IceHogs season ends with 4-1 loss
Rockford, Ill.- With a four-game sweep at the hands of the Milwaukee Admirals, the Rockford IceHogs' 2009 Calder Cup postseason run came to an end on Tuesday at the Rockford MetroCentre.
"I don’t think they’re that much better than us," said Rockford defenseman Jordan Hendry. "I think they just capitalized on their opportunities whereas we didn’t."
It is only the third time in ten years that the IceHogs have been swept and only second time in a best-of-seven series.
"These guys have played in big games through their whole career -- college and juniors," said Rockford winger Bryan Bickell. "They knew how playoff hockey was going to be. We just ran into a hot goalie and we couldn’t do anything about it. Congrats to them."
The Admirals struck first with a goal from Jed Ortmeyer at 15:03 in the first period. Assists came from Mike Santorelli and Tim Ramholt.
Ortmeyer and Santorelli factored in on all four of Milwaukee's goals.
The Hogs tied it up at 1-1 at 16:21 in the second with a power-play goal by Pascal Pelletier, his first of the postseason. The assists went to Danny Groulx and Tim Brent.
The Ads took the lead back at 18:36 with Santorelli's first of three goals on the night, helped by Ryan Jones and Ortmeyer.
"We tried to throw everything (at them)," Bickell said. "We threw an army of shots, but MacIntyre played great all series and all season."
MacIntyre finished with 25 saves and leads the league in goals against and save percentage.
Milwaukee's third goal came from Santorelli at 7:02 in the third to pad the Admirals' lead. The assists went to Jones and Ortmeyer.
Santorelli tallied again at 15:22 in the third to complete the natural hat trick. The assist went to Ortmeyer.
"I think our team battled hard (in the series)," said Hendry. "Tonight, I don’t think we played as well as we should have. I think maybe it was more of a mental thing, being down three games to zero."
Niemi finished with 34 saves on the night in his second ever AHL postseason game.
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