BEACH MAKES IT RAIN BEARS AND HATS

Hogs top Wolves 4-3 at the BMO

Rockford, Ill.- Last night it was the Chicago Wolves that jumped out to a big advantage early, but the IceHogs reversed the roles on Saturday and struck early with two goals to help lead them to a 4-3 win at the BMO Harris Bank Center.

Just 21 seconds into the game, 6,105 teddy bears went flying onto the ice as Kyle Beach made it rain stuffed animals for the second straight season in the IceHogs annual teddy bear toss game. Beach picked up a pass from Terry Broadhurst and rifled in his first goal of the season past Jake Allen.

Beach appeared to have his second of the night only 24 seconds later but after further review the goal was waived off. It didn’t take long for the IceHogs to strike again however, as Joakim Nordstrom finished off a nice feed from Phillip Danault to make it 2-0. Danault raced into the Chicago zone, danced around a Wolves’ defender, and set up Nordstrom for an easy tap in 4:01 into the first period.

Beach and the IceHogs picked up right were they left off to open the middle frame. Again, it was Terry Broadhurst finding Beach for his second goal of the game, coming 27 into the second period to push the Hogs’ lead to 3-0.

Chicago was finally able to get one by Kent Simpson at 13:14 in the second frame to bring the score to 3-1. With the Wolves on a 5-on-3 power play, Ty Rattie found Dmitrij Jaskin and he fired in his team-best sixth goal of the campaign from just above the right faceoff circle.

Beach wasn’t satisfied with just the teddy bears being tossed onto the ice and this time he sent hats flying as he completed the hat trick with three minutes left in the middle stanza. Jared Nightingale sprung Beach into the Wolves zone while the Hogs were short handed and the winger buried his third tally of the night to push the Hogs lead to 4-1.

The Wolves wouldn’t go down without a fight as they closed the gap in the third period. Center Christian Hanson brought Chicago back within two at 9:02 of the final frame. Simpson stopped the initial shot by Brent Regner but Hanson was there to knock in the rebound off the back glass to make the score 4-2.

Defenseman Taylor Chorney scored just as a Wolves power play expired with goaltender Jake Allen pulled for the extra attacker with just 47-seconds left in regulation to make it a 4-3 contest. The IceHogs survived the late surge by Chicago to pull out a 4-3 win.