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Coming off a pretty strong 2-1 preseason, the Rockford Ice Hogs fell flat out of the gate on the regular season, dropping both ends of back-to-back road games with the Chicago Wolves (Vancouver).

Carter Hutton kept the Hogs in the opener, which went scoreless until the shootout, where the Hogs dropped the extra point. Then in Sunday's follow-up, Rockford was sloppy, falling down 3-0 before trying to mount a 3rd period comeback behind two Jeremy Morin goals.

Morin was even for the game, while a number of Hogs were negative, including Dylan Olsen at -3. Marcus Kruger (-2) also scored for the Hogs. Veteran Martin St. Pierre had two assists.

Up next for Rockford is another road matchup with Peoria (St. Louis).

Here's an early breakdown on Chicago prospects in the USHL and NCAA.

2011 7th round pick Johan Mattson and 2012 6th rounder Vince Hinostroza are at Tri-City and Waterloo respectively in the USHL. After seeing a lot of rubber last year at Sudbury in the OHL, Mattson is the starter for the Storm this year and is off to a 1-2 record with a .908 save % and 3.39 GAA. Hinostroza has 5 points in 4 games (3/2) and is +3 for the Blackhawks.

The ranks of the NCAA are literally bursting at the seams with Blackhawk blueline prospects.

2010 2nd round pick Steve Johns has an assist in 2 games and is even as a junior at Notre Dame. Fellow 2010 2nd rounder Justin Holl picked up 2 assists in Minnesota's season opener, and was even. Like a lot of Hawk defense prospects, Holl is a skinny-ish puck mover. Ohio State Freshman Sam Jardine is even after 2 games wiht the Buckeyes with no points. Nick Mattson (Sophomore at North Dakota) and Darien IL's Paul Phillips (Senior at Denver) have not yet played this season. 2011 3rd round pick Michael Paliotta had an assist in the opener for Vermont and was even in that game.

Upfront, Boston College junior Kevin Hayes (Rd. 1, 2010) went scoreless int he Eagles opener. 2009 3rd rounder Dan Delisle has been scoreless in two games with Minnesota/Duluth.

I'll be back later this week with a Euro report, as well as an update on the CHL, including former USHL'er Alex Broadhurst who is at London (OHL) this year and doing pretty well thus far.

More to come,



JJ

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