Chicago Wolves vs. Rockford IceHogs Series Preview

Given that the two teams are only about an hour’s drive apart, the Chicago Wolves and Rockford IceHogs have been natural rivals for as long as the franchises have existed in the same league. Their previous playoff matchups have featured familiar names (the Wolves hung four unanswered power play goals on Corey Crawford in a 2008 series, for example) and more than their fair share of fisticuffs and brawls.

The Wolves and IceHogs even teamed up for the longest game in Wolves franchise history — and, coincidentally, one of the first Wolves games that I covered — in 2018, when the teams nearly went to a fourth overtime. (Fun fact, as the game went on, the team’s Christmas playlist began making…