Chicago Wolves start fast, hold on to beat Rockford IceHogs
The Chicago Wolves jumped out to a 4-0 lead and hung on for a 5-3 Illinois Lottery Cup victory over the Rockford IceHogs before 11,029 Thursday night at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont.
Tim Miller, Antoine Roussel, Stefan Schneider, Kevin Connauton and Nolan Baumgartner notched goals for the Wolves (16-11-1-3), who won their fifth straight home contest.
“We got off to a great start and I thought we would get a full 60-minute effort,” said Wolves coach Craig MacTavish. “Give credit to Rockford. They swung the momentum and were able to come back, but we made the win a lot more difficult to achieve.”
The Wolves opened scoring 1:06 into the contest when Darren Haydar fed Miller for a goal. The Wolves doubled their lead on the power play at 14:29 of the first period when Chris Tanev fed Kevin Connauton at the far point for a one-timer.
Baumgartner’s first goal of the season came on a power play at 17:36 of the first period that gave the Wolves a 3-0 lead.
The Wolves increased their lead to 4-0 at 15:42 of the second period when Roussel converted a rebound off a shot by Stefan Schneider.
The IceHogs (11-17-1-2) scored three times before Schneider iced the victory with an empty-net goal with 34 seconds left.
Wolves goalie Matt Climie (9-4-0) posted 35 saves in his first action since Dec. 10.
The Wolves close out 2011 with a New Year’s Eve contest against the Charlotte Checkers at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Allstate Arena.