IceHogs lone Midwest survivor in AHL playoffs

By Jim den Hollander

Midwesthockey.info Editor

The Rockford IceHogs begin play in the Central Division finals in Winnipeg on Friday night. It’s a great accomplishment for the top minor league affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks if not at least a little unexpected.

The Central Division is always wacky, in the sense that the standings seem to be in current shuffle mode. If you don’t like the standings, come back in a month and it will look completely different. The IceHogs are a perfect example of that.

The IceHogs bounced from sixth to second at various points of the season and put it together down the stretch to grab the fourth and final playoff position.

The IceHogs then proved how important regular season records are, sweeping the division leading Chicago Wolves in three straight games to reach the final.

The Wolves might have been three places higher than the IceHogs entering the five-game opening round series, but that translated into just seven points and two more wins over the course of the 76-game schedule.

Head-to-head, the teams split 12 games – each winning six. Of the 12, eight were decided by a single goal and the IceHogs picked up three overtime wins and one shootout victory against its I90 rival.

In the post season, the IceHogs continued its trend of winning the close ones with the Wolves, capturing a 2-1 win in the opener and clinching the series with a 4-3 win in triple overtime in its only home contest. In between was a 5-2 win as well.

Defensemen played a key role for the IceHogs in the series as veterans Adam Clendenning (1g, 4a), Cody Franson (1g, 3a) combined for nine points and Carl Dahlstrom, another blue liner, added three assists. – not bad in a series that say the victors score a total of 11 goals.

Center Chris DiDomenico and forward Victor Ejdsell both chipped in with two goals and an assist

Of course, those three did a job in their own end as well, limiting the Wolves to just six goals. A lion’s share of credit for that goes to goaltender Collin Delia, a rookie pro who played in Rockford as well as Chicago (2 games) and Indy (10 games) over the season. Delia was nothing short of amazing in the series, handling 111 of 117 shots for a .949 save percentage.

The IceHogs move forward to play the Manitoba Moose in the Central Division championship, beginning in Winnipeg on Friday.

Look for a preview on this site tomorrow.