Chicago Wolves will raise a banner at Allstate Arena Saturday night

ROSEMONT – The goal for any team to start a season is to be able to take a moment to enjoy the accomplishments of the one before it.

The Chicago Wolves will have that chance on Saturday when they take the ice before their first regular season game of the 2022-2023 season.

After winning the Calder Cup in June, the American Hockey League franchise will raise their fifth championship banner to the rafters at Allstate Arena ahead of their contest with the Milwaukee Admirals at 7 PM.

As a member of the IHL, the Wolves won the Turner Cup championship in 1998 and 2000 then captured Calder Cups in the AHL in 2002, 2008, and then this past season. The affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes had a franchise-record 110 points in the regular season then had little resistance in the Calder Cup playoffs this past spring.

They went 14-4 overall in defeating Rockford, Milwaukee, Stockton, and then Springfield in the finals to win their first championship in 14 seasons.

As with most AHL teams, there is plenty of turnover on the roster, as AHL leading scorer Andrew Poturalski (Kraken), AHL goals-against average leader Alex Lyon (Panthers), and Calder Cup Playoffs MVP Josh Leivo (Blues) are among those no longer with the Hurricanes franchise.

AHL leading goal-scorer Stefan Noesen is currently at the NHL level with Carolina.

The team will also be with a new head coach as Brock Sheahan comes over from the USHL’s Chicago Steel to replace Ryan Warsofsky after he took an assistant coaching job with the San Jose Sharks.

Here is the Wolves’ opening night roster:

Forwards: Jack Drury, Ryan Dzingel, Noel Gunler, Joseph LaBate, Ivan Lodnia, Mackenzie MacEachern, Stelio Mattheos, Josh Melnick, Alexander Pashin, Lane Pederson, Brendan Perlini, Vasily Ponomarev, Jamieson Rees, Malte Stromwall, Nathan Sucese, Ryan Suzuki, Tuukka Tieksola.

Defensemen: Adrien Beraldo, David Farrance, Cavan Fitzgerald, Jason Garrison, Anttoni Honka, William Lagesson, Max Lajoie, Griffin Mendel, Ronan Seeley.

Goaltenders: Pyotr Kochetkov, Zachary Sawchenko