CANMORE – Canmore’s Luke Philp and the Rockford Ice Hogs are about to mess with Texas after knocking off their first round playoff opponent.
The Ice Hogs, the farm team of the Chicago Blackhawks, advanced to the second round of the American Hockey League (AHL) post-season by ending the Iowa Wild’s Calder Cup hopes with back-to-back overtime victories last week in the best-of-three series.
Philp, who’s had a milestone season in Rockford, said the Hogs are poised to make a deep run this post-season.
“We know it’s not gonna be easy. There’s a lot of good teams in the league, but we got some momentum going here,” said the 27-year-old forward. “We’re excited and we’re looking to make a run here.”
Philp had one assist and a +2 rating in the series against Iowa.
WE ARE MOVING ON pic.twitter.com/tvD8KDO9DY
— x- Rockford IceHogs (@goicehogs) April 22, 2023
The Ice Hogs are now in for a “tough battle” against the Texas Stars in a best-of-five series starting Friday (April 28) in Rockford, Illinois.
Rockford went 5-3-0 against Texas this season, with five games being settled by one goal.
“We know what they’re about and we know they were a good team,” said Philp. “And I think for the most part, we are just focused on our own team game and what makes us have success and I think we did a good job of doing that against them.”
Philp has shot down Stars all regular season long, scoring four goals and 10 points in the two clubs’ eight meetings.
“We play a lot of divisional games during the season, most of our games are within our division, so we’ve seen them a lot,” said Philp. “They’re a really big, strong team and they got a lot of skill and they play a fast game. So they’re going to be a tough opponent, for sure. If we just, you know, kind of focus on what we do well and how we need to play, that’s where we do the best as a team.”
The 2022-23 season has been one to remember for Philp. The former Canmore Eagle completed his first season with a new team; eclipsed 100 points in his AHL career (now with 145 points overall); was named an assistant captain; re-signed with the club; and, of course, made his long-awaited NHL debut with the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Canmorite also scored the most goals and points in his AHL career with 29 goals and 53 points in 60 games in his fourth season.
Canmore’s Noah Philp and the Bakersfield Condors, the Edmonton Oilers farm team, were eliminated in two games by the Abbotsford Canucks. Noah finished the series with no points and a negative two rating.
The youngest Philp brother, Noah had 19 goals and 37 points in his first full season in the AHL.
Philp signed a one-year entry contract with the Oilers last year and immediately reported to the Condors. However, as of Wednesday (April 26), the 24-year-old from Canmore hasn’t re-signed a new contract with the club.
After the first round series, Condors head coach Colin Chaulk said his team brought a strong effort in Game 2, but they didn't have enough gas to get over the hump.
“We felt like we weren’t ourselves in Game 1, we were off a little bit,” said Chaulk in a post-game interview. “But (in Game 2) … to see how hard our guys battled, it’s really too bad that it didn’t work out for us tonight.”
