On Tuesday night, the Rockford IceHogs took on the Cleveland Monsters in the second half of a back-to-back still looking for their first win of the season. On Tuesday night, they finally earned it! They beat the Monsters 3-2. 

Here’s the lineup that the Icehogs rolled with:

L1: #39 Dylan McLaughlin - #58 MacKenzie Entwistle - #47 John Quenneville “A”

L2: #84 Andrei Altybarmakyan - #26 Evan Barratt - #76 Tim Söderlund

L3: #49 Mitchell Fossier - #14 Garrett Mitchell “C” - #57 Chris Wilkie

L4: #78 Brad Morrison - #61 Chad Yetman - #59 Mikael Hakkarainen

D1: #75 Alec Regula - #11 Cody Franson “A”

D2: #63 Michael Krutil - #56 Dmitry Osipov

D3: #41 Isaak Phillips - #62 Cole Moberg

#31 Cale Morris

#90 Matt Tomkins

On to the game!

After the horrible game on Monday night, there was no telling what we’d be seeing on Tuesday. Be it roster decisions or the on-ice effort. 

The first huge change was Cale Morris starting in goal. The rookie goaltender out of Notre Dame entered the third period on Monday in relief of Matt Tomkins and had a very impressive first professional period. 

Tuesday was his chance to show what he could do with a full 60. 

The IceHogs also went back to a lineup featuring 12 forwards and 6 defensemen instead of the 11F 7D we saw Monday. 

While there were a few changes to the lineup, the biggest change came once the puck was dropped. The IceHogs looked exponentially better.

Dare I say, they looked like a completely different team. 

They did get outshot and made some questionable passing decisions, but overall - they looked like a hockey team. A lot of the gaffes that I noticed could be chalked up to rookie mistakes, which we have to get used to seeing and be okay with it. 

The most noticeable change was that they were actually moving their feet.

There was one moment that stood out. Tim Söderlund worked to disrupt a Cleveland play on the back check, stole the puck, and sent Andrei Altybarmakyan the other way. Altybarmakyan got by the defense and had the goalie all to himself, but the puck hopped on him. While it didn’t lead to a goal, we hadn’t seen anything like that in the previous six games. 

Then you look back to the blue paint, and Cale Morris was making those big saves when he was called on. That’s been something I’ve been waiting for from this team. Anytime they seemed to get some energy or momentum going, the puck would get past their goaltender, and it would completely deflate them. That wasn’t the case in the first period on Tuesday night. Cale Morris was on it. 

Both teams had some really good looks, but the goaltenders were up to the task. 

END OF 1:

IceHogs - 0

Monsters - 0

SOG: 13-6 CLE

Speaking of those big saves, less than 20 seconds into the second period, Tyler Sikura got a shot toward the wide open side of the net, but Cale. Freaking. Morris. said NOPE. He slammed the puck against the post and kept it out. 

My goodness. 

Unfortunately, Tyler Sikura came into Tuesday’s game much like Monday’s and wanted to show off against his former team. 

Monsters Goal #1: Tyler Sikura - Nathan Gerbe, Dillon Simpson

While on the power play, Nathan Gerbe gave the puck to Sikura who was standing in front of the net. It looked like he was attempting a pass, but the puck deflected off of IceHogs defenseman, Cole Moberg, and into the net. 

There’s not much you can do about that one except leave it in the past and move on. 

Determined to not let the Cleveland Monsters steal their spotlight again, the IceHogs did put that goal behind them and came back with some excitement. 

IceHogs Goal #1: Evan Barratt - Isaak Phillips, Tim Soderlund

Evan Barratt scored his FIRST PROFESSIONAL GOAL with just over 4 minutes remaining in the period. Barratt won the offensive zone faceoff. Tim Söderlund grabbed the puck and got it to Isaak Phillips at the point for a shot. The goaltender made the initial save, but Barratt had found his way to the front of the net and sent home the rebound. 

You just had to love everything that happened on that play. They’re all keys to success in any game. 

• Win faceoffs

• Get pucks to the net

• Create traffic in front of the goaltender

• Clean up the rebounds

If the IceHogs can do that consistently, they can turn this season around.

With the clock winding down on the period, John Quenneville made sure the Monsters knew they weren’t messing around. He grabbed Thomas Schemitsch and they threw some fists. 

Finally, the IceHogs had a non-disastrous second period and went into the second intermission tied at 1. 

END OF 2:

IceHogs - 1

Monster - 1

SOG: 24-17 CLE

Going into the third was extremely anxiety-inducing. The game was tied, and the IceHogs were hoping to come out of it with their first win. And, all of us watching it were hoping for the same. 

Of course, Cleveland had to make things interesting.

Monsters Goal #2: Evan Polei - Justin Scott

Time was winding down way too quickly, and it was looking like the IceHogs would earn their 7th loss of the season. 

And then.

IceHogs Goal #2: Andrei Altybarmakyan - Tim Soderlund, Evan Barratt

Andrei Altybarmakyan took the puck out of the corner and drove to the net. The only players around were Alty, 4 Monsters skaters, and the Monsters’ netminder.

He tried to tuck the puck around the far side of the goaltender, but it hit the post. Luckily, it hung out in the crease; Andrei was able to find it and put it in the net. 
Cleveland was none too pleased. I’m not sure if they thought it was goaltender interference (it wasn’t) or if they thought the puck was covered by the goalie (it wasn’t). Their opinion doesn’t determine the score, and that goal tied the game up at 2. 

To their credit, it did look questionable in real time. On the replay, it was clearly a good goal. 

Just when I thought that game was going to overtime . . .

We saw a Miracle On Ice 2.0.

IceHogs Goal #3: Isaak Phillips - Evan Barratt, Tim Söderlund

Evan Barratt was rushing up the ice with Tim Söderlund and sent the puck in deep. It bounced off the boards and Cleveland’s goaltender was  able to poke it away from the attacking Söderlund. Unfortunately for him, his poke check sent the puck back toward Evan Barratt who got control of it and found Isaak Phillips entering the zone at the blue line. 

Phillips wasted no time getting the shot off and blasted it through the goaltender. 

Keeping track of the score? With 93 seconds on the clock, the IceHogs took a 3-2 lead.

With as great of goal that was and as promising as it made the game seem, the reality sank in that the IceHogs still had to make it through the final 1:33 of the game. Talk about stress. 

But, it happened. 

The team tightened up their defense. Cale Morris stood tall. 

And . . .

THE ROCKFORD ICEHOGS WON THEIR FIRST GAME OF THE SEASON!!!!! 

END OF 3:

IceHogs - 3

Monsters - 2

SOG: 37-24 CLE

That game was absolutely huge for this IceHogs team. They suffered 6 straight losses to begin their season, and they were starting to look beaten down because of it. 

After losing 7-3 the night before, they could have come into Tuesday night completely bummed out and lazy. But they came out with their best effort of the season. That’s the type of compete you want to see out of a young team. They’ve definitely faced adversity, but they came out in this game and showed what they’re capable of. Not only did they win it, but they scored 2 goals in the last 4 minutes of the game to do so. 

Now they’ve proven to themselves they can dig deep and come up with big, important goals in clutch time. 

The Rockford IceHogs face the Cleveland Monsters this weekend is another back-to-back series on Saturday and Sunday. Let’s see how they come out after their first win.