WEEK 29 RECAP: ROCKFORD SWEPT OUT OF PLAYOFFS BY LAKE ERIE

Week 29 Results:
Game 1 - Wednesday, April 20: Lake Erie 5 vs. Rockford 2
Game 2 - Thursday, April 21: Lake Erie 5 vs. Rockford 1
Game 3 - Saturday, April 23: Rockford 3 at Lake Erie 5

Week 29 Recap:
The Rockford IceHogs were bounced out of the Calder Cup Playoffs in the Central Division Semifinals as the Lake Erie Monsters took all three games between the two teams in Week 29. The team’s second consecutive playoff berth followed its second-straight 40-win season and the first campaign during which Rockford averaged over 5,000 fans at the BMO per game.

Bacon Bits:
-Rockford made the Calder Cup Playoffs for the second consecutive season and the fifth time during the team’s AHL era
-The IceHogs finished with 40 wins for the sixth time in team history
-The team’s 94 regular season points marked the second-highest AHL total for the Hogs
-Rockford went winless at Lake Erie in 2015-16, going 0-3-1-0 during the regular season before dropping their only playoff game
-The IceHogs are now 0-5 in elimination games as an AHL team
-Rockford dropped to 11-20 all-time in the Calder Cup Playoffs
-Tyler Motte’s two goals against Lake Erie made him the only Hog to score more than once in the series
-Seven different Rockford players made their AHL playoff debuts against the Monsters
-Of those seven, Tyler Motte (2g), Jonathan Carlsson (1g), Carl Dahlstrom (1a), and Nick Mattson (1a) registered their first playoff points
-Dennis Rasmussen (1g-1a) also had his first playoff points in his second AHL postseason
-Jake Dowell was the only player to record a multi-point game for the IceHogs in the playoffs as he put up two assists on Saturday
-Dowell extended his record for postseason games played in an IceHogs uniform as he reached 23 in the series
-Bryan Bickell passed Corey Crawford for second all-time on the postseason games played list as he hit 19
-The IceHogs converted on the power play at a better rate during the playoffs than the regular season, going 2-for-10 on the man advantage against the Monsters
-Lake Erie converted on 5-of-11 power play opportunities during the three games
-The Monsters set an IceHogs playoff record for most shots against in a postseason period when they put 21 on Mac Carruth in the second period on Thursday
-The only other time the IceHogs lost three-in-a-row came in the second, third, and fourth games of the season
-This season was the second consecutive one in which the IceHogs first playoff round has resulted in a sweep; last season Rockford swept the Texas Stars 3-0 in the opening round
-As of Monday, Mike Liambas led the AHL in postseason penalty minutes with 16

Hot Hog: Week 29
Tyler Motte (3GP, 2G, -5)

Rookie forward Tyler Motte continued to put points on the board for the IceHogs in the season’s final contests, tallying on Wednesday to kick off a comeback effort before scoring on Saturday to pull his team within a goal of Lake Erie. In his first eight professional contests, Motte registered four goals and three assists.