The Rockford IceHogs are Headed Home

The day has finally arrived. The day when the BMO Harris Bank Center will open up it’s doors for the 2021-22 season. Because of arena renovations, the Rockford IceHogs started the year with a six-game road trip. It wasn’t a total disaster, but it was bad enough to put them sixth in the Central Division – out of seven teams. 

But, hey, they did gift the Chicago Wolves their only loss of the season thus far. I’ll call that a success. 

Through six games, the IceHogs are 2-4-0-0. They’ve only scored 16 goals while allowing 27. That’s good for a goal differential (DIFF) of -11 (one of my personal favorite stats to look at). The stats don’t get any more promising if you look at special teams. The Hogs are seventh in the division on the power play (PP). They’ve had 21 opportunities with the man advantage and have only converted on two of those. That’s a very sad 9.5%. The penalty kill (PK) is only slightly better. They sit fifth in the division with a PK rate of 77.8%. They’ve been shorthanded 27 times, allowing six goals in the process.  

My last piece was about the IceHogs’s early season MVP. That will give you a look into why the PK is slightly better than the PP. 

Clearly the beginning of the season has not worked out in favor of Rockford. Maybe some home cooking will do their soul — and their record — some good. Lucky for them, they open their home schedule with back-to-back contests on Saturday and Sunday against the Grand Rapids Griffins and Manitoba Moose. Even better, seven of their next 10 games are at home. If there were ever a time for them to turn their season around, this would be it. 

Reese Johnson was just sent down to Rockford by the Blackhawks, so that should help them out as well. 

Before I wrap this up and mentally prepare myself for the home opener, I shall leave you with the Rockford IceHogs point leaders. 

Top 5 Skaters:

Lucas Reichel: 6 Games Played 3 Goals 2 Assists 5 Points -5 +/-

Alexander Nylander: 6GP 4G 0A 4P -7

Brett Connolly: 6GP 1G 3A 4P -2

Jakub Pour: 6GP 2G 1A 3P 0

Josiah Slavin: 6GP 2G 1A 3P +1

Goaltenders:

Arvid Söderblom: 3GP 2-1-0 4.00 Goals Against Average .917 Save Percentage

Malcolm Subban: 2GP 0-2-0 4.57 GAA .842 sv%

Collin Delia: 1GP 0-1-0 5.02 GAA .839 sv%

There you have it folks. Let’s hope that things are looking up for the IceHogs after their first weekend at home. They did win their last game, so maybe they can get a streak going. Maybe.