Carter Hutton has Milwaukee’s number.

The Admirals tied a season high with 45 shots on goal, but could only get one past Hutton, as the IceHogs sank the Admirals 3-1 Friday night.

Here’s the Coach Herbers High Level Overview, presented by Google Maps…

Hutton is now 5-1 against the Admirals this season.

Over the first two periods, the Ads out-shot the IceHogs 33-13.  So the first 40 minutes can be summed up by two words.  1) Missed 2) Opportunities.

At 12:27 Icehog’s D-man  Ryan Stanton gathered the puck and fired a shot on net from just above the near-side circle. The puck found its way to Teemu Laakso’s knee and was re-directed enough where a set and ready Atte Engren could not recover in time. This goal was Stanton’s first on the year. It was also a first for Laakso’s knee, which has been held scoreless, while his skates have gotten all the credit for past goals scored on his own net.

The Admirals were able to answer back in the second, and it was Victor Bartley playing deep in the offensive zone that got them on the board.  The play of the puck brought Bartley down low inside the near circle. He received the puck off the back boards and dished a pass to Juuso Puustinen in the slot. Juuso tried to receive the pass, but as soon as it hit his stick it was slapped away by an IceHogs’ defender. The puck bounced right back to Bartley, who had a 6’x4′ box to work with as all defenders including the goalie sold out on the pass.

Here’s Bartley with some chalk talk about the goal.

The play of the 2nd period came in the last 2 minutes. As the IceHogs were skating into the zone Paul Zanette had the puck. Scott Valentine turned around and started to skate backwards though the neutral zone. He never took his eyes off Zanette and started to cheat to his side. I thought he was out of place and in danger of letting a man free but he honed in on the puck carrier and leveled him with a shoulder to the chest. Zanette’s helmet came flying off, which aided his view of the ceiling as he was flat on his back. Shawn Lalonde took exception to the hit and came over to give Valentine his thoughts. Lalonde received 4 minutes to think about what he had done while the Admirals received no penalty, and rightfully so.

No-go on that 4 minute power play.  The team went 0-4 for the night with the extra man.

After the power play expired a couple minutes into the third period, Admiral killer Brandon Pirri scored after a Tyler Sloan turnover in the neutral zone.  It was an odd man rush for the Hogs. Rockford’s Ben Smith skated the puck into the zone with Pirri on the other side of the slot. The Admirals last line of defense was a chasing Laakso. Smith flipped a pass to Pirri, who took a couple strides and snapped a wrister past Engren, busting his water bottle to add insult to injury.

Then an offensive zone penalty on Joel Champagne, and a defensive zone penalty on Laakso gave the IceHogs a 2-man-advantage.  While on that power play, Jeremy Morin was down low when he gave the puck to Rostislav Olesz inside the near circle. Olesz passed the puck right back to Morin, who fired a one timer from a tough angle to beat Engren and extend the IceHogs lead to 2 goals.

And the Ads couldn’t really get anything going the rest of the way.  They put 12 shots on net in the third, but nothing like the high quality chances earlier in the game.

NOTES:

Brandon Pirri = Admiral killer.  11 points on in the season series.  5 goals, 6 assists.  Olesz has 8 points.  Bartley leads the Ads in points….1 goal, 4 assists.  Chris Mueller has one goal.  Kyle Wilson has one assist.

Here’s Coach Herbers on the chances we see Smitty tomorrow, and what he thought about Atte tonight.

The IceHogs have killed 38 of their last 40 penalties.  Pretty good.

Admirals and Wolves tomorrow…don’t forget, 7:30 scheduled start…but Marquette has senior day…..so we’ll see how quickly they get in and get out.

QUESTIONS:

– Was Hutton good or lucky or both?  Lots of rebounds out there.

– Thoughts on Valentine’s big hit?

– What made you pull out your hair more….the lack of success on shots, or the lack of success on the power play?

– Hutton has played 28 games for the IceHogs…. If they had him all year long, do you think they’d be in first place?

– How big is the game tomorrow?  A 4 point week sounds a lot better than a 2 point week.

It had been 12 losses in a row against Division foes.  The last win was against Chicago on December 28th of 2011.  You may remember it because you still thought the Badgers had a chance to win (Editors Note:  Sutty is an Oregon fan).

Tonight, Kyle Wilson was yet again the hero for the Admirals.

Wilson had two third period goals to lead the Admirals to a 3-2 victory over the Peoria Rivermen, snapping a five game losing streak to the St. Louis Blues affiliate this season.

Here’s Coach Herbers with the Google Maps High Level Overview.

Atte Engren was in goal for the Admirals tonight, and he played well.  Here’s Coach on why we saw Atte tonight.

It took over 35 minutes before there was a goal in this game and one team had 21 shots before they did it. Would you believe me if I told you it was the Admirals with the majority of chances? To say Jake Allen was having a good game would be an understatement.

It was Taylor Beck who broke the stalemate with a great wrist shot short side that beat Allen in close. Beck and Brodie Dupont were charging into the zone with Riverman Danny Syvret as the only line of defense (save the goalie). Beck never needed his mate as he scored the goal unassisted to give the Ads the 1-0 lead.

With under a minute left in the second period the Rivermen returned the favor and netted a goal of thier own. Jonathan Cheechoo was down low causing problems for Atte Engren when the puck was sent to Derek Nesbitt at the point. Nesbitt let go a shot that Atte missed short-side shoulder-level. As soon as the puck crossed the line Atte displayed his dismay, contesting that he was interfered with by Cheechoo. Upon review it seemed to be a good no call. The Ref came over to Atte and said what I am sure was “No, no, he didn’t slam you, he didn’t bump you, he didn’t nudge you… he *rubbed* you. And rubbin, son, is racin’ hockey.”

In the third period, whilst on the Mountain Fury Power Play, Kyle Wilson had a nifty move to separate from a Rivermen defender and fired a wrister that beat Allen to give the Ads the 2-1 lead. Wilson was attacking the zone along the near side wall when he was approached by Brennan Evans in the near circle. Wilson gave a jump-move inside leaving Evans Pee-oria-ing in his pants ***, and fired a shot from near the slot that beat Allen high glove side. This was a great move from Wilson and an equally good finish on the play. Boom went the dynamite!!!!

(*** zing courtesy of John “The Colonel” Bitter)

Here’s Wilson on that play.

That wouldn’t even be Wilson’s best goal of the game. That would come about 12 minutes later in the 3rd as he had a backhander that beat Allen to give the Ads the 3-1 lead. Wilson gathered the puck in the slot and was skating towards the near side boards. He got just inside the near circle and flicked a backhanded shot that beat Allen on the far-side. Pretty impressive shot from Wilson and that goal took Allen off my 3 star balloting.

Oh, here’s Wilson on that goal too.

The Rivermen pulled Allen with just over 2 minutes left in the game for the extra attacker. That move paid a dividend as the Brett “I take dumb penalties” Sterling was able to stuff the puck home through Engren’s legs. The Rivermen even had a delayed penalty which probably would have been an interference call on Jon Blum…but the goal wiped that away like a windshield wiper wipes away a bug.  And smears it all over your windshield. And then you have to stop at a gas station because the windshield wiper fluid is out and you gotta use that squeegee that’s already more dirty than my window already was. Okay, maybe that wasn’t a great simile.  Hindsight.  I wish I could delete what I just wrote.  But you know, there’s no edit button on this thing.

That would be as close as the Rivermen would get as Atte and the D stayed strong in the final minute.

NOTES:

Kevin Henderson continues to do well.  And we may be able to remove that “PTO” status next to his name on the lineup card.  Here’s the coach.

Latta may be back this weekend.  He’s day-to-day.  Good to see Laakso and Van Guilder back out there, don’t you think?

Ok, Rockford comes to town Friday.  Roscoe garden gnome giveaway?  Count me in!  Oh, and the game.  Here’s what Coach is looking forward to.

QUESTIONS:

Did you notice Ryan Thang tonight?  Is he getting better?

Engren’s win….was it more him being sharp, or more his defense only allowing 21 shots?

What was sweeter:  Kyle Wilson’s deke and goal on Evans, or Sammy Stephens’ dance moves?????

The Milwaukee Admirals, led by Juuso Puusitinen, defeated the Abbotsford Heat on Friday night at the Bradley Center. Not to be outdone Jeremy Smith stood on his head at times and stopped 36 of 37 shots to back the Admirals to the 4-1 win.

Here’s the Coach’s high level overview, which we’re proud to say is being fictitiously sponsored by Google Maps.

The Admirals got things started while on the Mountain Fury Power Play.  At the 9:11 mark of the first period and only 32 seconds into the Fury, Kyle Wilson gathered the puck in the far circle and carried it behind the Heat’s net. Wilson spotted a crashing Puustinen and dished him the puck.  Puustinen finished off the play beating the Heat netminder Leland Irving to give the Ads the 1-0 lead.  Nice looking power play.

Puustinen would have his time in the spotlight yet again and in the same period, and oh yeah, it was on the Fury Power Play, AGAIN! At 13:35, Juuso was inside the far circle and fired a shot on Irving which was initially stopped and sent into the slot. None of the Heat players were able to react to the rebound quick enough, leaving Puustinen a second chance to shoot and score.  Wilson had the behind-the-goalline feed again.

So after one period, it was Puustinen 2, Abbotsford 0.

In the second period, both teams had some time on the power play, and both goalies were the best players on the ice.  Irving made a huge save on Chris Mueller who tried to go around Irving.  And then Jeremy Smith had one of his best saves of the year, stopping a Greg Nemisz chance on a 2-on-1 rush.

Coach Herbers liked Smitty’s performance.

Teemu Laakso left the game in the second period after a hit in front of the Heat bench.  Here’s Coach on the play.

The Heat got on the board in the 3rd period with a great shot that ruined Smith’s shot at the shut out. Greg Nemisz won a battle for the puck against Tyler Sloan in the corner, and then skated towards the net.  His shot from the bottom of the circle caught Smitty cheating a little bit towards the center, and found the little daylight Smith created short-side.

Later in the third, the Ads were down a man due to another Yonking penalty (nice one Sloan), but that didn’t stop Ryan Flynn from adding a goal. It started with Jani Lajunen fighting for the puck in the neutral zone, and after winning the battle, he broke free into the O-zone on a 2-on-1 rush. He then sent a pass over to Ryan Flynn who fired a shot past Irving short side for short handed goal.

Flynn is happy to give all the credit in the world on that play to Lajunen.

Flynn added an empty-netter, after a sloppy pass from Brian Connelly.

————

LINES

Dupont – Mueller – Beck
Thang – Wilson – Flynn
Henderson – Lajunen – Puustinen
Champagne – Ryan – Stortini

Sloan & Ellis, Bartley & Laakso, Fordo & Blum

– Welcome back Ryan Ellis.  I think he looks much improved over last time we saw him.  He assisted on Puustinen’s second goal.  But don’t get used to seeing him back there.

– Great to see Puustinen shooting, eh?  Coach agrees.

– Mixed bag on Sloan tonight.  He made a couple of really nice plays, but you probably only remember him giving up on the goal and then the yonking penalty in the 3rd.  Mixed bag.

– This was one of Smitty’s best games of the year, I think.  Good goalies make all the saves they’re supposed to, and some of the ones they aren’t supposed to.  I think he saved some of those tonight.

QUESTIONS: 

-Thoughts on the maturation of Ryan Ellis?
– Would you go with Smith tomorrow in Rockford or Sunday against San Antonio?
– Jani Lajunen – think he’s playing his best hockey of the year right now?
– Did you like Beck’s new spin-o-rama move?  Not as effective as Hugh Jessiman’s move, but still….  Did you notice Hughie at all tonight?
– Would you ever have a staredown with a security guard?

Previously on the Admirals Roundtable….

The Admirals rode a five game losing streak into Houston on February 5th, and skated out with a 2-1 victory.

The Admirals were riding a three game losing streak coming into tonight’s game with the Aeros, and home team was able to snap out of that skid with a 3-0 victory Tuesday night at the Bradley Center.

Jeremy Smith stopped all the shots he faced, and the metal behind him stopped a few as well.  Officially, Smith made 23 saves, netting his second shutout of the season.  After sitting out four of the last five games in favor of Atte Engren, Smith was great.

The Admirals got things started in the first with a Chris Mueller re-direct. Teemu Laakso circled the Aeros cage and sent a pass to the far-side point to Victor Bartley. He fired a wrister that got though some traffic where Chris Mueller re-directed it past a positioned Matt Hackett.

In the final seconds of the second period and with the Aeros on the power play there was a scrum in front of Jeremy Smith and the puck ended up in the back of the net. Immediatley after the light went on, Smith went berserker, imitating a kicking motion and every Admiral on the ice followed suit. The referee closest to the play quickly help up his hand and did the Jedi mind trick and all went quiet. The ref said something, and then skated over to converse with his counterparts. When he spun around from the meeting, he quickly signified the safe motion NO GOAL motion. The puck was kicked in.

In the third period, an Aero had a shot on goal that hit metal twice, and then bounced out through the five-hole.

Here’s Coach Herbers on the concept of puck-luck.

The Ads then extended their lead in the third period on a great put-away by Joel Champagne.  Laakso again got the puck to the point but this time it was Juuso Puustinen that corraled it. Juuso fired a shot from the middle of the blue line that found the pad of Hackett.  The rebound went right to Champagne, who was grinding down low, and he fired it past Hackett. The goal gave the Admirals the insurance they needed as they went on to down the Aeros.  Here’s the video of the goal, and the Coach’s thoughts on said goal.

Oh yeah, lest i forget, Jon Blum had an almost full-ice empty-net shorthanded goal to pad his stats and quell all the Blum haters. Hey look, if it gets him on track that is great news but I wouldn’t call it a breakthrough goal by any means.  But did you see him celebrate?

———————

I asked Coach after the game if this was as close as he’s seen to a 60 minute game in awhile, or is there more to work on.  (Yes, I know games are usually 60 minutes long….settle down Sparky…Coach knew what I meant)

– Good things happen when you put the puck on net.  The first two goals were both shots that started at the point, and with someone down low cashing in.  That’s successful Admirals hockey.  That’s what we need to see more of.

– I was hoping Ryan was going to ask everyone to exit through the gift shop at the end of the game….or drop in a Mountain Fury power play mention or SOMETHING!  You know, Ryan always likes to say that Matt Moore’s job isn’t in jeopardy….but the last two home wins for the Ads have been with Ryan filling in.  Just sayin’…

– MVG out for awhile.  Measured in weeks, not days.  Tyler Sloan is day-to-day.  Flynn may be back this weekend.  Latta is improving.

– So on to Oklahoma City this weekend.  And it gives us a chance to link to this clip.

Questions:  Best game you’ve seen in awhile?  Was Smitty more good or more lucky?  Scott Valentine returned to the lineup…did you like his game?  He needs to stay out of the penalty box.  Yay for the weddings…..I promised myself I…(sniff)…..I wouldn’t…(sniff)….cry…… Now where’s the open bar?  

The Admirals had a lead for a change….their first lead since January 24th.  But the Peoria Rivermen broke a tied score with two goals in third period, coasting to a 4-2 win over the Admirals Friday night at the Bradley Center.

Same stuff, different game.

Here’s the coach.

The Admirals started the scoring off with an odd man rush. Kyle Wilson grabed a loose puck and took off down the ice with Ryan Thang as his wingman, leaving Brennan Evans the only man on D. Wilson never needed his wingman as he fired a shot on net from the far circle that beat Rivermen goaltender Ben Bishop for the first goal of the night at 5:03.

The Rivermen answered back at 11:05 off of a play that I am not quite sure of how it got in. Jonathan Cheechoo fired a shot from the point that (and here is where it gets confusing) hit Jeremy Smith’s stick? A defenders stick? Divine intervention? Either way it fluttered up in the air and in.

The second period is under—-….GOAL!!!! Yea, it happened that fast. Just :12 into the second period Blake Geoffrion found himself in the right place at the right time to net his first on the year and give the Admirals the 2-1 lead. Geoffrion was fighting down low when a puck came sliding right through the slot. He spun around to break free of his defender and slapped the puck right past a Bishop that was caught between playing the puck and staying home. As I mentioned this was Geoffrion’s first for the Ads this season and hopefully it opens the flood gates for many, many, more.

The Rivermen answered back later in the 2nd as Adam Cracknell puts just enough on a Smith rebound to even the score. Cheechoo fired a puck from between the circles that was stopped by Smith, who couldn’t hang on.  He sent the rebound towards the far circle. Cracknell was crashing down from the slot when he swiped at the puck and caught just enough to send the fluttering puck past Smith. Not really anyone’s fault…just a great effort by Cracknell.

The Admirals had an early power play chance in the third period with some excellent scoring chances, but came up dry with the man-advantage.  Shortly after the power play ended, Cheechoo scored his second of the game, that ended up being the game winner.

As Scott Ford and Anthony Nigro were battling, the puck ended up right under the two.  Neither player was able to get to the puck as thier sticks were locked. Cheechoo came on over and just slapped at the puck sending another slow moving shot over Smiths shoulder and in. This is the first time in the night I wondered if they should try to get something back and put Atte Engren in. I thought about that for a little bit and decided “nah”.

About two minutes later, the Rivermen got another one past Smitty.  This goal however was not Smith’s, as a sloppy turnover in the defensive zone led to some nice passing, and Derek Nesbitt had a wide open net to work with.

Here’s coach on the third period.

At the end of the game, the Admirals couldn’t even control the puck long enough to get Smith to the net for the extra attacker.

———–

NOTES:

The Admirals probably had their most watched warm-up session of the year, but not by choice. The referee Tim Mayer blew a couple of tires on I-94 on his way to the arena.  We’ve all had days like that…so I’m not going to rip on the guy for that.

I think the turning point of the game was coming up empty on that first power play in the third period.  They had chances, thay had plays that should have been goals.

We asked Coach about the Nashville guys.

I’ll respectfully disagree about Blum.  He was terrible on the second power play, and I see way too many bad decisions.  A lot of them haven’t burned us, but it still makes you scratch your head.

Here’s a quote from Geoffrion…it’s funny because he talks about it being a young team…and he makes it sound like he’s not included in that.

Latta and Puustinen update…

You know what the Rivermen did really well on their goals?  They crashed the net and worked harder in front of the net.  Is anybody other than Stortini and maybe Brodie Dupont doing that for the Admirals?  Anybody?  Bueller?

Does Koger look really good, or just look really good in comparison to the other guys on the team out there?

We’ll end with Aaron Sims’ last tweet:  “Since Dec. 31 @mkeadmirals are 3-11-1-0. Every mistake is magnified. Time to end this garbage. Who will be the leader?”

Who will it be?

The Admirals were facing a Lake Erie Monster goalie making his AHL season debut this afternoon.  The guy was signed to a PTO on Wednesday, and got the start today.  Admirals should have been salivating at the idea, right?

Instead, the 6’5 goalie Gerald Coleman played big and led the Monsters to a revenge win against the Admirals.

Former Admiral Hugh Jessiman scored the game winner on a power play with 49.4 seconds left in the overtime period while Taylor Beck was serving a tripping penalty.  The stick of Teemu Laakso was broken when he blocked a shot earlier on the shift.  Mark Van Guilder gave Laakso his stick, but it’s tough to be down a man and down a stick, and the Admirals could never get the clear.  A cross-ice pass from Tyson Barrie set up Jessiman’s goal, as he one-timed a shot from the near circle that hit the corner of the net.

After a scoreless first period, the Monsters got on the board in the second period off a great shot by Mark Olver. With the Monsters in the offensive zone, Olver fired a shot from inside the far side circle that “tinked” off the crossbar and past Jeremy Smith. It was one of the those tip-your-hat shots as there wasn’t much Smith could have done to stop it, especially since Olver was for the most part uncontested.

The Monsters extended thier lead early in the third period while on the power play. Joel Champagne was in the sin bin for a hooking call and the Monsters’ Luke Walker made him pay. With Brad Malone skating into the zone he was able to get down low and send Walker a cross-crease pass that was instantly fired home to give the Monsters the 2-0 lead. Smith seemed quite upset that they got the goal and I do not blame him. He had no back-side support and Walker was wide open to bury the goal.

The Admirals, not wanting the game to get too far out of reach, dug down and answered back with a goal of their own. Victor Bartley gathered the puck at the point and fired a shot on net that was knoced down by a defender. The puck carried forward where Kyle Wilson gained control, and fired a shot that beat Monsters’ Coleman. The goal looked great, as Wilson was checked from behind by Mike Brennan while shooting, forcing him to shoot it as he was falling.

Tyson Barrie was called for an interference penalty with 2:36 left in the 3rd period, and the Admirals pulled Smitty to make it a 6-on-4 power play.  And they converted that Mountain Fury Power Play.  It started with a clean face-off win by Mark Van Guilder, and then Kyle Wilson played the puck back to the point.  Victor Bartley sent it to Juuso Puustinen on the far-side point, and his snipe beat Coleman with 1:19 left in the period.

Taylor Beck’s tripping penalty in overtime?  It was a trip.  It was right in front of the ref.  Still, I’m surprised to see it called, especially after all the rough stuff that wasn’t called over the 2nd half of the game.

———–

– 14 shots for the Ads in the first period.  15 the rest of the way.

– Beck had a penalty shot attempt in the first period.  Here are the rule violations referenced in the box score:

53.6 Penalty Shot – When any member of the defending team, including the Coach or any non-playing person, throws or shoots any part of a stick or any other object or piece of equipment at the puck or puck carrier in his defending zone, the Referee or Linesman shall allow the play to be completed and if a goal is not scored, a penalty shot shall be awarded to the non-offending team.

56.6 Penalty Shot – When a player in control of the puck in the neutral or attacking zone and having no other opponent to pass than the goalkeeper is interfered with by a stick or any part thereof or any other object or piece of equipment thrown or shot by any member of the defending team including the Coach or non-playing Club personnel, a penalty shot shall be awarded to the non-offending team.

So that’s that.  Beck had the goaltender beat on his attempt, but he pushed the shot wide right.

– Jeremy Smith played his third game in three two-and-a-half days. Here’s Coach Herbers on that decision.

That’s great….but still, I think it speaks volumes that Coach would rather play Smitty three days in a row, rather than give one of the games to Atte Engren.  The confidence that he has in Engren must be extraordinarily low at this point.  That’s the conclusion I draw from the actions.

– Gerald Coleman.  Signed to a PTO contract on Wednesday.  Hadn’t played in the AHL since the 09-10 season.  Spent all last year and had spent all of this year in the ECHL with Alaska.  This season, he was sporting a record of 17-4-2, with a 1.80 GAA.  Surprised it took him this long to catch on somewhere.  And if there is a lack of confidence in Engren….heck, why didn’t we jump at the opportunity to sign this guy?  Just because Engren is a draft pick?

I asked Coach about Blake, Dave Boehler asked about Chris Mueller.  Coach wasn’t really interested in going into much detail.

– Going back on the road now for four games, after not having all that much success on the road recently… still, Coach is confident as they pack their bags.

Questions:  Thoughts on the Coach’s decision to play Smitty 3 straight days?  Does it say more about Smitty or Engren?  How about Kyle Wilson’s goal?  One of the best of the year?  Surprised to see that Hughie is one goal shy of being a 20-goal scorer already this year?* (that question applies to everyone except reader Broad Street Bully).  Are you happy to get the point out of this game, or frustrated that it wasn’t two?

No matter if Admirals won or lost at least the fans were going home with a great parting gift as tonight’s promotion was a Sheriff Scott Ford bobblehead. As it were, they were able to take home a win too, as the Admirals defeated the Texas Stars 2-1 at the Bradley Center Saturday night.

After being losers of 5 of their last 6 games, Coach Herbers said it was important to get those two points.

The Admirals were the first to dent the scoreboard, and the goal came on a Mountain Fury Power Play. At 8:32 Victor Bartley had the puck at the point. He sent a pass to the far side just above the circle to Taylor Beck, who one-timed a pass to Juuso Puustinen, who was inside the near cirle. Puustinen wasted no time in firing on net to beat Stars’ goaltender Andrew Raycroft. This was a great bang-bang goal type of play. See the great passing for yourself.

It only took the Admirals 1:15 to score another goal, and this time it was Joel Champagne doing the damage. Champagne had the puck behind the net and passed it across the trapezoid to Ryan Flynn, who attempted a wrap-around. Flynn’s attempt was unsuccessful, but Champagne, who was following the play, picked up the rebound and fired it home adding to the Admirals’ lead.

The Stars answered back with just under 4 minutes left in the first period. Jon Blum had the puck at the offensive near-side point when he attempted to fire a shot on net. In the process of shooting his stick snapped in two, sending the puck right to Colton Sceviour, who then took off down the ice, with a stickless Blum trying to defend. Sceviour put a shot on net that Jeremy Smith initially stopped. Smith layed out on his belly to corrall the puck using his stick to hook the puck back into his body. He never fully covered the puck and Mike Hedden grabbed the loose puck and just tapped it home, halving the Admirals lead to just one goal. With Smith on his belly there wasnt much he could do as he completly sold out to covering the puck. What I will say is that the Admirals didn’t seem like they had much urgency on the back check considering one of the D men was without his stick.  And here’s what Smitty said about the goal.

Then not a lot happened after that….until the final minute of the game.  Ryan Garbutt took a shot at Ryan Thang’s head.  Just two minutes for roughing, was the call for Garbutt.  And then the Stars were upset about something.  Confused?  So was Coach Herbers.

NOTES:

– The game clocked in at a brisk 2 hours 17 minutes tonight.  Not a lot of whistles in the second half of the game.

– The Bradley Center got their first look at Brodie Dupont tonight.  Which is interesting…because he was a lot like Dante….he wasn’t even supposed to be here today.

– Good crowd, but I dock them a few points for doing the wave.  Seriously.  The water is frozen.  There shouldn’t be any waves.

– Blake Geoffrion.  If he’s already afraid to go into corners, the hit he took on an offsides play didn’t help him get over that fear.  Blake missed the rest of the game after that hit.  Coach said he hadn’t talked to the trainer yet, but called it an upper-body injury.  And if you couple that with the Mueller callup, and some question about whether Dupont will go 3-in-3 this weekend….that may leave the Ads with just 10 forwards for tomorrow, if nobody can get gere from Cincy in time for the early game.  Time for some Voodoo Rosternomics.

– Quick turnaround….1pm against the Lake Erie Monsters tomorrow.  Here’s Coach on the matchup.

-And finally….geez Ryan, could you read those promos any faster???

QUESTIONS:

Thoughts on the the Geoffrion or Thang hits?  Anybody leave their personal belongings under their seats, since they knew they’d be back here in about 15 hours or so?  If a D-man had to play forward tomorrow, who do you think it should be?

Trying to bust a two game losing streak, the Admirals jumped out to a 3-0 lead, and cruised to a 6-3 victory over the visitng Lake Erie Cleveland Monsters Friday night.

Michael Latta had a Gordie Howe Hat Trick, and Anders Lindback stopped 30 of 33 shots in his first start of the season for Milwaukee.

Pretty good night.

The Admirals were the first to light the lamp and Michael Latta was the one to do it. Victor Bartley gathered the puck in the Admirals zone and fired a pass just outside the Monsters zone where it struck Blake Geoffrion and was sent chest high to Latta who was along the far side boards. Latta snagged the puck out of the air, tossed it in front of himself and skated it in the zone, firing a shot that beat Trevor Cann. Good play by Latta getting into the zone and getting a shot on net, and in the spirit of youth sports and over celebrating “good plays”, YAY BLAKE, you got on the score sheet.

The second period erupted in a fury of goals and fights.  Here’s the coach.

The Admirals got the flood gates to open with a goal scored by someone who had yet to do it in the year. Taylor beck found the puck at the far side point and fired a shot towards the Monsters’ net minder. Ryan “dont call me Matt” Flynn was down low screening Cann when he put his stick to rubber to redirect the puck right past the goalie for the 2-0 lead. The “No Goal Club” just got one member smaller and who knows, this could be just the begining for Flynn, who had been playing pretty well in pretty much every other facet of the game.

The Admirals, refusing to ease up “blasted” another goal home giving them the 3-0 lead. 4:30 into the period Blake Geoffrion fired a puck into traffic (not towards the net). After pin-balling around, it fluttered to the slot where El Capitan Scott Ford swiped at it, sending the puck very slowly towards the net, where Cann could not recover enough to get a pad on it.

Then it was the Monsters’ turn to score a goal and it came with Kyle Wilson in the sin bin for a high-sticking call. 9:11 into the period Patrick Rissmiller attempted a pass acorss the crease to a teamate. It never found said teamate as it instead found the skate of Teemu Laakso, which in turn found the back of the net giving the Monsters their first goal.

The Admirals answered back just under 5 minutes later and Kyle Wilson found the net to atone for his previous infraction. While the Ads were on the Mountain Fury Power Play, Wilson got the puck and was in the lower far side circle when he fired a snipe top shelf beating Cann, and giving the Ads the 4-1 lead. The awesome thing about this goal was the Chris Mueller was celebrating the goal before it went in as he was right behind the net watching the puck the whole time. I guess he knew it was going in.

After the goal by Wilson, the Monsters switched goaltenders putting in James Reid, hoping for a little better result. It didn’t work, as the Admirals scored just over 2 minutes later, and just 6 seconds into another Mountain Fury Power Play. With the Admirals winning the face off, Geoffrion passed it to Taylor Beck who was down-low near-side. Beck then fired a no-look pass across the slot to a crashing Victor Bartley, who buried it the open net. Now all joking aside this WAS a great play started by Geoffrion, and I am glad Bartley is getting some lamp time as he has been playing lights out all year. (See what I did there with the light fixture joke?)

Towards the end of the period Evan Brophey tallied a power play goal for the Monsters. To be honest I really dont remember what happened and all we need to know is that it was a goal against.

***** Please see Appendex A for the fights in the period*****

Speaking of fights, the 3rd period started off with a big one that I am guessing the league will be talking to Lake Erie’s Captain David Liffiton about. Zack Stortini finished a check on a Monsters player and Brophey took exception to said check. Storts and Brophey dropped the gloves but the fight while on their feet only lasted a moment but Storts kept firing punches on Brophey while they were on the ice. Liffiton, from the bench, did not like the scenario that was playing out, so he decided to start throwing punches from the bench into Storts’ face. Let me say this again, Liffiton was punching Stortini from the bench while Stortini was punching Brophey. What was the call you ask? Liffiton got 2 minutes for roughing. Yeah, I know, right?  Here’s Coach Herbers…

The third period has a goal by each team and the Monsters’ goal came shorthanded while Liffiton was serving for the above infraction. Talk about salt in the wound.

Puustinen scored for the Admirals to get back the 3 goal lead on a play that gave Latta the Grodie Howe Hat Trick.

NOTES:

Appendix A:  Second Period Fights.

Bordeleau VS Stortini.  Edge Bordeleau.

Fordo VS Stoa.  One of Fordo’s best of the year, I think.  I wish that was more of a compliment than it really is, though.

Brennan vs Latta.  Seemed like a good idea at the time for both of them.  They won’t be confused for Jeremy Yablonski.

– Anders Lindback and Jon Blum were back tonight.  Here’s the coach on their peformances…..happy to have Lindback, and thought it was a mixed bag for Blummer.

– Blake got three assists.  But wake me up when he goes into a battle in the corner.

– Great to see Flynn get that first goal.  That play was a perfect example of why good things happen when you put the puck on the net.  Doesn’t need to be a laser.  Just needs to be on net.

– We talk a lot about how much we like Victor Bartley.  From that beautiful sparkling smile in the Toyota Tundra Race, to the way that he plays well on both ends of the ice.  Great goal for him, and he was stellar late in the game.  Perhaps you remember the Admirals killing off the late power play, and there was a mad scramble in front of Lindback.  Anders deserves credit for finally getting the puck frozen, but Bartley was there blocking shots, blocking passes, and keeping the puck out of the net.

– You know who else has been playing pretty strongly lately?  Taylor Beck.  I liked him on that line with Van Flynder.

– Welcome back Joel Champagne!  4th line was very effective tonight.

– My 3 stars ballot was 1. Latta, 2. Barrie (1g, 1a), and then 3. Stortini.  Bartley was under consideration, but Stortini was a force tonight over the course of the game.

– Game again tomorrow against the 1st place Checkers.  Different style of hockey, says the coach.

Questions:  So you think the Lake Erie captain will get some supplementary discipline for his actions?  Happy to see Hughie?  Surprised that none of the Lake Erie goals were even-strength?  Happy to see so many fights?  Think Blum will be here a longer time this time?

There were two teams at the Bradley Center tonight.  One was victorious, despite playing their third game in three days, and one was playing their goaltender for the third time in three days.

The other team was the Admirals.

The Admirals only managed 18 shots against Ben Bishop, and he stopped them all, vaulting the Rivermen to their first vicotry over the Admirals this season.  1-0 was the final score.

When the highlights of the night were a big clean hit from Scott Valentine and a close Merkt’s Cheese Race, it’s a tough night for the home team.

Milwaukee recorded only 5 shots on goal in the first stanza and Atte Engren stoped the 9 shots he faced. The second period is when the game got its only goal.

With Jeff Foss in the box for interference, the Rivermen skated the puck into the zone along the near side boards when Scott Valentine had a huge hip check on Jay Barribal. Struggling to get off the ice, the Rivermen’s Adam Cracknell regathered the puck and drove into the zone again firing a shot on net from inside the far circle beating Engren for the only goal.  It’s one that I think Engren should have had.

As for the aforementioned check,(in my best Dick Vitale) it was huge baby. The check sent Barribal’s helmet flying and left him on the ice for a couple seconds. The Rivermen were quite upset with the no call but another look at the check proved that it was a clean one. Regardless of the no-call, Stefan Della Rovere wanted to enforce his own justice and dropped the mitts with Valentine a little bit later in the period. Della Rovere even waived off the linesman at one point letting him know that he was not done.  He had some (I am guessing) very nice things to say to Valentine as he was being pulled away. Stuff like “Happy new year” and “I love your twitter posts” and stuff like that.

Notes:

– Tough weekend for the Admirals.  But they played four games this week, and if they want to blame it on fatigue, I’ll buy it.  I won’t like it…but I’ll buy it.  And if that is the case, they’ve got to get that fixed because there are going to be some more weeknight games as the season gets going, and we can’t have them running out of gas on Sunday’s.

– David Leaderer skated in place of Tyler Sloan, who is a bit banged up.  He’ll hopefully be ready to go next weekend.

– Still didn’t like Blake’s game.  I think he’s bringing down the Van Flynder line.

– So who had a good game, and who failed to show up tonight?  Leave your thoughts in the comments!

Another great crowd, and another great win.  The Admirals took the upperhand in the Amtrak rivalry, defeating the Chicago Wolvds 4-2 Wednesday night at the Bradley Center.

The win was their 9th consecutive victory at the Bradley Center, just one short of tying the team record.

Here’s a high level overview of the game, courtesy of Coach Herbers.  On google maps, this definitely would not be considered street-view.

The Wolves got things started at 5:45 in the first with a power play goal as Scott Valentine was in the sin bin for a hooking call. Kevin Connauton fired a shot from the far blueline that found Jeremy Smith but was not covered up. Smith layed out to recover the rebound but the Wolves’ Steve Reinprecht gathered it first and fired top shelf on the wide open net. Smith sold out to gather the rebound in front of the crease but that gamble didnt pay off as Reinprecht had a 6×4 box to work with.

The Admirals retaliated with a power play goal of thier own. The play got started with Victor Bartley showing us that he doesnt just have a pretty smile. Bartley sent a great two line pass from deep inside his own zone that connected with Chris Mueller in stride. Mueller then left the defenders behind as he skated in and beat Eddie Lack at 17:33 to even the score. Did I mention that it was a great feed from Bartley? Well it was.  So there!

The Ads kept the pressure on in the second as Scott Valentine gave the Ads a go-ahead goal at 2:38. With the puck on the far side point Teemu Laakso found Valentine on the near side point with a pass. Valentine wound up and fired a rocket that beat Lack on the far side for for his second goal on the year.

The Wolves’ very own Admiral killer for hire evened the score at 7:36. Reinprecht sent the puck to Darren Haydar who broke into the Admirals zone. Haydar skated to the near side circle and fired a shot that beat Smith far side. It was a fantasitc shot and there was nothing Smith could do about it but make shadow puppets from the red light glowing behind him.

Wouldn’t you beleive it? Even Scott Ford got a goal in this game. Mark Van Guilder skated into the slot with several Wolves defenders hacking at the puck. He “passed” (lost control) of the puck to Ryan Flynn who was also in the slot. Flynn sent a pass back to Ford who was between the circles at the point, and fired a cannon that beat Lack at 13:10 to give the Admirals the 3-2 lead going into the third.

Here’s Fordo on his goal.

The Admirals extended their lead in the third period with a great pass across the crease to a crashing Michael Latta. At 8:48 Taylor Beck skated the puck into the zone and continued the rush to the crease. Beck, within a couple feet of Lack, sent a beautiful saucer pass to the tape of Latta who just redirected it into the back of the net to give the Ads the 4-2 lead.  Probably a play they have done a million times together back on their junior team.

———

Happy trails to Gabriel Bourque, welcome back Blake Geoffrion.  Here’s Coach Herbers on the swap, and how he thought Blake did on the Van Flynder line tonight.

Bourque played 8:05 of the Preds game, took 10 shifts, was credited with one blocked shot.  That’s all the box score had for him.  Played on a line with Halischuk and Smithson, but early returns are that it was a good debut.  Read the Preds blogs tomorrow….there will be a ton of positive reaction to Bourque.  Here’s a taste from Coach Trotz:  “I can guarantee you this: If [Bourque] plays like that … night in and night out, I know he’s gonna play a lot more.”

– 4 goals, 8 assists, 12 Admirals with one point on the night.  Would that be the definition of scoring by committee?

– Robert Slaney.  On the 4th line.  Holding his own, I think.  Good on him.

– This home streak?  The Admirals are outscoring their opponents by Taylor Beck to Chris Mueller.  41-18.  What does the coach think the team needs to do to be successful at home?

– I asked Scott Ford about the warm-up music change.  He’s the one that put the request in.

He’s on twitter now, if you didn’t already know…

Soooooo….questions…… In a game where none of the Admirals had multiple points, who would you have voted for three stars?  (Ryan edit:  Reinprecht probably should have made the final list for Chicago…had a goal and an assist).  How cool was Matt Kenseth to do that trike race?  What a good sport.  What did you think of Blake’s game tonight?  Everyone will be done with their hangover by the New Years Day game, right?