The AHL has just announced every team’s choice for the IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year. This year’s choice from the Milwaukee Admirals is defenseman Jimmy Oligny who now can be considered a nominee for the 2015-16 Yanick Dupre Memorial Award.
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … The American Hockey League announced today the individual team winners of the IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year awards, selected by their respective clubs for their outstanding contributions to the local community and charitable organizations during the 2015-16 season.
From this list of finalists, representatives from IOA/American Specialty and the AHL will choose the winner of the 2015-16 Yanick Dupre Memorial Award. The AHL’s annual Man of the Year award is named after the late Yanick Dupre, who died in 1997 at the age of 24 following a 16-month battle with leukemia. Dupre, an AHL All-Star in 1995, played four seasons with the Hershey Bears and also skated in 35 National Hockey League games with the Philadelphia Flyers.
This year’s winners of the IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year awards are:
Dan Kelly, Albany Devils (3rd-time winner)
Matthew Ford, Bakersfield Condors (2nd)
Zack Stortini, Binghamton Senators (2nd)
Matt Carkner, Bridgeport Sound Tigers (6th)
Kyle Hagel, Charlotte Checkers (6th)
Pat Cannone, Chicago Wolves (1st)
Tom McCollum, Grand Rapids Griffins (3rd)
Chris Summers, Hartford Wolf Pack (1st)
Nathan Walker, Hershey Bears (1st)
Kurtis Gabriel, Iowa Wild (1st)
Ryan Craig, Lake Erie Monsters (2nd)
Davis Drewiske, Lehigh Valley Phantoms (3rd)
Josh Morrissey, Manitoba Moose (1st)
Jimmy Oligny, Milwaukee Admirals (1st)
Sean Backman, Ontario Reign (1st)
Shane Harper, Portland Pirates (2nd)
Brandon DeFazio, Providence Bruins (4th)
Patrick Kaleta, Rochester Americans (2nd)
Michael Leighton, Rockford IceHogs (1st)
Zach Fucale, St. John’s IceCaps (1st)
Ben Street, San Antonio Rampage (1st)
Joe Piskula, San Diego Gulls (1st)
Ryan Carpenter, San Jose Barracuda (1st)
Domenic Monardo, Springfield Falcons (1st)
Bryce Van Brabant, Stockton Heat (1st)
Mike Angelidis, Syracuse Crunch (1st)
Derek Hulak, Texas Stars (2nd)
Andrew Campbell, Toronto Marlies (4th)
Carter Bancks, Utica Comets (2nd)
Will O’Neill, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (2nd)
The winner of the 2015-16 Yanick Dupre Memorial Award will be announced at a later date.
Chances are, if you’ve been to an Admirals event within the community, Oligny was there. He’s one of the more active members of the team in giving back to the local community and Admirals fans. He takes part in the Milwaukee Admirals reading program and always just seems to be around whenever the team is conducting an event. When the organization made the announcement that they would be moving to the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena he was one of the few active players to make a point to be on-hand as part of the present and future iterations. He’s always seemingly in a great mood and, to me, is the heart and soul of the Admirals now famed French Fries group alongside Frédérick Gaudreau and Félix Girard. And, as noted in Fifteen, Oligny is a tremendous family man.
The marathon month of March came to an end on a very positive note for the Milwaukee Admirals. Their 4-1 win over the Grand Rapids Griffins gave them an extra bit of wiggle room at the top of the Central Division and saw the Admirals extend their current point streak to seven-games. Quite an impressive finish when you consider that this month was tied with December for the most amount of games played within a month this season at fourteen games.
For all the constant movement, travel, and -oh yeah.. games- the Admirals level of consistency during both marathon months were outstanding. In December the Admirals went 9-5-0-0. In March the Admirals went 9-3-0-2. Both featured a point streak of five or more games and certain key individuals really standing out from the group. December was really the Frédérick Gaudreau breaking out party as he produced 12 points (4 goals, 8 assists) while operating in the then absent Colton Sissons top center role. When looking at March another name stands out as well.
With fourteen games in March, and two back-to-back weekends of three games in three days, the work load in net for the Admirals was going to be grinding. It’s pivotal that the Admirals goaltending duo works as well as they do because it allows the team to not drive one into the ground during a month as hefty as March was. Both did their part really well. But this might just have been the best month of hockey that young Juuse Saros has put together in his first season of North American pro hockey. And it’s for that reason that he gets my nod for Admiral of the Month for March.
In March, Saros took eight of the Admirals fourteen games in net and responded with a 7-1-0-0 record, 1.61 goals against average, 0.936 save percentage, and 2 shutouts. Every game this month he has looked composed and played so smoothly in net that it calmed a lot of games down. There were games in which he actually played so well that the focus was less on him and more on what was simply going on in front of him. The win over the Griffins that ended the month of March was that type of performance. He was in control at all times. He helped bring the pace of the game in the Admirals favor by making smart plays with the puck – either gloving it down to get the whistle or making stops behind the net. It’s something that might get taken for granted as you’re watching the game play out but, when the final horn sounds, it adds up a lot to where the result came to.
As it stands today, Saros currently leads nearly all major goaltending categories as it pertains to rookie goaltenders in the AHL this season: goals against average (2.22 – which is good for fourth best in the entire league), save percentage (0.920 – which is eighth best in the entire league), and wins (24 – which has him seventh amongst all goaltenders in the league). The lone exception among rookie goaltending stats that alludes Saros comes in the form of Tristan Jarry (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins) who has one more shutout than Saros has. If you want to include “minutes” as one of those, alright fair enough, Saros trails: Eric Comrie (Manitoba Moose), Zachary Fucale (St. John’s IceCaps), Niklas Treutle (Springfield Falcons), Chris Driedger (Binghamton Senators), and Maxime Lagacé (Texas Stars).
There sure were plenty of great performers in front of the net. No doubt about that. But, the more I reviewed a lot of what everyone did I kept thinking back to how solid Saros really was for the Admirals in March. I feel ashamed to admit this but he really did play so smoothly this month that I probably overlooked how well he played – as he played – and just figured he was going to deliver as he had been. That’s just how good Saros has been this past month. He’s been so consistent and sharp that you’re not surprised by him delivering the way that he is.
Admirable Mentions: Kevin Fiala, 14 points (6 goals, 8 assists)… Pontus Åberg, 13 points (5 goals, 8 assists)… Taylor Aronson, 11 points (0 goals, 11 assists)… Max Görtz, 9 points (5 goals, 4 assists)… Matt White, 8 points (3 goals, 5 assists)… Vladislav Kamenev, 7 points (4 goals, 3 assists)… Marek Mazanec, 6 starts (2-2-0-2 record, 2.11 goals against average, 0.918 save percentage)… and a worthy mention to the non-statistically inclined but defensively sound group of the French Fries (Jimmy Oligny, Félix Girard, and Frédérick Gaudreau) and Cody Bass for countless great plays in the defensive zone or on the penalty kill.
~Admiral of the Month Award~
October: Félix Girard November: Viktor Arvidsson December: Frédérick Gaudreau January: Marek Mazanec February: Colton Sissons March: Juuse Saros
Who do you feel was the Milwaukee Admirals top performer during the month of March? Was it Juuse Saros, Kevin Fiala, or someone else? Answer in the comment section below.
During last night’s Nashville Predators game Ryan Ellis was injured and did not return. With one right handed shot down topside it opens the door for the now influx of right handed shooting defensemen that the Milwaukee Admirals to help out at the NHL level. The man that the Predators have pegged for this assignment will be Stefan Elliott who tonight has been recalled under emergency conditions.
Nashville, Tenn. (March 30, 2016) – Nashville Predators President of Hockey Operations/General Manager David Poile announced Wednesday that the club has recalled defenseman Stefan Elliott from Milwaukee (AHL) under emergency conditions. He will wear No. 7 for the club.
Elliott, 25 (1/30/91), has 24 points (8g-16a) in 82 career NHL contests with Colorado and Arizona since the 2011-12 season. Prior to being acquired by the Predators on Jan. 15, the 6-foot-1, 190-pound blueliner notched six points (2g-4a) in 19 games with the Coyotes, and since the trade, he has 17 points (6g-11a) in 29 AHL games with the Admirals. Colorado’s third selection, 49th overall (second round), in the 2009 Entry Draft was a 2015 AHL All-Star, the 2011 recipient of the Bill Hunter Trophy as the WHL’s top defenseman and the 2009 CHL Scholastic Player of the Year while with the Saskatoon Blades.
The Nashville Predators can clinch a spot in the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs on Thursday night when they face off against the Pittsburgh Penguins at CONSOL Energy Center (6 p.m. on FOX Sports Tennessee; 102.5 The Game). Thursday’s broadcast will highlight the emerging partnership between the Nashville Predators and the YWCA in the quest to end domestic violence through the MEND initiative. The broadcast will shed light on some alarming statistics concerning domestic violence and introduce the platform of MEND, which is to make Nashville the safest city in the United States for women and girls.
Elliott was acquired by the Predators in what effectively became a three-team trade. Elliott was playing with the Arizona Coyotes at the time. The Coyotes received Victor Bartley who was then shipped along with John Scott, of 2016 NHL All-Star Game fame, to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for Jarred Tinordi and Stefan Fournier.
Since joining the Predators organization Elliott’s existence has been in the AHL with the Admirals. Prior to the trade he had spent the entirety of his 2015-16 season playing with the Coyotes in the NHL where he played in 19 games and produced 6 points (2 goals, 4 assists). In his career he has logged 82 games of NHL experience having also played a part as a member of the Colorado Avalanche from 2011-15. In his NHL career he has 24 points (8 goals, 16 assists) and a plus/minus rating of -5 with 16 penalty minutes.
As a member of the Admirals, Elliott’s reintroduction to life in the AHL was actually a rather amusing one given the first two teams that he played against. Elliott’s first game as an Admiral came in San Antonio where he faced his old teammates that he played alongside the years prior when the Avalanche’s AHL affiliate was the Lake Erie Monsters before moving shop to the San Antonio Rampage organization. After that series the Admirals then played against the Monsters in Elliott’s old stomping grounds of Cleveland.
Elliott’s entry to the team, along with Patrick Mullen who was acquired a day prior to Elliott from the Ottawa Senators organization in exchange for Conor Allen, was a signal of a a restructuring of the defense to have three lefties and three righties. This balance is something the Admirals really haven’t experienced under the reign of Dean Evason as a head coach as Taylor Aronson has been one of the lone righties in the system from last season up until these two trades took place. Since, the team actually added another right handed defenseman in Corey Potter to make the right-handed defensemen split overwhelm the left-handed side. This has seen the likes of Elliott and Mullen actually sharing a defensive partnership in recent games with Elliott operating as the left-side defenseman.
Elliott has played in 29 games for the Admirals since his arrival in mid-January. He has 17 points (6 goals, 11 assists) which includes scoring 5 power-play goals. His first goal that wasn’t scored on the power-play came last night when the Admirals beat the Grand Rapids Griffins 4-1. He has a plus/minus rating of +12 with the Admirals which is currently the best among all defensemen on the roster. He also has totaled 14 penalty minutes.
Let your voices be heard, Milwaukee! (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
If last night’s 4-1 win from the Milwaukee Admirals over the Grand Rapids Griffins wasn’t enough of a feel good “huzzah” type moment as you left the BMO Harris Bradley Center last night I’m going to try and guide you to what I felt was even bigger than the result itself. Because it’s not so much the win itself as much as it was the manner in which the Admirals earned the win that left me feeling giddy.
(Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
One of the real strong character traits that the 2015-16 Admirals team has displayed throughout this season has been the exact same problem that overwhelmed them in 2014-15. During momentum shifts in games, or when the pressure builds up and an opponent starts getting more of the kind bounces going there way, this Admirals team stays within itself and sticks together. It hasn’t mattered who was in the lineup, who was called up, who was injured, or who was in net – the team shows up and competes hard. Last night’s game had a poor start. The Griffins had the better jump to their game and three power-play chances in the first period alone – including an extended five-on-three power-play. The Admirals battled through the first two penalty kills. The second penalty kill, in particular, was an igniter for the team to get the wave of pressure from the Griffins to stop dead. Frédérick Gaudreau and Félix Girard were at the end of their shifts when Gaudreau got a clearance and Girard raced down, won the puck, powered towards the front of the net, and earned a penalty against the Griffins to end the power-play. The abbreviated power-play that followed was nothing special but the full-length chance that came afterwards was.
(Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
This is where the next big momentum shift came into the mix. Adam Payerl was called for a slashing minor. On the penalty kill Jimmy Oligny clocked Mitch Callahan along the boards in the low right wing. It was a big hit. It seemed harmless enough and clean. But the call was made immediately. Oligny was handed a boarding minor. The Griffins were down 1-0 but had an instant chance to equalize or even take the lead thanks to 1:09 worth of five-on-three power-play. Spoiler: that didn’t happen. The Admirals initial five-on-three penalty kill group was Cody Bass, Vladislav Kamenev, and Taylor Aronson. The two forwards were cruising to control the angles. Aronson was incredible to watch the amount of movement, laying down to negate passes across the crease to the back post, and racing back to his feet so he could set up shop on the opposite post to do it all over again. The first period ended with the Admirals having an attacking zone face-off on that penalty kill and they would finish the rest of Payerl and Oligny’s penalties at the start of the second period. The Admirals penalty kill went a perfect five-for-five last night. After having the poor first period where they made frequent trips to the box – there were no Griffins power-plays in the second period. The Griffins next power-play wouldn’t come until they were down 4-1 6:59 into the third period.
(Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
That brings us to the next huge element to last night’s game which was the third period. The Admirals had a 2-0 lead reduced to a goal after Andy Miele‘s rocket wrister stuck a puck into the netting. As far as the scoring momentum goes. As far as the season history goes. The Griffins should have been the ones feeling confident that they could enter the third period, level the score at 2-2, and take the game to the Admirals as they have throughout this season. The Admirals opted to blitz the Griffins with a goal inside of thirty-seconds of the third period from Stefan Elliott. That level of deflation from the Griffins, combined with a skilled piece of pressure defense by Pontus Åberg to generate an awful turnover from Martin Frk to give Max Reinhart a breakaway and his team leading twentieth goal of the season only 1:12 of ice time following Elliott’s goal, was curtains.
(Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
This is the last and possibly most impressive part to last night’s game: the finish. The Admirals had those opening two-goals out of the gate for the third period, sure, but they shut the door on the Griffins. It’s around this point when the Admirals defense, and Juuse Saros in net, came to the forefront. The Grffins outshot the Admirals 10-9 in the final frame, and 29-28 in the contest, but the Admirals kept them quiet and only allowed one slick piece of speed and skill to get the better of them. Saros made twenty-eight saves, looked very composed once again, didn’t allow poor rebounds, made smart decisions to freeze the puck and get a defensive zone face-off for Girard or Bass to deal with, and made one of the more highly important games of the Admirals season to date look like it was easier than I’m sure it really was. That’s a credit to him and the defense playing in front of him. I refer you to all take a good look at that photo of Saros even more closely. That was the Admirals doing to the Griffins as the Griffins usually did to the Admirals. Clear out the net, force low quality scoring chances from deep in the zone, and allow the goaltender to make the save.
The Admirals are playing playoff hockey right now. Simple as that. They’ve not been doing anything flashy or put themselves into a track meet type of contest. They’ve been sound defensively which has allowed for better chances at the other end of the rink and the offense is finding ways to generate goals from many different contributors. This is what I was seeing out of the Admirals in that game last night which left me feeling all sorts of giddy on the way out of the building. It was played like a playoff game. The Griffins are as solid of a team as you’ll find in the AHL’s Western Conference. The Admirals came out in the third period and took it to them offensively and defensively. I’d consider that your playoff test run and a successful one at that. I cannot wait for playoff hockey to begin.
~Chatterbox~
After the game I had the chance to speak with Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason as well as Aronson and Åberg. Here is what they had to say following last night’s win over the Griffins.
Comments on the comments? It hasn’t been clinched yet, but, let’s think 2016 AHL Calder Cup Playoffs for a moment. Who do you feel are the main threats coming out of the Western Conference that could give the Milwaukee Admirals troubles in the playoffs? Would there be a certain team that you wouldn’t want to face in the opening round or would there be one you think would be better to face right away?
Taylor Aronson was everywhere on the ice tonight. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
The Milwaukee Admirals won 4-1 against the Grand Rapids Griffins Tuesday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.
“It’s one game,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason after the game. “Clearly we know where we’re at, the group knows where they’re at, and it was an important game. But we didn’t approach it any differently that any other game.”
In this showdown of the top two teams in the Central Division things were rather tight through two period of play. The score at the start of the third period was 2-1 with the Griffins having scored the last goal in the contest. In the opening 1:39 of the third period the Admirals raced out to score a pair of goals that would see them through to the finish line. The Admirals point streak is now up to seven-games. The Griffins losing streak is now up to four-games.
“Real happy the way we competed,” said Evason. “We did a lot of real good things in order to give ourselves a chance to have success.”
Despite a slow start the Admirals appeared to find their groove after a great play on the penalty kill by Félix Girard earned a penalty against the Griffins and changed momentum. The Admirals wouldn’t cash in on their abbreviated power-play chance that Girard provided but would on their first crack at a full-length power-play opportunity.
Martin Frk went to the box for a holding minor that took place in the Griffins attacking zone. Setting his sights from the right wing circle was Vladislav Kamenev and his slap shot buzzed through traffic, and Jared Coreau in net, to record his thirteenth goal of the season and provide the Admirals with an early lead.
The Admirals ended the first period on an extended five-on-three penalty kill. Adam Payerl sat down in the penalty box for slashing and he would be accompanied by Jimmy Oligny after a boarding minor against Mitch Callahan which put the Griffins on a 1:09 long five-on-three power-play. Taylor Aronson was laying out repeatedly in front of Juuse Saros to negate back-post passes from in-close and the Admirals were able to survive the rest of the opening stanza with a 1-0 lead. At the start of the second period, they took care of the last six-seconds of the two man advantage for the Griffins and the final fifty-one seconds of Oligny’s penalty to get out of an early jam.
“We had a lot of kills in the first,” said Pontus Åberg after the game. “That sucks for us guys that are not playing on the penalty kill but the guys did a good job out there and kept them from scoring. That was huge for us.”
After being part of a great penalty kill Aronson decided to add yet another primary assist to his night by helping see Matt White reach double-digits for goals this season. Aronson raced around the boards from the right wing and, just before he was about to wrap around the net, delivered a pass to the tape of White for a one-timer that Coreau never saw coming.
“We talked about it right before the draw,” said Taylor Aronson of the set play off the face-off. “We talked about where to go and made it work. Luckily it worked out.”
The Griffins were able to respond quickly to White’s tenth goal of the season. 2:22 of ice-time elapsed saw Mark Zengerle tag Any Miele to his opposite wing to give the Griffins leading points scorer add to his total. Miele’s wrister from the left wing circle was blistered into the top shelf past Saros’ glove side. So much so, the officials had quite a bit of trouble retrieving the puck that wound up getting stuck in the netting from Miele’s fifteenth goal of the season.
A mere twenty-seven seconds into the third period and the Admirals re-established their two-goal lead. Stefan Elliott hopped up from the blue line, faked out Eric Tangradi, and proceeded to fling a wrist shot through traffic for his sixth goal of the season and his first being scored not on an Admirals power-play.
Things went from bad to worse for the Griffins third period start. Pontus Åberg forced a really bad turnover out of Martin Frk and it sent Max Reinhart off on a breakaway where he dusted off Coreau with a backhander over the glove to score his twentieth goal of the season. The goals from Elliott and Reinhart were scored 1:12 apart from one another.
“Our group has been resilient,” commented Evason of the Admirals coming back strongly to start the third period. “That’s something that has been a real positive for us. When we’ve had situations where we could possibly have a let down we’ve been able to find something. Maybe it’s not even a goal. Maybe it’s a penalty kill – a momentum swing. Certainly a key factor is our leadership group.”
Ramblings: Prior to the start of tonight’s game the Milwaukee Admirals announced that they had signed goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris to a PTO contract to serve as an emergency back-up with Marek Mazanec out of the lineup. Tonight’s line combinations were: Reinhart-Gaudreau-Åberg, Murphy-Kamenev-Payerl, White-Girard-Görtz, Devane-Bass-Pendenza, Elliott-Mullen, Oligny-Potter, Näkyvä-Aronson. Tonight’s Scratches: Kevin Fiala (suspended by team for a violation of team rules), Cody Hodgson (upper-body), Marek Mazanec (undisclosed), and Johan Alm (lower-body).
Thought’s on tonight’s game? Seeing this level of a performance against the Grand Rapids – what do you currently think of these Milwaukee Admirals? How important was this win against the Griffins for the race to win a division title?
This entire season has had a running story in the background. The story read like a question that was asked in louder and louder tones of voice as the season dragged on. Will Jimmy Vesey, the Nashville Predators third round selection in the 2012 NHL Draft, sign? The answer to that question came last night and it was an emphatic no.
There are several places to read about all things Vesey and the Predators’ General Manager David Poile‘s response to the news. For things specific to that I’d say they should be rather easy to find via search. That news story is really all for the Nashville media to pick to pieces on-site and I’m sure, in the days to come, there will be more reactions and opinions made from Vesey’s decision to opt for free agency rather than sign with the Predators.
This story isn’t about Vesey as much as it is why a person in my position hasn’t really cared too much about the question, “will Vesey sign?” It’s not that I don’t care about him as a prospect or person. Far from it. He’s had a tremendous collegiate career and I feel that his decision to enjoy a full college experience and earn a degree is something that more people should actually be applauding him for. Where my lack of caring comes in is quite simple. My eyes are always gazing at the Predators prospect talent pool and, considering Vesey wasn’t under contract in the first place, that pool’s depth hasn’t been decreased. It’s deep. It’s young. And it gets better with every draft class.
Playing for the Milwaukee Admirals right now there are currently ten players, who I would deem prospects, that I would have no problem saying they could play in the NHL tomorrow if they were absolutely needed. Amazingly, one of those players isn’t even under contract to the Predators but rather the Admirals on an AHL contract for the next two-seasons. That list, in no particular order, goes as follows: Kevin Fiala, Frédérick Gaudreau, Vladislav Kamenev, Max Görtz, Pontus Åberg, Félix Girard, Jimmy Oligny, Taylor Aronson, Marek Mazanec, and Juuse Saros.
For those that don’t know – the man under contract to the Admirals, not the Predators, that is on that list is the shutdown defenseman Oligny.
All of those players I feel could go up, log a game, and perform well. There is a rather good reason for that, too. They’ve been in the system already this season, for some even longer, and can make the transition rather seamlessly. It’s something that has made the moves up for players such as Austin Watson, Miikka Salomäki, Anthony Bitetto, Viktor Arvidsson, and Colton Sissons feel like the evolution in their developmental process that it really should be. They’ve absorbed Predators hockey already. They’ve performed it at the AHL level. And now they’re stretching their legs and warming up in Predators gold. If it sounds familiar at all it is because the Predators have made something of a process out of their developmental and roster organization throughout the years. The Predators roster right now features fourteen players who spent significant time at the AHL level before being familiar names to the NHL circuit. It’s how they’ve operated for years: draft, develop, and promote from within.
What many seem to lose sight of in the mystique factor of having Vesey enter the Predators fold, only to seemingly lose him via free agency now, is that it doesn’t lessen the current team in Nashville nor the future team in the years to come.
The Predators 4-3 loss to the Colorado Avalanche last night was just their third regulation loss from their last twenty-two games. They’re doing fine. The Admirals are currently leading the AHL’s Central Division, have the most points (87) in the AHL’s Western Conference, and are tied with their opponent tonight -the Grand Rapids Griffins- for the most wins (41) in the AHL’s Western Conference. The Admirals are doing fine. And, not to sound harsh or nasty because it isn’t the intent when I say it, but this has all happened without Vesey on either team.
A look even further down the road has more and more prospects on the radar. There are currently four players under contract to the Predators playing junior hockey right now: Yakov Trenin, Alexandre Carrier, Anthony Richard, and Jack Dougherty. There are also several names drafted by the Predators who have been enjoying great 2015-16 seasons at the moment that have yet to sign entry level contracts: Justin Kirkland, Aaron Irving, and Janne Juvonen. The future wave of prospects will only make the Predators and the Admirals continue to operate at the high rate of success that they have.
A season ago, the Predators didn’t even have a first round draft choice. That pick was packaged alongside Brendan Leipsic to the Toronto Maple Leafs in one of those “we’re going all in” trades that failed. The lesson of that scenario was learned from and the Predators made a massive trade by acquiring Ryan Johansen from the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for Seth Jones. The move was made long in advance of the NHL Trade Deadline and, on that day, the lone trade the Predators made was one that was specifically aimed at bolstering the Admirals defense. Should Vesey had told the Predators organization in advance of the NHL Trade Deadline that he would be testing free agency would that have been the case? Would the Predators have traded more future assets in an effort to rent a booster to the current campaign? And, if that happened, who is to say the exact same unfortunate failure of last season wouldn’t be playing out once again now?
The current state of things is great right where it is across the organization. It really is. One player entering, leaving, or never joining doesn’t quite rattle that.
This past weekend in the AHL featured the first team from the Western Conference clinch a playoff spot. The Ontario Reign, who are part of the Californian contingent set to play eight-less games than the rest of the league, locked up their spot in the playoffs and have a 0.692 points percentage. Right behind them are the two sides locking horns tonight in Milwaukee.
~Central Division Showdown~
The Grand Rapids Griffins enter tonight’s game with a record of 41-23-1-1 (84 points). Their 0.636 points percentage is 0.013 less than the Central Division leading Milwaukee Admirals. If you’re wondering about how things can play out tonight they go as follows:
A Griffins regulation win tonight would push them into first place via points percentage over the Admirals by 0.002. A Griffins win in overtime would keep the Admirals in first place via points percentage by 0.005. An Admirals win in overtime stretches their lead over the Griffins via points percentage by 0.020. And an Admirals regulation win pushes their lead up via points percentage by 0.030.
In any version of this narrative these two teams can’t fall further than second place as the stationary Rockford IceHogs hold a points percentage of 0.621 at the moment and the lowest possible scenario would be the Griffins losing in regulation and falling to a 0.627 points percentage. …once again, I wish this year’s AHL standings could have been sponsored by Texas Instruments.
Effectively, this game marks a quality chance for the Admirals to get some legitimate breathing space for themselves by taking down the second placed Griffins in their last meeting of the regular season. After this game the Admirals have eight-games left in the 2015-16 season and three-games at home. The Griffins will have nine-games remaining following this game and also have three-games left at home.
Let’s look at the, as I’ll casually call it, strength of schedule using the combined points percentage of the opponents both will be facing en route to the finish line (points percentage based on this morning’s totals). The Admirals opponents in their final eight-games have a combined points percentage of 0.509. The Griffins opponents in their final nine-games have a combined points percentage of 0.555, If the added road games for the Griffins won’t be tricky enough, where they have a far lesser record of 17-13-0-1 on road games this season, the opponents they get along that path are going to make things even harder. Which, again, is something that makes tonight’s game for the Admirals all the more important to get further breathing space for themselves against the Griffins.
~Streakers~
If there is anything to best describe the Griffins 2015-16 season it would simply be to call them streakers. You kids in the back of the classroom can giggle all you want but it’s just how they’ve been.
Their season started with a four-game losing streak. In fact, the start to their season in general was a misery. In their first eleven-games they went 2-8-0-1 before exploding for a franchise record fifteen-game winning streak. After that things seemed to be balanced until stumbling for a spell of seven straight losses to end the month of January. That balanced back out and then the Griffins went back on a massive tear from February 20th up until March 19th where they won thirteen straight games to become the second AHL team in the last twenty-five years to record two winning streaks of ten-games or more. The other team to accomplish that feat was the 2009-10 Hershey Bears. During the Griffins most recent thirteen-game winning streak they outscored opponents 55-17 and posted a total of four shutouts.
What have the Griffins done since that streak came to an end? Well, amusingly and perhaps ironically, they ran into the San Antonio Rampage buzz-saw (that was sarcasm) and then lost to the Lake Erie Monsters. That’s right. The Griffins are now on a three-game losing streak. They lost all three-games in regulation. And, going back to the sarcasm, were clean swept by the Rampage in the season series having lost all four-games to them in regulation and had a shutout streak held against them in that series that lasted 171:56 of ice time over the course of three-games.
So what went wrong in those last three-games for the Griffins? Well, I think it’s a simple one. The opposition was able to actually match the Griffins offensive push while the Griffins were simply unable to finish more of their shots to the net. The Griffins posted 33.3 shots on goal per game while allowing 33.7 shots on goal per game. Compare that to their season series against the Admirals where they have averaged 31.0 shots on goal per game, allowed 27.7 shots on goal per game, and have a record of 5-2-0-0 as a result. When the Griffins are at their best they are forcing teams wide on offense, blocking long range perimeter shots, and keeping the ice tilted. That’s not been happening out of their latest massive winning streak which has them on a bit of a lull.
~Who What Now?~
When these two teams last met Anthony Mantha was the main man in the spotlight. The Griffins won 4-1 with Mantha recording the first hat trick of his professional playing career and added an assist for good measure. Good news? He’s currently playing at the NHL level with the Detroit Red Wings so that hammer shot won’t be available for the Griffins tonight. Bad news? They have plenty of other options.
The Griffins goal differential this season is +51 (211 goals forced, 160 goals allowed). That is the second best in the AHL this season behind the Toronto Marlies +89 (262 goals forced, 173 goals allowed).
The Admirals top two scorers this season are: Kevin Fiala, 43 points (16 goals, 27 assists… and Max Görtz, 42 points (16 goals, 26 assists). Those are the only two Admirals at the 40 point plateau. The Griffins, with Mantha included, have five players at or above the 40 point plateau.
The Grffins leading scorer right now is Andy Miele who has 52 points (14 goals, 38 assists) in 66 games. He is followed closely by Eric Tangradi who has 50 points (25 goals, 25 assists) in 60 games. Tangradi’s play within the Red Wings organization this season recently earned him a two-year contract extension. Behind them is the team’s leading goal scorer Martin Frk – who has 40 points (26 goals, 14 assists) in 57 games – and the Griffins second best assist getter on the team Mark Zengerle – who has 40 points (6 goals, 34 assists) in 63 games.
In net the Griffins main man has been Jared Coreau who has had an incredible season: 43 appearances, 29-11-2-1 record, 2.23 goals against average, 0.929 save percentage, and 6 shutouts. Coreau is tied with Yann Danis of the Albany Devils for the second most shutouts in the AHL this season. Both trail Peter Budaj of the Ontario Reign by a pair of shutouts. Coreau also stacks up very high across the league leaders in the AHL this season in other categories: second most wins, the third best goals against average and save percentage, and the fifth most saves made and minutes logged in net.
~Ending with Reflection and Perspective~
This season’s head-to-head between the Admirals and Griffins happened to have featured one of the more frightening moments of the hockey season. On 1/8/16 in Grand Rapids, forward Alden Hirschfeld suffered a seizure on the Griffins bench. The game was delayed for a good while as medics attended to him and the 28-year old was stretchered off the ice.
For those wondering what has happened to Hirschfeld since that incident he has opted for and underwent brain surgery on 3/14/16 to correct a malformation. He has since tweeted out a message, along with a particularly gruesome photo of the surgery, in which he stated he was finally feeling a little better.
With this being the final game against the Griffins this season I feel the need to extend my best well wishes to Hirschfeld. I hope that this surgery was a success and that he is able to continue on participating in the game that he loves. I encourage you all to send him a lovely “Get Well Soon” tweet to him on Twitter: @AldenHirschfeld.
Expectations for tonight’s game? How will this game play out? How crucial do you feel tonight’s game is for the Milwaukee Admirals to win if they are to claim their first division title since the 2010-11 season?
The 2015-16 season is the Milwaukee Admirals fifteenth season as members of the American Hockey League (AHL). At the moment they stand in first place of the Central Division through sixty-seven games with a record of 41-21-3-2 (87 points) and have the second best record based on points percentage in the Western Conference.
Around this time a season ago things weren’t all that great. A calendar year ago the Admirals record was 32-25-6-5 (75 points) and it was trending downwards – fast. The Admirals record in March, through today’s date, was a woeful 3-8-2-1. Jump ahead to present day and the Admirals one-year later have a 8-3-0-2 record in the month of March with things trending very steadily in the upright position.
During this past month one of the real bright spots has come in the form of the line combination of Kevin Fiala, Vladislav Kamenev, and Adam Payerl. This group has been paired together for the last twelve games and, during that time, have a combined 24 points (11 goals, 13 assists). It’s funny to think, through all the roster moves and permutations that an AHL season provides, that over such a long period of time this line reformed. They were paired together all the way back on 10/20/15 when the Admirals won their first game of this season. After that, it wasn’t until 3/3/16 when all three were placed together again after many different variations of one playing with one or the other. In particular, the 2014 NHL Draft duo of Fiala and Kamenev have been paired together for a total of sixteen games this season.
If there was ever a storyline that was going to be fun to watch develop over the course of the 2015-16 season it was going to be how these two teenagers take to a full-season of North American hockey. That storyline expands to much more than simply the on-ice product as well.
(Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
For Fiala, he was looking to capitalize from his first taste of the North American game that he took in last season and make a case for time spent with the Nashville Predators. For Kamenev, he was set to join a very alien world in which no one on the Admirals roster spoke Russian and the one place where he would perhaps feel most comfortable, the ice, was a more smaller and confined version to that which he became accustomed to as a senior team player with Metallurg Magnitogorsk of Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). The good news was that they were both joining an organization in the Admirals that is rather experienced in developing talent from around the globe. In fact, this teenage tandem playing the better majority of a season is the fourth in the AHL history of the team following the likes of: 2004-05, Kevin Klein and Ryan Suter… 2009-10, Colin Wilson and Chet Pickard… 2013-14, Colton Sissons and Filip Forsberg.
Fiala’s season expectations started off massively high for himself. Having taken in some of what the North American game has to provide from his entry to the 2014-15 season it makes sense that the level of confidence from the Switzerland native was as high as it was. He had played thirty-three games for the Admirals at the AHL level scoring 20 points (11 goals, 9 assists) and also managed to make both his NHL debut and NHL Playoffs debut. That introduction was a good one but it felt early on in the off-season that he had set the bar extremely high on himself by saying the following to Predators General Manager David Poile.
“At the end-of-the-year meetings when [Head Coach] Peter Laviolette and I are talking to players, we’re usually the ones doing 90 percent of the talking,” Poile said. “So we did the talking to Kevin and then he says, ‘What do I need to do, I’m going to be playing for the Nashville Predators next season. I’m not going to [AHL affiliate] Milwaukee, I’m going to be playing [in Nashville].’” ~David Poile
Fiala did go to Milwaukee. And he did arrive after having failed to deliver on that statement. His competition in pre-season camp was a stacked one. Austin Watson, Viktor Arvidsson, Miikka Salomäki, Colton Sissons, and Stevie Moses were all in the running for spots out of camp and Fiala was one of the early birds to get bumped down to Milwaukee. When he arrived he did so by scoring a game-winning overtime goal in the Admirals final pre-season game where he played on a line with, you guessed it, Kamenev.
The regular season unfortunately didn’t have the same level of explosiveness for Fiala. It took nearly a month and a half into the season before he scored his first goal of 2015-16. By that point Fiala has already made enough noise doing different kinds of damage.
(Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
On 11/11/15, Fiala became a target to the Lake Erie Monsters after running through their goaltender Joonas Korpisalo with 8:38 remaining in regulation. Fiala received charging minor for the hit to Korpisalo and an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for the scrum that followed. As the game was in its final seconds Brett Gallant tried to go after Fiala and clocked him with an illegal check to the head. Cody Bass stepped in on Fiala’s behalf to buddy-up with Gallant. From there Fiala would proceed to make his way from the Admirals attacking zone, skate past the Monsters bench, flip the bench off, get caught for his gesture, and be sent packing from the game nineteen seconds before the final horn sounded. Fiala received a two-game suspension from the AHL for his actions.
While that moment was indeed a bad one it appeared to generate the desired wake-up call effect needed for Fiala to get with the program. After being pretty much dormant for the opening two months of the season he blew up in December by scoring 12 points (5 goals, 7 assists) in fourteen-games during a time in which the Admirals went 9-5-0-0. His next eighteen games would see him produce 11 points (4 goals, 7 assists) with an interruption inbetween from his first NHL action of the season where he would score his first career NHL goal on his first shift with the Predators in 2015-16. Yet, it is this current stretch where he has been playing alongside Kamenev and Payerl where things have really all come together. Fiala has 14 points (6 goals, 8 assists) in his last twelve games.
(Photo Credit: Christina Shapiro)
What is perhaps more important than what can be read out of a box score is the evolution of his demeanor off of the ice. When Fiala arrived in Milwaukee last season he came across as nervous and stiff. When you’re playing in your third different country in four years – it kind of makes sense. The weight of expectations for an 18-year old player to make a good first impression on the organization that drafted him with a fifteenth overall selection is huge. Those same expectations were on his shoulders as he stated he wasn’t going to Milwaukee and that he was going to be playing in Nashville. The pressure ratcheted up when that didn’t happen and the poor start to his AHL season was dragging along all the way until he earned a suspension. Somewhere along the way it seemed as if the focus became less between the ears and more straight out of his eyes. Fiala’s far more loose and relaxed and, dare I say it, acting his age. He’s having fun. He’s looked to have been enjoying himself and his current status in Milwaukee for a long time now. The correlation to the shoulders dropping a bit off the ice and the on ice product taking a step forward doesn’t come across as very coincidental. He’s grown up a ton these last six months.
(Photo Credit: Stephanie Moebius)
On the opposite side of the spectrum there is the Russian teenager, Kamenev. It’s fun comparing the likes of Fiala and Kamenev just because the two are so different. Fiala is the brash, flashy, and highlight reel making one of the two. While Kamenev on the other hand has the language barrier keeping him rather quiet and low key and the manner in which he plays can pretty much be summed up the same way. It’s not that Kamenev isn’t flashy or worthy of making the highlight reel. It’s that he plays so smoothly on the ice that he makes things look slowed down or easier than they actually were to accomplish. His arrival to the North America seemed as if he’d be placed on the wing as a bit of an eased transition to a much faster and more physically demanding game. That hasn’t happened at all. He’s worked entirely from center this entire season and taken up all responsibilities that that entails: even-strength, power-play, penalty kill, etc. He does it all and does it all in a very calm manner on the ice. Which is perhaps why his lone flare up this season was a bit of an eyebrow raiser.
Like Fiala, Kamenev did actually earn a two-game suspension from the AHL this season. It was a consequence of a boarding incident on 10/29/15 when he hit Matt Fraser of the Manitoba Moose hard. There was no penalty called for the play on the ice but the incident was reviewed by the league itself which brought about the suspension. This, however, was not the eyebrow raising flare up for Kamenev. Instead, his incident didn’t happen like Fiala’s at the AHL level but instead with the whole world watching.
(Photo Credit: Andre Ringuette // HHOF-IIHF Images)
The 2016 IIHF World Junior Championships Gold Medal Game this year was between the host nation Finland and Russia. Kamenev was captain of Team Russia and putting together a tremendous tournament. Unfortunately, not too many are going to remember what Kamenev did on the goal scoring side of things in the tournament as much as they will all remember him losing his cool with the officials late in the game, picking up a misconduct penalty with 2:09 remaining in regulation after Finland just took a 3-2 lead, skating to the penalty box and breaking his stick at the door which struck an official sitting in the penalty box, and earning a game misconduct for doing so. Russia would managed to actually equalize with six-seconds remaining in regulation to force overtime but Kamenev could only watch from deep in Team Russia’s locker room tunnel as Kasperi Kapanen scored the game winning goal in the overtime period.
(Photo Credit: Andre Ringuette // HHOF-IIHF Images)
While Fiala’s low point this season happened around his team with a supporting cast around him to provide prospective and insight going forward – Kamenev’s low point was followed by a flight back to the United States. It might not be the comparison all would immediately understand but the first thing that I thought of was when David Beckham was red carded in the 1998 World Cup. For those unfamiliar I’d give this a watch but the short story of it is being “the man” of your national team only to be the one figure that could stand out as a let down or scapegoat as to why the team failed. At a team or club level the taste of failure is a bitter one. At the national level with as much media attention focused around the game as a World Juniors Final? Failure, specifically individual failure, is down right toxic. The true test of Kamenev’s first season in North America wasn’t necessarily coming from something that happened on the ice in Milwaukee as much as it was how he was going to bounce back from making an emotional mistake at the penalty box in the Hartwall Arena.
There aren’t many stories I’d be willing to tell of things I see happen in the locker room of the Milwaukee Admirals -but- there is one too good to not put a spotlight on. After Kamenev did return to the Admirals from his World Juniors experience there was a small spell in which he sat out to get recovered from the tournament wear and travel. He watched the game from the media section not too far from myself and, after the game, sat alone in his equipment stall. As I was awaiting to conduct interviews Marek Mazanec approached the Russian teenager. He went to shake his hand but, before doing so, mocked Kamenev breaking his stick at World Juniors. Those in the locker room at the time were all laughing. It was the perfect way of letting the rookie know he’s just one of the boys and that the team was there for him.
Kamenev made his return to the Admirals lineup from his World Juniors on 1/15/16 in San Antonio. He scored a goal four-minutes into the second period with the secondary assist coming from none other that Mazanec who would proceed to earn a shutout on the evening. This was followed the next night by yet another goal for Kamenev. His first two-games back from such a low moment resulted in a pair of two-point nights (goal and an assist) and wins for the Admirals.
(Photo Credit: Christina Shapiro)
The high-highs of getting back into the groove of things back in the AHL was sadly short lived. Kamenev had been selected to participate in the 2016 AHL All-Star festivities in Syracuse where he would have joined both Frédérick Gaudreau and head coach Dean Evason as Admirals representatives. Unfortunately, a lower-body injury prevented that from happening and he was sidelined for four-games. It would take awhile before he sprung back into gear but, like Fiala, it all seems to have come into place once this line combination of the teenage tandem and Payerl came back together. Kamenev has scored 6 points (3 goals, 3 assists) from his last twelve games. Once again, he’s not just doing the flashy things that make the stat-sheets busy he’s also doing things that exemplify why Team Russia would want someone such as him as a captain. He’s a smooth and steady player in all game situations. His intelligence of the game is something that has transcended the language barrier and helped to make his first pro season in North America a joy to watch as he gets more and more comfortable with the different style of play and the English language itself.
There is a difference between what Fiala and Kamenev bring to the table. No doubt about that. But, for how there first full-season of North American hockey has developed, it seems very fitting that these two have found themselves playing on the exact same line and having a high level of success. The Admirals string of twelve consecutive playoff appearances came to a thunderous end last season with the Admirals finishing dead last in their division. A season later the eyes are set for a return to playoff hockey as well as the potential for the Admirals first division title since the 2010-11 season. Times have changed for the Admirals. And time is serving both Fiala and Kamenev very well on their road to Nashville.
The Milwaukee Admirals lost 5-4 in a shootout against the Texas Stars Saturday night at the Cedar Park Center.
This game had some serious momentum shifts involved in it. The Admirals raced out to a 3-0 lead with well over half the game remaining only to see that lead get dissolved by four-unanswered goals from the Stars including three straight goals scored on the power-play. Patrick Mullen was able to equalize late with his first goal since joining the Admirals to help see the Admirals earn a point to extend their point streak to six-games. Unfortunately, Brendan Ranford would add a game-winning shootout goal to his two-goal night to provide the Stars with the added point.
A touch of chippy behavior set the foundation for an Admirals four-on-three power-play chance in the first period. Pontus Åberg and Greg Rallo went to the box for unsportsmanlike conduct minors to make it four-on-four which was followed closely by a tripping call against Curtis McKenzie. On the four-on-three power-play Patrick Mullen threw a pass from the point off to the right wing circle where Vladislav Kamenev put some life back into the Russian Space Administration with an absolute rocket of a slap shot taken first-time. The power-play goal for Kamenev saw his season total hit twelve.
Cody Bass has been doing lots of great work on and off the ice for the Admirals with little to show for it in the stat sheet. The veteran forward finally got a pay off in the second period after battling to the front of the net to deflect a hard shot from Kristian Näkyvä at the middle of the blueline. The goal for Bass was his fourth of the season.
This was followed less than three-minutes later by a whirlwind of a shift by Pontus Åberg. The Swede generated a pair of turnovers, pushed the offensive cycle, and capped things off with a toe-drag wrister that whistled through traffic to go into the top shelf over Maxime Lagacé’s blocker shoulder. Åberg’s nineteenth goal of the season signaled the end of the night for Lagacé who stopped just 10/13 shots on goal before Jack Campbell entered the game.
The shake-up for the Stars in net seemed to provide the right spark the coaching staff was looking for as their offense came to life. In the final four-minutes of the second period the Stars scored a pair of power-play goals to draw the Admirals 3-0 lead down to 3-2. Brendan Ranford scored with a wrister from the left wing circle after a high paced rush through neutral zone opened up space for him to score his eighteenth goal of the season. That was followed 2:14 of ice time later by another power-play goal which was crafted behind the net from returning Stars captain Travis Morin and polished off at the side of the net by McKenzie on a backhander for his nineteenth goal of the season. The shot was taken just quick enough that the puck elevated up and over the reaching glove or Marek Mazanec.
Texas was able to equalize in the third period after scoring their third consecutive power-play goal. Patrick Mullen flipped a puck over the glass to put the Stars on the power-play and a Mattias Bäckman shot from the point ricocheted off the tip of Ranford’s stick in front of the net to record his second goal of the game and nineteenth of the season to make it a 3-3 game.
The Stars would score their fourth unanswered goal with 6:16 remaining in regulation to take hold of a 4-3 lead after having trailed by three-goals. A strong rush from the left wing by Derek Hulak put him in on a race to the front of the net where he lost puck control. The way momentum was going in the game it would naturally make sense for the puck to fortuitously slide like a pass to the path of Gemel Smith where he took a backhanded swipe and scored his thirteenth goal of the season.
With all the momentum in the world behind the Stars the Admirals were able to find an equalizer out of nowhere from an impossible angle shot from Mullen with 2:14 left in regulation. Mullen stepped way up into the rush and was near the right wing pocket by the wall when he decided to snap off a shot to Campbell’s near post. The shot managed to hit iron and squeak in for Mullen’s second goal of this AHL season and the first of his Admirals career.
This game would spill into overtime to extend the Admirals point streak to six-games. Unfortunately, the Admirals would fall in the shootout where only Ranford was able to score from the six attempts through three-rounds. Ranford swooped from the right wing and blew a wrister past the glove of Mazanec for the game-winning shootout goal. The loss for the Admirals ends a winning streak of three-games.
Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played on Wednesday there were no roster moves made throughout the organization. Tonight’s line combinations were: Reinhart-Gaudreau-Åberg, Fiala-Kamenev-Payerl, White-Girard-Görtz, Murphy-Bass-Pendenza, Elliott-Mullen, Oligny-Potter, Näkyvä-Aronson. Tonight’s scratches were: Jamie Devane (healthy), Cody Hodgson (upper-body), and Johan Alm (lower-body).
Was this a good or a bad result from the Milwaukee Admirals considering the lost a 3-0 lead but did comeback late to earn a point? What happened to the Admirals offense following the third goal and subsequent goaltending swap for the Texas Stars?
Normally, I don’t feel the need to re-hash Scouting the Enemy when the Milwaukee Admirals play the same opponent in back-to-back games. I’m going to make an exception here for two reasons: (1) a lot of great things are happening right now for the Admirals that deserves mentioning and (2) yet another great member of the Texas Stars media battalion has taken the time to chat with Admirals Roundtable!
~Cleaning Up With Consistency~
Let’s start with some talk specifically aimed at the Admirals because things have been on the up-and-up as of late. After their 2-0 shutout on Wednesday night the Admirals moved into first place of the Central Division and are only trailing the Ontario Reign for the best record in the Western Conference.
If you look around in the Central Division you start to appreciate the level of consistency that the Admirals have been playing with of late. While the games haven’t always been the prettiest they’re still finding ways to haul points in. The same can’t be said with the Rockford IceHogs. Ever since my visit to watch the Admirals play in Rockford, where they lost 5-2, the IceHogs have gone a very cold 2-5-1-0 from their last eight-games. In that span they are averaging just 1.6 goals per game. For comparison’s sake the Admirals have averaged 3.0 goals per game from their last eight-games.
The Griffins, who went on yet another ten-plus game winning streak, have proceeded to drop two straight road games to the San Antonio Rampage. You know how the Admirals seem to struggle against those lower tier teams such as the Iowa Wild and Manitoba Moose? The Griffins, for all their might, lost all four-games against the Rampage in regulation this season. The Rampage are in the basement of the Pacific Division and are the fourth worst team based on points percentage in the AHL. Yet, the Griffins haven’t taken a single point from them this season and were shutout by the Rampage for 171:56 of ice time during the season series. That’s almost beyond belief.
In the Admirals last eleven-games they have gone 8-2-0-1. They are on a three-game winning streak and have a five-game point streak. As we near the end of the month of March the Admirals Roundtable Admiral of the Month award awaits with several candidates. Let’s review shall we:
Kevin Fiala, 13 points (6 goals, 7 assists)… Pontus Åberg, 11 points (4 goals, 7 assists)… Max Görtz, 9 points (5 goals, 4 assists)… Matt White, 7 points (2 goals, 5 assists)… Taylor Aronson, 7 points (0 goals, 7 assists)… Stefan Elliott, 6 points (1 goals, 5 assists)… Juuse Saros, 7 starts (0-0-0-0 record, 1.69 goals against average, 0.931 save percentage, 2 shutouts)… Marek Mazanec, 5 starts (2-2-0-1 record, 1.78 goals against average, 0.931 save percentage).
Impressive list isn’t it? That’s all said and done by numbers without giving the serious pat on the back of performances from the likes of Cody Bass, Corey Potter, Jimmy Oligny, Félix Girard, Frédérick Gaudreau, Vladislav Kamenev, Adam Payerl, and Max Reinhart who have all been doing incredible jobs. Bass has been every part the leader on and off the ice you’d hope for. Potter arrived from his trade out of the Arizona Coyotes organization and immediately fit in as a solid two-way defenseman. Girard’s work, will it doesn’t show up in individual statistics, goes a long way to place the Admirals penalty kill team in the upper echelon of the AHL’s best this season.
The Admirals run of twelve straight playoff seasons ended last year when the Admirals had a record of 33-28-8-7 (81 points, 0.533 points percentage) to finish in dead last of the then Midwest Division and eleventh on the Western Conference standings. The Admirals current record is 41-21-3-1 (86 points, 0.652 points percentage). That point total is only one-point shy of last season’s cutoff from the Chicago Wolves who ended the season with 87 points. The turn-around from last season to this season has been outstanding.
~Texas Stars~
The Texas Stars enter tonight’s game with a record of 35-23-6-3 (79 points). Their 0.590 points percentage has them sitting in third place of the Pacific Division where they trail the Ontario Reign (0.698) and San Diego Gulls (0.603).
With the crucial fourth place in the Pacific Division being a flex point for the fifth place in the Central Division possibly able to supersede a lower points percentage seed in the Pacific the current placement of the Stars is where they would hope to fall no lower than. The San Jose Barracuda’s current 0.552 points percentage wouldn’t be good enough to surpass the Charlotte Checkers current position… and the difference, if the season ended today, would be decided by 0.001.
~Q&A with Sean Shapiro~
As noted, the Stars have some of my favorite media members in the AHL. We spoke with Stephen Meserve of 100 Degree Hockey to preview Wednesday’s game. Now we get another good bloke to preview tonight’s game. Sean Shapiro is a freelance journalist whose work can be found in many great places such as Austin American-Statesman, Hockey’s Future, The Hockey News, and Wrong Side of the Red Line. If the name sounds familiar that’s thanks to a lot of the amazing photographs that you see out of Admirals road games against the Stars because he is married to the talented Christina Shapiro. Before this becomes a new column called Scouting the Friends let’s hear from Sean about what’s what in Texas.
Admirals Roundtable: Wednesday’s game was not your typical Texas Stars home game. It was only the second time all season the Stars were shutout at home. What did you make of the contest and what was it the Admirals did so well to stifle that hot Stars offense?
Sean Shapiro: Wednesday’s game was a weird one. Neither team really had a good rhythm and both teams looked sluggish. Milwaukee, however, figured it out and played a nice, gritty road game. They went hard to the net and won the battles in key areas (the corners, the slot, etc.).
I wouldn’t say it was anything special. Rather, I would say it was smart. Milwaukee took away Texas speed at the blue line and the Stars didn’t adjust.
AR: It’s certainly not helpful having someone like Travis Morin out with injury at the moment. How big of a loss has that been for the Stars and how have some of the depth players filled in during his absence?
SS: It’s been a huge loss for Texas, particularly on the power play. For those who aren’t aware, Travis Morin is arguably the top player in the AHL and multiple coaches have pointed out he runs a power play better than any other forward in the league.
For Texas, the bigger disappointment has been the lack of younger players seizing opportunities. While Jason Dickinson has done a nice job filling in as the top defensive center, others haven’t filled his old roles. This has created a ton of inconsistency for the Stars. Some days they’re a deep, fast team that rolls four lines — that’s when they’re at their best. Other times, like the past three games, Texas has been a one or two line team and you can’t win games that way.
AR: Jack Campbell had such a large amount of hype surrounding him due to his performances at World Juniors and in junior hockey. Why hasn’t he been able to match his eleventh overall selection in the 2010 NHL Draft and is his time with the Stars organization potentially over after this season?
SS: Jack Campbell’s time with the Dallas Stars will likely come to an end, and it all comes down to his mental game. The former first-round pick has all the talent in the world and he’s a world-class human being, but he just hasn’t been able to put it together or stay healthy in his professional career.
The biggest indicator for me is body language. When Campbell is on his game and he’s not going to be beat, you can tell by looking at him. On the flip side, when Campbell has been beaten you can tell from the stands. That sends the wrong message to his team and those are the times he tends to struggle. He also let’s up bad goals at bad times, which you never want with a goalie.
AR: How have Julius Honka and Esa Lindell progressed this season and do you see them as NHL regulars next season?
SS: Lindell has made better strides and is closer to NHL ready than Honka at the moment. He munches big minutes and he played well earlier this season in four NHL games. Honka still looks young at times and needs to mature before making the next step.
Honka likes to push the offense and he can. But he needs to learn when to make the simple play and not make a risky decision. I think last week a 6-5 loss to the Grand Rapids Griffins was a perfect example of Honka’s season. There were 11 goals scored and Honka was on the ice for eight of them — four for, four against.
AR: What have been some of the surprising storylines that have taken place for the Stars this season?
SS: By far the biggest story line and most surprising has been Maxime Lagacé‘s ascension to the top of the goalie depth chart. After last season Lagacé was a complete after thought and was expected to serve as the back-up in the ECHL with the Idaho Steelheads. But, here we are in late March and he’s one of the top rookie goalies in the AHL (Juuse Saros being the other).
In addition to Lagacé, I think the other surprising story line is what could have been with Devin Shore. The rookie forward lit up the AHL and was the player of the month in October before his season was cut short thanks to a shoulder injury. He still leads the AHL in shooting percentage, I would have loved to see what a full year of his progress would look like.
AR: The playoff picture is miles away before it becomes clear. That almost comes thanks to that Pacific Division of your’s with those California teams and their limited schedule. Do the Stars stay afloat in the hunt for a playoff spot or do they fall into the diabolical fourth seed in the Pacific where the fifth placed team in the Central can succeed them?
SS: I think they stay in the playoff hunt and finish third in the Pacific and play the San Diego Gulls in the first round. I then see Charlotte taking the crossover spot from either San Jose or Bakersfield (forcing Ontario to open the season on the other coast in a 2-3 format).
AR: Last and most important question. Which incarnation of the Doctor is your favorite and why? (Hint. The correct answer is David Tennant because he’s David Tennant.)
SS: David Tennant and Matt Smith are a close first and second in my book, with Tennant taking top spot. I don’t really have a good reason why, it just comes down to a feel and Tennant was the Doctor when I really started to find my groove with the show when it was introduced to me by my wife — my wife refuses to pick a favorite “she likes them all.”
(Peter Capaldi has grown on me. I personally like the bit about sonic sunglasses.)
I’ll leave you with this parting thought. Have you ever seen David Tennant and Dallas Eakins in the same place at the same time? How do we know the Doctor isn’t coaching the San Diego Gulls? Traveling through time and space would explain why they have less games…
~Le Fin~
Alright, I have one thing to add to that interview. I never thought someone could put me off the Tenth Doctor but a Dallas Eakins separated at birth comparison just did it. Christopher Eccleston. I’m a Ninth Doctor fan now. Nine was fantastic.
Expectations for tonight’s game? How important will it be for the Milwaukee Admirals to not get caught out by looking a game ahead, with a big showdown against the Grand Rapids Griffins looming for Tuesday night in Milwaukee, and focus on the job at hand tonight? This is still the same Stars team that can rifle in upwards of four-goals a game on home ice. Can the defense continue to hold the Stars offense down?
Admirals Roundtable 