Hello everybody. I hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend. For those of us on the Wisconsin-side of things this was quite the nice weekend. The Milwaukee Admirals took a point on Friday night, the teams behind the Ads in the Western Conference standings didn’t really close that much ground afterwards, the Wisconsin Badgers managed to defeat Kentucky and advance to their first NCAA Final since 1941, and -of course- the Milwaukee Brewers open their season this afternoon with the NCAA Final later tonight.
Keeping with this warm and toasty feel I thought it would be fun to do a little of what I did last season for today. Joonas Rask is all to blame for these you see. The Admirals photographers (whether it be Scott Paulus, Jeff Hanisch, or Sara Stathas) aren’t intentionally snapping photos of players, like Rask, when they’re making silly faces but it does in fact happen… a lot. Throughout the course of this season that has been happening once more and it is time to kick back and enjoy some of the more unflattering moments captured in Admirals photography this season.
Austin Watson now leads the Admirals in goal scoring after registering his twenty-fourth tally last night. Colton Sissons, your move. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
The dust has settled after the Admirals 3-2 shootout loss to the Texas Stars and, once again, we’re all sat thinking about a positive effort that didn’t get the full reward. There just weren’t really that many lowlights to speak of. The Admirals are in playoff mode right now and they are playing highly competitive playoff brand hockey.
When looking at the games ahead for the Admirals you’ll be seeing nothing but tough tasks: Rockford IceHogs (fourth in the Western Conference) on the road, Grand Rapids Griffins (third in the Western Conference) in the road, Chicago Wolves (seventh in the Western Conference) at home, Toronto Marlies (tied for ninth in the Western Conference) at home, and finally the Wolves again, this time on the road, for the season finale.
If the Admirals can get through that schedule in the green, as far as generating wins or points is concerned, I think they stand a good chance of being the eighth seed in the Western Conference. Help from around the league will certainly help. And I get the feeling what everyone should be pulling for is for the gap between the eight and nine to widen. To boot, rooting against the Wolves -which shouldn’t be a stretch for anyone reading this- is also a plus. Like Formula 1 knockout qualifying – no one wants to be on the last spot before the drop zone. The Admirals do still stand a good chance to go ahead of the Amtrak Rivals in division and conference by season’s end. Did you boo the Stars last night? Nice, but cheer them on later tonight when they play in Chicago.
Kevin Fiala is good at hockey. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
The Admirals lost 3-2 in a shootout against the Texas Stars Friday night. For the fourth consecutive game the Admirals went past regulation to earn a point. Sadly, it is the third time in that span that they could only earn a single point.
“That was a hell of a hockey game,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “We played great, goalie played great, [defense] played great, got good goals. What else can you ask for? The result, as far as that one extra point isn’t there, but my gosh we played the way that we need to play. It was very positive.”
There was a really good start for the Admirals that all went for naught when Derek Hulak scored from a rebounder to give the Stars a first period lead. Justin Dowling beat Taylor Aronson on the left wing and skated in on goal. His shot banked off Marek Mazanec’s chest and into the path of Hulak for a quick backhanded swipe on the rebound to score his nineteenth goal of the season.
Kevin Fiala would respond by the end of the first period with his eleventh goal of the season. Branden Troock’s outlet pass for Jamie Oleksiak was botched and Fiala raced in to intercept the soft pass. The 18-year old proceeded to dangle through Oleksiak and then Stars team captain Maxime Fortunus before burying a wrist shot on the near post past the blocker of Jack Campbell.
“He’s a special player,” said Evason. “Nashville obviously knew it when they drafted him. We know why we brought him here to get North American-ized. He’s just responded great. His skill level is one thing but he wants to play, he wants to win, he’s a good teammate, he’s got everything to set himself up to be a great great pro. He just needs a bit more time because he’s eighteen.”
The Admirals took their first lead of the game after a power-play goal scored by Austin Watson. Anthony Bitetto stepped in from the right point to deliver a hard shot towards the net. Watson wasn’t picked up by the Stars penalty kill as he moved off the wall and towards the front of the net. He caught Bitetto’s shot with his stick blade and deflected the shot up and over Campbell’s glove for his team leading twenty-fourth goal of the season.
A defensive breakdown with less than five minutes remaining in the second period leveled the score back up again. Greg Rallo swooped down the right wing and was able to catch the trailing Travis Morin racing to the backdoor of Mazanec. Joe Piskula and Jonathan Diaby were both occupied with Brendan Ranford’s net front presence and Morin won the foot race to the back post against Colton Sissons for the tap in on the left wing. It goes down as Morin’s twentieth goal of the season. It is his fourth career twenty goal season in the AHL.
This game ended up being decided in the shootout after flying through overtime without ever needing to go into three-on-three hockey. The Admirals went first in the shootout and, after Frederick Gaudreau and Fiala both scored, it was up to Mazanec to get a stop against Morin for the win. That didn’t happen. Gary Steffes stepped up next for the Admirals and scored on a backhand forehand move. Mazanec was once again beaten with a chance to win the game and missed out on the Devin Shore forehand shot. After Pontus Aberg was stopped by a glove save from Campbell it was Dowling finishing off the shootout with a wrister to the blocker side of Mazanec. The Stars scored on the last four shootout attempts that they had and three of them burnt the blocker side of Mazanec.
The Admirals will get a slight bit of a rest with the weekend off. Their next games are both on the road and will take place Tuesday and Wednesday. The first stop is against the Rockford IceHogs and the following day they’ll face the Grand Rapids Griffins. It’s not going to be an easy task facing the top two teams in the Midwest Division on back-to-back nights but it’s playoff time for the Admirals right now. Each game should be treated as such. These are teams that the Admirals would have to beat to make it to the Calder Cup. The same has to be said to make it into the Calder Cup Playoffs.
Ramblings: Tonight’s scratches for the Admirals were Eric Robinson (healthy), Joe Pendenza (healthy), and Jimmy Oligny (healthy). The Admirals played their twenty-third overtime game tonight. They are tied with the St. John’s IceCaps for the AHL lead in overtime games played this season.
What is your take from tonight’s game? Was this still a positive result for the Admirals? How do you feel the playoff picture is forming right now.
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The last time the Texas Stars came to Milwaukee there was supposed to be a Foreigner concert. Remember? Me too. (Photo Credit: Jeff Hanisch)
Remember how the Admirals were on a six-game losing streak? Me too, and there is some good news. That streak is dead and, in its place, is another one. The Admirals are now on a three game point streak. Hey, it’s a start right?
The Admirals enter tonight’s game with a record of 33-25-7-5 (78 points). With the Chicago Wolves besting the Hamilton Bulldogs last night by the final score of 4-2 the Admirals have fallen behind the Amtrak Rivals in both divisional and conference standings.
It is getting to the point now where you might want to start looking at teams such as the Bulldogs, Toronto Marlies, Lake Erie Monsters, and Adirondack Flames to lose with the Admirals earning either wins or points. The gap between the Admirals in eighth in the Western Conference and ninth place might end up being all the difference this season. Still, goes without saying (so I’m going to say it). If the Admirals can string together wins they shouldn’t have to worry so much about what other teams are doing.
The Texas Stars will enter tonight’s game with a record of 33-21-13-1 (80 points). They are currently third in the West Division and sit sixth in the Western Conference standings.
In their last ten games they have sported a 7-3-0-0 (14 points). That includes three regulation wins over the Admirals. Outside of that, the Midwest Division has done well against them in that span with the Rockford IceHogs and Grand Rapids Griffins winning three games.
The Admirals have lost to the Stars in all three meetings so far this season and done so in regulation. The first meeting was a 4-3 defeat in Texas when the mistake bug started to turn its ugly little head. That was followed up by a 6-2 thrashing on the road. And then, in Milwaukee almost two weeks ago, the Stars held on late for a 4-3 win.
I want to say that the mistakes that had cropped up during that lengthy road trip have been either eliminated or at least minimized lately. The Admirals have been playing tighter defensively and the real question mark of late has been if the offense can catch a break against hot goaltending.
If Wednesday’s result provided a lift past simply winning a game it is that the Ads pulled off three goals late in a game against Calvin Pickard who was SportsCenter number one play good in that game. There should be reason to believe confidence should be back in all facets of the Admirals play at the moment.
And then you look back at what the Admirals did against the Stars and wonder if this could be a long night. The Admirals have gone 0/13 on the power-play against the Stars this season. Flip side of that is the Stars going 5/11 on their power-play against the Admirals. Emotions need to be held in check tonight. The Admirals can’t allow special teams to be the difference maker in this game.
One thing that the season head-to-head does say that could be big for the Admirals is their ability to play with speed and get pucks to the net. There were some bad things done against the Stars in those three games. No question. But, the Admirals managed to outshoot the Stars 111-70. That needs to continue and the finishing needs to sharpen up.
Travis Morin continues to be the leading man for the Stars in scoring. He has produced 54 points (19 goals, 35 assists) in 57 games this season. It seemed like when the Admirals last met he was on a hot run where he scored the entirety of his 8 points (2 goals, 6 assists) in the month of March in a six game span. It wasn’t until last night’s game when he seemed to wake back up again by scoring a goal and hammering in five shots on goal to boot.
The Stars have a pair of fantastic young defensemen in their lineup at the moment: Julius Honka and Jamie Oleksiak.
Honka was selected by the Dallas Stars just a few spots behind Kevin Fiala in the first round of the 2014 NHL Draft. The 19-year old Finn has done incredibly well in the AHL this season by scoring 26 points (7 goals, 19 assists) in 60 games.
Did I mention Fiala? I’m sure Oleksiak remembers that name. Fiala put his name in the hat for “Goal of the Season” the last time the Admirals and Stars met. I’m going to assume he remembers that when #12 is charging at him one-on-one he’ll need to avoid making the highlight reel again.
Another Finnish defenseman that would have been fun getting a glimpse of again will not be with the Stars for this game. 20-year old Esa Lindell was assigned to Team Finland for the IIHF World Championships.
Expectations for tonight’s game? Can the Admirals start stringing together wins? With the recent games against the Stars in mind how will this game play out?
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Big Head. Bigger Heart. (Photo Credit: Jeff Hanisch)
I’ve often thrown out the term “Good Guy” as a way to highlight the many great actions I see players on the Milwaukee Admirals doing in and out of the rink. Today it is the Admirals turn to use that label and they did so by selecting Zach Budish as the IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year for his contributions to the Milwaukee community this season.
Press Release via Milwaukee Admirals:
The Milwaukee Admirals are proud to announce that Zach Budish has been named the team’s winner of the IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year award for his outstanding contributions to the Milwaukee community during the 2014-15 season.
A second-year pro from Edina, MN, Budish was instrumental to the success of the Admirals reading program “Reading: The Ultimate Power Play,” as he went to multiple Milwaukee Public Schools that participated in the program to read to the kids in their classrooms. In addition, he made numerous other schools visits to talk with kids about the importance of sportsmanship and how success in school helped him reach where he is today.
Zach served as a celebrity waiter for Prevent Blindness of Wisconsin’s annual fundraiser that raises money to help prevent blindness and other severe eye problems in kids and was one of the top tip earners at the Admirals Celebrity Serve which raised over $18,000 for the Power-Play Foundation, which supports non-profits in southeast Wisconsin.
Zach also went to Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin to visit sick kids during the season and donated money to help buy presents for underprivileged kids at Christmas time.
Budish is now one of 30 finalists for the AHL’s 2014-15 Yanick Dupre Memorial Award, honoring the overall IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year. The league award is named after the former Hershey Bears forward and AHL All-Star who died in 1997 following a 16-month battle with leukemia. The winner of the Yanick Dupre Memorial Award will be announced by the American Hockey League later this month.
Budish isn’t just making splashes away from the rink. He is also having his best season in pro hockey to date. In his time with the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL he recorded 23 points (8 goals, 15 assists) in 30 games. For the Admirals this season he has 13 points (6 goals, 7 assists). For both levels of hockey he has managed to maintain a positive plus/minus rating, as well.
All teams in the AHL announced their recipients of the “Man of the Year” team awards this afternoon. You can read up on the other award winners via the AHL. There you will see a couple of former-Admirals have also won for ther respective teams: Mathieu Tousignant, Mike Moore, Jonathon Blum, and Zack Stortini.
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Calvin Pickard made the best save in the AHL this season. And the Admirals still found a way to solve him late to get back into the win column. (Photo Credit: Lake Erie Monsters // flickr)
The Admirals won a 3-2 overtime thriller on the road against the Lake Erie Monsters Wednesday night. The Admirals trailed 2-0 entering the third period against a goaltender in Calvin Pickard who was razor sharp tonight for the Monsters. Triston Grant, Gary Steffes, and a monumental penalty kill helped push this game into overtime for the Admirals where Kevin Fiala’s heroics snapped the six-game losing streak.
It was a decent enough opening road period for the Admirals but with just 8.8 seconds remaining the Monsters tagged Marek Mazanec for the game’s first goal. After negating an icing call, Monsters winger Michael Schumacher was able to throw a wrist shot low on the Czech netminder before Taylor Aronson could get a stick check on him. The low shot hit off Mazanec’s pads and into the path of Trevor Cheek who scored five hole on the rebound for his sixth goal of the season.
The second period started with a “Save of the Year” candidate from Lake Erie’s Calvin Pickard. The Admirals had their top line out on the ice to start the period and Kevin Fiala had all the net in the world to shoot on when the puck slid over to him on the low right wing circle. Pickard made a lunging dive out of desperation and made the glove save to rob Fiala.
Reid Petryk would score his third goal of the season just prior to the midway point of the game to make it a 2-0 Monsters lead. Petryk managed to fend off Anthony Bitetto from the blueline and whipped in a wrist shot from the high slot that went straight into the roof of the net past Mazanec.
The Admirals were finally able to solve Pickard 2:07 into the third period to make it a one-goal contest. Mark Van Guilder battle off Cheek on the end boards to wrap around a puck to the front of the net where Triston Grant was able to bury his twelfth goal of the season. This matches a career mark in goal scoring for Grant who tallied twelve goals during the 2009-10 season.
With 5:19 remaining in regulation the Admirals completed their third period comeback to make it a 2-2 game. Joe Piskula’s shot from the middle of the blueline knuckled up on Pickard who spilled a rebound out to Gary Steffes who settled the puck and fired for his third goal of the season in the AHL and first scored at even strength.
Then, only fifty-four seconds after equalizing, came a moment of controversy for the Admirals. Viktor Arvidsson made a hard drive from the right wing in on goal and ran through the Monsters netminder Pickard. He was given a charging major and a game misconduct that put the Monsters on the power-play for the rest of regulation and thirty-five second of overtime.
Fortunately for the Admirals, their penalty killing late in the game was up to the task to end the night a perfect 3/3 on the PK while killing nine minutes worth of power-play time.
Kevin Fiala was chosen to take a seat in the penalty box to serve the final seconds of Arvidsson’s charging major for the start of overtime. Once he exited the box he and his teammates were on an odd-man counter from the blueline. Fiala entered on the puck from the left wing, dangled past a stick check, and wired a wrister off the toe drag for the game-winner and his tenth goal scored for the Admirals this season. The Admirals losing streak of six-games is over.
Ramblings: Prior to the game, the Nashville Predators reassigned Viktor Arvidsson to the Milwaukee Admirals. Tonight’s scratches for the Admirals were Joe Pendenza (healthy), Eric Robinson (healthy), and Jimmy Oligny (healthy). The Admirals allowed twenty shots on goal in the second period. It was the most they’ve allowed in a single period this season. The Chicago Wolves defeated the Toronto Marlies 2-1 in regulation tonight. Therefore the standings remain as such.
What is your reaction to this Admirals game? How up, down, and around was this game? Were the officials right to give Arvidsson a major and a game misconduct? How huge was this win for overall confidence moving forward?
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Viktor Arvidsson looks set to return to the Admirals after his first career stint in the NHL. (Photo Credit: Jeff Hanisch)
If the Milwaukee Admirals current issue is scoring there might be some good news as far as tonight’s game is concerned. The Nashville Predators have just reassigned Viktor Arvidsson back to the Admirals.
Arvidsson’s first career NHL stint saw him log six games for the Predators. He didn’t register a point but he did average more than a shot per game. Wouldn’t have expected any less from the man who still leads the AHL in shots on goal this season.
His reintroduction to the team means the Admirals will once again have their leading scorer back in the lineup. Arvidsson has 51 points (19 goals, 32 assists) this season. The next closest to him on the Admirals in scoring is Austin Watson with 39 points (23 goals, 16 assists).
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Colton Sissons has become the first member of the Milwaukee Admirals to win our “Admiral of the Month” award twice this season. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
As you might expect, when the Admirals have a month as rough as they just did it’s not quite easy to think of top performing anything. The Admirals went 3-8-3-1 in March. During that time I would go as far to say each phase of the Admirals at some point had their time in the spotlight for a negative reason. Still, there have been some players that have persevered and continued producing through what has been one of the roughest months of the Admirals 2014-15 season. My choice for the Admiral of the Month of March came down to two players yesterday. And I’ve decided on Colton Sissons.
Sissons played in all fifteen games in the month of March for the Admirals and he tallied 9 points (4 goals, 5 assists). His sophomore season may not have been all that he’d have liked it to have been but I feel since the turn of the calendar he’s looked far more like he did last season while also bringing a feistier style to his game. He has been consistently playing as the Admirals top center during the past few weeks and has remained so with bits and pieces changing around him. To me, his play has been one of the few consistencies in a month of complete and utter confusion.
The other man that I really thought about for the Admiral of the Month award for March was Austin Watson. He, like Sissons, has also been a really reliable player this month and has done it in a center or wing capacity. Watson played all fifteen games in March and recorded 9 points (5 goals, 4 assists).
Other Admirals in March: Joe Pendenza, 8 points (3 goals, 5 assists)… Viktor Arvidsson, 8 points 92 goals, 6 assists) Pontus Åberg, 6 points (1 goal, 5 assists)… Kevin Fiala, 5 points (3 goals, 2 assists)… Mark Van Guilder, 5 points (3 goals, 2 assists)… Triston Grant, 5 points (1 goal, 4 assists)… Joe Piskula, the only Admiral in the month of March who has a positive plus/minus with a +2 rating.
~Admiral of the Month Award~
October: Brendan Leipsic
November: Magnus Hellberg
December: Marek Mazanec
January: Viktor Arvidsson
February: Colton Sissons
March: Colton Sissons
Who was your pick for the top performing Admiral in the month of March? Please write a comment down below as to who and why.
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Andrew Agozzino’s AHL best point streak continued at the expense of Magnus Hellberg and the Milwaukee Admirals tonight. (Photo Credit: Lake Erie Monsters // flickr)
The Admirals lost 2-1 in overtime on the road against the Lake Erie Monsters Tuesday night. It took a late power-play goal from Gary Steffes to equalize this game for the Admirals in the third period after trailing from 3:46 of the first period. The Monsters managed to score through traffic in overtime to hand the Admirals their sixth straight loss.
It was the white hot Andrew Agozzino opening the scoring tonight in the first period. The Monsters forward was camped out in front of Magnus Hellberg when he redirected a point shot by Bruno Gervais that alluded the Swedish netminder’s glove. The goal for Agozzino was his twenty-third of the season and helped extend his current point streak to twelve games. It is the longest point streak in the AHL this season by two-games.
In the second period, while the Admirals were killing a five-on-three power-play for 1:30 of ice time, Hellberg appeared to be struggling with his right leg after making a big post-to-post save to rob Ben Street on the right wing. Hellberg was helped off the ice by Admirals head trainer Doug Agnew and didn’t put weight down on his right leg on his way off the ice. Marek Mazanec stepped in and replaced him for the remainder of the game.
Halfway through the third period the Admirals were able to cash in from a power-play to level the game at 1-1. Just as he did for his first career Admirals goal, Gary Steffes and Colton Sissons linked up for a power-play goal from a shot-pass redirect. Sissons threw a puck towards Steffes who got his stick-blade to it and angled the shot far post past Calvin Pickard for his second goal in the AHL this season.
Before this game could go to overtime there was a massive chance for the Monsters to close things out in regulation. The Monsters forward Street had a breakaway from the Admirals blueline and was one-on-one with Mazanec. The Czech stayed big in net, allowed Street to make to make his moves en route to goal, before stopping him cold and forcing the puck off to the left wing corner.
Sadly in overtime, the Admirals were never even able to register a shot on goal and it was the Monsters taking the final point on the evening. They set up plenty of bodies in front of Mazanec and Cody Corbett stepped up from the point and fired a wrist shot glove side for the game-winner and his second goal of the season.
The Admirals losing streak might be rough right now. They have lost six straight games and have only one win from their previous twelve games. But, gaining points as they have in their last two games might be a sign of things turning around. There are seven games left in the season. Results such as the last two could have just as easily been regulation defeats but they weren’t. Things are starting to sharpen up and the Admirals will now need to see those overtime losses turn to wins.
Ramblings: Tonight’s scratches for the Admirals were Frederick Gaudreau and Jonathan Diaby. Both were healthy scratches whilst Miikka Salomaki and Felix Girard are both out for the rest of the season due to injury. Gary Steffes was playing in his first career game against his former-AHL squad the Lake Erie Monsters. With his goal tonight, Steffes has scored forty-six goals between the AHL and ECHL this season. For the moment, the Admirals have moved back into third place of the Midwest Division and seventh in the Western Conference.
What is your reaction to tonight’s game? Are you happy to see the Admirals fight back to earn a point? If Hellberg is in fact hurt, what is your current confidence level of Mazanec being the man moving forward? What have you thought of Gary Steffes since his introduction to the Admirals?
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I’m expecting the front of the net to be a busy place tonight and tomorrow between the Admirals and Monsters. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
If there were ever a time for the Milwaukee Admirals to get on a run it is right now with a two-in-two against the Lake Erie Monsters. The Admirals have fallen out of the playoff picture following their weekend defeats to the Chicago Wolves and there is only one team sitting beneath them now in the Midwest Division. That’s where the Monsters come in. Time is running out. And the Admirals need to start earning points very badly. The time to collect is now.
~Short & Sweet~
The Monsters are 30-26-6 -4 (70 points) entering tonight’s game. They are last in the Midwest Division. That being said, it’s not as if they are a bad team. The Midwest Division features teams that all have records above .500 or better. The only other division in the AHL that can say the same is the Eastern Conference’s Atlantic Division.
In their last ten games the Monsters have gone 5-3-1-1 (12 points) while winning their previous two contests. Those last two games came on the road against the Charlotte Checkers and they won 3-2 and 5-1.
~Recording Team History~
This season could be going better for the Monsters but that doesn’t mean some individuals haven’t stepped up a notch along the way. Monsters play-by-play man Doug Plagens said as much yesterday on Twitter with the following facts:
Stefan Elliott has recorded 5 goals in the Monsters’ previous six games. Elliott’s work this season has helped him to tie Ryan Stoa for the Monsters’ all-time records in power-play goals (18) and game-winning goals.
Andrew Agozzino tied T.J. Hensick for the Monsters’ all-time lead in assists (92). Agozzino has also set a Monsters’ record for a points streak of eleven games that will be active when the Admirals play tonight.
Calvin Pickard, Chet‘s brother, has established Monsters’ goaltending records this season for wins (18) and games played (40).
~Possible AHL Player of the Month of March~
Let’s go back to Agozzino for a moment. His month of March has been stunningly good for Lake Erie. He has 19 points (7 goals, 12 assists) in twelve games this month. All of that has come in a stretch of the last eleven consecutive games. His points production leads the team on the season with 50 points (22 goals, 28 assists). The next closest on the team is the defenseman Elliott who has 35 points (18 goals, 17 assists).
~Head to Head~
The Admirals and Monsters actually mirror each other rather well. They have played eight games against one another on the season and have split the season series to date. The Admirals power-play at home is bad, ney the league’s worst, and -hey- the Monsters power-play at home is also poor. Both special teams for these teams are improved when on the road so the advantage tonight, on paper, should be for the Admirals.
The top scorer for the Monsters in this match up is Paul Carey with 8 points (4 goals, 4 assists). For those that remember things such as trades though. He isn’t a product of the Colorado Avalanche organization anymore. He quite literally shipped up to Boston.
That means the successor is Joey Hishon with 4 points (1 goal, 3 assists). Oh wait. He’s in Colorado whilst their injury struggles have hampered them. So, he’s not here either.
That lastly gives the title for top scorer against the Admirals this season, active on the Monsters roster tonight, to Colin Smith who has produced 4 points (0 goals, 4 assists). He is followed by: Agozzino, 3 points (3 goals, 0 assists)… Mitchell Heard, 3 points (2 goals, 1 assist)… Ben Street, 3 points (1 goal, 2 assists)… Maxim Noreau, 3 points (0 goals, 3 assists).
The Admirals top scorers in this match up are Colton Sissons with 7 points (4 goals, 3 assists) and Pontus Åberg with 7 points (3 goals, 4 assists). In addition, Kevin Fiala has scored a point per game against the Monsters. He has scored 4 points (2 goals, 2 assists) in only four games.
Goaltending in the match-up has been pretty good for the Admirals. Marek Mazanec has recorded two of his four shutouts this season against the Monsters but has been hit and miss outside of those games by allowing 12 goals in his other three appearances for a 2.43 goals against average and 0.897 save percentage against Lake Erie. Magnus Hellberg has been really solid in his three appearances against the Monsters with a 1.55 goals against average and 0.943 save percentage. As for the Monsters? They only have one goaltender this season with a sub-3.00 goals against average and save percentage above .900 and that would be none other than Chet’s brother.
~Dropping Mitts~
The Wolves might be a team more willing to talk that box but the Monsters have proven themselves more than willing combatants on the season. There have been a total of eleven fights between the Admirals and Monsters in eight games this season. Daniel Maggio, Rich Clune, and the Monsters’ Heard have all dropped the gloves four times on the season. Plenty of those for Clune and Heard came against one-another.
There have been a grand total of 272 combined penalty minutes. The Monsters have averaged 17.6 penalty minutes against the Admirals. The Admirals have averaged 16.4 penalty minutes against the Monsters. I wouldn’t expect the aggression levels to drop any with both teams clawing for a role to be had in the playoffs.
Expectations for tonight and tomorrow’s games? What will the Admirals need to do in order to start cranking out wins? Do you go with Mazanec or Hellberg in net tonight?
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