Happy Hockey Morning, Milwaukee. Today is the second and final School Day Game of the 2017-18 season. I’m not sure you could have picked out a better game for the atmosphere these AM games provide. The last time the Milwaukee Admirals and Manitoba Moose played against one another – this happened.

Needless to say: this game has that little extra attached to it. The Moose have been leading from the front of the Central Division for pretty much this entire season. The Admirals have gone through a mid-season overhaul and quickly saw success in the first run of games as a newly re-engineered team. Beating the Rockford IceHogs, Grand Rapids Griffins on the road, and then the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins was big. This might be the biggest test for the Admirals. Will the new pieces match them up to the Moose?

Continue reading “Moose: Scouting the Enemy” →

2 June, 2004. That date marks the last time that the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins visited Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was Game 2 of the 2004 AHL Calder Cup Finals and the Milwaukee Admirals won that night at the Bradley Center by a final score of 8-4. There would be no other games played in that series back in Milwaukee. The Admirals swept the Penguins with a 2-1 overtime in in Game 3 and decisive 7-2 victory in Game 4 in the Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza to earn their first Calder Cup.

We are nearing 14 years since that achievement by the Admirals. Since, the Penguins have made it to the Calder Cup Finals on one occasion in 2008 but would lose once again to Darren Haydar but this time as a member of the Chicago Wolves. The Admirals made it to the 2006 Calder Cup Finals with Pekka Rinne in net but would fall short in six-games against the Hershey Bears. It has been a battle for both to be more ever since but both saw their parent clubs go head-to-head in the most recent Stanley Cup Finals.

Continue reading “Penguins: Scouting the Enemy” →

Great news, the last time the Milwaukee Admirals played against the Grand Rapids Griffins at the Van Andel Arena they had double the amount of shots on goal as they had last night! Heck, they also beat the Griffins in that game 4-3. It hasn’t been great for the Admirals historically against the Griffins but this is an Admirals team that needs to forget the past and purely focus on the here and now. The Admirals need to get themselves out of this hole in the Central Division standings and the only way to achieve that is one game at a time.

Continue reading “Griffins: Scouting the Enemy” →

This weekend has the feeling of one of the most important timestamps on the Milwaukee Admirals 2017-18 season. The team has been in a seesaw battle throughout the campaign but after the recent a four-game road trip ended with three consecutive regulation losses: everything has changed.

The Admirals will feature four brand new players on this three-in-three weekend that pits them against higher seated teams in the standings. The Rockford IceHogs visit to the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena tonight can set the tone for a pivotal weekend. Will this new look Admirals team hit the ground running or will there be more of the same scrambled play?

Continue reading “IceHogs: Scouting the Enemy” →