Rockford IceHogs rookie Colton Dach set a career milestone Friday night with his first professional goal. Saturday night’s encore proved to be something special.
The IceHogs broke a four-game losing streak behind Dach’s hat trick in DesMoines. In addition to providing all three regulation goals, Dach also potted the decisive shootout attempt in a 4-3 victory over Iowa.
“Obviously, he helped the team,” IceHogs coach Anders Sorensen told Rockford broadcaster Mike Folta following the game, “but it’s good for him. The last couple of games, he’s been trending the right way. He’s hard to handle when he’s moving his feet and he’s competing on the inside of the ice. He’s been doing that much better, so, yeah, (I’m) happy for him.”
Rockford snapped the Wild’s three-game winning streak behind Dach’s big night, which got underway mere minutes into the contest.
Dach opened the scoring with a redirect of a David Gust shot 3:32 into the first period. Rockford had a chance to double that advantage a few minutes later with Iowa’s Simon Johansson in the box for cross-checking. However, Jujhar Khaira turned in a spectacular play on the forecheck, battling to the net and sending a backhand shot past Hogs goalie Jaxson Stauber.
Dach gave Rockford a 2-1 lead midway through the second period with a wrister from the high slot. He completed the hat trick 1:03 into the third period. Following up Gust’s shot attempt that was stopped by Iowa goalie Zane McIntyre, Dach hauled in the rebound and sent it back to the net.
A two-goal deficit did not deter Iowa, who responded with a Pavel Novak goal just 23 seconds later. With McIntyre on the Wild bench, Adam Beckman sent a one-timer from the right dot past Stauber to tie the game with just 1:59 remaining in regulation.
Both Stauber and McIntyre denied multiple overtime chances in the three-on-three portion of the evening. This brought on the first shootout of the season for both clubs. Stauber stopped Beckman’s opening attempt, with McIntyre doing the same to Rockford’s Joey Anderson. Iowa’s Sammy Walker and Rockford’s Cole Guttman traded successful attempts in the second round.
Stauber, who stopped 25 Iowa shots on the evening, snuffed out Steven Fogarty’s five-hole snipe to set the stage for Dach’s coup de grace. The IceHogs forward stickhandled to the right post, where he lifted a backhander over the Wild goalie’s glove to give Rockford a much-needed win.
“I think guys were kind of happy to get off the slide we’ve been on,” Dach explained to Folta after the game. “Especially in the locker room right now, the boy’s energy level is up. I feel like the last few games it’s been a little bit down, so it’s good to kind of get up there and kind of keep it going.”
Game Notes
- To the surprise of no one, Dach nabbed First Star honors. Gust (two assists) and Khaira (1 G, 1 A) rounded out the game’s Three Stars.
- Dach also paced both teams with seven shots on goal. Novak led Iowa with six shots.
- Neither team could muster a power play goal; Rockford was 0-2, while the Wild went 0-4 on the man advantage.
- Iowa was playing as the Iowa Wookies, with special Star Wars Night jerseys on Saturday.
- With the win, the IceHogs are up 2-1 in the season series between the two Central Division rivals. Iowa gets a chance to square things up on Sunday. The rematch begins at Wells Fargo Arena at 3:00 p.m. CDT.
