Preview: IceHogs Look To Sink Admirals In Midweek Battle

Game Preview Presented by Roofers and Waterproofers Local 11

Rockford, Il.- The Rockford IceHogs will travel to the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena this evening to take on the Milwaukee Admirals. The IceHogs are in search of their first win in Milwaukee of the season, they earned a point in their last visit in a 2-1 shootout loss.

Last Time Out- Rockford shut down the Admirals in the last meeting with a 5-0 victory at the BMO Center on Jan. 12. The IceHogs had five different goal scorers as Jaylen Luypen, Isaak Phillips, Matus Spodniak, Cole Guttman, and Brett Seney all found the back of the net. Drew Commesso made 25 saves for his second shutout of the season. The IceHogs have won the last two meetings with Milwaukee, both wins have been in Rockford.

2024-25 Records:
Rockford- 16-17-3-1, 36 points (5th Central Division)
Milwaukee- 18-14-2-3, 41 points (3rd Central Division)

Commesso Finding Rhythm- The Iowa Wild tested Commesso with a season-high 44 shots against last Friday. The 2020 2nd round pick made a season-best 41 saves for his ninth win of the season. The IceHogs netminder came back to Rockford with lessons learned in his NHL Debut with the Chicago Blackhawks in December.

"I think there [Chicago] everything happens faster and me realizing that has allowed me to play a little bit quicker down here," Commesso told reporters on Tuesday. "It allows me to read the play better and be ahead of pucks. I feel like I'm doing a great job of beating plays instead of meeting them."

Special Teams Stalemate- The IceHogs boast top-ten units on both sides of the special team rankings through 37 games this season. The Rockford penalty-kill has gone 19/20 in five games against Milwaukee this season, while the power-play has struggled. The Admirals are just three spots behind Rockford on the penalty-kill, checking in at 5th in the AHL. The Ad's penalty-kill has limited the IceHogs to just two power-play goals in 24 attempts. Rockford's power-play enters the midweek matchup at 8th in the AHL.

Scouting The Ad's- Milwaukee blanked the Texas Stars on Sunday with a 4-0 win in the Lone Star State. Matthew Murray earned his first shutout of the season with a 30 save effort. Sunday's win halted Murray's three-game skid that included the 5-0 loss to the IceHogs on Jan. 12. Center Cal O'Reilly had a strong performance in Cedar Park last weekend with four points (2G,2A) in the series with the Stars. Joakim Kemell leads the Ad's among active skaters with 21 points on the campaign. The 2022 1st round pick had three points last weekend against Texas.

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.

2024-25 Head-To-Head Matchups:
Oct. 19 @ Milwaukee 6 p.m. L 3-6
Nov. 30 @ Milwaukee 6 p.m. L 2-5
Dec. 15 vs. Milwaukee 4 p.m. W 2-1 SO
Jan. 12 vs. Milwaukee 4 p.m. W 5-0
Jan 22. @ Milwaukee 7 p.m.
Feb. 1 vs. Milwaukee 7 p.m.
Feb. 11 vs. Milwaukee 7 p.m.
Mar. 16 @ Milwaukee 3 p.m.
Apr. 13 @ Milwaukee 3 p.m.