NEWSLETTER
It took the Rockford IceHogs the entire 72-game regular season to clinch a playoff berth, but a 4-1 victory on Sunday got them into the dance.
The Blackhawks’ AHL affiliate will now face the Iowa Wild in a Best-of-3 first-round series, beginning on Wednesday night in Rockford. Here’s the schedule for the series:
If/When the IceHogs win their series with Iowa, they get a Best-of-7 series with the Texas Stars. Here’s the schedule for the first round and divisional round playoffs from the AHL.
We’ve seen a handful of the Blackhawks’ top prospects and some AHL veterans on the IceHogs’ roster come up and help in the NHL this season. Lukas Reichel, Alex Vlasic, Isaak Phillips, Filip Roos, Luke Philp, Buddy Robinson, Brett Seney, David Gust, Arvid Söderblom and Jaxson Stauber all saw action with Chicago this year. We’ve also seen Alec Regula in the NHL.
The players the Blackhawks sent down to help have done their jobs. Since the end of the NHL season, Joey Anderson has picked up three assists in two games with the IceHogs. Reichel scored twice on Saturday and picked up an assist on Sunday.
Rockford has also benefitted from the addition of AHL veteran scorer Rocco Grimaldi, who they acquired from the San Diego Gulls on March 2. He finished the regular season third in the AHL with 33 goals in 70 games. Philp, who appeared in three games with the Blackhawks this season, scored 29 goals to finish tied for 11th in the AHL; he scored the game-winner on Sunday with assists from Anderson and Reichel.
The IceHogs had four players reach 50 points this season, led by David Gust’s 59. Brett Seney (54), Philp (53) and Reichel (51 in 55 games) also passed the benchmark.
