ROCKFORD, Ill - The Rockford IceHogs lost 5-2 against the Chicago Wolves in their 2023-24 home opener on Saturday night at the BMO Center. Saturday night featured the first home opening night sellout by the IceHogs since 2013 with an attendance of 6,360.
Rocco Grimaldi got things started within the first minute of play for Chicago. Grimaldi tipped the puck in front of the net and scored the opening goal (0:23). Drew Commesso saved 7 shots despite the lone goal in the first.
Halfway through the first period Rockford’s Jalen Luypen and Chicago’s Isacc Ratcliffe were charged with roughing penalties to put both teams in a 4-on-4 situation. Eight shots came from the IceHogs late in the period to match the Wolves with 11 total shots at the end of the first.
Cavan Fitzgerald scored for the Wolves in the first few minutes of the second period. Fitzgerald took a shot at the top of the slot Cole Schneider sent a pass to the right corner to Josh Melnick. Melnick teased a shot in front of the crease and sent a centering pass to the slot for Fitzgerald (5:03).
Rockford received a power-play opportunity in the middle of the second period on a hooking call against Chicago. The IceHogs did not score on the power play but Isaak Phillips did score shortly after the power-play expired on a slap shot at the blue line to score his first goal of the season (12:43).
The third period resulted in a litany of penalties; eight to be exact. The third period began with a tripping penalty (0:40) called against Chicago’s Dominic Franco, giving Rockford a power-play opportunity.
With the puck and many bodies in front of the Chicago goal, David Gust cleared the puck out of the scrum to Brett Seney on the side of the net, as Joey Anderson set himself up in the slot to receive the puck and score a power-play goal to tie the game 2-2 (1:52).
After the seventh penalty of the period, Chris Terry assisted with a pass to Cole Schneider waiting at the front of the goal crease, giving Chicago a 3-2 lead on a 4-on-3 power-play advantage (15:46).
With three minutes remaining in the game, Fitzgerald set Domini Franco up in front of the net to extend Chicago’s lead 4-2 (17:05). Rockford pulled their goalie in efforts to close in on the two goal deficit, however, with the goal empty, Chicago’s Chris Terry scored an empty net power-play goal (19:45).
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