Author: Daniel Lavender

Feature March 1, 2017

Admiral of the Month: February

It has been a seemingly up and down last three months for the Milwaukee Admirals. The Nashville Predators organization was hit by injuries in December and January. That hurt the Admirals in the form of testing the depth then and the past month of February was a feeling out process with pieces aligning back into place. “How did that process go,” you ask. Not too shabby.

In the month of February the Admirals went 8-3-1-0 from 12 games. They averaged 3.75 goals per game and 3.17 goals against per game. On special teams the power-play went 11/42 (26.2%) and penalty kill went 33/42 (78.6%). And they did something that the team hadn’t done in over two years – win at the Van Andel Arena against the Grad Rapids Griffins – and they did it twice.

There were plenty of key contributors to the success of the past month. Mainly, I feel the biggest comes in the form of the organization itself finally being healthy and allowing for the Admirals to get a set group for forward lines and defensive pairings. It is a luxury to have that in the AHL and the Admirals finally had that in February.

As far as individuals go? I would have to say that there were a few players worthy of getting the nod for Admiral of the Month but I can’t see another choice for the month of February other than Frédérick Gaudreau. The Predators have Fil-bruary. The Admirals just completed Fred-ruary.

Gaudreau started February off with a bang by recording his second ever hat trick with the Admirals in a 4-3 overtime win at home against the Rockford IceHogs. That set the stage for a month in which he produced 15 points (10 goals, 5 assists) in 12 games. He has been sharp across the board the entire month and contributes in all aspects for the Admirals. Gaudreau has always one of the best defensively sound forwards on the Admirals roster but it is when he adds the offensive elements to his game at this high of a level when he starts to give the Predators an idea that he can be part of their future plans. Gaudreau only had 6 goals from his previous 33 games this season before the month of February. Everything clicked this month for him and, for the Admirals run to continue into the playoff push, you hope it continues.

Admirable Mentions: Vladislav Kamenev, 11 points (4 goals, 7 assists)… Pontus Åberg, 10 points (5 goals, 5 assists)… Jimmy Oligny, he continues to be absolutely phenomenal on defense… Anthony Richard, he has settled down in his rookie season and is becoming a great spark plug for the team… Adam Payerl, he has always played a strong game but his work with the likes of Kamenev -as well as Justin Kirkland– has put his offensive numbers into career highs after this month… and Trevor Murphy, he overcame some rough patches with the ups-and-downs of the team to put a solid two-way defensive game together.

~Admiral of the Month Award~

October: Juuse Saros
November: Alex Carrier
December: Harry Zolnierczyk
January: Marek Mazanec
February: Frédérick Gaudreau

Who do you feel was the top performer for the Milwaukee Admirals during the month of February? Was it Gaudreau, Kamenev, Åberg, Oligny or someone else? Tell me who your Admiral of the Month was in the comment section below.

Be sure to keep updated with Admirals Roundtable through social media platform of your choice: follow along Twitter, like us on Facebook, get photo updates on Instagram, and listen along on SoundCloud.

Game Recaps February 28, 2017February 28, 2017

Special Teams Shine; Ads Win 5-2 in Charlotte

(Photo Credit: Charlotte Checkers // flickr)

The Milwaukee Admirals won 5-2 on the road against the Charlotte Checkers at the Bojangles’ Coliseum on Tuesday night.

The Admirals undefeated run at the Bojangles’ Coliseum continued tonight and did so thanks to a power-play that cashed in three times and penalty kill unit that shutdown all five Checkers chances. The Swedes shined tonight with Pontus Åberg picking up two goals and an assist while Jonas Gunnarsson made thirty-two saves to earn his third win of the season.

It wasn’t a pretty start for the Admirals and specifically Pontus Åberg. The Swede took two penalties in two shifts within the game’s opening four-minutes. Thankfully the Admirals penalty kill was up to the task and Åberg was able to redeem himself before the end of the period.

On the Admirals second power-play chance Frédérick Gaudreau delivered a beauty of a pass to Åberg in the left wing circle and had some time and space to measure up Daniel Altshuller in net. Åberg moved in and then snapped a forehand shot high blocker side along the near post to score his sixteenth goal of the season with 2:20 remaining in the first period.

In the second period the Admirals were able to extend their lead to 2-0 after seeing a neutral ice turnover take place while they were in the midst of a change. Derek Army latched on to the puck and had a breakaway that saw him finish low blocker side on Altshuller to record his seventh goal in only his twenty-second game of the season since joining the Admirals on a PTO basis from the Wheeling Nailers of the ECHL.

Andrew Miller would deny Jonas Gunnarsson’s shutout level effort with a backhanded tally out in front of the net with 4:01 remaining in the second period. The play from Miller capped off a great skating shift in the attacking zone for the Checkers which opened up space for Miller to pop in his fourth goal of the season.

That wouldn’t be the last of the goals scored in the second period, either. The Admirals and Checkers traded goals in the final two-minutes to end the second period at a 3-2 Admirals advantage.

Åberg managed to score his second goal of the night on a shot from the center of the blueline. His shot was assisted into the net because of the net front presence of Matt White which pulled in Andrew Poturalski who tagged the shot with the blade of his stick and fooled his own netminder allowing for Åberg’s seventeenth goal of the season.

The Checkers answered back 1:09 of ice-time later with a goal in the final minute of the second period. Connor Brickley scored off of a net front redirect on Levko Koper’s shot from the left wing and the puck just squirted through Gunnarsson to give Brickley his sixth goal on the season.

It isn’t every day you see penalties taken by goaltenders but, at the start of the third period, that happened and allowed for an Admirals power-play goal. Altshuller was called for holding and the Admirals power-play setup kindly for Åberg to get his hat trick. The lone problem was Åberg shot, wide open in the low left wing, whistled wide of the net and ended up popping back off the glass and over the net for Gaudreau to score with ease. The goal for Gaudreau was his sixteenth of the season.

The Admirals would follow that up with their third power-play goal of the night. Adam Payerl scored after some doing. His initial shot from the low left wing kicked off the skate of Justin Kirkland. The puck then came back to Payerl who fought through a stick lift to get a second chance to pop a shot by Altshuller and did so to set a career high for goals in a season with fourteen to make it 5-2 Admirals.

And that is where the scoreline would rest. The win gets the Admirals to quickly forget the horrors of Grand Rapids from this past Saturday night and also saw a great night in net from Gunnarsson. This was just the Swede’s ninth start of the season and he made thirty-two saves, allowed two goals, and earned his third win of the season.

Tomorrow night these two teams will be right back in action at the Bojangles’ Coliseum for a 6:00 PM CST face-off. The Admirals will then return back home to Milwaukee and see the Manitoba Moose on Saturday night at 6:00 PM CST.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played on Saturday night there were no roster moves made in the organization. There was a delayed roster note though by way of AHL Transactions that stated that the Admirals re-signed defenseman Adam Pinkston to a PTO Contract on 2/19/17 after having released him on 2/16/17. Tonight’s line combinations for the Admirals were: White-Smith-Åberg, Richard-Ribeiro-Gaudreau, Kirkland-Kamenev-Payerl, Florek-Army-Liambas, Oligny-Carrier, Murphy-Granberg, O’Brien-Dougherty. Tonight’s scratches were: Adam Pardy (compound fracture to left arm) and Rick Pinkston (healthy). Tomorrow marks the NHL Trade Deadline. That also means that it will be the deadline for AHL Playoff Roster eligibility. Be aware of potential paper transactions tomorrow that might see members of the Nashville Predators assigned to the AHL just for such reason before being recalled without ever moving an inch.

What is your reaction to tonight’s effort from the Milwaukee Admirals? Is Pontus Aberg due for another recall or might he end up being used as trade bait for tomorrow’s NHL Trade Deadline? Should Jonas Gunnarsson see more time in net? How can the Admirals carry this performance into tomorrow night and not fall into a trap such as their previous road two-in-two?

Scouting February 28, 2017

Checkers: Scouting the Enemy

The Milwaukee Admirals last result was one that hurt -but- one that also came at the hands of one of the best teams in the AHL. It’s one thing to lose a clunker such as that. It is an entirely different thing to follow that performance up with the exact same deflating results the following times out.

That is what lies ahead for the Admirals. They lost 6-2 on Saturday night to the Grand Rapids Griffins on the road, traveled Sunday to Charlotte, and are now set to play against a team in the Charlotte Checkers who -also- last played on Saturday when they won 6-1 over the Cleveland Monsters. To put it bluntly: if the Admirals allow a repeat of Grand Rapids to happen against the Checkers – it will happen.

Right now the Admirals hold a record of 31-18-3-2 (67 points, 0.620 points percentage). For a good while now they have been knocking around the second and third spot in the Central Division with the Chicago Wolves (0.634) while both having a decent cushion ahead of the Iowa Wild (0.527). The Admirals are in a fine enough of a spot in the standings but there isn’t a time on this planet for them to ever be content with that. A good time to surge would be now.

Standing in front of the Admirals tonight and tomorrow night are the Checkers who hold a record of 25-24-4-0 (54 points, 0.509 points percentage). They are currently in fifth place in the Central Division and tenth place in the Western Conference standings.

The Checkers are currently on a point streak of four-games (3-1-0-0) which includes taking a point from the Admirals when they lost 5-4 in overtime two weekends ago. The run came on the back of losing 6-3 to the Admirals on Slap Shot night in which Vladislav Kamenev scored the first hat trick of his North American pro playing career.

The Admirals are 5-1-0-0 against the Checkers this season. Not only that, but with today and tomorrow in mind, the Admirals have yet to lose to the Checkers since the Checkers moved into the Bojangles’ Coliseum last season. The Checkers are 0-5-1-0 against the Admirals on home ice since the start of the 2015-16 season.

Leading the charge for the Checkers offensively at the moment is rookie Andrew Poturalski who has scored 38 points (13 goals, 25 assists) in 53 games this season. Against the Admirals he has produced 6 points (2 goals, 4 assists) in 6 games. The leading scorer in the head-to-head match up for the Checkers is Valentin Zykov who has scored 8 points (4 goals, 4 assists) in 6 games against the Admirals this season.

The second leading scorer for the Checkers also happens to be second for the team in tonight’s match-up with the Admirals. Lucas Wallmark has 34 points (19 goals, 15 assists) in 53 games. The first year North American pro has 7 points (3 goals, 4 assists) in 6 games versus the Admirals this season.

Someone who might not be available for the Checkers tonight is goaltender Michael Leighton. The AHL’s all-time shutout king’s last outing came against the Admirals on 2/17/17 and saw him bow out due to a lower-body injury after 26:57 of time in net.

The man who relieved Leighton on that night was 21-year old Alex Nedeljkovic who has played the better majority since. Nedeljkovic has a record of 8-13-1-0 from 23 appearances this season with a 3.20 goals against average, 0.888 save percentage, and a shutout to his name. He is partnered up with Daniel Altshuller who earned the win in net last time out for the Checkers as he stopped 26/27 on home ice against the Monsters.

What are your expectations for these two games against the Charlotte Checkers? How important is it for the Milwaukee Admirals to have a good first period tonight to set a tone and amends for their last outings failures? Do you think Wednesday night’s game could see changes with the NHL Trade Deadline looming and finishing prior to game-time?

Feature February 27, 2017

Daniel Lavender Reassigned to Milwaukee

The Nashville Predators have reassigned Daniel Lavender back down to the Milwaukee Admirals this morning. During his first career NHL recall this past week the Predators claimed 7 points from a four-game homestand while Filip Forsberg recorded a goal in all contests which included scoring back-to-back hat tricks to top off a week in which the Swede scored 10 points (8 goals, 2 assists).

I won’t even attempt to give a faux-news post past that first paragraph. To put it short, I badly needed this past week in Nashville and couldn’t be more grateful to the Nashville Predators organization for allowing me the opportunity to get a look at work on the big stage and be a part of it.

Specific thanks can be given to Brian Verdi and Kevin Wilson for credentialing me and assisting in the media department for all the interviews you’ve been able to listen to the past week. Justin B. Bradford of Penalty Box Radio who was kind enough to provide a room for me to stay the week I was in Nashville as well as for allowing me to guest-host the show last Wednesday on 102.5 The Game. All fellow Nashville media members who are such great people as well as writers: Jeremy K. Gover, Robby Stanley, Kristopher Martel, and Cutler Klein. Plus, the always fantastic duo for the Predators of Thomas Willis and Brooks Bratten.

Then, of course, all of the kind people who took the time at the Bridgestone Arena to come around, meet me, shake my hand, hug me, or simply say “thanks for what you do” or “nice to meet you” at all of the games this past week. Those who did it know who they are. Plus, even those who were on social media actively trying to find a way to track me down at a certain time to do so – it meant all the same. Thank you. And this is where the long version of this week’s story comes in.

When I came to Nashville for the first time last Summer I did it because I was very eager to work, get a drop on things at the Rookie Development Camp, and see some of the new faces that would be coming to Milwaukee later for the 2016-17 season. What I didn’t expect was to be so overwhelmed by such great people who wanted to meet me, introduce themselves, or just so much as gave a wave. It ended up really being one of the most heartwarming experiences in my life just because I legitimately am always the last person that I think about – at all times. Right now I am cringing at the subject matter of this post being on me. I by far and away prefer to leave myself at the byline. Yet, Nashville seems to simply be the place where I can’t ignore myself. And this past week I needed that same feeling.

On my personal side of social media I published a photo with a story regarding the #BellLetsTalk Day which centers around breaking the stigma of issues related to mental health and illness. I’ve lived exactly half of my life with depression and anxiety. It started when I was nearly kicked out of high school as a freshman due to poor grades and persists to this day as a result of the high level critic I’ve become of myself to push myself -hard- and be better than that kid that nearly blew it all away. I can’t buck it. I will always be my own worst enemy. I’m always at war in my own head against myself. And, for anyone who lives with depression, it isn’t a matter of defeating it completely but weathering storms. When I published that story I did so as a confession to those who might not have known that it is my life and it is my current life.

At the end of December I saw my seemingly endless fight for health care insurance go bust. I spent the entire start of this year’s season going from phone call after phone call and dead-end after dead-end trying to get health care renewed. But, flawed system or not, my application for BadgerCare was declined with no reason for it to have been and with no real hope for it to be resolved. It was at that point that I broke down and started seeing the one thing I felt I had left to keep me upright, this work that I love doing, was a point of futility. Those in this field do not do it for the money. They do it because the work alone is worth it. The job itself is such a blast and you are doing it with countless groups of individuals that make the job itself all the more satisfying. With my health care gone I felt smacked out of the dream-like euphoria of the work I loved doing and into the harsh reality day-to-day necessities. I started to fade away and into darkness.

This is my fifth season with the Milwaukee Admirals. I started as a communications intern in the 2012-13 season before moving into a media based role here on Admirals Roundtable. The quest for full-time work has been a failure with nothing more than my own hope guiding me. I’ve been chasing this dream since I was fourteen years old. When health care went bust reality had dawned and killed it. I was punched hard and slipped into a state of depression the likes of which I haven’t experienced in years.

I scheduled the trip to Nashville long in advance this season. It was a rare time when the NHL and AHL schedules opened up at the right time to be afforded a chance to shoot for it. I reached out to the right people and was all set. I knew some of what I was getting into thanks to the previous Summer trip. But I badly hoped for the same heartwarming feeling that Nashville provided had provided me then that trip. Nashville, you didn’t disappoint for a single second this past week.

I cannot express my gratitude enough to everyone who made this past week what it was for myself. For the past two months I’ve been in a fog. I badly needed a change of scenery to detach from myself. What Nashville gave me in bulk this week was its single greatest attribute: its people. There have been so many different walks of life that I’ve been fortunate enough to come across this week and each and everyone helped to get a smile back on my face. You all reminded me that I belong here. It means the absolute world to me. From the day I arrived here at Admirals Roundtable I knew full well that the term “thankless job” was going to come up an awful lot. Much like the individuals that I get to view in the AHL though I’m very much in my own process of making it to my NHL. It takes several sacrifices, hard nights, learning from mistakes, and such soul searching to bring out the best of yourself to accomplish getting there. I’m not there yet. It has been a long ride of not getting there and it hurts. It’s the AHL lifestyle that I identify on a personal level because I very much see my own highs and lows playing out daily. Yet, there is no greater feeling watching at a distance when someone gets that first career NHL call up. They earned it. They just saw countless years of work finally meet the goal that they have been working so hard for pay off. I had joked last week that this was my first career NHL recall. It wasn’t. But everyone around Nashville this week treated me as though it really was. And the fog finally lifted.

Nashville, from the bottom of my heart: thank you.

Daniel Lavender
Editor-in-Chief
Admirals Roundtable

Chatterbox, Scouting February 27, 2017

Catching Up with Miikka Salomäki

When you look at the 2016-17 season as a whole right now for the organization it feels like something is missing. Someone who can night in and night out provide great energy that sparks an entire group. Yes, Viktor Arvidsson is fantastic but before him there was the “bull in a china shop” named Miikka Salomäki. And he has had the worst luck imaginable this season.

Salomäki has appeared in only three games between the NHL and AHL this entire season. When the new campaign kicked off he broke his hand blocking a shot in only the Nashville Predators second game of the season. That forced him out of action for just shy of two months before he would get a chance to go on conditioning assignment and play with the Milwaukee Admirals. It took him just one period of hockey upon his return to be sidelined until this present time where he remains out due to a lower-body injury.

The Admirals were preparing to play a road game on 12/2/16 against the Cleveland Monsters and Salomäki injured himself in the game’s opening period while delivering a check. Much like his 2014-15 season, which saw him suffer two shoulder injuries with the last requiring season ending surgery, he just hasn’t had any good luck in 2016-17 at a time when he could be flourishing and being a hugely positive influence for the organization. It’s simply a shame.

What you appreciate with Salomäki is his relentless work rate on and off the ice. Even now, the soon to be 24-year old Finn looks more and more ready to make a return to game action this season. He has been routinely skating while rehabbing in Nashville. He is optimistic that this season hasn’t seen the last of him. And, must be said, the prospect of having a full healthy and fresh Salomäki when the season becomes a grind for the playoff push could be big for the organization.

If I had to say one of my favorite things about Salomäki it would be that, of all the players I’ve had the chance to follow in Milwaukee, he’s one I saw really grow away from the rink. Often times I think people overlook hockey players for the actual human beings that they are. Salomäki arrived to a brand new country with the dream of playing in the NHL but he needed to understand the English language, settle into a new country and city, and so many other mundane daily living activities that were different in his new surroundings – much less the transition from the European style game versus how it is played in North America.

Salomäki was astonishingly shy when he turned up to Milwaukee as a 20-year old. The language barrier was a real thing for him. Thankfully, the Admirals at the time did have a nice contingent of Finns for him to get help if he needed it: Joonas Järvinen and Joonas Rask. The more he was able to settle in off the ice the more he could simply apply his trade on the ice. And boy did he do that part great. After all, he was the Admirals leading scorer with 50 points (20 goals, 30 assists) in his first pro North American season.

In the times that Salomäki has played in the NHL he has shown the same endearing qualities that he did in Milwaukee in Nashville. He plays fierce, fearless, and can have the knack to get dirty goals around the net. He has contributed 11 points (6 goals, 5 assists) from 64 games in his NHL career to this point. The hope would be for one solid conditioning assignment to be coming up in the not too distant future, work the allotted fourteen consecutive days in the AHL, and then extend the NHL run for himself with the Predators. There is still so much more to Salomäki’s game that the NHL has yet to see.

Cheers to the Nashville Predators and Miikka Salomäki for providing me the time to hear from our ol’ Milwaukee Admirals player all grown up! To listen to every single installment of “Catching Up” you can listen to the entire playlist on SoundCloud.

Chatterbox, Feature February 27, 2017

Catching Up with Anthony Bitetto

I’m not sure there is a person I enjoyed talking about hockey more with than Mr. New Yorker himself, Anthony Bitetto. There is rarely a time when the 26-year old defenseman isn’t smiling or ready to make the people around him laugh. And, as great of a locker room presence as he is for a team, his on-ice ability is one that consistently improves each and every season that he plays.

It’s sad then that Bitetto’s real chance to have a breakout season this year was hindered by two injuries that sat him out for extended periods of time. It felt like he would be working the bottom defensive pairing for an already stacked Nashville Predators defensive group. That hasn’t worked out due to injury and seeing Matt Irwin rise back into the NHL scene after his 2016-17 campaign started in the AHL has pushed Bitetto down the pecking order somewhat.

It’s been rough luck for Bitetto this season. Not many other ways to look at how bad knocks have happened to stall what could have been a great opportunity to play for the Predators. Still, the chance to learn and benefit from the time in the NHL, healthy scratched or not, still exists. He played 23 games with the Cincinnati Cyclones in the ECHL. He has 186 career games of AHL experience as a member of the Admirals which has put him in a position to have played 53 games in the NHL. There is still plenty more for Predators fans to see of Bitetto. His time will come.

Cheers to the Nashville Predators and Anthony Bitetto for providing me the time to hear from our ol’ Milwaukee Admirals player all grown up! To listen to every single installment of “Catching Up” you can listen to the entire playlist on SoundCloud.

Chatterbox, Feature February 26, 2017

Catching Up with Calle Järnkrok

It doesn’t feel like Calle Järnkrok logged all that much time in the AHL. It also didn’t feel like his time as a member of the Milwaukee Admirals was all that long, either. It’s all true. Järnkrok played 72 career games in the AHL and the majority of that came when he was under the Detroit Red Wings organizational banner. He played a whopping total of 6 games when he was with the Admirals. Yet, in that small sample size, he showed every reason why the Nashville Predators acquired him.

Järnkrok’s time with the Admirals saw him produce 9 points (5 goals, 4 assists) in those 6 games. He looked skilled in all three areas of the ice and looked like someone who Admirals fans weren’t going to get to spend too much time with. He did return to the group for the playoffs that season and recorded a goal and an assist but, from then on, he was labeled for the NHL.

From the 2014-15 season and onward Järnkrok has seen continued strides in his overall game. This season he might be producing the best hockey of his career. He is already creeping up on last season’s scoring total for himself and is playing with plenty of confidence. And, why not? The 25-year old from Gävle, Sweden has already played 226 career games in the NHL. It seems that these last 12 games for the Predators he may have put all the pieces together and really found a groove: 11 points (6 goals, 5 assists).

Cheers to the Nashville Predators and Calle Järnkrok for providing me the time to hear from our ol’ Milwaukee Admirals player all grown up! Tomorrow morning we will release our last two installments of “Catching Up” with Anthony Bitetto and Miikka Salomäki.

Game Recaps February 25, 2017February 25, 2017

Winning Streak Snapped; Ads Lose 6-2

The Milwaukee Admirals lost 6-2 on the road against the Grand Rapids Griffins at the Van Andel Arena on Saturday night.

The Admirals four-game winning streak came to a thunderous end tonight in Grand Rapids. The push that the Griffins found late last night was evident in practically all sixty-minutes of tonight’s contest and the Admirals suffered. The focus now turns to the final two-legs of this four-game road trip which takes place in Charlotte starting Tuesday.

It appeared that the first period was playing out just as defensively sound as last night’s contest. That seemed to dissipate once the Admirals gave the Griffins a chance with an extended five-on-three power-play. Right as Pontus Åberg was exiting the box Matt Lorito tagged the back door drive of Martin Frk down the left wing for a shot past the glove of Marek Mazanec for his twentieth goal of the season and his career-high twelfth goal of the season scored on the power-play.

The Admirals’ first chance on the power-play tonight went bust and went bust hard. Mike Ribeiro turned the puck over as he was holding the right point into the path of Ben Street who flew off down the left wing on a shorthanded breakaway. Alex Carrier was trekking back defensively but Street’s shot snapped past the stick-side of Mazanec for a shorthanded goal and Street’s seventeenth goal of the season.

In the second period the Griffins would extend their lead to 3-0. Tyler Bertuzzi flipped a pass over to Dominic Turgeon who put a backhander in from the right wing bardown for his fifth goal of the season.

After failed power-play chances the Admirals did finally get one put together to break the Griffins run. A hammer shot by Trevor Murphy from the high left blueline whistled past the net front screen of Justin Kirkland and past Jared Coreau. The goal would officially be credited to Kirkland for his seventh goal of the season.

It took the Griffins a mere fourteen seconds to swiftly punch the Admirals in the gut with a response. Lorito broke around the left side of the cage and delivered a sneaky backhander that found a way through the left arm of Mazanec in net. The goal for Lorito was his fifteenth of the season and quickly restored the Griffins three-goal cushion to make it a 4-1 lead.

The rout would persist into the third period. Brian Lashoff cranked a shot from the left point that snapped down en route to the goal off the stick of Drew Miller for his second goal in the AHL this season.

As a four-on-three power-play for the Griffins was expiring the Griffins made it a 6-1 lead. Lorito put a puck towards the net that Mazanec mishandled and it suck through him to allow for the second goal of the contest by Lorito and his sixteenth goal of the season.

Jonas Gunnarsson would immediately enter in relief of Mazanec following the sixth goal allowed by the Admirals. Mazanec stopped 20/26 shots on goal tonight in 45:04 of work.

There would be another flash of the Admirals getting something positive accomplished on the night. Alex Carrier labeled a beautiful shot-pass from the right point that hit the back door camping Mike Ribeiro for his second goal with the Admirals to make it a 6-2 game.

The Admirals travel tomorrow to Charlotte where they will face the Charlotte Checkers Tuesday and Wednesday night at the Bojangles’ Coliseum. Both games take place at 6:00 PM CST. The Admirals return home next Saturday when the Manitoba Moose come to town.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals played last night there were no roster moves made by the organization. Tonight’s line combinations were: White-Smith-Åberg, Richard-Ribeiro-Gaudreau, Kirkland-Kamenev-Payerl, Florek-Army-Liambas, Oligny-Carrier, Murphy-Granberg, O’Brien-Dougherty. Tonight’s lone scratch was once again Adam Pardy who continues to recover following a compound fracture to his left arm. Pardy has now missed the last sixteen games.

What is your reaction to tonight’s effort for the Milwaukee Admirals? Is this a smack back into reality for the Admirals? Did the Grand Rapids Griffins at the very least expose the weaknesses and faults that the Admirals must clamp down in order to succeed down the stretch?

Chatterbox, Feature February 25, 2017

Catching Up with Juuse Saros

If you’re like me you find yourself every now and then forcing yourself to stop and think about a certain player to really appreciate just how good they are. Juuse Saros is one of those special types of talents. He arrived for his first professional season of North American hockey last year as a member of the Milwaukee Admirals in the AHL and never showed any signs of struggling to adapt to a brand new style of hockey. He was only 20-years old last season and made that leap look effortless. To put it bluntly. That doesn’t happen.

Saros is where he is now because that’s how good he is. It’s just that simple. He works so incredibly hard and puts tremendous amounts of time in away from the rink to hone in what he needs to do to be a success on the ice. The results as a member of the Admirals say enough about that. In his AHL career he went 42-10-0-0 from 53 career starts with a 2.13 goals against average, 0.924 save percentage, and 5 shutouts. That is an AHL career winning percentage of 79.2%.

You knew it was time for Saros to be given the nod with the Predators as a back-up when on 11/17/16 he earned a 35-save shutout for the Admirals in a 1-0 road victory over the Cleveland Monsters after having been stationary for just shy of two weeks without game action. That is how good, how prepared, and how mentally strong he already is as a 21-year old.

Saros now finds himself backing up a fellow Finn in Pekka Rinne. The two share a very great goaltending tandem relationship and one that extends away from the rink, as well. Rinne houses Saros as well as another Finn in the form of Miikka Salomäki. Rinne helps his young teammates out whenever he can and sets a great example of not only how to be a professional on the ice but off of it. For as talented as Saros is at such a young age having someone like Rinne around to assist in that respect could pay dividends for the years to come.

Cheers to the Nashville Predators and Juuse Saros for providing me the time to hear from our ol’ Milwaukee Admirals player all grown up! Based on fan voting tomorrow we’ll be hearing from Calle Järnkrok followed by Anthony Bitetto and Miikka Salomäki on Monday.

Game Recaps February 24, 2017February 25, 2017

White Knuckler; Ads Hold On For 5-3 Win in Grand Rapids

The Milwaukee Admirals won 5-3 on the road against the Grand Rapids Griffins at the Van Andel Arena on Friday night.

It is always a beautiful thing for the Admirals to escape the dreaded House of Horrors in Grand Rapids with a win but they ended up making this game far more terrifying than it had any right to be. The Admirals jumped to a 4-0 lead only to see the Griffins rally back with three third period goals. The game would get sealed with an Adam Payerl empty netter to finally relieve the tension to see the Admirals extend their winning streak to four games.

After a lackluster first period that saw mostly chances for the Griffins go begging things didn’t intensify until the next frame. Adam Payerl and Dan Renouf started the second period off with a scrap. There weren’t too many punches that clearly landed but the most obvious one that did was an over-hand right by Payerl. That’s enough to give him the win in my fight card, anyways.

Past the midway point in the contest the Admirals found the first breakthrough. Frédérick Gaudreau was racing down the slot with the puck which scattered back behind him where Anthony Richard popped a low shot to the net. Gaudreau continued his run and was able to get the rebound from Jared Coreau’s left pad save with a backhander to record his fourteenth goal of the season.

In the final minutes of the second period the Admirals added another tally to make it a 2-0 lead. Trevor Murphy was racing around the boards when he decided to push a puck towards the net front area from the left wing corner. Murphy’s shot appeared to hit off the leg of defenseman Brian Lashoff and everyone around the net lost sight of the puck. That is everyone except Justin Kirkland who was quick to poke the loose puck in for his sixth AHL goal of the season.

The hot run for Gaudreau would continue with a beauty of a goal for his second of the night. Richard was gliding down the left wing as Gaudreau was opposite wing with two defenders around them. Richard lofted a pass up towards the net and it looked like Coreau might get a glove to it but Gaudreau batted it out of mid-air to notch his fifteenth goal of the season.

Pontus Åberg then followed Gaudreau’s footsteps by tallying his fifteenth goal of the season, as well. Petter Granberg ripped a low shot from the right wing wall that kicked out for Matt White to go digging for a rebound. As it so happens that rebound opportunity ended up shifting to the left side of goal for Åberg to collect the goods and give the Admirals a 4-0 lead.

The Griffins would draw one back after getting 1:27 worth of five-on-three power-play time. Their approach was rather straight forward: shoot the puck. Eventually Matt Lorito setup a backdoor feed for Mitch Callahan from the low left wing for a one-timer that Marek Mazanec had little hope to stop. The goal was Callahan’s fourteenth scored this season.

The run for the Griffins would continue as Tomas Nosek flew around the endboards and dished a pass into the net front area where Martin Frk was able to get a one-timer off and then secure his own rebound to earn his nineteenth goal of the season.

It then shockingly became a one-goal game as the Griffins scored their third goal in the space of 5:35 of ice time to make it a 4-3 Admirals lead. Yevgeni Svechnikov appeared to vault Jack Dougherty from the back into Mazanec. In the scramble that followed Tyler Bertuzzi whipped a low backhander past the Czech netminder just as he was settling back into the cage. There was no fuss made for goaltender interference and it isn’t even reviewable in the AHL. That meant Bertuzzi had himself his ninth goal of the season.

The ending was a bizarre one. The Admirals had a power-play with 3:14 remaining in regulation. As that was starting to roll along Trevor Smith would tangle up slightly with former Admirals defenseman Conor Allen who proceeded to throw right haymakers to the face of the Admirals captain. The resulting penalties saw the Admirals go on a two-man advantage and Allen exit with a misconduct.

It would have been nice for the Admirals to treat the resulting five-on-three power-play like exactly what it is but they instead proceeded to play a game of keep away. The Griffins killed the penalty off and then had the chance in a one-goal game to go empty net and extra attacker to push in the dying seconds for overtime. Thankfully Adam Payerl helped to see that not be the case as his empty netter would result in the final score to make it a 5-3 Admirals win in Grand Rapids tonight. Payerl has now set a career high this season in points scored in the AHL with thirty and his empty netter matched his career high goal total from a season ago with his thirteenth.

Tomorrow night the Admirals are back in action, same time and same place, against these very same Griffins. I suspect that the “rest vs. rust” factor will be a non-issue as they lock horns tomorrow so the Admirals are going to need to do a bit better job knuckling down for a win than they did at the end of this contest. It was far closer than it needed to be.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played on Sunday there were no roster moves made by the organization. Tonight’s line combinations were: White-Smith-Åberg, Richard-Ribeiro-Gaudreau, Kirkland-Kamenev-Payerl, Florek-Army-Liambas, Oligny-Carrier, Murphy-Granberg, O’Brien-Dougherty. Tonight’s lone scratch was Adam Pardy who missed his fifteenth straight game after suffering a compound fracture to his left arm. Mike Ribeiro recorded three assists in tonight’s contest. The last three-games that the Admirals won in Grand Rapids came with the Griffins starting goaltender in on a conditioning assignment.

What is your reaction to tonight’s game? Did the Milwaukee Admirals get a solid result tonight with this win over the Grand Rapids Griffins or did that finish take some of the edge off? What will the Admirals need to do tomorrow to slow down the attack of the Griffins that almost saw a 4-0 lead evaporate late tonight?

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