SPECIAL TEAMS HAUNT HOGS IN MILWAUKEE

Power-play draught reaches five straight after 4-2 loss

Milwaukee, Wis.- Earlier in the season the Rockford IceHogs couldn’t buy an even strength goal, but their power play was carrying them. Lately, the power play has struggled and on Friday it cost Rockford in a 4-2 loss to the Milwaukee Admirals at the Bradley Center.

Rockford went 0-6 on the power play, running their streak of games without a power-play goal to five straight contests while allowing the Admirals two power-play tallies on five opportunities.

No bigger power-play goal against than Cody Franson’s in the third period. With the game tied at two, Franson blasted his fifth goal of the season past Antti Niemi at 15:40 to break the stalemate and vault the Admirals to the win. Alexandre Sulzer iced the game with an empty net goal at 19:59.

Milwaukee struck first in the opening frame. Center Cal O’Reilly picked up a deflected pass and swiped in his fifth goal of the season past Antti Niemi at 9:03. Patric Hornqvist and Stephen Werner were marked with the assists.

Rockford got the goal back in the second period from Bryan Bickell. Bickell snuck a snap shot past Mark Dekanich at 3:45 short-side for his fourth goal of the season. Evan Brophey set it up for Rockford.

Rookie winger Mike Radja later gave Rockford a 2-1 lead with a nice individual effort. Radja blocked a Milwaukee pass in the neutral zone, picked up the puck and beat Dekanich on a deek at 13:31 for his sixth goal of the season, unassisted.

Milwaukee, however, responded with a power-play tally to tie the game at 2-2 heading into the second intermission. Alexander Sulzer’s point blast was deflected past Niemi at 18:06 for his ninth marker of the season.

Next Home Game: Saturday, Dec. 13, 2008 at Chicago Wolves at 7:05 p.m. The first 2,000 will receive an IceHogs winter scarf courtesy of McDonald’s. Saturday is also the IceHogs Annual Teddy Bear Toss. Bring a new stuffed animal to the game and after the IceHogs score their first goal, fans can toss the stuffed animals onto the ice. The stuffed animals will be distributed to underprivileged children in the Rockford area.