2020-21 Chicago Wolves Game Notes CHICAGO AT ROCKFORD APRIL 7, 2021 6 P.M. AHLTV.COM GOING FOR GREATNESS 2020-21 As the Chicago Wolves and the Rockford IceHogs wrap up their four-game set over a 12-day stretch TALE OF THE TAPE (the Wolves also found time to face the Grand Rapids Griffins once), it’s intriguing to chart how the current Wolves compare with some of the great teams of the franchise’s past. REGULAR-SEASON SERIES 0-6-0-0 Rockford | 6-0-0-0 Chicago With their 4-2 win over the IceHogs Saturday night in Hoffman Estates, the Wolves improved their LAST MEETING April 3, 2021 record to 14-2-0-1. The only Wolves team that can match that is the 2007-08 crew that led the American Hockey League from start to finish on the way to hoisting the Calder Cup. John Anderson’s 2007-08 squad actually rolled out to a 13-0-1-0 start — their only defeat a 1-0 overtime loss to a Milwaukee Admirals team backstopped by Pekka Rinne. They then dropped two out of three 6-12-1-0 14-2-0-1 games, which moved them to the 14-2-1-0 record that equals the current team. SERIES LEADERS While the 2007-08 and the 2021 teams boast the same record, it’s not easy to compare the two — and not just because of this year’s shorter schedule with fewer opponents and less travel. ROCKFORD CHICAGO Skater G A Pts Skater G A Pts The 2007-08 squad featured Most Valuable Player Jason Krog enjoying a dominant season from start Wilkie 2 4 6 Jeannot 4 4 8 to finish, but he didn’t have two of his best teammates at his side for most of the first two months. Franson 1 5 6 Tomasino 3 3 6 Forward Darren Haydar, the 2007 AHL MVP, earned his longest NHL look as he posted one goal and Barratt 2 3 5 x Novak 0 6 6 seven assists in 16 games from Oct. 11 to Dec. 8 with the Atlanta Thrashers. Forward Brett Sterling, who x Kalynuk 2 3 5 Suzuki 3 2 5 led the AHL with 55 goals in 2006-07, also earned an early look from the Thrashers. They combined for only 10 appearances in the Wolves’ first 17 games that year. SERIES GAME-BY-GAME Date Location Result SF-SA PP PK This year’s squad also has dealt with considerable NHL juggling. Of the 40 players who’ve suited up Feb. 6 Rockford MetroCentre W, 5-4 36-32 1-5 3-6 for the team to date, only two have played in every game (rookie center Ryan Suzuki and fourth-year Feb. 9 Wolves Training Facility W, 5-2 27-25 1-6 8-9 defenseman Josh Healey). Nineteen have spent time on the roster of either the Carolina Hurricanes Feb. 16 Rockford MetroCentre W, 3-2 36-39 1-4 5-5 or the Nashville Predators. March 27 Wolves Training Facility W, 6-2 37-26 2-5 1-1 March 28 Rockford MetroCentre W, 5-4 33-24 0-3 2-5 April 3 Wolves Training Facility W, 4-2 35-33 1-1 3-3 ALL THE STREAKS April 7 Rockford MetroCentre If the Wolves can earn a victory tonight, then the team will be on its second seven-game winning April 17 Rockford MetroCentre streak of the year. Only three previous Wolves squads have pieced together at least two seven-game April 21 Wolves Training Facility winning streaks in the same season: The 1998-99 team notched streaks of 9 and 8 games, the 2007-08 May 14 Rockford MetroCentre team constructed two seven-game streaks and the 2009-10 team posted streaks of 8 and 7 games. May 15 Wolves Training Facility After taking the final two games against the IceHogs last season, the Wolves also have won all six ALL-TIME RECORD BREAKDOWN meetings with the IceHogs this year. That’s the longest winning streak for either team during this Seasons Home Road Overall intrastate rivalry that began in October 2007. In fact, prior to this season, the Wolves never had won 2007-21 49-21-5-3 28-36-5-5 77-56-10-8 more than three straight against the IceHogs and Rockford never had won more than five in a row. WE ARE THE WOLVES LAST TWO GAMES Defenseman Jeremy Davies started this season on the Wolves roster and quickly made a difference while SATURDAY, APRIL 3 (AT) CHICAGO 4, ROCKFORD 2 frequently piloting the team’s power play. Davies • Forward Tanner Jeannot’s power-play goal in the final minute of the second period broke a tie rolled up nine assists in nine games, which earned and wound up as the game-winning goal as the Wolves won for the sixth game in a row. him a share of the AHL lead in assists and also earned • Forwards Dominik Bokk and David Cotton scored goals to help the Wolves keep pace early, then him a recall by the NHL’s Nashville Predators. Jeannot scored for the seventh game in a row and Cole Smith added a late empty-netter. • Goaltender Devin Cooley posted 31 saves to pick up second win over Rockford in two starts. Davies made his NHL debut on March 9 against the Carolina Hurricanes, then registered his first NHL THURSDAY, APRIL 1 (AT) CHICAGO 5, GRAND RAPIDS 2 point on April 3 when he set up a Luke Kunin goal in a • Assigned by Carolina (NHL) for a one-day conditioning stint, goaltender Petr Mrazek posted an victory over the Chicago Blackhawks. AHL career-high 43 saves as the Wolves extended their winning streak to five games. • Forward Anthony Richard scored two goals in the final eight minutes while defensemen Alex Carrier (G, 2A) and Sean Malone (A) also have Frederic Allard and David Warsofsky and forward Tanner Jeannot also produced goals. produced points for both the Predators and the • Mrazek rejected all 23 shots he saw during the second period. Wolves this season. 2020-21 Chicago Wolves Game Notes 2020-21 BY THE NUMBERS HOME-ROAD CONTRASTS Regular Season Home Away Difference If the Wolves play all 33 games on their current regular-season schedule, this season will Goals For 4.82 4.00 0.82 only be 43 percent as long as a normal American Hockey League slate. But after providing Goals Against 2.36 2.67 0.31 1 that caveat, it’s still impressive that this year’s squad is well on its way to shattering the franchise record for most goals per game. These Wolves have scored 77 goals in 17 games — a league- RECORD BY OPPONENT leading average of 4.53 per outing. The only Wolves team that has averaged more than 4 per game Record Win % is the 2006-07 crew that paced the AHL with 4.14 per game. Cleveland 0-1-0-1 .250 Grand Rapids 4-1-0-0 .800 Because the Wolves have been juggling so many players from the Carolina Hurricanes AND Iowa 4-0-0-0 1.000 Nashville Predators organizations, equipment manager Ryan Shoufer has needed to create Rockford 6-0-0-0 1.000 6 several new jerseys to accommodate everyone. So far, the Wolves have debuted six new numbers. Rookie forward Patrick Harper (43), defensemen Frederic Allard (46), Alex Carrier (47) RECORD BY MONTH and Joakim Ryan (48), rookie forward Phil Tomasino (50) and just-released rookie defenseman Record Win % Matt Murphy (52) have made history this season by becoming the first to wear those numbers. February 8-1-0-0 .889 March 4-1-0-1 .750 April 2-0-0-0 1.000 Wolves forward Tanner Jeannot has scored one goal in each of the last seven games, which May 0-0-0-0 .000 ranks as the American Hockey League’s longest goal streak in two calendar years. Toronto’s 7 Chris Mueller posted an eight-game goal streak from Feb. 1 to March 17, 2019. Jeannot stands two games away from tying the Wolves record set by Brett Sterling, who registered 13 goals over nine IN OVERTIME (0-0) games from Dec. 12 to Dec. 29 in 2007. Jeannot also owns a 11-game point streak (9G, 10A) that ranks as the AHL’s top active streak. It’s the Wolves’ longest point streak since eventual AHL MVP Daniel Goaltender Saves-Shots (3-3) SV% Antoine Bibeau (0-0) 3-3 1.000 Carr registered a 12-game streak (9G, 9A) from Feb. 1 to March 1 in 2019. Jeremy Helvig (0-0) 0-0 .000 Beck Warm (0-0) 0-0 .000 Of the 40 players to compete for the Wolves this season, 12 have played in the NHL this season as well: Frederic Allard, Alex Carrier, Jeremy Davies, Morgan Geekie, Tanner IN THE SHOOTOUT (0-1) 12 Jeannot, Sean Malone, Max McCormick, Petr Mrazek, Rem Pitlick, Sheldon Rempal, Drew Shore and Cole Smith. Shooter Goals-Chances (0-3) SH% Dominik Bokk 0-1 .000 The Wolves have played just 17 games, but 40 players already have suited up for at David Cotton 0-1 .000 Tommy Novak 0-1 .000 least one game. That’s three more that last year’s squad needed to get through the 61 40 games before the pandemic brought the season to a permanent halt. This year’s group Goaltender Saves-Shots (2-3) SV% has a long way to go to set the franchise record for most players used in one season.