Cardinals Fly Over Roadrunners as Tensions Flare

Rockford, IL- The Wagon Wheel Cardinals (32-25-4-1) came out on top 4-2 in a back-and-fourth game with the Tucson Roadrunners (20-34-5-1) Saturday night at BMO Harris Bank Center. Tensions flared as the two teams combined for a total of 66 penalty minutes, and an especially scrappy first period.

Cardinals defenseman Nicolas Beaudin put the IceHogs on the board first when he went top-shelf with the one-timer to give the Wagon Wheel’s a 1-0 lead at 5:38 in the opening frame. It was Beaudin’s second goal of the season and first since Jan. 15 against the Cleveland Monsters.

Later in the period, tensions got high as Garrett Mitchell went at it with Tucson’s Bokondji Imama. After the officials broke them up, Imama went over the shoulder of an official and sucker punched Mitchell in the head, in which he immediately fell to the ground. The Cardinals Kurtis Gabriel immediately went after Imama in defense of his teammate. Imama received a match penalty, while Mitchell got 5:00 for fighting and Gabriel received 2:00 for roughing.

Just after that, the Roadrunners tied the game 1-1 when forward Terry Broadhurst scored on the power play at 13:59.

Tucson then took the lead 4:06 in the second period when forward Colin Theisen found the back of the net, once again on the Roadrunners man-advantage.

But that lead didn’t last long as Wagon Wheel defenseman Alec Regula went up the middle with beautiful stickhandling and scored the unassisted goal on the backhand to tie the game 2-2 at 8:32 in the second period.

The Cardinals then regain the lead at 14:26 in the period when Gabriel scored his first goal as an IceHog on a backdoor setup from Mitchell and Cameron Morrison to make it 3-2 Cardinals.

The lone goal in the third period came in the form of an empty netter off the stick of Ryan Stanton at 18:23 in the period to seal the 4-2 win. The Cardinals have outshot the Roadrunners in all three matchups this year, tonight being no different with the Wagon Wheels outshooting Tucson 28-16.

Rockford and Tucson will rematch tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. at BMO Harris Bank Center. It will be the fourth and final matchup between the two clubs this regular season. Join us as we celebrate Pucks and Paws presented by Riverside Dental! Your pet will get in free to tomorrow’s game with the purchase of an adult ticket. Tune into the action on the IceHogs Broadcast Network presented by BMO Harris Bank Center!

Watch and listen to the action on the IceHogs Broadcast Network presented by BMO Harris Bank! Tune in from your favorite device, at home or on the road at IceHogs.com and on the IceHogs app! Fans can also watch every IceHogs home game and select road games this season on 23.3 Circle TV and every game on AHLTV and listen in on all of Mid-West Family’s local stations including 104.9 The X, B103, 95.3 The Bull, and Rockford Greatest Hits 100.5 and featured on Rock River Current.