Rockford IceHogs and Quad City Mallards Meet For Last Time and Tempers Flaresd - UHL

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MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com -

Rockford, Ill.- There’s an old saying in hockey, “I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out!”  That old saying could have been uttered by some fan today as old rivals Rockford and Quad City met for the final time this season.  The other thing that could have been said about this game is that it was a lot of fun.  Plenty of up-and-down action, a few highlight real goals and a more than a few scrums treated the fans to a very entertaining game, particularly for a Sunday afternoon.

MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com - In the first period, the two teams combined for 4 goals and 60 PIM’s, including three 10-minute game misconducts.  Rockford hopped on the scoreboard first only 30 seconds into the game when center Mike Doyle put one in from the high slot.  At 13:41, the IceHogs went up 2-0 when Robin Big Snake put in a rebound past Mallards goalie Brad Smith who had defended a merry-go-round of shots from multiple angels until Big Snake finally picked the right angle. 

    In the middle of the first frame things began to heat up.  Two different Mallards, defensemen Brent Currie and Dale Lupul were given a 10-minute game misconduct for pushing the referee.  As the temperature soared outside, inside the MetroCentre was hot as well as multiple fights and scrums broke out.  The IceHogs increased its lead to 3-0 when winger Bryce Cockburn scored the eventual game-winning goal.  With 1:10 left in the frame, Quad City got its first goal when forward Sean Starke redirected a shot from d-man Derek Miller.

     Rockford scored the only tally of the second frame on the prettiest goal of the night.  Defenseman Matt Gens was deep in the far corner and found forward Paul Brown on the near side face-off circle on a blind turnaround pass.  Brown one-timed it past Smith to give the Hogs a 4-1 lead.  The second period also saw a number of tussles giving the teams a combined 72 penalty minutes in the frame.

     The third period was the tamest of the three with only 18 penalty minutes served and one goal.  That goal happened to belong to Quad City forward Chad Woolard who beat Cloutier stick-side on a wrister.  That’s all the Mallards could muster in the end, giving the Hogs the 4-2 victory.  Rockford failed to gain any ground on Fort Wayne in the Western Conference race as the Komets beat the Chicago Hounds 6-2 on Sunday.

    The IceHogs outshot the Mallards 37-19 and went 2-8 on the power play.  Quad City went 2-5 on the man advantage.  The Mallards had 93 PIM’s while the IceHogs spent 57 minutes in the penalty box.