The Rockford IceHogs season has come to a close after being swept in the Central Division Semifinals of the Calder Cup Playoffs by the Chicago Wolves.
While that may seem like a disappointing ending, the IceHogs overachieved this season just by making the playoffs, considering their shallow forward group and the young age of the the team — second youngest in the AHL. The older, much more experienced Wolves team is a special group that broke several player and team franchise records and is expected to win the Calder Cup. While the IceHogs did win 8 of 12 regular-season games against the Wolves, it was always a long shot — and there’s no shame in that.