Tag Archives: Ben Smith

IceHogs weekly wrap: Hutton leads ‘Hogs back to .500, sets franchise mark; Kyle Beach’s return date and much more

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Chris Block| 1 Comment

By Chris Block

Behind another stellar week of goaltending from Carter Hutton, the Rockford IceHogs picked up five of a possible six points last week to improve their record to 26-26-2-5.

This marks the first time the IceHogs have sat at the .500 mark since way back on October 28th when the team was 4-4-0-0 after a win at Peoria, the same night Kyle Beach went down with a dislocated right shoulder.

The week began on Wednesday night as a flu bug hit the Rockford dressing room.  The IceHogs, weakened also by the Andrew Shaw and Brandon Bollig call ups to Chicago earlier in the week, and without Jeremy Morin, put forth an amazing effort against the visiting Abbotsford Heat, one of the AHL’s best road teams.

Ben Smith was credited with his team-leading 8th power play goal to get the ‘Hogs on the board first.  The goal was originally given to Ben Youds but the official scoring was flipped the next day.  That goal also ended a 0 for 30 slump for the IceHogs power play units.  And they needed just 3 seconds on their first power play of the night to end that nightmarish streak.  The newest IceHog, Matt Fornataro knocked in his second goal in his fourth game since joining the team.  The game went to seven rounds in the shootout with Abbotsford scoring four times on Hutton while Heat goalie Danny Taylor allowed three from the IceHogs.  Rockford lost 3-2 but picked up a point.

Carter Hutton was the only reason the IceHogs were even in the game in Milwaukee after forty minutes on Friday night.  Since signing an NHL contract with the Blackhawks on Feb 24, Hutton has been incredible for Rockford.  The game was a rematch of the goalie-duel from six days earlier at the BMO between Hutton and Atte Engren.  Hutton prevailed in that game winning 2-1 in a shootout.  Engren stopped 35 shots in that game.   In Friday’s contest, Rockford was outshot 33-13 after two periods but the game was tied 1-1 heading into the third period.  In the final frame, the IceHogs got goals from Brandon Pirri (his team-leading 22nd) and Jeremy Morin (13th) to take the game 3-1.  Rockford is now  5-1-0-1 against Milwaukee this season and have five game left with the Admirals beginning with a  home-and-home this coming Saturday and Sunday. Read more »

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Quick strikes the answer for Wolves, Defeat IceHogs 6-2 at the BMO Saturday night to split weekend series – Stanton injured

Posted on February 12, 2012 by Chris Block| 2 Comments

By Chris Block

After an all-around strong performance in a 2-1 win over the Chicago Wolves on Friday night, the Rockford IceHogs couldn’t overcome mistakes against the same team, in the same setting twenty-four hours later.

A juicy rebound goal by Rostislav Olesz and a Shawn Lalonde shot that went off Jimmy Hayes’ pant leg and in was all the IceHogs could muster against Matt Climie on Saturday night before the second-biggest crowd of the season in Rockford’s BMO Harris Bank Center.

That wouldn’t be enough as the Wolves scored goals in bunches to defeat Rockford by a final score of 6-2 in front of a sell-out crowd of 6,164.

Carter Hutton was mercifully pulled from his net by IceHogs coach Ted Dent after the Wolves scored three goals in 2:34 midway through the second period.   Hutton was able to stop 15 of the 20 shots he saw in 28:23 of action but he didn’t have much chance on a few of those goals.

“I apologized to Hutts because our team wasn’t there in front of him,” Dent noted of speaking to Hutton and explaining the switch between the second and third periods.

Alexander Salak came in to relieve Hutton, one night after his victorious 2-1, 27-save return to action after being sidelined ten weeks with an ankle injury.  Salak stopped all 15 shots he faced over 31 minutes in relief of Hutton on Saturday.  Salak was pulled for an extra attacker with three and a half minutes to go when Chicago notched its sixth and final goal of the evening into the vacated Rockford net. Read more »

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IceHogs takedown Wolves in first of weekend set

Posted on February 11, 2012 by Chris Block| 2 Comments

By Chris Block

Alexander Salak showed no signs of a goaltender who hadn’t played in two months on Friday night as he backstopped the Rockford IceHogs to a 2-1 victory over the visiting Chicago Wolves.

In fact, it was probably the best Salak has played in his 11 starts thus far as an IceHog.

“He was real good,” IceHogs coach Ted Dent said of his goaltender’s 27 save performance.  “So was their guy (Eddie Lack).  It was a low scoring game and real good goaltending both ways.”

The returning Salak, out of action since suffering an ankle injury during the opening seconds of the second period in a game on December 2nd against Lake Erie, looked as sharp and composed as he has to date.  The Wolves came at him hard, as they had in two previous contests back in October (Salak’s first two starts of the season), bumping and crowding the goaltender’s crease often.  Previously, those sorts of actions seemed to nudge Salak off his focus, once even causing Salak to throw his equipment across the ice, but not on Friday evening before a crowd of 4,501 at the BMO Harris Bank Center. Read more »

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IceHogs revert to old ways, 3 games below .500

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Chris Block| 6 Comments

By Chris Block

Wednesday night’s 4-3 loss to the visiting Lake Erie Monsters played out like a tale of two teams for this season’s Rockford IceHogs.

After an opening period which saw the IceHogs pepper Lake Erie’s veteran goaltender, and Chicago area product, Gerald Coleman with 17 shots, but not many second chance opportunities, Rockford went into the first intermission with nothing to show for their efforts.  The IceHogs then came out flat for the second period and quickly found themselves down 2-0 after some unfortunate turnovers.  Despite dominating the first period, Rockford reverted to its October through mid-December form in letting game get away from them on home ice.  By the midway point of the third Rockford was in a 4-1 hole.  But then, the IceHogs of the month of January suddenly reappeared and put up a challenge.  Dylan Olsen unleashed a howitzer of a one-timer to get his team within two goals with less than two minutes to play and a late Lake Erie penalty allowed Rockford to pull within one with 18 seconds to go.

This was the second consecutive game in which Rockford greatly outshot its opponent and lost.  Last Friday in Rosemont, the IceHogs out shot the Wolves 32-18, but lost the contest 4-2.  They were also down three goals with a minute left in that game.

On Wednesday night, Rockford out shot Lake Erie 17-7 in the first period.  None of those chances better than when Rostislav Olesz blew by two defenseman, Cameron Gaunce and Stefan Elliott, then wristed his shot too high over the glove of Coleman, who just got a piece of Olesz’s attempt as well. Read more »

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A visit from Columbus does the Trick; Hawks losing streak ends at 4, Career night for Stalberg

Posted on January 10, 2012 by Brad Vandenberk| Leave a comment

By Brad Vandenberk

Tuesday, after losing their fourth straight game to the hands of the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday night, the Chicago Blackhawks were back on the ice playing the NHL worst, Columbus Blue Jackets.

Prior to Tuesday night, the Blackhawks had taken each of the three meetings this season with Columbus, all by three goals.  This game would be a great way to get back into the W column and reclaim first in the Central division.  This would also be the second time this year that the Hawks play a team with a coach making his first debut.  Head coach Scott Arniel was fired by Columbus just two days ago and replaced by Todd Richards.

Patrick Sharp missed his first game after being sidelined for the next 3-4 weeks with and upper body injury suffered during Sunday’s game.  With Sharp’s absence from the line up, Ben Smith was recalled from the AHL and inserted into the line up.  Dan Carcillo was also serving the 4th game of his seven game suspension. Read more »

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Complete effort drives Hawks over Ducks 4-1

Posted on December 16, 2011 by Brad Gardner| Leave a comment
photo: Yahoo! Sports

By Brad Gardner

Ray Emery earned another start in net with the Anaheim Ducks in town and helped the Blackhawks beat his former team by a score of 4-1. Emery’s shutout bid was spoiled by Teemu Selanne with less than two minutes to play in the game, but the veteran goalie turned in another strong start for Chicago in collecting his fourth consecutive win in as many starts.

Emery’s cause was aided by the effort of the skaters in front of him. For all the ink the ‘Hawks top players have earned so far this season, it was Jamal Mayers and the fourth line that opened the scoring for Chicago at the 6:37 mark of the first.

Andrew Brunette won the puck on the forecheck against Francois Beauchemin and passed it to an open Mayers behind the net. Jonas Hiller was slow to cover his post and Mayers was able to flip the puck off the goalie and into the net.

Chicago extended the lead quickly at the start of the second after pressure from Marian Hossa and Patrick Sharp gave the ‘Hawks possession in the Duck zone. Sharp picked up a loose puck and fed Hossa driving in all alone on Hiller. Hossa powered the backhander through the legs of Hiller just over a minute into the second period to put the Blackhawks up by a pair of goals. Read more »

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AHL suspends Jeremy Morin 3 games for elbowing incident in Milwaukee on Sunday

Posted on December 13, 2011 by Chris Block| 3 Comments

By Chris Block

Top Blackhawks prospect and Rockford IceHogs winger Jeremy Morin was suspended on Tuesday for the team’s next 3 games as result of an elbowing incident during Sunday’s 5-4 shootout loss in Milwaukee.

With six minutes remaining in the second period, Morin collided with Milwaukee Admirals center Joel Champagne, while chasing a loose puck deep in the Admirals’ zone.

Morin’s elbow connected with the left side of Champagne’s jaw as Morin attempted to box his opponent off the loose puck in the right corner behind the Admirals’ goal line.

Champagne was moving on the ice but did lay prone for several minutes while attended to by both the IceHogs and Admirals trainers.  He was eventually placed on a backboard and stretchered across the ice before being sent to a hospital for further evaluation.

The play sequence began with a weak Champagne turnover in the neutral zone, forced by an Andrew Shaw backcheck.  Seconds later, Brandon Pirri gained the Admirals’ blue line by lifting a puck, tossed backhand across the ice, leading Shaw along the far boards.  Shaw won a one-on-one physical battle with defenseman Tyler Sloan and advanced that puck down low into the right corner.  At this point, Morin read the play and came down from the middle of the slot in pursuit of the puck.

Joel Champagne actually should have gotten to that puck first, but he was slow to get there.  Champagne saw Morin coming and pulled up to avoid a hit.  Morin had time to adjust, and instead of throwing a check on Champagne, Morin chose to box him off the puck since Champagne was, in effect, surrendering possession to Morin.  In seeing Champagne pull up and making his adjustment, Morin shifted his weight in turning his back to Champagne to shield the Milwaukee player off the puck.

As far as the elbow, Champagne was struck by an accidental blow from Morin’s left, trailing elbow. Read more »

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Toews can’t do it all; Coyotes 4-3 in shootout

Posted on December 6, 2011 by Brad Vandenberk| Leave a comment

By Brad Vandenberk

The Chicago Blackhawks tried to go for their third straight win Monday night, as they were host to the Phoenix Coyotes.  No more then six days ago those same Coyotes out played the Hawks to a 4-1 victory.  This was the third game in 4 nights for the Hawks.

This game was carried nationally on TV through Versus and TSN2 with US Hall of Fame inductee Mike “Doc” Emrick and Eddie O on the call, with Pierre McGuire between the benches.  Corey Crawford and Mike Smith started in their respected nets, which turned out to be the same goalie match up as 6 nights ago.

The lines mimicked what coach Q put together in St Louis on Saturday night.  Dan Carcillo was on the top line with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane.  Marcus Kruger was still centering the second line with Marian Hossa and Patrick Sharp on the wings.  Dave Bolland centered the third line with Ben Smith and Michael Frolik and finally Viktor Stalberg was on the fourth line with Jamal Mayers and Andrew Brunette.  Bryan Bickell, Sami Lepisto and the mighty John Scott were the scratches. Read more »

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Blackhawks get down early, blow two leads before besting Islanders 5-4 in the shootout

Posted on December 3, 2011 by Jon Fromi| Leave a comment

By Jon Fromi

Jonathan Toews showed why he was afforded the NHL’s Second Star of the Month for November in the Chicago Blackhawks first contest of December against the visiting New York Islanders.

The captain notched a goal and an assist in regulation, then had the deciding shootout goal as Chicago snatched two points in a 5-4 decision. The game was far from the performance the Blackhawks were looking for after a lackluster loss to Phoenix earlier this week.

Despite allowing 41 Islander shots on goal and failing to hold a third period lead, the ‘Hawks came up with just enough to claim points number 32 and 33.

The Blackhawks created some excitement in the opening minute when a Brent Seabrook shot from the blueline found iron. Duncan Keith fired another shot on Al Montoya that Viktor Stalberg was able to get a stick on. Toews’s put back was waved off as the whistle had blown before he could get to the puck. Read more »

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Blackhawks skid hits 3; Niemi Says No

Posted on November 24, 2011 by Brad Gardner| 1 Comment

By Brad Gardner

Despite a better effort at both ends of the ice from the Blackhawks, it was still not enough to get past Antti Niemi and the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday. Despite a pronounced lead in the shot count and possession time, the Blackhawks fell by a score of 1-0 for their third consecutive regulation loss.

San Jose was strong out of the gate, registering four shots on Corey Crawford in the first four and a half minutes. The Sharks’ offense was limited by a couple penalties as well as Chicago’s puck possession and managed only one shot through the last 15 minutes of the first.

The ‘Hawks finished the first with 10 shots on Niemi, including a pair of breakaways. Brent Burns whiffed on clear and Marian Hossa picked up the loose puck but shot high. Bryan Bickell broke in alone shortly after, but Niemi was able to square up and snuff out another chance.

Momentum went back and forth in the second period as the team’s traded penalties and prime scoring chances. Jamie McGinn rang a shot off the post just after a San Jose power play ended and then leveled Chicago defenseman Nick Leddy for good measure. Hossa had another great opportunity when he split between the San Jose defensive pairing of Douglas Murray and Dan Boyle but his backhand shot went off the outside of the net. Read more »

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