Author: Daniel Lavender

Feature, News

The Students of Ben Vanderklok
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Ben Vanderklok has instructed many of the products in net for the Milwaukee Admirals – including Marek Mazanec. (Photo Credit: Sara Stathas)

Chances are if you’ve come to a game, listened to enough interviews from the coaching staff or players, you will have heard the name Ben Vanderklok.

His name can fly under the radar somewhat but the products we’ve seen in net over the years should speak volumes of his work. Marek Mazanec, Scott Darling, Magnus Hellberg, Jeremy Smith, Atte Engren, Anders Lindback, Mark Dekanich, Chet Pickard, and many more have all been students of his during his five seasons in the Nashville Predators organization as assistant goaltending coach.

To get an idea of just what Vanderklok does and how he has helped current goalies in camp, such as Mazanec and Darling, I had a chat with the group to find out what our resident goaltending coach does and how the goalies benefit from his coaching.

Vanderklok gets the chance to work the entire organization of the Nashville Predators. That means spending his time with the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL, the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL, and with a rather photogenic group of goalies up in Nashville with the likes of goaltending coach Mitch Korn.

Traditionally, Vanderklok would be using his time making trips throughout the organization. Yet, with the amount of injuries this season in net, it meant the trip to Cincinnati wasn’t needed because Darling was already in Milwaukee. That mean he was able to spend more time with the Admirals – who also had Mazanec and Hellberg around camp.

Scott Darling on Ben Vanderklok:

Darling has been a major benefit to Vanderklok’s services this season. Prior to joining the Milwaukee Admirals, Darling had never had a full-time goaltending coach to work with him during the course of a season. Vanderklok has allowed him to focus his game, bounce ideas off one another, and apply the tutelage on ice.

“It’s nice to have someone to keep me honest,” said Scott Darling. “I’d like to think I am accountable for goals that I let in and know what I did wrong. But, just in case I’m not being real with myself, [Ben Vanderklok] is there to tell me you could have done this or you should have done this.”

With this being his first time working with a full-time goalie coach such as Vanderklok, as well as his longest stint in the AHL level, Darling has responded. He has played in nineteen games this season for the Admirals, winning nine games, recording four shutouts, and has a team best goals against average (2.09 GAA) and save percentage (0.931 SV%) for anyone on the team not named Pekka Rinne.

“Everywhere I’ve ever been it has been – use my size,” said Darling. “Don’t play like I am five-foot five. Smaller guys have to have lots of movement. They get caught scrambling all over the place because they have to. Sometimes I would get out of position. I would make the first save and it would be a free-for-all after that. [Ben Vanderklok] and Mitch Korn, the big focus has been finding the medium between a guy like Ben Bishop -who likes to get a little bit scrambly- and then a guy like Mike Smith – who just stays on the goal line. That’s been our biggest thing.”

While finding the balance can be tricky – for others – just settling into the North American game has its radical adjustments. Mazanec is playing in his first professional season in the States and has already made the leap from the AHL to the NHL and back again – finding success at both levels. That success doesn’t come lightly. There has been plenty of adjustments on making that leap from the Czech Republic to the North American game.

Marek Mazanec on the adjustment from the European game:

Mazanec began the season off with five wins from five starts with the Admirals before getting a look in Nashville. He responded with a Rookie of the Month performance in November and flashed off his capabilities at the top level.

In the NHL, Mazanec played in twenty-five games, won eight games, picked up two shutouts, had a 2.80 GAA, and a 0.902 SV%. With the Admirals in the AHL he has been able to shoulder the load with a team high twenty-three games played, team high twelve wins, a 2.68 GAA, and 0.907 SV%.

The man who is sadly getting lost in the season picture, following his injury in January, is Hellberg. Like Mazanec, he too went through the transition from Europe to North America last season and was able to make really remarkable strides despite all the challenges being thrown at him. In his 2012-13 season he managed to play in thirty-nine games, win twenty-two games, earn six shutouts, and have team bests in GAA (2.14) and SV% (0.924).

This season started off on a shaky note for him, losing ten out of his opening thirteen starts, but he reminded everyone just how sharp he could be with a phenomenal forty-save shutout of the Oklahoma City Barons on 12/12/13. Sadly, just as a window opened from yet another goaltending injury – this time to Darling, Hellberg was also injured in the month of January – denying him a chance to carry the load in net moving forward.

“With his injury these last two months have been tough on him,” said Ben Vanderklok. “[Magnus Hellberg] had a little bit of a slow start. Obviously struggled to get some wins but I didn’t think it was as bad as his win-loss record seems.”

The good news for Hellberg has been that he’s progressing more and more every day. And has been heavily involved in team practices for quite some time now. That has meant a very unique challenge for Vanderklok. Not only are all three goalies in camp – but they aren’t exactly similar netminders.

Ben Vanderklok discuses the differences of Mazanec, Hellberg, and Darling:

When I asked Vanderklok if that meant more work he told me it wasn’t. If anything, it keeps him on his toes when it comes to the different playing styles and philosophies that the current crop of students have to offer.

The names of past students of his should say a lot of what his wisdom brings to the table in Milwaukee. The fact that he has been able to spend the extra time in Admirals camp this season only helps the current trio of goaltenders.

Audio, Full Interview with Ben Vanderklok (5:32):

How have the goalies all looked this season? Who has made the biggest strides?

News

The Importance of Patience
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Calle Jarnkrok and Filip Forsberg are a part of the Nashville Predators future. Should they be a part of their present? (Photo Credit: Jeff Hanisch)

With the Milwaukee Admirals at a wee bit of a break, and a four-game road trip in the cards, I think it is time for a great little discussion piece for us to engage on. With so many young and talented commodities in Milwaukee, such as Filip Forsberg and Calle Jarnkrok, should the Nashville Predators be testing them in the NHL right now?

It’s a hot-button issue that comes up plenty when I hear discussions about some of the top prospects that we have in Admirals camp right now. The names mentioned above come up quite frequently – and with great reason when you consider what was exchanged for their services. What I feel many miss in those recent trades over the past two seasons is the age difference in those trades.

Martin Erat, 31-years old – for – Fillip Forsberg, 18-years old
David Legwand, 33-years old – for – Calle Jarnkrok, 22-years old

One better than the age difference is the sheer experience drop off in terms of North American professional playing experience.

At the time of this season’s trade, Jarnkrok was in the run of his first-full season of North American hockey with the Grand Rapids Griffins. He had a late season cameo with the Griffins, playing in nine-games, but didn’t really sink his teeth into it until this current campaign.

When Forsberg was acquired at last season’s trade deadline – he was still a member of Leksands of the Swedish Elite League. He did get to cross the pond and play five-games in Nashville by season’s end, scoring his first career NHL point from an assist, but he was still an 18-year old experiencing a whirlwind of fast and new.

With that in mind – let’s then cut to the chase of the “play them in the NHL now” debate.

Currently, Forsberg is tenth on the Admirals in scoring with 25 points (9 goals, 16 assists). He’s made a splash on the power-play by scoring five of his nine goals on power-play. As his season has gone on his maturity level has become more and more evident on the ice.

No longer does Forsberg sit back on defense and await the Admirals defense to get the puck back to him and so he can start up the offense. Now, he engages and pressures puck carriers and maintains puck pursuit to the point he’s made the team’s penalty kill. The more he contributes in the killing role the more he continues to look the part as he sharpens up his defensive skills to go along with that well known flair on offense.

Jarnkrok has an overall total of 43 points (18 goals, 25 assists) in his time with the Admirals and the Griffins this season. Since his acquisition his points production has been outstanding: 7 points (5 goals, 2 assists) in five-games with the Ads.

It has been a a small sample size of Jarnkrok in an Admiral uniform but a good one at that. It seems no matter what game situation gets thrown his way he’s up to the task. Even in his first game as an Admiral, with plenty of bodies out of the game, head coach Dean Evason saw fit to play him as a defenseman in the game’s final seconds.

Here is the important part to all of that AHL information in regards to the “play them in the NHL now” debate. In what possible way do either of those two players even remotely play to the same standard as they do in the AHL, with a multitude of ice time and game situations, as they would with the Nashville Predators as they currently stand?

A very good example of this exact same situation comes with 20-year old stand out for the Admirals this season, Colton Sissons. He has 41 points (24 goals, 17 assists) in fifty-six games in the AHL this season. In eight games with the Nashville Predators he has 2 assists from 9:17 minutes of average ice time as a member of the fourth line.

Is his experience in those minutes of game action, practicing with NHL talent, traveling with the team, and learning day-to-day life at the NHL level beneficial? Of course. But, is his development stunted by not experiencing the amount of different game situations that he would see with the Admirals?

In my opinion, it’s a case of quantity (AHL) versus quality (NHL) – and there isn’t much of a point for the quality when the quantity of playing time isn’t there to be fully experienced.

That is precisely the exact same way I feel about players such as Forsberg and Jarnkrok. There are high ceilings on both of their futures. And that is just precisely the thing that I feel everyone needs to take grasp of here in the present. With them, Sissons, and more in Admirals camp right now – it is all about the future.

At the present, the Nashville Predators are third from the bottom in the NHL’s Western Conference with a record of 29-29-10 (68 points). They trail the Dallas Stars for the final Wild Card spot by seven-points.

Long story short, they probably will not make the playoffs this season. This again stirs up that “play them in the NHL now” debate in the sense of, if the season is a loss anyways, why not play them now to see what they’ve got?

While a quick look up top for a guys like Jarnkrok or Miikka Salomaki, who have yet to taste the NHL, could be beneficial. It again under-utilizes their development time and could, given the status of the team, set them off on the wrong foot.

I’m not trying to knock the Predators team down a peg in saying that. But, of the two teams playing right now, the Admirals stand a better chance at a deep playoff run than the Predators do. If you’re Nashville, do you think time spent kicking about at the tail-end of a season is better use for an 18-year old like Forsberg – or – is playoff hockey, and the circumstances that come with it, more of an attractive option than just displaying future talent to the fans?

The key word for Predators fans when it comes to these players right now is patience. It’s a word that you often hear thrown around in the AHL because it is a development league. Right now I feel the Predators are in the middle of a development mode as an organization. The defensemen and goaltending are all squared up in the system. It’s those flashy forwards who all are eager to see. Problem is, they are still incredibly young and the usage of time playing on the third or fourth line in a much different capacity than they should be used – just doesn’t cut it right now.

Patience, Nashville Predators fans and readership. The future looks pretty good from where I see things and the right moves are being made from general manager David Poile. If the forward group, as young as it is, plays together and comes up together – it might lead to something rather unique. Not to mention, if they come up together at the right time to join Pekka Rinne, Shea Weber, Seth Jones, and friends… we could be looking at something special in the seasons ahead.

How would you play GM in this situation? Should the young forwards see the NHL or remain at the AHL level? 

Chatterbox

The Chatterbox, Vol. 25
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Anthony Bitetto’s fight last night was pretty fantastic. Mike Liambas’ face during the fight was even better! (Photo Credit: Jeff Hanisch)

Last night the Admirals won 4-2 over the San Antonio Rampage and continued their stellar run of performances dating back to two weeks ago.

Ever since the Admirals hosted the Pekka Rinne show they have gone 6-1-0-0 and have scored 35 goals from 7 games. In that span they also added some new blood in the form of Calle Jarnkrok and Francis Wathier. Jarnkrok has 7 points (5 goals, 2 assists) in 5 games – he has yet to not score as a member of the Admirals. Wathier has also factored in from the checking line with 2 points (1 goal, 1 assist) in 3 games since joining on loan from the Texas Stars.

Things just appear to be coming together at the right time. To think, not really that long ago, we were chatting about a 5-game winless streak.

After last night’s game I talked with Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. I also talked to Scott Darling and Anthony Bitetto – all while Cassadee Pope blasted in the background. I then partook in a “Formula 1 is back” party – hence why this wasn’t up sooner than it typically is.

Let’s jump straight into last night’s post-game audio, shall we?

Continue reading “The Chatterbox, Vol. 25” →

Game Recaps

Admirals Continue To Roll, win 4-2
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This Swedish kid named Calle Jarnkrok is pretty good. Smart deal, Nashville. Smart deal. (Photo Credit: Jeff Hanisch)

The Admirals won 4-2 over the San Antonio Rampage Saturday night. Calle Jarnkrok continued his hot start with the Ads by scoring his fifth goal with the Admirals. Also making a major dent in tonight’s game was goaltender Scott Darling who stopped twenty-five of twenty-seven shots on goal in his first win since January.

“Tremendous,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason of Darling’s performance. “[Darling’s] game was in control – really in control. To not play for as long as he did and then have the composure that he did in that hockey game – clearly we feel comfortable with either [goalie].”

Calle Jarnkrok continued his incredible start in an Admirals sweater by netting his eighteenth goal of the season to make it 1-0. Jarnkrok’s initial shot, right on the goal mouth, was kicked out by Scott Clemmensen to the front of the net. After some skipping and knuckling the puck found its way right back to Jarnkrok who tipped it by for a power-play goal – and his fifth goal as an Admiral.

The Rampage did have an answer goal in the first period. And boy was it a good one. John McFarland was able to take advantage of Charles-Olivier Roussel as he was skating backwards, deked him to the outside, and flew across Scott Darling – beating him post to post. That’s McFarland’s seventh goal of the season. I doubt he scores a better goal than that one.

With their power-play just set to expire, Anthony Bitetto whipped a wrist shot towards the net and found a redirection from Austin Watson to give the Admirals a late 2-1 second period lead. It’s Watson’s fifteenth goal of the season – and first scored in five games.

Controversy decided to make an appearance in the third period in the form of a shorthanded breakaway and call for a penalty shot. The Admirals lost their zone and Ryan Martindale was off to the races. Patrick Cehlin was the closest man to him and reached out with a stick, catching Martindale ever so slightly on the arm, and it drew the call for a penalty shot – and also robbed Darling of a magnificent save. On the penalty shot, Martindale was able to best the Ads netminder – outwaited him and elevated the puck high once Darling spread out – and it gave him his seventh goal of the season.

“The ref will see it when he watches the replay,” said Scott Darling of the penalty shot call. “It’s just unfortunate, but the Hockey Gods shined on us tonight.”

Hockey Gods, indeed. The Admirals had a karma boost moments later when Mark Van Guilder, sitting on Clemmensen’s blocker side of the net, was in the perfect place at the perfect time. Bitetto’s shot on goal couldn’t be contained by the veteran goaltender and it was a tap in for Van Guilder’s twelfth goal of the season – and restored the Admirals one goal advantage.

The game was capped off by a rather bizarre empty net goal. Miikka Salomaki ended up getting credited with it. If so, he scored the empty netter with the net off of its moorings. There was some discussions from the refs in regards to the play and it could well see a scoring change if they ruled San Antonio intentionally pushed the net off. No matter who receives final credit for the goal – it sealed the Admirals sixth win in seven games.

Ramblings: With their victory tonight – the Admirals have leaped the Rockford IceHogs in the standings. Scott Darling made his first appearance in net for the Admirals since 2/23/14 at Grand Rapids. In that game he earned his fourth shutout of the season, making twenty-nine saves, but losing in the shootout. Calle Jarnkrok now has seven points in five games with the Admirals: five goals and two assists.

Thoughts from tonight’s win? Is the team finally starting to find their identity and groove? Does the effort tonight by Scott Darling have you wanting more or should the balance in net remain as is?

Scouting

Rampage: Scouting the Enemy
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The last time the San Antonio Rampage entered our barn – Joonas Rask thought he would intimidate them by doing this. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)

The San Antonio Rampage enter today’s game with a record of 25-26-3-6 (59 points). That puts them at the bottom of the West Division and a distant 12th place in the Western Conference playoff picture.

This will be the final meeting of the season with the Rampage. The Admirals have taken a point in each game this season but have also lost out on an extra two from shootout defeats:

Nov. 10 @San Antonio: L, 3-2 (SO)
Dec. 20 vs. San Antonio: W, 4-0
Jan. 16 @ San Antonio: L, 5-4 (SO)

The previous three contests were fairly high-octane affairs. The Rampage have outshot the Admirals in all three of the previous games: 46-33, 34-33, and 40-37. The man in net for the bulk of those shots was Magnus Hellberg – who last played against these same Rampage. The other man in net for the Admirals, Scott Darling, earned a 34-save shutout as he powered along his CCM/AHL award winning month of December.

No matter who the man in net will be for the Admirals, Marek Mazanec or Darling, there is a great chance he’s going to get a work out. In the month of March so far, 5 games, the Rampage have averaged 36.8 shots on goal per game.

The Rampage are led in scoring by Vincent Trocheck 41 points (16 goals, 25 assists). Luckily, he’s up with the Florida Panthers so the Admirals will be up against a Rampage side who have been without their top scorer for over a week.

That means your top two scorers on the team in Trocheck’s absence are Bobby Butler and Admiral pest Mark Mancari. Butler this season has 38 points (19 goals, 19 assists). Mancari, who was acquired by the Rampage from the Chicago Wolves for Eric Selleck, has scored a total of 33 points (9 goals, 24 assists). Since joining the Rampage he has played in 4 games and has just 2 assists. Yet, with the Wolves this season, Mancari scored 4 points (3 goals, 1 assist) in 7 games. He’s the man you’ll want to see neutralized tonight.

The current goaltending duo for the Rampage features Michael Houser and Scott Clemmensen. Considering the NHL time for Clemmensen this season, playing in 16 games with the Florida Panthers, you’d have expected the veteran netminder to have come down and tightened the lid for the Rampage. Not true at all. Clemmensen has played in 4 AHL games this season, lost 3 of them, and has a 4.01 GAA to go with an 0.874 SV%.

I would anticipate the man in net to be the younger alternative, Houser. The 21-year old has played in 19 games this season for the Rampage, has 10 wins, 2.67 GAA, and a 0.912 SV%. In the last game for San Antonio he was in net as they won, in a shootout, 2-1 over the Grand Rapids Griffins – making 26 saves and stopping all 3 Griffins shootout attempts.

The Admirals enter tonight’s game with a record of 28-20-6-6 (68 points). They remain in 4th place of the Midwest Division and in 8th place of the Western Conference. With last night’s shootout victory in the bag – they now trail the Rockford IceHogs by a single point in the divisional standings. They also still have 3 games at hand over the IceHogs. Something that comes in handy tonight because the IceHogs don’t play again until next Friday – so, with a win, the Ads can leap Rockford tonight and keep raining down the misery on them.

By scoring a goal last night, Calle Jarnkrok jumped Colton Sissons as the Admirals top scorer on the season. Jarnkrok has 42 points (17 goals, 25 assists) on the season. Since joining the Admirals after the NHL Trade Deadline – he has played in 4 games with the Admirals and scored 6 points (4 goals, 2 assists). For those who caught last night’s Chatterbox – this is what the head coach had to say about him:

“I don’t know if I can like him anymore than I like him now because, boy, he’s a hockey player. He just does everything well. He’s just a pro. When we first got him we thought maybe his size – strength – is gonna hurt him and maybe he’s got to get that to get to the next level, a little bit, maybe. But, he is so crafty and so intelligent. Plays both ends of the rink. Plays all three zones extremely well. We won’t have him here too long.” Dean Evason on Calle Jarnkrok

High praise – and certainly deserved. For those that watched his effort on the Admirals power-play last night you’ll have spotted the #19 darting all over the zone. Jarkrok would be at the point supporting Bryan Rodney, something I’ve wanted to see a lot out of the power-play set up, and basically quarterbacked from the point and right wing faceoff circle. When he was off the puck – he was very static and kept moving – he forced the IceHogs penalty kill to take stock of where he was and lose space on other available passing targets. As Evason said – he won’t be here for too long. It’s something as simple as intelligent off-puck movement and creativity on it that has put Sissons to the NHL. Jarnkrok probably isn’t far behind.

Barring anything wild happening with the Admirals lines from last night – I expect the exact same line combos and defensive pairings from the shootout victory over Rockford:

Forsberg-Jarnkrok-Cehlin
Saponari-Salomaki-Beck
Wathier-Van Guilder-Watson
Liambas-Tousignant-Rask

Bitetto-Piskula
Valentine-Ford
Rodney-Roussel

There seemed to be a good chemistry and balance from this mix in last night’s game. It seemed like all had moments where they shined together – especially those top two forward lines. I’m also a massive fan of that third forward line. It felt like a work-in-progress a bit last night but, with time, that’s a perfect combination of size, strength, and two-way players that sets the table for the skill lines to play their game.

What should we expect tonight from the San Antonio Rampage? Can the Admirals leap the IceHogs tonight? Who should start in net, Marek Mazanec or Scott Darling? Would you like to see any changes in the line combos or defensive pairings?

Chatterbox

The Chatterbox, Vol. 24
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Mathieu Brisebois, meet Mike Liambas. (Photo Credit: Jeff Hanisch)

The Admirals were able to win a thrilling game against the diabolical Rockford IceHogs Friday night. They won 6-5 in a shootout and improved their record to 28-20-6-6 (68 points) overall. The Ads are still in fourth place in the Midwest Division – and are also still on the eighth place in the Western Conference. Every single point counts for them right now. That’s why this shootout victory, even for the extra point, was all the more sweet.

As always, I spoke with Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason after the game. I also decided to get as many players as I could following this game – as there was much to talk about. Who did I get? In order of appearance: Marek Mazanec, Patrick Cehlin, Calle Jarnkrok, Mathieu Tousignant, and Francis Wathier.

Here is what the gang all had to say following the shootout win.

Continue reading “The Chatterbox, Vol. 24” →

Game Recaps

Shootout Thriller, Ads win 6-5
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Mathieu Tousignant set the table on the shootout with a dandy as the Admirals topped the IceHogs 6-5 in an outstanding game tonight in Milwaukee. (Photo Credit: Jeff Hanisch)

The Admirals won 6-5 in a shootout against the Rockford IceHogs Friday night. It wasn’t as physically destructive as last weekend – but it was one heck of a game to watch.

“We knew that they were going to come hard at us,” said Calle Jarnkrok. “We beat them pretty big two times. Great battle today. Good win for us. Big win.”

The game was fairly wide open from the first period forwards, saw many quick response goals, and trucked into the shootout where the Admirals took the final point after a Vinny Saponari game-winner.

Marek Mazanec stopped all three shots he faced in the shootout to win his first career shootout on North American ice. In the game he stopped twenty-four of twenty-nine shots on goal for his twelfth win of the season.

Francis Wathier scored his first career goal as an Admiral to kick off a first period that saw seven-combined goals. Mark Van Guilder tied up with Terry Broadhurst in the low left wing and caused the puck to flip up. When it settled back down on the ice Wathier was in a shooting position and smacked it by Jason LaBarbera for his sixth goal of the season.

“It was nice to get the first [goal],” said Francis Wathier. “You always want to help your new team to succeed. To get the first one – was a little bit over-excited but that’s how much I wanted that one.”

The IceHogs managed to score the next two goals off of the tape of Jeremy Morin. His first goal of the night came from a left wing drive where he barreled in on Marek Mazanec and coolly slid the puck between the wickets. On his second of the night, he was able to cash in on one-timer on the power-play following a Mathieu Tousignant faceoff violation. Morin now has twenty-four goals on the season – five of which came against the Admirals

The Ads responded thirty-three seconds after the second Morin goal with a beauty of a passing play. Wathier dropped the puck behind him as he entered the zone to Anthony Bitetto. Mark Van Guilder was working his way down the slot – and was greeted by a phenomenal shot pass at the blue line from Bitetto. It was begging for a redirection to goal – something Van Guilder did with ease for his eleventh goal of the season.

Brad Mills, the pest from last weekend’s festivities, picked up a goal for the IceHogs following a sloppy shift from the Admirals in their own zone. Scott Ford and Scott Valentine were both in scramble mode following failed clearances – and it put Mills right between then for his fourth goal of the season.

The Admirals were able to equalize and claim a late first period lead after successive goals in the span of seventeen seconds.

Patrick Cehlin marked his return to the ice with a power-play goal. LaBarbera allowed a rebound to get away from him and, after much grinding on the side of the net, Cehlin was able to squeeze the puck past the veteran netminder for his fifth goal of the season.

“I felt good,” said Patrick Cehlin on his return to the ice. “I was a little bit out of shape but I got to play with two great guys. So, it was easy coming in. It felt good.”

Only seventeen seconds later, an Austin Watson pass found Taylor Beck all alone in front of LaBarbera. Beck actually seemed to freeze in front of the net – but had the time and space to get a shot off. It might not have gone in, but LaBarbera’s initial save gave Vinny Saponari plenty of net to shoot on as he belted in the rebound for his thirteenth goal of the season.

“I can’t even remember it,” laughed Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason about the wild first period. “My gosh, we were just reeling. We were up. We were down. Up. Down. Emotionally we were all over the place.”

In the second period the IceHogs were able to equalize from an impossible angle shot. Joakim Nordstrom was skating down the left wing wall, almost right in the corner, and tossed a puck to the net. It appeared to catch Mazanec off guard and he allowed the puck to jump up and by him to make it a 4-4 game. It was Nordstrom’s sixteenth goal of the season.

Calle Jarnkrok was able to net his fourth goal against the IceHogs in a week at the start of the third period. Filip Forsberg found his fellow Swede all alone on the left wing faceoff circle, fed him, and Jarnkrok’s wrister beat LaBarbera far post and down. It’s his seventeenth goal of the season – and he now has six since becoming an Admiral.

The IceHogs were able to score yet another lightning quick power-play goal to level the game at 5-5. Following the faceoff win, Adam Clendening’s point shot took a redirection by Mills for his second goal of the game.

After some really open hockey to finish off the third period, and overtime, the game required the shootout.

Milwaukee chose to shoot first and put Tousignant out for the opening attempt. It was Patrick Kane-like on the stickhandling. No joke.

“[Mathieu Tousignant] is cocky enough,” said Evason on selecting Tousignant first in the shootout. “He doesn’t care where he is. What he is doing. He has confidence that he is going to score a goal. That’s what we love about him.”

That set the stage for a Mazanec save followed by a Beck shootout goal – swinging from the left wing and softly placing a shot against the grain on the near post.

Mazanec, never having won a shootout on North American ice, did not allow allowed an IceHogs goal during the shootout.

Having seen Jarnkrok’s bid at ending the game after three shooters go bust – followed by another Mazanec save – it was up to Vinny Saponari to deliver the goods. He skated in, pumped, and went underneath LaBarbera to finish off a fantastic game in the Admirals favor.

What do you take from this game? How are the newbies, Calle Jarnkrok and Francis Wathier, looking the more the settle in?

Scouting

IceHogs: Scouting the Enemy
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The last time these two played in Milwaukee it was a bit intense. (Photo Credit: Jeff Hanisch)

Last weekend the Milwaukee Admirals soundly put a beat down on the Rockford IceHogs: winning two games in two days and outscoring them 14-5. There was also the underlying nasty factor courtesy of some vicious hits that caused injuries to Admirals players.

The first of those nasty hits came from Brad Mills who targeted Patrick Cehlin with a blindsided check to the head last Friday. Of all the hits that I saw over last weekend – this was the one that stood out to me as the worst of the bunch because of (1) the targeting factor (2) the point and selection of impact (3) there wasn’t even a call made for the hit on the play.

It has been a frequently asked question this week: has Brad Mills been suspended? Well, it is now one week since the incident and the league has made suspensions for games that have taken place long after the Admirals and IceHogs weekend of fun. That tells me that, not only was the initial call for an illegal check to the head missed on the ice, the AHL has completely ignored this play and let Mills enter tonight’s game as the human target that I suppose he wants to be.

Considering Mills was also assessed a major penalty for boarding the following night that temporarily put Mathieu Tousignant out of action in the game – I had assumed he had a death wish to be suspended. With how stingy the NHL is regarding hits to the head, and rightly so they should be, I had my full expectations for a decent suspension to Mills given the nature of the hit, the circumstances in which he delivered it, and his devil-may-care boarding major the very next night. The AHL’s response? Listen to the magic conch shell.

The flashpoint for the last time these two played in Milwaukee, the play that triggered the near line brawl, was Bobby Shea‘s blindside check in neutral ice that injured Simon Moser. While it wasn’t as dirty of a hit as the one put on by Mills – the blindside mentality was still there. To boot, at that point in the hockey game – the IceHogs were far more interested in the dangerous and vicious than the competitive and sporting.

Keep in mind that this hit from Shea happened with just over four-minutes remaining in the game – Cehlin was already targeted – and the IceHogs were trailing by five goals. It was an attempt to make a big hit for the sake of a big hit – and nothing else. While I still don’t buy that the end game for Shea was to injure Moser – I also don’t think that changes the fact that he was aiming for a big open ice hit no matter the consequences. He landed his check. And he was greeted by three Admirals players with their gloves dropped.

In those two games last weekend the Admirals and IceHogs combined for 152 penalty minutes. There were six fights: Brad Mills vs. Mike Liambas (1), Brandon Mashinter vs. Scott Ford, Jeremy Morin vs. Anthony Bitetto, Mark McNeill vs. Charles-Olivier Roussel, Brad Mills vs. Mike Liambas (2), Bobby Shea vs. Scott Valentine, and Garret Ross vs. Mathieu Tousignant.

Goodness knows these two always play each other physical and things have the capacity to brew up that sort of heat. I only wonder if the heat, provided with the frenzy if a week ago, hasn’t been stirring in the mind of the IceHogs who haven’t played a game since that two-night whooping at the hands of the Admirals. Whether or not that gets implemented in the way the Iowa Wild chose to respond – we’ll see later tonight.

UPDATE: Patrick Cehlin will make his return to the lineup tonight after missing two games following his check to the head by Brad Mills. He will be creating the Super Swede line of Forsberg-Jarnkrok-Cehlin in his return.

How will this game play out? Are cooler heads going to prevail or can we expect some more nastiness out of the IceHogs? How do the Admirals rebound from a somewhat flat outing on Wednesday night?

Feature

Silly Photos, Silly Photos Everywhere

After the completion of last night’s game – I scanned the game photos for a proper few for the nightly recap. While looking through them I found yet another gem from the silly face arsenal of Joonas Rask.

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When it comes to silly faces in the game of hockey – no one is even in the same league as Joonas Rask.

As you might recall – we covered the many silly faces of Rask awhile back. With this new addition in mind, and a need for a smile following last night’s loss, I can’t help but show off the fine work of Scott Paulus, Sara Stathas, and Jeff Hanisch from this season as they have managed to capture some amazing photos – and amazing photos of Milwaukee Admirals players making silly faces. Today, let’s admire their photographic work of Rask and friends!

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Chatterbox

The Chatterbox, Vol. 23
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Yeah. It felt a lot like that. (Photo Credit: Jeff Hanisch)

The Admirals winning streak came to an end with a 3-2 defeat at the hands of the Iowa Wild. It was never going to be anywhere near the blowout we saw before, 9-1. Sadly, it was a much more water tight hockey game from both sides after the first period – not the sort of game a neutral fan would enjoy watching: lots of trap from the Wild, no space to create, and hardly any quality scoring chances as a result of that defensive posture from the Wild.

It was clearly the game that the Wild wanted after getting hammered the previous trip into Milwaukee – but what was sad to see was the Admirals not adjusting to what was thrown at them by the Wild until it was far too late to gather a point from the game. Had the Admirals played the way they did in the last ten minutes of third period for the entire second period – it could be a completely different result. Instead, they come up short of taking a minimum of one-point from the bottom dwellers of the Midwest Division after sustaining a two-skater advantage for the final 1:57 in the game.

After the game I had the opportunity to interview Admirals head coach Dean Evason in front of, guessing, ten billion aspiring student journalists from UW-Whitewater (give or take a couple billion). I also talked with Taylor Beck in the locker room to hear his thoughts on the game. Here is what both had to say.

Continue reading “The Chatterbox, Vol. 23” →