent the puck to the back of the net. 

Now, that’s one you want your goaltender to have. Even if it’s a hard save, you have to get big saves from your goaltender at some point. Tomkins had enough time to get square to the shooter, but Barber got the best of him. 

Once the Griffins regained the lead, it was clear that the IceHogs would not be winning the game. They had no fight in them. They had no compete in them. They couldn’t hold onto the puck for anything, and their passes were even worse. 

They were turning the puck over every time they touched it. So, clearly, the right decision was to empty the net with over 2 minutes to go. 

Griffins Goal #3: Chase Pearson - Givani Smith, Dylan McIlrath

The IceHogs emptied their net with 2:10 left in the 3rd period. 9 seconds later, it was in the back of their net. 

END OF 3:

IceHogs - 1

Griffins - 3

SOG: 29-13 GR

Lazy. Lazy is how you could describe the IceHogs’ effort on Thursday night. They weren’t moving their feet. They were throwing pucks to nowhere. They weren’t winning any battles. They had 13 shots on goal. All game. 

In the 3rd period, the IceHogs had some 5 on 3 time. There was a moment where I thought the whistle had blown, because absolutely no one on the ice was moving or even looking at each other. 

That’s all you need to know about how they looked on Thursday. 

If they want any chance of . . . ever winning a game, they need to change everything. Immediately.