IceHogs score first win, 5-4, over Grifs

Flashes illuminated the MetroCentre as Bowman dropped the ceremonial puck. The team captains shook hands with each other, then Bowman, as they wished each other good luck. Bowman then proceeded to return to the Cup and hoist it high in the air one last time for the Rockford fans.

Rockford started out the scoring 96 seconds into the game when 6-foot-7-inch Simon Danis-Pepin scored on a shot from the point.

The play continued at a fast pace for both teams, with hard hitting and quick passing. many opportunities happened for both teams that were either shot wide or stopped by quick defenseman or goalies.

Grand Rapids finally connected on one of those chances when defenseman Doug Janik connected on a scoring chance, getting one cleanly by 'Hogs goalie Alec Richards.

Cory Emmerton tallied a goal for the Griffins with just 12 seconds left in the first period while on the powerplay, putting Grand Rapids up 2-1 at the end of the first period.

Rockford started a second period scoring explosion when IceHogs fourth-year forward Evan Brophey scored his first goal of the season. Rob Klinkhammer and Danis-Pepin picked up the assists, with Danis-Pepin getting his second point of the night.

Grand Rapids answered toward the middle of the period when defenseman Logan Pyett scored from near the blue line, putting the Griffins ahead 3-2.

Klinkhammer notched his second point of the night when he blasted a shot from the right point, knotting the game once again.

As the second period wound down, Russian-born Igor Makarov scored his first AHL goal when he picked up a rebound from the right side of the net and tapped it past Griffins goalie Thomas McCollum, giving the 'Hogs their third goal of the period and their second lead of the game, 4-3.

Similar to the 'Hogs in the first period, Grand Rapids came out quickly in the third and scored 1:45 into the period, knotting the score once again at 4-4.

But the 'Hogs would take the lead back for good when recently-acquired forward Ryan Potulny sniped one past McCollum. Winger Jeff Taffe made a great cross-ice pass to Potulny, who shot a wrister to the top-right corner of the net as McCollum was cheating to his right.

Now on to the good and bad notes from the weekend: The bad was Rockford's penalty kill/powerplay. The other teams were a combined four of six on the man-advantage while Rockford was a dismal zero for six. It's the beginning of the season, and the lines/player combinations have not been perfected, but the powerplay units need to be more effective.

The good was the turnaround from Saturday to Sunday. The 'Hogs began to come to life in the third period Saturday, and continued to put points on the board in every period, scoring at least one goal in four straight periods.