After a few days off to rest and recuperate, the Chicago Wolves will begin the next step of their Calder Cup quest as they take on the Iowa Wild at Allstate Arena.
The Wolves, who erased a 2-1 series deficit to eliminate the Grand Rapids Griffins, will face a fresh challenge in the Central Division Final as they take on a Wild squad that just wrapped up its first round series on Monday night.
According to the Wolves’ PR department, the teams split their season series at four victories apiece, and each team scored 21 goals in the eight games they played.
“They’re another team very similar to Grand Rapids in terms of talent,” Wolves head coach Rocky Thompson told the team's website. “We’ve had good games against them all year. I think it’s going to be a great series. It’s going to be a hard-fought series between two teams that really want to move on.”
The Wolves have been bolstered by a strong team effort in these playoffs, and that push has been led by forward Keegan Kolesar. He leads the team with four goals in the postseason, and was credited with the game-winning tally in the team's Game 5 triumph over Grand Rapids.
He is currently tied for second in Calder Cup playoff goals with four, just one behind Charlotte's Andrew Poturalski.
A big key for the Wolves will be to convert on the power play. They scored goals on 21.7 percent of their power play opportunities in the first round, but the Wild were stellar on the penalty kill, allowing just one goal to the Milwaukee Admirals in their five-game series victory.
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The Wolves will also need to work on stopping Iowa forwards Cal O'Reilly and Gerald Mayhew. O'Reilly has three goals and three assists so far in the playoffs, and Mayhew has four goals in five games, tying him for second in the league in that category.
Here is the full schedule for the series:
Game 1: May 1 vs. Iowa 7 p.m.
Game 2: May 2 vs. Iowa 7 p.m.
Game 3: May 5 at Iowa 3 p.m.
Game 4: May 8 at Iowa 7 p.m.
Game 5: May 10 at Iowa 7 p.m.*
Game 6: May 13 vs. Iowa 7 p.m.*
Game 7: May 15 vs. Iowa 7 p.m.*
*= if necessary
