With the 2-0 sweep of the Stars, the IceHogs advance to the 2nd round to battle their bitter interstate rival Wolves in a best-of-5 series starting on Thursday.

IceHogs Game Summary

Soderblom. McLaughlin. A date with the Wolves🔜

RECAP: Hogs, Soderblom Sweep Stars in OThttps://t.co/SDt1c10Ey0

— x- Rockford IceHogs (@goicehogs) May 7, 2022

Boxscore: Round 1, Game 2

Rockford IceHogs 1
Texas Stars 0

(Rockford wins the series 2-0)

Busdeker - Reichel - Teply
Hardman - Slavin - Barratt
Morrison - McLaughlin - Gicewicz
Osipov - G Mitchell - Gabriel

Phillips - I Mitchell
Kalynuk - Regula
Stanton - Galvas

Soderblom
Morris

1st Goal (1-0): McLaughlin (Phillips, I Mitchell) OT

SOG For/Against: 32/36
PP: 0-for-3
PK: 2-for-2

Highlights

Nothing but respect for our goaltender 🙏 pic.twitter.com/g3PKtBSBIT

— x- Rockford IceHogs (@goicehogs) May 7, 2022

The goal.
The celebration.

Come along for all of it. pic.twitter.com/oXP1zj41vV

— x- Rockford IceHogs (@goicehogs) May 7, 2022

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IceHogs Notebook

WE WIN!! WE WIN!!!

We battle the @Chicago_Wolves in the Central Div. Semifinals presented by @BMOHarrisBank starting with Game 1 Thursday!

Full Schedule: https://t.co/aXMSaw0zID pic.twitter.com/pX0kXvvNn6

— x- Rockford IceHogs (@goicehogs) May 7, 2022

* Arvid Soderblom turned aside all 36 shots he faced to shutout the Stars and had a .986 save percentage in the 2 games of the series (one goal allowed).

* Lukas Reichel is at his best when he gets puck touches through his relentless forechecking and can show off his elusiveness where he's simply slippery to contain even in tight quarters.

* Ian Mitchell continued to show why he's the team's #1 defenseman as he's very good at 1-on-1 defense; he also doesn't chase pucks around in his end and will stay close to home to protect the net.

* Wyatt Kalynuk somehow has morphed from a dynamic puck mover and power play quarterback to a tough-as-nails physical defender with a persistently nasty mean streak.

* Jakub Galvas provides quick outlets to his D partner in order to relieve pressure on one side of their end and to open up passing lanes to clear the zone and start the rush.

* Notable scratches for Game 2 included Nicolas Beaudin and Andrei Altybarmakian (same as Game 1).

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Blackhawks Notebook

Congrats to Seth, Caleb and Sam for being named to the 2022 U.S. Men's National Team roster! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/sT3nVElpNi

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) May 5, 2022

With both Jones brothers headed to Finland with Sam Lafferty to represent Team USA at the IIHF World Championship, could this be a great opportunity for Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson to showcase Seth and Caleb to potential suitors for a summer trade or two?

2022-23 Bonus Overage 2/14

Chicago #Blackhawks
$237,500 overage penalty

Dach: $212,500 (TOI)
Vlasic: $25,000 (Games Played)

Chicago's cap ceiling is $82,262,500 next season.https://t.co/QuLYug8jiG

— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) May 6, 2022

The Hawks really shouldn't have any cap issues during the rebuild especially under the guidance of Davidson who was the cap specialist in the previous GM regime of Stan Bowman. It begs the question how much did Bowman really listen to those around him like Davidson or Norm Maciver?

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Readers Q&A Mailbag

If you have any questions you want to ask about the offseason -- whether about who stays/who goes, the entry draft, free agency, trades, prospects, etc -- please send me a private message or email me at [email protected].

All questions will be answered and featured in a mailbag blog due out in a week or so.

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See you on the boards!

Sources: Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune, Daily Herald, NBC Sports Chicago, The Athletic Chicago

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