IceHogs Drop See-Saw Battle at Texas in Shootout

CEDAR PARK, TX. – Brandon Hagel scored with 3:24 remaining in regulation to force overtime on Saturday night, but Joel L’Esperance tallied in the shootout to propel the Texas Stars to a 7-6 victory over the Rockford IceHogs at H-E-B Center. The contest featured five lead changes in the see-saw affair.

With time winding down and Rockford trailing by a goal, Anton Wedin fired a slap shot from the point that Stars netminder, Landon Bow, turned aside. Hagel then found the loose puck and jammed it through Bow and into the cage to knot the game at six apiece.

After a scoreless overtime in which Bow made several game-saving stops, the two clubs headed to a shootout. Jason Robertson and Dylan Sikura both buried in the second round of the breakaway contest, but L’Esperance’s five-hole dagger earned the Stars the additional point in the standings.

With the shootout loss, the IceHogs have now picked up points in seven of their last nine games and are 6-2-0-1 in that span.

John Quenneville notched his seventh career multi-goal game with a pair of markers in the loss and Adam Boqvist set a career high with three assists. Additionally, Alexandre Fortin, Tyler Sikura and Anton Wedin each posted multi-point efforts with a goal and an assist.

Texas’ Jason Roberston finished with a team-high two goals and one assist en route to a three-point night for the Stars.