Hogs begin playoffs against Admirals April 16

Doug Halberstadt, Sports Columnis

After an 80-game grueling regular season came to a close last Saturday night, the Rockford IceHogs are extremely happy they will be playing some more grueling hockey this week. Their quest for the 2009 American Hockey League Calder Cup begins tomorrow night (Thursday, April 16) in Milwaukee.

The Hogs will face the Admirals in the West Division Semifinals. Games one and two of the series will take place at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. The two division rivals will take to the ice for game one at 7 p.m., Thursday, April 16, and game two is Saturday, April 18, at 7:30 p.m.

Games three and four will be played here in town at the Rockford MetroCentre. The dates and times for those games were unavailable at press time. If necessary, a sixth game would be played at the MetroCentre as well.

The Admirals finished the regular season in first place in the Western Conference West Division of the AHL. They had a total of 107 points (49-22-3-6). They were tied with the Manitoba Moose for most points in the AHL this season.

Rockford finished the regular season in fourth place in the Western Conference West Division. They amassed 86 total points (40-34-0-6).

The Hogs will have to step it up at least a notch or two during the postseason if they hope to advance in the playoffs beyond the Admirals. The two teams played a total of 10 times during the regular season. Rockford only managed to win four of those games. Milwaukee won the last game they played against one another back on April 4 here in Rockford. The Hogs were outscored in that game 4-1.

Tickets for games three and four of the IceHogs-Admirals West Division Semifinals series are on sale by calling (815) 968-5222, on the Web at www.metrocentre.com, in person at the MetroCentre Box Office or at Hogs Headquarters inside the CherryVale Mall.

Doug Halberstadt can be reached via e-mail at Dougster61@aol.com.

from the April 15-21, 2009, issue