Miikka Salomäki has just earned his first career NHL call up. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
Prior to the start of tonight’s Milwaukee Admirals road game against the Grand Rapids Griffins they lost two forwards. Miikka Salomäki and Viktor Stålberg were both recalled to the Nashville Predators in response to injury woes taking place with the Ads parent club. It hasn’t been made official by either the Predators or Admirals as of yet.
Matt Cullen, Taylor Beck, and James Neal are all banged up at the moment for the Predators. This paves the way for Salomäki’s first career NHL call up. The Finn was certainly pushing his case last season to achieve his first taste of the NHL. He scored 50 points (20 goals, 30 assists) in 75 games to lead the Admirals in scoring during the 2013-14 season.
This season Salomäki has recorded 16 points (5 goals, 11 assists) in 29 games, has a plus/minus rating of +13, and 26 penalty minutes. In 10 games last month he scored 5 points (1 goal, 4 assists) and missed 2 games due to illness.
Stålberg will look to get into his first game for the Predators since October 25th when the Pittsburgh Penguins shutout the Preds 3-0. Since he has had a rehab stint in Milwaukee, was injured on the last game of that rehab stint, was placed on waivers, cleared waivers, was assigned to the Admirals, called up, sent down, and is now being called back up. His AHL stats for the Admirals has seen him score 6 points (2 goals, 4 assists) in 6 games.
Thoughts? What do you make of Miikka Salomäki being selected by Nashville for his first NHL call up?
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It’s only a matter of time before Teemu Pulkkinen stops terrorizing AHL netminders and starts haunting them at the NHL level. (Photo Credit: Mark Newman)
Welcome to the start of the 2015 portion of the Milwaukee Admirals schedule. It’s a new year and, hopefully, a new start for the Ads. December went just about as poorly as it could have gone for the team. They face a good test tonight on the road to get things rolling.
~The Forgotten Ones~
The Grand Rapids Griffins are normally a steady and tough team to go up against. With how well the Rockford IceHogs and Chicago Wolves have played you nearly forget that the Griffins have regained their footing in the Midwest Division after a poor start.
Grand Rapids have a record of 16-11-3-1 (36 points) which places them a single point ahead of the Admirals in the division with both teams having played 31 games. Tonight’s result is the difference between the Admirals leap-frogging back into third place or falling further down the hunt in the division.
In the Griffins last 10 games they have a record of 6-2-1-1 (14 points). It’s the best last-in-10 in the division and includes a 3 game winning streak entering tonight’s contest.
~The Power of Power~
Teemu Pulkkinen remains the Griffins top scorer with an outstanding 37 points (18 goals, 19 assists) in 31 games. He is currently tied for second in scoring in the entire league with Nick Shore of the Manchester Monarchs. Both trail fellow member of the Monarchs, Brian O’Neill, who leads the AHL with 40 points (10 goals, 30 assists).
Anthony Mantha continues to progress for the Griffins since making his professional hockey debut with the team in November. The Quebec native has 10 points (5 goals, 5 assists) with a plus/minus rating of +9 from 20 games. He also has shown signs that he is still going through the motions of learning the speed of the professional game. He has taken 45 penalty minutes and is tied with bruiser Chris Bruton for the team lead in penalty minutes per game with 2.25.
~Open Wound~
Viktor Stålberg had himself quite the outing last game. He equaled his entire scoring output from his previous 4 game rehab stint in the 5-4 (OT) loss to the Lake Erie Monsters by tallying 3 points (1 goal, 2 assists).
Yet, the last time that Stålberg was on the ice against the Griffins was when Brennan Evans delivered a knee-on-knee hit that sidelined the Swede for well over a month. Could this be a case of forget and play on or will it come back to gloves dropping against Evans later tonight?
Expectations for tonight’s game? Will the surge that brought the Admirals back into the last game spill into tonight? Scoreline prediction?
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Garrett Noonan has played in 24 of the Admirals 31 games this season. He looks set for his first career stint in the ECHL starting tomorrow night. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
The Milwaukee Admirals made a roster move on New Year’s Day. Garrett Noonan has been assigned to the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL. The move comes after defenseman Jaynen Rissling was placed on injured reserved following last night’s 5-2 road win for the Cyclones against the Kalamazoo Wings.
Noonan has played in 24 games this season and has scored 8 points (4 goals, 4 assists) with a plus/minus rating of +1 and 13 penalty minutes. At the time of this move he ranks fourth among Admirals defensemen in scoring but has been on the outside looking in recently with Jonathan Diaby being chosen in his place.
The Cincinnati Cyclones currently have a record of 13-11-0-4 (30 points) which sees them third in the North Division and ninth in the Eastern Conference. They place in Kalamazoo again on Friday before returning home to Cincinnati Saturday night for a game against the Wheeling Nailers.
Thoughts on today’s roster move? Was Noonan the correct candidate to be sent to the ECHL?
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Marek Mazanec’s play this month has been one of very few bright spots during a dreadful December for the Admirals. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
The best Milwaukee Admirals performer for the month of December. Talk about trying to find hay from the needle stack. This has been a rough month across the board. Yet, I feel as if one player really stood out from all the madness.
My choice for December’s Admiral of the Month is Marek Mazanec.
Mazanec played in eight of the Admirals twelve games in December and had 2 wins, 3.13 goals against average, 0.885 save percentage, and a shutout. That stat line might not look good for him on paper but his play in December has been very strong. He’s been weathering the storm that is played out in front of him and looked calm and composed throughout this poor stretch of play for the entire team.
Other players that have impressed me during this month: Joe Pendenza, 5 points (2 goals, 3 assists) in 8 games… Pontus Åberg, 7 points (5 goals, 2 assists) in 11 games… Taylor Aronson, 5 points (2 goals, 3 assists) in 12 games with a plus/minus rating of +2.
~Admiral of the Month Award~
October: Brendan Leipsic
November: Magnus Hellberg
December: Marek Mazanec
Who was your choice for December’s Admiral of the Month? Is there another Admiral who you felt was the top performer this past month? If so, who and why?
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Viktor Stålberg scored his exact total last night, 3 points (1 goal, 2 assists), as he did in his entire four-game conditioning assignment earlier this season. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
On my drive back home I had some serious reflecting in regards to the Admirals 5-4 (OT) loss to the Lake Erie Monsters and the post-game interviews that followed. There was optimism. Things felt very upbeat. It felt very much like the Admirals managed to win something tonight or, better yet, found their long lost identity as a team.
Without a doubt, the first period of the game was the kicker in this game. The Admirals came out flat, took poor penalties, gave up power-play goals, and dug themselves a big hole that they somehow managed to climb out of.
And that is just the thing. They did comeback. Twice. 3-0 deficit. 3-3 tie. 4-3 deficit with just over two minutes left in the game. Empty net. Extra attacker on. 4-4 tie to force overtime with forty-eight seconds remaining.
Yes. It is a results based business, and the win would go to the Monsters in overtime, but there was something gained out of this game that hasn’t been all that prevalent in the past month: a spark.
From the second period forward the Admirals looked and played as they did at the start of the season. They took only two penalties, killed them both off, earned four power-plays, outshot their opponent 21-15, and outscored the Monsters 4-2.
The first period was the backbreaker. The game-winning goal was wacky. The effort by the Admirals to fight back and earn anything from that game might just be the kick up the backside everyone needed heading to the 2015 side of the calendar.
After the game I spoke with Dean Evason, Pontus Åberg, and Mark Van Guilder. Here is what they had to say [uncensored] following the Admirals overtime defeat to the Monsters.
December has been a big bad blur. Perhaps 2015 will see things steer in the right direction. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
The Admirals lost 5-4 in overtime against the Lake Erie Monsters Tuesday night. This game saw the Ads overcome a three goal deficit and score with the extra attacker on late to force overtime. Unfortunately, the bounces just keep going against them.
“We played great,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason after the game. “When things aren’t going you get a snowball effect. But we’re close now. We really believe we’re close. We’ll use this as a real positive.”
It was a comfortable opening period for the Monsters who ended the frame off with a 3-0 lead. They scored twice from the power-play and looked by far the more relaxed of the two teams on the ice.
The first goal of the game was a power-play goal from Stefan Elliott. The Monsters worked from the left point and on over to center point where Paul Carey who slide a pass to the right wing for Elliot. The shot burned Marek Mazanec for Elliot’s ninth goal of the season.
Then came a decent brawl between Rich Clune and Mitchell Heard. Both landed some pretty big blows and the fight ended with Clune losing his balance and some of his blood. Give the edge in your fight cards to Heard for the take down and drawing red.
Lake Erie would double up their advantage after winning an in-zone faceoff. Maxim Noreau and Carey would link up around the left wing side of the net with Carey getting a small flick that alluded Mazanec’s blocker for his ninth goal of the season.
The Monsters made it 2/2 on the power-play in the first period after Andrew Agozzino put away his sixth goal of the season. Despite having one of their own players bust a stick, the Monsters managed to hold the zone in a temporary four-on-four and pass themselves into yet another side of the cage tap in. Agozzino was crashing to the blocker side of Mazanec and had the Czech scrambling by the time the shot was taken.
Viktor Stålberg scored his second goal in an Admirals uniform in the second period to make it a 3-1 game. The Swede fought through a defenseman and went quickfire, backhand to forehand, on Calvin Pickard. The shot trickled through and only just crossed the line before being swiped away from goal.
“Viktor Stålberg got us going with that first goal,” said Evason. “Not only the first goal but the work ethic in which he scored the goal. It really jacked the guys up.”
The second period comeback continued with a goal from an unlikely source. Ian White’s shot from the right wing was redirected out in front of the net by Mike Liambas. The puck barely squeaked underneath the right pad of Pickard and, like Stålberg’s goal, trickled across the line before anyone could prevent the goal. It’s Liambas’ fourth goal of the season. He hasn’t scored this many goals in a season since his rookie year with the Erie Otters of the OHL when he was a defenseman.
In the third period the Admirals completed their comeback. Pontus Åberg stepped up on the blueline to challenge puck carrier Bruno Gervais before breaking out of his own zone. Stålberg sprung in on the loose puck which fell to the right of the sprawl for Åberg. After his initial defensive play he fell down, picked himself back up, got the puck, and roofed a shot past Pickard for his twelfth goal of the season to make it 3-3.
“That’s the perfect response that you want from somebody that you sit out to get a response,” said Evason of Åberg. “He’s got such gifts to score goals. He’s just learning to play the pro game. That was just an opportunity for us to give him a wake up call.”
It appeared as if the Admirals disaster button had been hit with 2:16 remaining in regulation. The Monsters broke off on a two-on-one with Mike Sgarbossa passing ahead to give Agozzino a breakaway. He pumped glove side and beat Mazanec to the blocker for his seventh goal of the season and second of the game.
Mazanec went to the bench to bring on the extra attacker. With Admirals jamming up the boards it appeared as if the Monsters defensive focus lost Åberg as he veered away and into the left wing pocket. The puck kicked out to him and he beat Pickard to the glove side to equalize with forty-eight seconds remaining in regulation. It was the Swede’s thirteenth goal of the season and second of the contest.
Despite the incredible theatrics the Admirals would fall short in overtime. Heard flew from the left wing and into the front of the net where he intercepted a backdoor feed from his own teammates, cradled the puck, and popped it in on the backhand before Mazanec could react to where the puck was. The game-winning goal for Heard was his third tally on the season.
“We were able to get a point,” said Evason. “We were down 3-0. We were able to get a point. Disappointed? Yeah, shoot. We want to get our home record back on track. We want to get our home games back on track. No question. But that was close tonight.”
Ramblings: Tonight’s scratches for the Admirals were Triston Grant, Frederick Gaudreau, Garrett Noonan, and Johan Alm. The Admirals power-play drought on home ice has now reached thirty-two chances without a goal.
Thoughts on tonight’s game? Content with claiming a point from this game? What improvements did you notice as this game went along for the Admirals? Can this game catapult them in the right direction?
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Chet’s brother is back in the net for the Lake Erie Monsters. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
The Admirals current record is 15-11-1-3 (34 points) which has them in third place of the Midwest Division. Both teams in front of them have played more games: the Rockford IceHogs have played three more games, the Chicago Wolves have played two more games. The IceHogs are now 8 points ahead of the Admirals and the Wolves are clear by 3 points.
~Rewind~
When we last played the Lake Erie Monsters it was in their neck of the woods and we played two games played that summed up the very Jekyll and Hyde nature of the Admirals this season. Game One: a controlled, start to finish, 4-0 shutout victory. Game Two: a decent start and a better that decent collapse, 4-3 loss.
In fact, it is the last of those two games that was a lot like last night’s 3-2 (OT) loss in Iowa. The Admirals had a really strong start. They were outshooting the Wild to pieces and had a 1-0 lead. They tried to sit on it. Collapse. The Admirals took advantage of a mistake on Iowa’s end and reclaimed their lead. They tried to sit on it. Allowed the Wild to double them up in shots in the last period of play. Collapse.
If there has been anything more deflating to watch this past month for the Admirals it has been an inability to play a complete game. It always feels like the first period is a winner and the bottom drops out bit by bit as the game storms along. The Admirals should have that 4-3 defeat to these same Monsters in mind for tonight’s game. Don’t get comfortable. Don’t be content. Finish the game off.
~Cleveland Rocks~
The Lake Erie Monsters have a record of 13-12-2-3 (31 points) which has them in last place of the Midwest Division. They are entering this game not having won since the last time they saw the Admirals. They’re on a three-game losing streak and have been outscored 13-7 in regulation during that span.
~Tendy News~
A storyline from our last rodeo against the Monsters was that they didn’t have their starting goaltenders. Instead, we were treated to Roman Will for both games. That won’t be the case tonight. Not only has Sami Aittokallio healed from his lower-body injury. The Monsters will have Calvin Pickard available tonight after he was reassigned by the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday.
Pickard has enjoyed a really successful spell for the Avalanche this season: 14 games, 6-6-2 record, 2.21 goals against average, 0.934 save percentage. For the Monsters this season he has played the most games in net (13), 6-4-3-2 record, 2.57 goals against average, 0.920 save percentage, and a shutout to his name.
What should we expect from tonight’s game between the Admirals and Monsters? Can the Admirals finally snap their 0/27 spell on the power-play at home tonight? Scoreline prediction?
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It feels as if the Milwaukee Admirals try to park the bus late in games. That puts the emphasis on Marek Mazanec needing to be superhuman. He isn’t. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
The Admirals lost 3-2 in overtime on the road against the Iowa Wild Monday night. The loss sees the Admirals’ record in December fall to 3-6-1-1 in eleven games. The Wild, who have the worst record in the AHL this season, now have eleven wins – four of which have come at the expense of the Admirals.
Following Friday night’s 6-2 loss to the Chicago Wolves the Admirals spent seven hours on Saturday devoted to watching video and working out. It was done to grab the players’ attention. The roster was also given a stir. Pontus Åberg, Triston Grant, and Jonathan Diaby were out. Frédérick Gaudreau and Garrett Noonan were in.
If the first period was anything to go by then the Admirals bite was stronger than that of the Wild’s. The opening twenty minutes ended scoreless with each side having a power-play and the Admirals up big time in shots, 14-5.
In the second period the Admirals broke the deadlock with a power-play goal. Colton Sissons chipped up the right wing boards to Ian White who slid across to the opposite wing for Viktor Arvidsson. The Swede was free in acres of space, skated in towards the faceoff circle, and whipped a wrist shot to the near post and past the blocker of Johan Gustafsson. It’s Arvidsson’s eighth goal of the season and fifth scored from a power-play.
After some jaw jacking put both Mike Liambas and Joel Rechlicz in the box for attempting to get a fight going off of a faceoff, surprise surprise, they dropped the gloves the instant they left their respective penalty boxes. Liambas actually tripped on his own stick and lost his balance as both he and Rechlicz tumbled to the ice. The Wild forward proceeded to keep throwing punches after the officials jumped in and landed himself an additional ten minute misconduct.
The Wild equalized in the third period off of Zack Mitchell’s eighth goal of the season. Marc Hagel was in on the dump and chase, wrapped around from the right wing side of Marek Mazanec’s cage to the opposite end, and threw a puck out to Mitchell’s center lane drive. The one-touch finish by Mitchell beat Mazanec to the blocker side and it became a 1-1 contest.
Arvidsson’s mastery of the Iowa Wild continued when he scored his second goal of the night. Marc Hagel’s pass back to Justin Falk was deflected and sent Arvidsson off on a breakaway. Gustafsson scrambled to square up on his fellow countryman but overcommitted. Arvidsson calmly deposited the puck along the ice and past the outstretched pads of Gustafsson to score his ninth goal of the season. Arvidsson now has five goals in six games against the Wild.
With under four minutes remaining in regulation the Wild leveled things up yet again. Ex-Admiral Jonathon Blum’s initial shot from the point was saved with the right pad of Mazanec but not cleared or covered. Jordan Schroeder was on the door step to push in the puck to make it 2-2 on his eighth goal of the season.
This game would head into overtime where the Admirals would quickly shoot themselves in the foot. Viktor Stålberg took a holding penalty 1:19 into the overtime period and presented the Wild with a four-on-three power-play that they would capitalize off of for the victory. Danny Syvret would connect a back door feed to Schroeder to score a tap in goal for his ninth goal of the season and second of the game.
Ramblings: Tonight’s scratches for the Admirals were Triston Grant, Pontus Åberg, Jonathan Diaby, and Johan Alm. The lone injured player from that list is Alm who missed his ninth consecutive game due to an upper body injury. Viktor Stålberg returned to game action for the first time since injuring his knee on 11/7/14 in a game against the Grand Rapids Griffins.
Thoughts on tonight’s game? Why are the Milwaukee Admirals unable to close out games? How costly are these losses to the Iowa Wild? What should the response be tomorrow night?
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For those following the hockey news today it has been a whirlwind of waivers and roster movement in general. It appeared as if Derek Roy was set to join the Milwaukee Admirals and make his debut tomorrow night after he was placed and then cleared waivers. Then comes the swerve job.
The Nashville Predators have traded Roy to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for Mark Arcobello.
Arcobello has played every game this season at the NHL level for the Oilers where he has scored 12 points (7 goals, 5 assists) in 36 games. Last season he did play 15 games for the Oklahoma City Barons in the AHL in which he tallied 28 points (10 goals, 18 assists) in 15 games – but spent the bulk of his season in the NHL with Edmonton.
Thoughts on this trade by the Nashville Predators? Disappointed that the Milwaukee Admirals won’t be adding Derek Roy to the mix? Who gets the better of this deal?
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Derek Roy has played in nearly 700 career NHL games. What could his addition to the Milwaukee Admirals mean? (Photo by John Russell // NHLI via Getty Images)
Yesterday we had the news that Viktor Stålberg was being assigned to the Milwaukee Admirals and that Derek Roy was placed on waivers by the Nashville Predators. The waivers process has come and gone. No one claimed Roy. Therefore he has been assigned to the Admirals.
All things told this is a nice plus for both the Predators and Admirals. The benefits here in Milwaukee should be obvious. We’ll be gaining NHL level talent to bolster our forward group. As for how this benefits Nashville? Both remain in system. Both are going to be logging lots of minutes. And both will be perfect call ups in the event of injury.
Roy hasn’t played in the AHL since the 2005-06 when he played 8 games with the Rochester Americans scoring 20 points (7 goals, 13 assists). In his career he has played 101 games in the AHL and has scored 107 points (33 goals, 84 assists) with a plus/minus rating of -2 and 90 penalty minutes.
The majority of Roy’s career has been spent in the NHL with the Buffalo Sabres, Dallas Stars, Vancouver Canucks, St. Louis Blues, and most recently the Nashville Predators. His career totals in the NHL: 692 games played, 502 points (178 goals, 324 assists), +42, and 369 penalty minutes.
UPDATE: Roy has been added to the Milwaukee Admirals roster page on the AHL website and is listed as #11. The Admirals website states that he will not be available for tonight’s game in Iowa but will be making his Admiral debut tomorrow night at home when the team takes on the Lake Erie Monsters.
Thoughts on the potential addition of yet another Nashville Predator joining the ranks of the Milwaukee Admirals? What players are going to be on the out heading to Cincinnati of the ECHL? Does the added veteran presence help or hurt player development here in Milwaukee?
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