DES MOINES, Iowa - Following the Wild’s loss to the Rockford IceHogs (Chicago) on Monday, there was a slight feeling of relief as Iowa was wrapping up a three-in-three which included a quick turnaround from Chicago for a night game in Des Moines. With a roster full of new faces and Derek Lalonde’s roster missing some significant names - Landon Ferraro, Gerry Mayhew, Kurtis Gabriel - there’s an easy conclusion to come to when considering Iowa’s current two-game slide.
But the blame game is never worth playing, and in post-game, Lalonde was animate that the team already knew what the schedule looked like, it’s ATO season, and that this is the stretch of the season where mental toughness is key.