From Center Ice: The Hogs Are Home

As the summer faded away into hockey season, I couldn’t help but to be beyond excited.

That was, until I watched the first Blackhawks preseason game and remembered that I’m never actually ready for hockey. It was game one of the preseason. It realistically meant nothing. Yet, there I was – sitting in my living room, sweating, and my heart was pounding out of my chest.

I swear this can’t be good for my health.

But – I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Now, here we are in the regular season. The NHL and AHL are both in full swing, and I have already nearly lost my voice twice from screaming from my seat in 203.

In both of the home games we’ve had so far, the IceHogs have scored first. Against Grand Rapids, Anton Wedin ripped a shot glove side. Against Laval, Philip Holm put one home from the slot on the second shot of the game. Seeing as we scored first, both of these games looked promising. Then, it all went downhill from there. The IceHogs lost to Grand Rapids 4-2 and had another losing performance against Laval (3-1). They are now 0-3 on the season and I am slowly losing my sanity.

We have a 4-way tie for the leading point scorer on the team with . . . 2 points.

Dylan Sikura (2G)

Anton Wedin (1G 1A)

Philip Holm (1G 1A)

Jacob Nilsson (2A)

We have 6 players with 1 point

Matthew Highmore (1G)

MacKenzie Entwistle (1A)

Chad Krys (1A)

Philipp Kurashev (1A)

Tyler Sikura (1A)

Kris Versteeg (1A)

The rest have zero points, so I’m not going to bother listing all of them. But, two big names on the zero point list are Adam Boqvist and Kirby Dach. Dach has only played 2 games. But, Boqvist has played in all 3, and I expected at least an assist from him by this point. I can’t put all of the blame on just these two for not scoring. It’s clear from the lists above that the team is not doing anything close to what they should be to win games.

The team has looked a lot like last year’s team. The only difference is the players on the ice. It’s a lot of dumping the puck, losing board battles, and not shooting the puck. They can’t score on the powerplay, and the penalty kill is not doing it’s job. Basically, they haven’t won a game because they aren’t doing anything correctly as a unit.

On to Kirby Dach and Adam Boqvist.

Boqvist has looked like just another guy out there. I understand that it’s 3 games into the season and its his first year pro, but he looked impactful during preseason games with the Blackhawks, so I expected a bit more fire from #27. To me, he has looked a bit lost and hasn’t used his speed. I often lose him on the ice because he’s not standing out. Usually, that’s what you want in a defenseman. But, with the skill this kid has, it’s been a bit disappointing.

I’m not sure this is all on him, though. The whole team has been playing a very boring style. It’s like they are being told to slow the game down. With the amount of young guys we have, I want to see them play fast and fun. But, alas, I am not the coach. Maybe I should be. I would drill it in their heads to get the puck to the net.

Kirby Dach has been the better of the two. In a surprising move, he was sent down a few hours before the home opener for a conditioning stint in the AHL. This is a loophole the Blackhawks found to get him some AHL time. Because of his age and CHL contract, he wouldn’t normally be able to make an AHL appearance for another year. His injury allows the Hawks to send him down on a 14-day conditioning stint while technically still being on the NHL roster.

Dach hasn’t put up any points yet, but he has looked solid on the other end of the ice. There have been many plays that stuck out to me where his stick has been in the right position to block shots and passes.

Dach is coming off of a concussion, so him not putting up points yet isn’t discouraging to me. It’s more encouraging that he doesn’t shy away from contact and he goes to the boards to try to win pucks. He’s playing the right way. The points will come.

The next IceHogs game is tomorrow night right here at the BMO Harris Bank Center. They kick off the Illinois Lottery Cup series against the Chicago Wolves. It’ll be the first of twelve games between the two clubs. I’m hoping to see Dennis Gilbert in the lineup to ward off Chicago’s dirty play against the Hogs. I’m also looking to see Gilbert absolutely stapled to Kirby Dach’s line in case they target the kid. I’m sure I’ll leave the game utterly frustrated. But, if there were ever a time to come out swinging and get that first win, tomorrow is the time.

It doesn’t help that the IceHogs have a home and home against the Wolves this weekend. They’ll be in Rosemont on Saturday night. I’m already getting my yelling voice ready. It takes a lot of warming up to get these vocal chords ready.

If you don’t have tickets to tomorrow night’s game, grab them here: https://www1.ticketmaster.com/rockford-icehogs-vs-chicago-wolves/event/040056F1DB8D2FDB

If you aren’t subscribed to the From Center Ice podcast, you can find it here: https://podfollow.com/from-center-ice/view

You’ll get a lot more analysis and a lot more . . . emotion . . . in response to how the team is doing.