My First Hogs Game In Rockford

I've been to a handful of Chicago Wolves vs IceHogs games growing up, but never in Rockford. With my younger sister's birthday coming up what better gift than 2 tickets to game 1 against Grand Rapids. Here are my takeaways:

It's safe to assume that 90% of the crowd was made up of dedicated Hogs fans that are season ticket holders or have attended a couple regular season games. Paired with a healthy handful of Blackhawks fans that have been following Hawks prospects very closely. (This is how I would classify myself.) I can see how some fans would be annoyed by the cowbells but I thought it was awesome and fits AHL hockey very well. There were constant "Detroit Sucks!" chants and "You suck" chants at both Refs and Grand Rapids players. The crowd was electric as it should be for a playoff game and for those that know how the game went it turned rowdy very quickly.

As for the game, the IceHogs got off to an amazing start to the series with a Teply goal in the first period and Sanford about midway through the second. The Hogs were controlling the tempo and it felt like they were constantly creating scoring chances that were shut down by Cossa. After the Sanford goal the Hogs sort of let their foot off the gas and Grand Rapids started to get more physical and would've gotten on the scoreboard if not for some amazing saves by Stauber. The momentum changed after a Phillips wrestling match that ended up in a 4 on 4 that didn't amount to any goals but gave Grand Rapids some confidence. Going into the third the Stauber masterclass turned into just a solid performance and minutes after explaining to my sister that Grand Rapids will be pulling their goalie soon the equalizer came. I formally apologize to Stauber for jinxing him.

On a more positive note, Lukas Reichel was noticeably the best player on the ice. The best forwards in the NHL don't skate they glide, and any footage of Patrick Kane proves that. Before you overreact, I am not saying Reichel is as good as Kane but compared to the AHL skaters around him Lukas was gliding and creating scoring chances seemingly at will. His primary assist to Teply was proof that his offensive ceiling is much higher than a lot of Hawks fans give him credit for. As more talent comes in around him, he will be a playmaker for the Blackhawks in the future.

The refs absolutely sold overtime and I don't like fans throwing their beer cans onto the ice in protest, but I can absolutely understand the anger. It should have been a boarding and if not then blow the play dead when Roos jumps the Griffins player. That's all I'm going to say about that.

The overtime winner leads to some minor twitter (X) drama stemming from a deleted Anthony Pellegrino post of an argument from his DMs. I like Pellegrino and his Hogs content and think he does a great job. I tend to disagree with how he talks about Soderblom and at times I think he puts Stauber on a pedestal well above Soderblom and even Commesso. His defense of Stauber was fair but I do think that the final goal shouldn't have trickled through the way it did. Stauber shouldn't have been in the position of needing to make that save. @HockeySeanie shared his thoughts https://x.com/HockeySeanie/status/1784423878204203280 and I have to say I agree with Seanie. Even though I disagree with the Stauber hate from the person who sent the DMs publicly calling him out is kind of shitty and the way he snapped on Seanie for just mentioning it was uncalled for. Pellegrino has not apologized, and I don't think he needs to, but HockeySenie was correct in calling out the heavy Stauber Bias.

Go Hogs Beat Grand Rapids.