Western Division matchup tonight: MetroCentre

A key showdown tonight in the West Division is the game between the Rockford IceHogs and the Milwaukee Admirals. The Hogs are 2-1-1 in the series, while the Admirals are 2-2. The out of regulation loss for the Hogs was a shootout.

The Ads have been hot all season, cleaning up the West, challenging to stand atop the entire league in the standings. However, the Hogs have not been an easy team for them to figure out, as shown by the record above. As the fans and the teams enter the back stretch of the season, there will be five more contests between these two teams by mid-April. My prediction is that these will be the final two teams standing in the West Division, and the winner probably in the North Conference as well.

Corey Crawford is riding the tiger at the moment. He'll have a bit of a rest due to the American Hockey League All-Star break. So, put him in against vet goalie Drew MacIntyre. Let's see some blood on the ice as the Hogs face a Milwaukee team that has embraced a style of play that is very disciplined, only 748 penalty minutes this season so far. Placing it 24th among the 29 AHL teams. Yowza!