On the Beat with the Rockford IceHogs-04/16/16

The Rockford IceHogs finished their season strongly, with a 7-1 win over the Milwaukee Admirals.  Their playoff series with the Lake Erie Monsters starts Wednesday.  For more info, including tickets, check out IceHogs.com.

Prior to the game, the IceHogs had a short awards ceremony.  Goalie Michael Leighton was given the team MVP trophy.  The Rookie of the Year award went to Vince Hinostroza.  Last year's Rookie of the Year, Ville Pokka was named the Defenseman of the Year.  Mike Liambas won the Heavy Hitter award.  Kirill Gotovets earned the Most Improved Player award.  The Unsung Hero award went to team captain Jake Dowell   Leighton was also named Man of the Year.  A nice video recap of all of the winners can be found at Award Winners.

Johngy's Beat won Media Outlet of the Year.  Okay, I made up that last one, but I firmly believe we would have won the award if such an award existed.

The first round series starts tomorrow in Rockford.  Game 2 is Thursday, also in Rockford.  Games 3-5 are in Cleveland on Saturday, Monday and Thursday, the last two being if necessary.

The AHL affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Monsters were 43-22-6-5, good for 97 points and a .638 winning percentage.  The IceHogs were 40-22-10-4, good for 94 points and a .618 winning percentage.  The IceHogs scored 214 goals to the 211 for the Monsters.  The Hogs gave up 205, while the Monsters only let in 188.  The stats are close enough to be even.

I am predicting the IceHogs take the series in four games to advance to round 2.  I also predict Johngy's Beat will continue to provide coverage of the IceHogs throughout the playoffs!

Below are the 4/16 post-game media session interviews with Tyler Motte, Vince Hinostroza and Mark McNeill.  The veteran, regular reporters "stole" some of my questions, but I did manage to squeeze in a question at the end of each session.

Post game media session video courtesy of IceHogs.com)

On the Beat with Mark McNeill of the Rockford IceHogs 03/15/16

Mark McNeil scored the lone goal Tuesday night as the Rockford IceHogs shutout the Charlotte Checkers 1-0.  It was his 20th of the season and arguably the most important so far.

McNeill was drafted in the first round  (#18 overall) by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.  Aside for one game with the Hawks this season, McNeill has played with the Rockford IceHogs since the draft.

After his first season of 5 games, McNeill scored 18 goals with 19 assists and followed that with 23 goals and 21 assists.  At 20 and 18 with several games remaining, McNeill is within striking distance of last season's numbers.

More important to McNeill is helping the IceHogs advance in the AHL playoffs.  That is the short term goal.  Longer term, obviously, he wants to be a part of the Blackhawks quest for another Stanley Cup.  At just 23, McNeill seems to have a bright future.

I repeat the mantra that the IceHogs of today are the Blackhawks of tomorrow.  One prime example of that is McNeill.  Catch him now in Rockford, before he heads to the United Center for good.

Check out IceHogs.com for more info and updates.  Be sure to return here for recurring coverage of the IceHogs!

(Post-game media session video courtesy of IceHogs.com)

On the Beat with the Rockford IceHogs

What is better than attending our first Rockford IceHogs game and getting a 2-1 win?  How about interviewing the top three stars of the game?  Thanks to IceHogs Communications Coordinator Nate Haeni, that is exactly what we did.

After the exciting 2-1 IceHogs overtime win against the Milwaukee Admirals (their division rivals), we went to the Media Room and talked with Kent Simpson, Mark McNeill and Jeremy Morin.

Goaltender Kent Simpson was the 58th overall pick in the 2010 NHL draft.  The 21 year old is in his first full season with the IceHogs.  Simpson stopped 33 of 34 shots in the big win.
Center Mark McNeill was the 18th overall pick in the 2011 NHL draft.  He is also in his first full season with the IceHogs.  McNeil scored the game-winning goal in overtime, after assisting on the first goal earlier in the game.

Left winger Jeremy Morin was the 45th pick in the 2009 NHL draft.  He is in his fourth season with the IceHogs, although he has logged 24 games with the Blackhawks.  Morin assisted n the game-winner.

JohngyBeat.com's Matt Parker talked with each player about their performance and the exciting game.  Each player gave us some interesting thoughts and we appreciate their time.

This concludes the first round of coverage of the IceHogs.  Stay tuned here for much more IceHogs coverage in the future.  Until then, go to IceHogs.com for more info.