$2,500 Badgers

After clobbering the San Antonio Rampage 7-1 yesterday, the Rockford Icehogs auctioned off the jerseys worn that night. The theme was Captain Hammy Hook, so the front of the jersey featured Hammy wearing an eye patch and sporting a hook. I don't know what pirates have to do with hockey, but then again, I don't know what giant red pigs have to do with hockey, either. Personally, I'm just glad the jerseys from that night (and from this season, for that matter) don't have pig butts on the shoulders. But I digress.

Speaking of digressing, let me further digress from the real topic of this post and mention that Rampage (and former Wolverine) goaltender Al Montoya was chased out of the net after allowing 3 goals on 7 shots in the first 9:48 of the game. Remember the '05 Midwest Regionals when CC came from behind to beat Michigan? I'm pretty sure Montoya was the goaltender, and yeah, that night was a lot of fun.

Anyway, back to the jersey auction. Jack Skille's team-issue jersey and Jake Dowell's one-game-wonder went for $2,500 each. Nice work, boys! (I would like to go on the record as stating that not only did I not purchase either of these, I didn't even bid on them!) The proceeds go to various charities in the Rockford area.

I'm assuming Skille is battling an injury right now, although let me know if I'm wrong. I know he had been injured last weekend and was day-to-day. He didn't play on Mar 28 due to the injury, but he did play Mar 29 (1A, -1, 3SOG) and Mar 30 (1G, 1A, +1, 4SOG). He also played Apr 4 (held off the scoresheet, E, 2 SOG). But he didn't play yesterday, and I don't see any indication he was called up.

Looks like Dowell played pretty well this weekend. He had was held off the scoresheet but had 4 SOG and finished +1 on Friday in a 3-0 win over Quad City. And he had 1A, 2SOG, and finished +1 on Sat. And let's not forget a week ago Friday when he scored a goal RIGHT IN FRONT of me, Gandalf, nubeetle, and ltzgored. Yeah, that was fun.

Getting back to crazy expensive jerseys, I'd like to take this opportunity to mention Andy Brandt's crazy expensive one-game-wonder, just in case any of you missed it. (And no, I did not purchase or even bid on this jersey, either.) Not the most attractive jersey, but hey, the proceeds went to charity. Brandt's jersey was the highest priced jersey -- it went for $3,975. Andy's a fan favorite!! (Not that I'm surprised.) The Gwinnett newspaper had a really nice article that includes some quotes from our favorite Gwinnett Gladiator.