Who Am I?

photo by paurian

I have reached a franchise record for longest winning streak this year…

I have relied heavily on my special teams…

I boast a leading scorer that is a wizard with the puck who is 6-feet tall on his tippy-toes and 180 pounds soaking wet…

I am of course… the Rockford IceHogs. Who were you thinking?

Brandon Pirri and the IceHogs recently had their franchise-high 6 game-winning streak snapped on the weekend. They’re penalty kill has been good of late (however still at 18^th for the year), while they’re PP comfortably rests at 2^nd overall in the AHL.

Now I’m not here to drop this news about streaks being broken, although if the Hawks fall to the Wild tonight you can decisively blame me. I wanted to take a second to check in on the IceHogs as I’m always interested in the Baby Hawks and it would seem rude if we ignored them, no? It’s like you being invited to a party by a friend, attending said party and then ditching him when you’re “cooler, more talked about” friends bust in the door.

The Hogs have pulled it together little more as of late as the departure of some of those “cooler, more talked about friends” left them on the team bus in shambles. It was a little touch and go there for a lot of teams when the NHL lockout lifted with a flood of Professional Tryout Contracts (PTOs) throughout the AHL.

Now, with a combination of experienced journeymen and hopefully NHLers, Rockford has elevated their game maintaining a little more consistency. I turn to my Rockford specialist Eli Kolb (@elikolb) for a real life report as he frequently attends games. He mentioned that lanky Swede Henrik Karlsson has been a steady factor in net. His numbers have been good since joining the Hogs in late January:

Eli also states that Kenndal McArdle (WIN/FLA: 42 games) and Brad Mills (NJ: 31 games), both having a cup of coffee in the show have been a positive influence on the team during this streak. McArdle, a good Toronto kid, was formally a 1^st round draft pick of the Florida Panthers.

People, keep supporting your AHL, CHL or whatever local teams you cheer for out there, you never know when the NHL will break your heart and head for Europe to “find” themselves with their don’t-care-if-my-jeans-have-a-hole-in-them-bro attitude. It will be at that point you’ll be left with your true (albeit a less cool and less talked about) friend to console you!

Ty’s Tidbits

~ Speaking of the IceHogs, one of the best in the biz for covering them is Chris Block (@ChrisBlock); knows his stuff and always good to chat to for a quick Rockford update.

~  Oh ya, there’s this little streak still going on in the NHL. The Hawks take on the Minnesota Wild tonight with their 19-0-3 streak on the line. Dave Bolland returns after missing 5 games.

~ Marian Hossa will be honoured for his 1000^th career NHL game that he played on Sunday in Detroit. An incredible journey he’s been on and happy he’s a Blackhawk today.

~ Finally, I’m looking forward to hosting a group of my Chicago Blackhawks friends in the Toronto area to finally catch a game together. We will be occupying a bar dowtown tomorrow night for the Avs game; here’s to us not getting kicked out for being too loud or too weird.

Ty Cam out!
(@tycam)