ROCKFORD — The Rockford IceHogs have been in need of more scoring, so Tyler Sikura has turned it up a notch.
“When you lose scorers,” the 25-year-old Rockford winger said, “you need to find it from other places. It just takes a little confidence.”
Even after his five-game, goal-scoring streak was halted on Wednesday night during a 3-2 shootout defeat in Cleveland, Sikura’s confidence is still at a high level these days. Rockford has had to deal with the loss of several of its key scorers due to a plethora of call-ups by the Chicago Blackhawks.
Vinnie Hinostroza; Tomas Jurco; Erik Gustafsson; and the latest Laurent Dauphin, were all top scorers at their positions for the Hogs before they were called up to play in Chicago at some point over the past 6 weeks.
None of them have been returned. Leaving the burden of picking up the scoring slack to players like Sikura. That is a challenge that Sikura took personally.
“When guys get called up that have helped you win, your mindset has to be to step up and fill some of that void,” said Sikura, whose goal-scoring streak was tied for the longest in the AHL this season, and also tied an IceHogs’ franchise record. “Not just for scoring, but for productivity in general. The focus has to be on doing your job. But sometimes, those pucks start to go in consistently, and you want to keep it going.”
Sikura, who has played on five teams in his first two years as a pro, led Dartmouth in goals (12), assists (20) and points (32) his junior season in 2012-13, scoring in 17 of the first 18 games of the year. He was injured much of his senior year, but has spent the past two years working on his game, and adjusting to the pro life.
With the stretch he’s had of late, it would appear as if the adjustment has been made.
“He’s doing what we knew he could do,” Hogs head coach Jeremy Colliton said. “He’s been so focused on taking care of things on the defensive side for him, but once he opened it up, the production starts to come.”
Sikura was shut out on Wednesday, and the Hogs slipped to 21-15-2-3. But he had five goals in a five-game stretch just before that, after scoring only six goals in his first 33 games as a Hog. He wants to keep it going.
"They come like that sometimes; when you don't always expect them," Sikura said. "But the key is to stay productive. If you are doing the right things and in the right places, the goals will come."
Jay Taft: 815-987-1384; jtaft@rrstar.com; @JayTaft
What they said
IceHogs head coach Jeremy Colliton (on Tyler Sikura): “We’ve pushed him to play more in the offensive zone, and now he’s really making plays.”
Goalie Collin Delia: “We have needed players like Tyler to step up, and he has. Those are the kind of guys you can rely on.”
Center Anthony Louis: “Tyler just knows when to turn it up. He’s a playmaker, and can do it in a lot of different ways.”
Winger Tyler Sikura (on himself): “I have a lot of confidence right now, and that’s a big thing in this game. Scoring goals is a lot about confidence, and just feeling like you can do it and believing."