DES MOINES, IA – On Star Wars night at Wells Fargo Arena in front of a crowd of 8,803, the Rockford Ice Hogs used the force of four Colton Dach goals, three in regulation and one in the shootout to defeat Iowa 4-3 on Saturday night.

Rockford struck first at the 3:32 mark of the first as Dach redirected a shot from David Gust by Zane McIntyre in front of the WIld net. Anders Bjork picked up the other assist. Iowa struck back while shorthanded. The Ice Hogs misplayed a clearing attempt by Mike O’Leary at their own blue line. It allowed Jujhar Khaira to skate in alone and roof a backhander by Jaxson Stauber to knot the game 6:41 into the period. Shots for the period were even at six.

11:35 into the second on a four on four, the IceHogs took the lead back. Dach netted his second goal of the night with a wrister from high in the slot using Wild defender Carson Lambos as a screen that beat Zane McIntyre high to the blocker side. Nolan Allan and Ross McDougall picked up the assists. Rockford dominated the shots in the second, outshooting Iowa by a 17-6 margin.

Early in the third, Gust broke between two Wild defenders but hit the post behind McIntyre. But Dach pounded the rebound home to complete the hat trick at the 1:03 mark. Iowa however had a response as Pavel Novak pounced on a rebound of a David Spacek wrist shot from the point. Brendan Miller picked up the secondary assist on the goal 1:26 into the period. The Wild pulled McIntyre with three minutes left for an extra attacker. It paid off as Adam Beckman buried a cross ice feed from Khaira to tie the game. Lambos picked up the other assist at 18:01. Iowa turned the tables on shots on goal for the third outshooting the IceHogs by a 12-4 margin. In a shootout where both teams had grade A opportunities, Iowa outshot the IceHogs 4-1 but could not cash in.

After Sammy Walker had put Iowa up 1-0 in the shootout, goals by Cole Guttman and Dach were the difference to give the IceHogs the victory.

Three Stars of the Game:

1. Colton Dach
2. David Gust
3. Jujhar Khiara

Notes:

From Des Moines to Sweden:

In Minnesota’s 2-1 shootout loss to Ottawa on Saturday afternoon, Marco Rossi scored the Wild’s only goal on a tip in of a Brock Faber shot in the second period. Vinni Lettieri centered the third line and Nic Petan saw his first NHL action of the year on the fourth line. Jesper Wallstedt made the trip back to his home land as the emergency goalie.

Wookiees of the Year:

For Star Wars night, the Wild were rebranded as the Iowa Wookiees for the evening. The Wild wore special jerseys with the Wookiee logo on them which were auctioned off. Iowa Wookiee T-Shirts were available for sale at the Wild Wear Team Shop but were being snatched up as soon as fans were allowed in the arena.

Battle for affection:

Once again the Wild with a puck drop of 6 pm had to battle for attention with the sporting public of Des Moines. The Iowa Hawkeyes had a 3 pm kickoff with a chance to clinch the Big Ten West Championship. Meanwhile to the north, Iowa State hosted #7 ranked Texas with a 7 pm kickoff.

Heating up in the Heartland:

The Iowa Heartlanders have enjoyed home cooking as they swept three games from Kalamazoo last weekend and have taken two from the Utah Grizzlies going into play on
Saturday night. With Hunter Jones being summoned to Des Moines, it’s another Jones backstopping the wins for the Heartlanders. The third year pro from Penn State has allowed only five goals in five games including a shutout on Friday night stopping 30 Grizzlies shots. Louis Boudon, who scored a power play goal on Friday night was called up to Des Moines on Saturday.

Gamesheet

By Kevin Luckow