Tale of the Tape: Central Division Semifinals Game 2 vs. Rockford

On Saturday, the Chicago Wolves fell to the Rockford IceHogs 2-1 at Allstate Arena in Game 1 of the Central Division Semifinals. While unfortunate, a Game 1 loss is not unfamiliar territory for the Wolves. Last season, Chicago elected to kick off its Central Division Semifinals series with the Charlotte Checkers at Bojangles’ Coliseum after they had handled Charlotte with a 6-1-0-1 record during the regular season. However, the scrappy Checkers — they earned the Central Division fourth seed by forcing overtime against the Wolves at Allstate Arena on the final day of the regular season — had other plans and gave Chicago more than it bargained for with a 4-0 win in Game 1. The Wolves did not waver long — the next night, Chicago edged Charlotte to head back to Allstate with a 1-1 series and the home-ice advantage. Spoiler: the Wolves won in five games and outscored the Checkers 14-9 through the last four games.

The Chicago Wolves are two-time Calder Cup champions — the first of which they collected in their inaugural American Hockey League season (2001-02). Overall, the Wolves played 25 games through five rounds of playoff hockey. In four of the five rounds, Chicago lost Game 1 and in one series lost the first two games. The only series in which the Wolves did not suffer a Game 1 setback in was the Calder Cup Final against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers — they pulled out a 5-4 overtime win on the road.

In 24 years, the Chicago Wolves have skated in 952 regular-season road games and produced a 465- 372-15-46-54 (W-L-T-OTL-SOL) record for .549 points percentage. During the 2017-18 campaign, Chicago finished with a 18-13-5-2 mark — not too shabby. However, the Wolves have not been quite as successful during the postseason with an all-time 49-55 record in playoff road games. But where there’s a will there’s a way — and the Wolves have managed to get the job done to win championships. In the four seasons that Chicago has captured a Cup, it’s needed at maximum seven road wins. In 2000, the club won seven road contests and played exactly half of their 16 games on enemy ice. Their other three championship seasons — 1998, 2002, 2008 — they’ve only played up to 46 percent of their games on the road and needed just five (1998, 2002) or four (2008) road victories.

Saturday’s lineup for the Chicago Wolves included three Calder Cup champions and one Stanley Cup title-holder. Forward Teemu Pulkkinen — Chicago’s lone postseason goal-scorer — helped the Grand Rapids Griffins to their first championship in 2013. Fresh from Finland, Pulkkinen slotted right into the Griffins lineup for their championship run. In 2016, T.J. Tynan lifted the Calder Cup as a member of the then-Lake Erie Monsters. Ten years ago, Brett Sterling hoisted the Calder Cup as a member of the Wolves. Lastly — but not least — Beau Bennett is a Stanley Cup champion as a member of the 2016 Pittsburgh Penguins. Unfortunately, Bennett did not meet the requirements to get his name etched on the chalice, but he was granted a day with the Cup. While Bennett has 21 Stanley Cup Playoff games to his name, Saturday marked the 26-year-old’s Calder Cup Playoff debut.