By Chris Block
On Friday, the Rockford IceHogs released names of the 11 opponents they’ll face-off with during the 2018-19 American Hockey League regular season.
Rockford’s home schedule will open on Saturday October 13th. The opponent for that game will become known when the AHL releases its full schedule next month. Teams began building their schedules months ago. However, the AHL takes a little longer to finalize its trek, mostly due to its franchises that share buildings with major professional teams; Cleveland (NBA), Manitoba (NHL), San Antonio (NBA) and San Jose (NHL).
The IceHogs will begin their season on the road. Rockford’s past two seasons began with games in Cleveland.
The 2018-19 AHL campaign will start on Friday October 5th.
Per information shared from May’s AHL Board of Governor’s meeting in Chicago, the Pacific Division will continue to play a 68-game schedule for 2018-19, while the rest of the league skate a full 76-game schedule.
The AHL Western Conference has undergone some shuffling with the Colorado Eagles joining the AHL and becoming the league’s 31st franchise. The Eagles are making the jump from the ECHL and will become the primary affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche. Last season, the Avalanche and St. Louis Blues shared an affiliation in the San Antonio Rampage. The Blues also provided players to the Chicago Wolves, formerly the Blues’ sole affiliation, who are now working with the Vegas Golden Knights. The Rampage now become the sole affiliate of the Blues.
Colorado will join the Pacific Division. San Antonio and the Texas Stars will move from the Pacific to the Central Division. To make room in the Central, the Cleveland Monsters are shifting to the Eastern Conference, where it’ll reside in the North Division.
Here’s how the Western Conference now shakes out:
Central Division
Chicago Wolves [VGK]
Grand Rapids Griffins [DET]
Iowa Wild [MIN]
Manitoba Moose [WPG]
Milwaukee Admirals [NSH]
Rockford IceHogs [CHI]
San Antonio Rampage [STL]
Texas Stars [DAL]
Pacific Division
Bakersfield Condors [EDM]
Colorado Eagles [AVS]
Ontario Reign [LAK]
San Diego Gulls [ANA]
San Jose Barracuda [SJS]
Stockton Heat [CGY]
Tucson Roadrunners [ARZ]
Eastern Conference
Atlantic Division
Bridgeport Sound Tigers [NYI]
Charlotte Checkers [CAR]
Hartford Wolf Pack [NYR]
Hershey Bears [WSH]
Lehigh Valley Phantoms [PHI] – play in Allentown, PA, or 70 miles north of Philly
Providence Bruins [BOS]
Springfield [MA] Thunderbirds [FLA]
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins [PIT]
North Division
Belleville Senators [OTT]
Binghamton Devils [NJD]
Cleveland Monsters [CBJ]
Laval Rocket [MTL]
Rochester Americans [BUF]
Syracuse Crunch [TBL]
Toronto Marlies [TOR]
Utica Comets [VAN]
Due to the league’s cost-savings measures, Rockford will play more games in 2018-19 against the Eastern Conference than they will versus all of the Pacific Division.
On Friday, the IceHogs announced they will only play four games versus the Pacific Division during the upcoming season, all against the Tucson Roadrunners. These will be the first games ever played between the Rockford and Tucson franchises.
The AHL schedule-makers pay little mind to competitive balance.
For comparison, the Iowa Wild will play all seven Pacific Division teams in 2018-19. Twenty-six of Iowa’s 76 games, or 34% of the Wild’s season, will skate versus the Pacific Division as compared to the 4 games (5%] the IceHogs will see against its Pac-divisional foes.
Grand Rapids will see Pacific teams a total of six times; four versus San Jose and a pair against Ontario. The Chicago Wolves will only see Tucson and Colorado, and will play both teams four times each. Milwaukee will play Ontario and San Diego two times apiece. San Antonio will see every Pacific team at least twice, with the exception of Tucson, who the Rampage won’t play at all. Also, because of their proximity, Texas and San Antonio will meet a whopping 14 times (18.4% of the schedule). And, as mentioned above, the all Pacific division teams play 8 fewer games than the rest of the league.
Rockford will continue to see Cleveland, despite the Monsters moving to the East. The IceHogs and Monsters will meet four times, twice in Cleveland and twice in Rockford.
Meanwhile, as they did this past season, the IceHogs will trade a pair of home dates with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Hershey from the Eastern Conference’s Atlantic Division.
As was the case in 2017-18, Grand Rapids and Milwaukee are the other two Central teams who’ll meet up with the Penguins and Hershey Bears for pairs of home and away dates.
Here’s how Rockford’s schedule will breakdown by opponent, per the team’s release:
Chicago Wolves – 12
Grand Rapids Griffins – 10
Iowa Wild – 10
Manitoba Moose – 4
Milwaukee Admirals – 12
San Antonio Rampage – 8
Texas Stars – 8
Tucson Roadrunners – 4
Cleveland Monsters – 4
Hershey Bears – 2
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins – 2
Last season, Rockford had home-and-away sets with Pacific teams Bakersfield, Ontario and San Jose. Those dates have apparently given way for additional match-ups with San Antonio and Texas in 2018-19. Last year, while both teams were in the Pacific, Rockford met Texas a total of four times during the regular season and San Antonio six.
Rockford faced off with Cleveland on eight occasions last season. With that dropping to four in 2018-19, the other four have gone to Tucson.
Previously this month, the IceHogs also released five additional guaranteed home game dates for the next season to go with its October 13th home opener, which was announced in April.
Rockford’s initial 2018-19 “Guaranteed” home dates:
Saturday October 13, 2018 (home opener)
Saturday December 7, 2018
Friday February 1, 2019
Saturday February 16, 2019
Saturday March 2, 2019
Saturday March 16, 2019
Other AHL team home openers:
Cleveland Monsters – Friday October 5th
Iowa Wild – Friday October 5th
Hartford Wolf Pack – Friday October 5th
Rochester Americans – Friday October 5th
Utica Comets – Friday October 5th
Bakersfield Condors – Saturday October 6th
Binghamton Devils – Saturday October 6th
Stockton Heat – Saturday October 6th
Grand Rapids Griffins – Friday October 12th
Ontario Reign – Friday October 12th
San Diego Gulls – Friday October 12th
Chicago Wolves – Saturday October 13th
Milwaukee Admirals – Saturday October 13th
Rockford IceHogs – Saturday October 13th
Bridgeport Sound Tigers – Saturday October 13th
Springfield Thunderbirds – Saturday October 13th
Syracuse Crunch – Saturday October 13th
Belleville Senators – Wednesday October 17th
Charlotte Checkers – Friday October 19th
The 2018-19 season will mark 25th anniversaries for the Chicago Wolves and Syracuse Crunch franchises.
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**We’ll post a look-back and analysis of the Rockford IceHogs 2017-18 season late Monday night. Also, this week we’ll preview the upcoming NHL Draft as well as breakdown the signings and moves the Blackhawks are making as the NHL off season begins to take shape.
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ChrisBlock@TheThirdManIn.com
PuckChatter@gmail.com
Twitter.com/ChrisBlock
