Pre-Game Update 10/06/07: It's hockey night opener in the AHL! Wish I could be down in QC for the game. At least I can listen to it on WNTA, with our favorite announcer, Mike Peck, doing the broadcast duties.

I was going to wait until the home opener to start this thread, but I am so pumped about the new league and team, I just had to start it on opening day.

GO HOGS!!

Mopped up by QC, never in the game.

Oh yeah, great season opener boys.

:angry:

IceHogs, as well as Cubs, lose 5-1. The good thing is the Hogs get to keep playing.

I wasn't able to get to a radio until late in the 3rd period, when it was 4-0. I did get to hear the first AHL Hog goal scored to make it 4-1.
We ended up 1 for 17 on the pp?! With all the changes made (new team, league, players, etc..), our PP still needs work.

For the fans that went, what was it like? Did the rivalry still seem alive? Is the iWireless Center any different than the Mark?

It's like deja vu all over again. The game was strikingly similar to the first game against the Komets last year - the IceHogs came out, but quickly got schooled by a team that looked like they never took the summer off.

The first period actualy wasn't too bad. Passes were good, puck control was good, shots weren't bad. In the second period it was penalty after penalty after penalty...they got sloppier, passes began missing targets, they kept getting their pockets picked by QC, shots were being missed by wider and wider margins. We had a point blank shot in the third. The QC goalie was overcommitted to one side. He then stuck his leg out BEFORE the Rockford player got the shot off - and he still shot it right at his pads.

The experience tonight was not fun.
:gloomy:

The rivalry did not seem like it was there. By this I mean that the QC organization did not make fun of Rockford as in the past (things like the video of Hammy on a grill were not displayed). I believe this ican be explained that the organization was more focused on the new team and ne season, and not so much on the Hogs.

The goal song is now "Disco Inferno", and they no longer play "I got the Power!" when they go on a power play (which I won't miss). They've replaced it with Rage Against The Machine. I was impressed that their opening song is "Blitzkreig" by Metallica. And their players skate on to the ice between two flame pots (one of which worked only half the time). Aside from a few opening night miscues, everything else was pretty much the same.

One notable exception was the 80's band, Missing Persons, played during the intermissions. and they had the Boston Bruins organ player playing on the band's keyboard during the face-offs. But I don't think that will be an everyday thing.

We were heckling him for what he did on the organ when they announced the goals...it was the same thing Muskegon does.

OH! I forgot the best part...THAT DAMN GONG THAT THEY USED TO RING AFTER THEIR GOALS IS GONE!!! :awesome:

204 says it all. After becoming frustrated because of the royal beating QC was handing them, the Hogs started fighting with QC and soon found out that they can't fight either. Looks like it's gonna be a long season if this team plays like this. I was expecting alot more. The fast paced game with all the precise passing and skating I don"t see. I don't even see any checking being handed out from the Hogs. Only little bumps up against the glass. I was actually embarased by the way we played. :bag:

I think a lot of that had to do (as it did last year) with all of the hype in the media...not to mention the contrast most of us saw to our LAST IceHogs game last May).

We'd read things in the media like, we'll see more discipline in the third period; guys won't take stupid penalties in the third. (Although to be honest, we only took two. But one happened to be a fighting major in the final minute.)

We'd hear about how we have two of last year's top ten scorers in the AHL, and how our goaltender deserves to be playing in the NHL. And on and on and on...

Then to see such a subpar opening night like that (and against no less of a rival than QC) was an incredible letdown. Unfortunately, it'll be a week before the next game, to see how we do against another team (and then another week after that), which leaves time for a lot of grumbling by the fans, and fans bickering with other fans. My only response is to remember that we went through this last year, too, to nice results in the end. I'm just really hoping that what happens in October doesn't detract from the excitement around this team come November.

On a lighter note, last year's slogan was "Are You Fan Enuff" and one person on here posted "Are they TEAM enuff" after such a lackluster fall.
Now the battle cry of "Raise Your Game" by the IceHogs office is probably going to be responded to by the fans: "Oh, yeah? You raise YOUR game!"
:smirk:

Please please please, hurry up and "Raise your game"

This echoes my feelings pretty much to a tee.

I was crying out for someone to lay a good check all night long, but then I thought that maybe Haviland is probably coaching a different style of hockey than Martinson did. It was not physical at all, unless you count getting your shirt pulled up over your head and beating your face on Flames players fists physical... :angry:

We looked lazy, tired, and we just plainly got outhustled, outworked, and beat up. Was Quad City just that fast, or were we just that SLOW?

KMC is right.... it looked just like the opener last year vs Ft. Wayne... except we scored 2 goals in that game!

all that is said already is really good and to the point.

too many stupid penalties, not taking advantage of the 5 on 3's we had, checks were weak, scoring opportunities were terrible.
we were out shot by a good margin, passes were late (after the lane was taken by QC)

but, the bus was air-conditioned....and the "Mystery, Alaska"(movie on the bus) team looked better than the 'Hogs.

at least we got that 1st loss out of the way...

Let's put it this way:

Every team will have a bad game once in a while.

Maybe the Hogs were getting it out of the way? :dunno:

In any case, the season can only get better.






...right? :unsure:

YEAH!!! that's the spirit...



It's not over until we say it's over....was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?

I'll throw a couple of cliche's at you that KMC heard all night.

It doesn't matter if you win the first game it matters if you win the last.

It's a marathon and not a sprint


For as much bad as we've seen there was a lot of good as well. There were several decent penalty kills, some decent on the tape passes and some good scoring opportunities.

Also keep in mind that they are dealing with a less than ideal situation at home. Dressing in a crappy dressing room in a less than half completed building (which may or may not be ready by opening night) and then cramming into cars and trucks for the short ride to practice on a smaller than AHL ice surface every day. Not exactly standard conditions for any incoming team.

It's one game. We'll be fine.

@Hale - So what did your t-shirt look like? You mentioned something about it over on ITB.

If the Hogs don't do better next game, We'll put them on "double triple probation".

Ok, so OUR guys did not look so good last night. I want to thank everyone who went down and cheered them on. Thanks for not hanging me out there all by myself while I yelled and cheered them on. Just wanted to let them know that we do support them through thick and thin. It would have been easy to just sit and watch, but I couldn't. Hopefully I did not annoy anyone to much. Just the way I am at away games. It's hockey, our guys will know I'm there and cheereing them on. Come on everyone, DIG THE PIGS!!!!!

It's here in blkhwkhead's photo gallery.

That was original, Hale. I'll bet nobody else had a t-shirt like that.

Yeah? Now why don't you post some of the things you told Kris on the way home. :lol:

KMC, what is the warn 0% in my name column all about? Have I been warned about something? DIG THE PIGS!!!!

Everyone has one. They are at 0% unless you've received a warning.

Ok, just never noticed it before, thanks.

You get a warning every time you throw a Mallard on the ice! :lol:

...or if you perform synchronized dance moves with :elvis: at the iMARK, despite sitting at opposite ends of the row.

Should you receive a warning, the only way to have it removed is to bribe a moderator.

A Happy Joe's pizza and a couple bottles of Mike's Hard Lemonade usually work.

I just couldn't help myself, I wasn't about to let the fans of that other team know we still could not have a good time. Pretty good dancing though uh!!! Hey Sis, I donn't know what to do with my ducks anymore. I even have one of their mascot ducks. Any idieas? No, I'm not going to stick them there!

:lol: I've got a couple of ideas, but I don't think the Fire Marshal would approve! :lol:

At least now your dogs will get their toys back! :smirk:

Back to Saturday's game...

You know, something else a few of us noticed that I haven't seen talked about yet on here, and it was particular to both teams: we're still not seeing anyone screen the goalies nor get in front of the net on a regular basis during the PP.

I kind of thought we'd see teams in the AHL do a little better with that.

Wow!!! Didn't take long for some to start ripping the team.

Ya got the QC fans ready to raise the cup because they won their first game. And ya got the folks here ready to hang it up for the year because of the first game out of 80.

Who could have ever imagined this? :rolleyes:

HW, what kept ya?

Not I. We were supposed to beat QC.

Are we supposed to be pleased with a 1-17 effort on the PP? Or pleased with a 5-1 drubbing against rival QC?

I think it's safe to say that Hog fans expect more than the a$$-kicking the team received on Saturday. We've been spoiled from the winning that has taken place the past 3 years.
Give it time. Maybe after awhile we will hear "In Mikey we Trust". That remains to be seen.

Didn't say you had to pleased with it. But, Martinson's team got their ass kicked in the opener last year and no one seemed to mind. What I would like to see is the Rockford fans actually be fans instead of groupies.

Check out the first few posts on this thread.

I remember, and KMC has recently brought it up as well, when someone last year said "Forget 'Are you fan enuff'... How about 'Are you TEAM enuff'".

I guess it really doesn't matter any more, but last year's start was equally disappointing as this year's, and most fans have reacted accordingly.

Quite simply and honestly, that statement betrays a poor memory of many of the posts on this board after last year's opening weekend.

For as disappointing as the results were this year in correlation with last year, may the end results of the season also bear similarity.
:cup2:

The fans acted accordingly? Yeah.....OK.

Yelling at Martinson, telling him how much he sucked. Singling out players as they come off the ice telling them how much THEY sucked. Wearing paper bags on their heads. Those are TRUE fans right there. Kick 'em when they're down and act like their best friend when things are going good. :rolleyes:

If you already know by last year how things can turn out. Then why all the negativity over the first game of the season? Maybe for the home opener in Rockford, they can do a brown out. Everyone can wear a paperbag over their head.

Oh geez! It didn't take long for someone to come on here and try turning this thread into an ITB-like pi$$ing match. Please just ignore the previous post and move on.

Next up are the Iowa Stars on Saturday. Are many fans going to that game?

What previous post?

:lol:

(This is going to be a loooooong thread)

I'm not trying to this into anything.

I'm stating my opinion just like Hale is. Just because mine doesn't agree with his (or yours) doesn't mean I'm starting anything. You're starting it by making a statement like that.

Hogwild, I sure would like to know how many of the fans actually yelled and screamed at Martinson. Can you give me an accurate account? How many were so disappointed that they were ready to throw in the towel right then?

Of the approximately 4,000 fans who attend games, how many wore bags on their heads? Who told the players they sucked?

Fans instead of groupies. Very harsh characterizations.

I admit, I may not know as much about hockey as you, in fact, never followed hockey at all prior to opening night 9 years ago. However, we are fans. If you are looking for a few "fans", come and introduce yourself to our section. Section 221.

The fans I sit near; know the game, cheer on the team, recognize team play and hustle and conversely know when 100% is not given. We also will express our displeasure from time to time, sometimes very vocally. Fans do this from time to time, it doesn't make anyone less of a fan, or more of a groupie.