Rockford, Il- The Rockford IceHogs begin their preseason slate with a matchup against the Chicago Wolves Thursday morning with a 10:30 a.m. puck drop at the BMO Center. The IceHogs will host over 5,000 local students for their annual school day game. This is the first of two preseason contests for the IceHogs - they will take on the Milwaukee Admirals on the road Friday night at 7 p.m. 

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Three Things to Know:

Nightingale's Return to Rockford: IceHogs' Head Coach Jared Nightingale will make his AHL head coaching debut in the first preseason game against Chicago. Nightingale, 42, returns to Rockford after posting a 52-15-5 record as head coach with the ECHL's South Carolina Stingrays, winning the John Brophy Award as the ECHL Coach of the Year.  Nightingale returns to the IceHogs after serving as an assistant coach from 2021-24. During his playing career, Nightingale played in over 400 games over 12 seasons in the AHL and over 200 ECHL games during eight seasons. 

Youth Movement Continues: The next wave of Blackhawks' prospects prepares to make their mark as training camp moves forward in Rockford. Aidan Thompson, Paul Ludwinski, Gavin Hayes, and Nick Lardis are among Chicago's prospects that have been assigned to Rockford during camp. Hayes and Ludwinski are both coming off of their rookie campaigns in 2024-25 while Thompson appeared in four regular season games and seven Calder Cup Playoff games at the tail end of last season. Last season, Lardis recorded a 71-goal season in the OHL, setting a new league record with 16 game winning goals. 

Rivalry Renewed: Rockford will begin the preseason against the team they eliminated in the 2025 Calder Cup Playoffs, the Chicago Wolves. Rockford swept the Wolves in the best-of-three first round series this past spring to advance to the Central Division semi-final. The two rivals have now faced-off in the postseason four times, both teams winning two series. The IceHogs will battle the Wolves twelve times this season and will have to wait until Nov. 26 for their first regular season home meeting with the Wolves. The rivals will play their 200th all-time game against each other this season. 

Heard It Here First:

Jared Nightingale on Training Camp:

It's the first step, first evaluation which aren't always the easiest. Guys haven't played together, but this gives us an idea of where players are at and I am really excited about the young core of players we have.

Paul Ludwinski on Summer Development:

My biggest thing [this offseason] was putting on more weight, more muscle. Last year I kind of underestimated the league a little bit, I came in at 175 lbs. and got pushed around a little bit. This year I want to focus on being stronger for the corners and be able to push guys around.

Seney on Returning to Rockford:

I love being here, it's a great organization and we have a really tight knit group from the staff all the way down to the players and training staff. Over the summer I was extremely excited to be back and be back with this group.

The IceHogs will open the regular season on Oct. 11 at the BMO Center against the Milwaukee Admirals at 7:00 p.m.

Watch and listen to every game this season on the IceHogs Broadcast Network presented by BMO! Fans can also watch every IceHogs game on AHLTV on FloHockey! AHLTV on FloHockey features live streaming of every AHL game in high definition on desktop, laptop, tablet and mobile devices by clicking here, as well as on over-the-top (OTT) platforms such as Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV. AHLTV is also available through the official AHL mobile app for iOS or Android.

Rockford IceHogs tickets are on sale now! Head to icehogs.com and secure your seat at the BMO Center this season.