Author: Jason Karnosky

Game Recaps

Admirals Sweep the Shootout, Outlast Oklahoma City 4-3

With a chance to retake first place in the West Division, Milwaukee’s normally dormant shootout skills caught fire Tuesday night, going a perfect four-for-four against Oklahoma City to deliver a 4-3 home win.

Admirals shooters Mark Santorelli, Mark Van Guilder, Gabriel Bourque and Ryan Thang all converted, while goaltender Jeremy Smith stopped two of three Oklahoma City attempts to preserve the victory.

With the two points, Milwaukee moves back into first place at 89 points.  The Admirals now sit one point clear of Houston, which lost 3-0 to Texas tonight.

Riding a fast start, Milwaukee opened the scoring 14:34 into the hockey game.  Off a transition pass from Teemu Laakso, Ryan Thang’s bad angle shot from the bottom of the right face off dot caught goaltender Jeff Deslauriers sliding and squeezed through the five-hole.

“It was quick little regroup play,” said Thang at the first intermission. “I beat their defense back up the ice, but I got a little lucky with the shot.”

In the final minute of the first period, Oklahoma City countered after Thang took a slashing penalty.  On their fourth rebound opportunity, Anthony Aiello scored into a wide-open Milwaukee net.

The Admirals regained a one-goal advantage seven minutes into the second period on a brilliant play from Roman Josi and Chris Mueller.   Off a breakout Josi found Mueller at center ice with a step on Aiello.  With a tape-to-tape 100-foot stretch pass, Josi sprung Mueller on a breakaway.  Mueller finished off the play with a brilliant deke.

Seven minutes later the Barons again tied the game, this time with a deflection goal by Andrew Lord.  Lord, who dressed for a pair of games with Milwaukee earlier this season, had his first AHL goal of 2010-2011 find twine off of goaltender Jeremy Smith’s mask.

Milwaukee countered yet again at the 17:38 mark of the second period, this time on the power play.  After Josi busted his stick, Andreas Thuresson found Kelsey Wilson alone in front of Deslauriers.  Wilson tucked a backhand shot through his legs, through Deslauriers’ wickets and across the goal line for a 3-2 lead after 40 minutes.

Pressing in the third period, Oklahoma City peppered Smith, finally scoring on a five-on-three power play in the last four minutes.  Mark Arcobello scored the tying goal on one-timer off of a cross-crease pass from Brad Moran.

Overtime saw bizarre string of four minor penalties in quick succession, resulting in an extended period of four-on-three and five-on-three power play time for Milwaukee, but the Admirals only managed a couple of marginal chances to leave the game tied at three after 65 minutes.

Despite allowing three goals on 38 shots, Smith was superb.  But the Admirals netminder saved his best save for the overtime, stretching across for a highlight reel right leg stop on a three-on-one in the first minute of overtime.

Smith now has 12 wins this season and sports a record of 12-6-2.

“The win felt really good for our team,” Smith said.  “We really stuck with it and played well tonight, but were not thinking of anything else other than finishing in first place.”

With Nashville’s 3-1 win over Edmonton tonight, the Predators organization went 2-0 against the Oilers organization on Tuesday.  Thanks to the one point gained, the Barons move up to 82 on the year to take over solo possession of fourth place in the West Division.

Milwaukee continues the home stand Friday night with their final regular season meeting with Chicago.

Tonight’s Admirals lineup (starters in ALL-CAPS):

Goaltender:  JEREMY SMITH

Defense:  AARON JOHNSON-BRETT PALIN

Roman Josi-Teemu Laakso

Grant Lewis-Scott Ford

Forwards:  KELSEY WILSON-MARK VAN GUILDER-ANDREAS THURESSON

Dylan Hunter-Mike Bartlett-Ryan Flynn

Gabriel Bourque-Chris Mueller-Ryan Thang

Brock McBride-Connor Shields-Mark Santorelli

Injury updates:  Forward Steve Begin is getting close to returning according to coach Lane Lambert.  Both Mark Dekanich and Linus Klasen remain a long distance away from returning.

Some questions for discussion:

1) With 10 games to play in the regular season, has Milwaukee finally found some playoff security with win 38 of the year?

2) Would Oklahoma City be a favorable match up for Milwaukee in the first round of the AHL playoffs?

3) Tonight was an on/off night for the Milwaukee power play.  Are some of the missing go-to scorers, Jonathon Blum, Blake Geoffrion and Linus Klasen, holding the special teams back?


News

Geoffrion’s Big Night in Buffalo

It might be time for Admirals fans to start facing the facts.  Forward Blake Geoffrion may not be coming back to Milwaukee.

Through his first nine National Hockey League games Geoffrion was slowly finding his footing, scoring three goals and four points while logging the fewest minutes of any Nashville player.

Then came Sunday’s game at Buffalo.  Despite pocketing goal number four in the first period off a lucky deflection, Geoffrion and the Predators trailed Buffalo 3-1 with under three minutes remaining in the third period.  Yet, Nashville coach Barry Trotz continued to show confidence in the 2010 Hobey Baker winner.

At the 17:33 mark, Geoffrion stuffed in his own rebound past goaltender Ryan Miller to make it 3-2.  One minute later Trotz again put Geoffrion out for a crucial face off, which Geoffrion won back to defenseman Cody Franson.  Franson let a point shot blast go that Geoffrion tipped out of the air and past Miller to give the Brentwood, Tennessee native his first NHL hat trick and more importantly, tie hockey game at 3-3.

To add some icing to the cake, former Admiral forward Martin Erat scored the game-winner 27 seconds into overtime to give Nashville an improbable win at a crucial point in the year.  With the two points the Predators are back in the playoffs, tied with Chicago and Los Angeles for the fifth spot in the West with 86.

“Obviously we needed those points with the playoff race going on,” Geoffrion told NHL Live! Monday afternoon.  “We’re just happy to get the two wins (against Buffalo and Detroit) and come back home to Nashville.”

Geoffrion credits his time in Milwaukee for preparing him to be an impact player in the NHL.

“The Predators’ theory is that the road to Nashville is through Milwaukee,” Geoffrion said. “I am very thankful for the coaches and the people who’ve helped me get to this point in my career (playing in Nashville).  Hopefully I won’t let them down.”

To watch Blake Geoffrion’s highlight reel against Buffalo, click here.

To read my feature on the impact that former Admirals players like Blake Geoffrion are having in the NHL with Nashville and with other teams, click here.

To read my story on Geoffrion and other former Wisconsin Badgers who changed teams around the NHL trading deadline, click here.

News

A First Place Battle Royale with Houston

At several points this year, I made note of various points in the schedule as games of significance for the Milwaukee Admirals.  However, tonight at Houston I get to be selfish as this game means little in the playoff picture.  With one loss neither team loses much ground.

Instead the Admirals and Aeros are playing to one up each other for first place in the West Division.  I am aware of the fact that Milwaukee has played four less games, which is crucial at this point in the year, but for one night these two clubs get a winner take all chance to battle for the top of the mountain  (Knowing the AHL, Houston will win tonight in a shootout or in overtime, making this a three point game and leaving the two squads tied).

But perhaps the most ironic twist of fate for both clubs comes after this game.  Each team’s next two games are against the San Antonio Rampage.  Milwaukee plays a pair at San Antonio on Wednesday and Friday, while Houston gets a home and home with the Rampage on Saturday and Sunday.

Currently San Antonio sits as the last team out of the Western Conference playoff picture, in sixth place in the West Division with 76 points.  Therefore Tuesday’s sparring partners could help out each other’s playoff hopes with wins over the Rampage.

So Roundtable, How much stock do you put into this one game, a winner take all contest between Houston and Milwaukee for the West Division lead?

Despite rooting against the Aeros tonight, will you be sporting fighter plane jerseys this weekend as Houston faces San Antonio?

News

AHL College Additions and the NCAA Hockey Tournament

This weekend marks conference tournament time for all five college hockey leagues.   Each league will crown a champion that gets an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

However, several teams, including the Wisconsin Badgers, have already been eliminated from the NCAA tournament discussion, while other teams’ seasons will come to an end this weekend.  Therefore, AHL and NHL clubs will start to see former college player filter into their ranks in the coming weeks.

Here is a list of eliminated teams, bubble schools and NCAA tournament locks.  Seniors from the eliminated schools, plus players who decide to leave early, can sign professional contracts and move on to the next step in their hockey careers (Author’s Note, I did not include the Atlantic Hockey Conference because only that league’s auto-bid will make the field).

WCHA

Eliminated teams:  Michigan Tech, Minnesota, Minnesota State-Mankato, St. Cloud State and Wisconsin.

Bubble teams or teams that need to win their conference tournament to advance:  Alaska-Anchorage, Bemidji State, Colorado College, Nebraska-Omaha.

NCAA locks (teams listed 10th or higher in the Pair-Wise Rankings):  Denver, Minnesota-Duluth, North Dakota.

CCHA

Eliminated teams:  Alaska-Fairbanks, Bowling Green, Ferris State, Lake Superior State, Michigan State, Northern Michigan, Ohio State.

Bubble teams or teams that need to win their conference tournament to advance:  Western Michigan.

NCAA locks:  Michigan, Miami, Notre Dame.

Hockey East

Eliminated Teams:  Boston University, Maine, Massachusetts, Massachusetts-Lowell, Providence, Vermont.

Bubble teams or teams that need to win their conference tournament to advance:  New Hampshire, Northeastern.

NCAA locks:  Boston College and Merrimack.

ECAC

Eliminated teams:  Brown, Clarkson, Harvard, Princeton, Quinnipiac, St. Lawrence.

Bubble teams or teams that need to win their conference tournament to advance:  Colgate, Cornell, Dartmouth, RPI.

NCAA locks:  Union, Yale.

News

Admirals Ready Themselves for Six Crucial Games in Nine Nights

It is officially crunch time in the American Hockey League.  Not a single team has more than 18 games remaining on their schedule, so the ceiling for the amount of points that each team can accumulate from this point forward is just 36 or less.

Starting tonight Milwaukee embarks on a stretch of six games in nine nights.  With the lone exception of Lake Erie on March 19, the Admirals will face all West Division opponents during this run and only divisional teams for the rest of the month.

As it currently stands, the Admirals occupy the top spot in the division and in the Western Conference with 81 points.  Four or more wins in the next six games or at the very least a pair of victories over the team that occupies the sixth slot, San Antonio, would go a long way toward creating a comfort zone for the playoffs.

Admirals coach Lane Lambert knows his team has a great opportunity to create some distance at the top of the ladder with some strong play.

“Now more than ever you really start to see teams move,” Lambert said.  “The games become bigger and bigger as we go along here, so this stretch of games is huge (for our club).”

So Roundtable, during this stretch of six games, Milwaukee will play three at home and three on the road, which include a pair of contests at sixth place San Antonio.

What are your predictions for how the shorthanded Admirals will handle these next nine nights?  Would anything less than eight points be a disappointment?

News

Blake Geoffrion in Nashville Update

Blake Geoffrion was a healthy scratch for the first time in his brief NHL career last night against the San Jose Sharks.

I am not sure what exactly that means for Geoffrion’s time in the Music City, but in this case I believe it had to do more with Nashville’s opponent San Jose (one of the NHL’s fastest teams) than coach Barry Trotz tweaking with his lineup.

In five games of action so far in Nashville, Geoffrion has two goals, while playing an average of 7:58 of icetime.  Geoffrion’s first goal came off of a feed from fellow ex-Badger Ryan Suter.  Two nights later Geoffrion scored his team’s game winner in a 3-0 victory over the Western Conference’s top team, Vancouver.

“Its been a dream come true playing in the National Hockey League,” Geoffrion said. “Now that I’m here my new goal is to try to stay here as long as I can, whether that’s 10 games or 10 years.”

For more on Geoffrion’s time in Nashville, check out my feature on Madison.com, which includes the stories of other former and current UW players that were moved around the trade deadline.

Later this week I will also have a feature on Milwaukeeadmirals.com on the stories of former Admirals who are now enjoying successful careers in the National Hockey League, including Suter, Shea Weber, Colin Wilson and Sheldon Brookbank of the Anaheim Ducks.

Game Recaps

Bourque and Lewis Help Milwaukee Mangle the Marlies

Great news Admirals fans, Milwaukee’s pesky two game losing streak is OVER, full roster or not.

After a penalty filled slow start, Milwaukee settled down for solid final 56 minutes of hockey, picking up a 3-1 over the Toronto Marlies in a morning affair in Canada’s largest city.

Forward Gabriel Bourque and defenseman Grant Lewis provided the dominant presence, each picking up a  power play goal and an assist.  Bourque’s goal beat Marlies goaltender Ben Scrivens over the shoulder.  Originally, Bourque was credited with a second goal on the power play, but it was determined that he did not tip the original shot from Grant Lewis.

Mike Bartlett grabbed a garbage goal for the Admirals other score, after some terrific corner work from Ryan Flynn, who is really starting to come into his own.  Bartlett and Flynn showed some real chemistry together on the ice during the game.

Ex-Providence Bruins forward Joe Colborne picked up a five on three power play goal in the early stages for Toronto’s only lead of the game.  The newest Leafs prospect (acquired in the Tomas Kaberle trade), has four goals in his six games with the Marlies.

Admirals Goaltender Mark Dekanich made the lead hold up, snagging his 21st win of the season while turning away 31 of 32 pucks.

Milwaukee’s power play continues to improve.  The Admirals scored a pair of goals on the man advantage, finishing 2 for 6 overall, and moving up to 15th overall in the AHL at 18% success.  However, Milwaukee ranks in the top ten on the power play on the road.

An impressive and boisterous morning showing from the Toronto fans as 5,614 filled Ricoh Coliseum for the game (likely 80% kids), something rarely used in recent years to describe fans at the Air Canada Center for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

One injury update to report, Steve Begin should be back in game action for the Admirals soon, perhaps as early as the weekend or more likely next week.

So Roundtable, what do you think of the new and improved Admirals power play, starring Grant Lewis? 

With Milwaukee playing “short handed” roster wise for the next few weeks, will the Admirals be ok just splitting games for the forseable future?

Today’s game started at 10AM local time, 11AM in Toronto, yet was played at a pretty good pace.  What is your opinion of early matinee games, especially during the week?  Do they change the way the game is played?

News

NHL’s Trade Deadline Recap, Your Thoughts?

UPDATE 3:24 P.M.

Now officially it seems to be all quiet on the NHL trade front.  So I leave the blog to you Admirals fans.

So Roundtable, do you think the Nashville Predators are a playoff team with the roster they currently have?

With Nashville not trading for a defenseman, has Jonathon Blum staked his claim on a NHL roster spot for the rest of the season?

Since Nashville stood pat, Milwaukee’s roster remains in tact.  How do you see the rest of the Admirals’ season shaking out?

Do you wish Nashville acquired more prospects for Milwaukee?

From the trades that occurred, did any of the AHL’s West Division teams improve/get worse roster-wise?

UPDATE 2:49 P.M.

Things appear to be slowing down, so here is a quick catch up on the day.  Nashville/Milwaukee did little if anything today other than kick tires.  Lots of rumors during the day had the Predators interested in a defenseman, either Chris Campoli or Ladislav Smid, but neither transaction materialized.

One last big deadline deal of note, former Predator Jason Arnott of New Jersey went to the Washington Capitals for West Bend, Wisconsin, native David Steckel and a second round pick.

One last small deadline deal to report, two Boston Bruins prospects, defenseman Jeff Penner of Providence and Mikko Lehtonen moved to the Minnesota Wild organization for goaltender Anton Khobodin of the Houston Aeros.

UPDATE 2:38 P.M.

It appears the Montreal Canadiens have acquired Chicago Wolves goaltender Drew MacIntyre from Atlanta in exchange for defenseman Brett Festerling, who is currently a member of the Hamilton Bulldogs.

AHLer Joel Perreault was the player Anaheim got in return for Maxim Lapierre and prospect MacGregor Sharp, who was playing with Syracuse.

UPDATE 2:31 P.M.

In the exchange for Chris Higgins, Florida got a third round pick and prospect defenseman Evan Oberg.  Oberg has played in 38 AHL games this season with the Manitoba Moose.  Current Toronto Marlies forward John Mitchell was traded to the New York Rangers for a seventh round pick.

UPDATE 2:18 P.M.

The NHL’s trade deadline has come and passed.  However, lots of trades will still be filtering in.  So far here is what I have heard in the last few minutes:  Freddie Modin moves to Calgary from Atlanta, Chris Higgins moves to Vancouver from Florida, Vancouver also gets Maxim Lapierre from Anaheim and Jason Arnott goes to Washington from New Jersey.  Brad Richards officially won’t be traded from Dallas.

UPDATE 1:44 P.M.

Thanks to MiB for catching my miss as I was trying to track down information on the Penner trade.  Former Wisconsin forward Brad Winchester was traded from St. Louis to the Anaheim Ducks for a third round draft pick.

UPDATE 1:31 P.M.

The first trade of “significance” today just occurred.  Dustin Penner was traded from the Edmonton Oilers to Los Angeles in exchange for a first round pick, conditional third round pick and prospect Colten Teubert.  Teubert will likely end up with Oklahoma City as he continues to develop.  He’s played 39 games with Manchester in the AHL this season.

Lots of value for Edmonton on this trade, basically two first round picks and a conditional pick that could end up being a second rounder.  Clearly the pressure was on General Manager Dean Lombardi of the Kings to do something to improve his team.

UPDATE 1:06 P.M.

The Chicago Blackhawks have acquired defenseman Chris Campoli for a second round draft pick and forward Ryan Potulny.  Potulny leaves from Rockford of the AHL, recently going pointless in Saturday’s win over Milwaukee and picking up one assist in the Ice Hogs win over Houston Sunday.

UPDATE 12:35 P.M.

Up to three total trades so far, pretty quiet stuff.  Columbus trades defenseman Rotislav Klesla for Scottie Upshall and Sami Lepisto.  Phoenix also gets AHL player Dane Byers from Springfield, who may be joining the San Antonio Rampage.

UPDATE 10:55 A.M.

Only two moves so far, both involving the Florida Panthers, who sent Dennis Wideman to Washington and Radek Dvorak to Atlanta while acquiring Niclas Bergfors from the Thrashers.  The Panthers picked up two AHLers, Jake Hauswirth from Hershey and Patrick Rissmiller from Lake Erie.

UPDATE 7:36 A.M.

Good morning from frigid Wisconsin.  Today is an unofficial holiday in Canada and at every other crazed hockey fan’s home.  Thanks to the NHL Network, I will have TSN’s Trade Centre on all morning/afternoon.

Anyway, I plan to update as I see them any/every trade involving the Nashville Predators, Milwaukee Admirals or any former Admiral that I recognize, anything of significance I see, something unusual (one team getting totally fleeced on a deal, aka Brad Richards being traded for a Chicago Wolves prospect), or someone with a connection to hockey in the Badger state.

As I write, Nashville sits in a monster log jam in the West at 72 points, tied with three other teams for 7th place, four points behind fourth place Phoenix and four points ahead of 12th place Columbus.  The Predators may be buying rentals to help Nashville make a final playoff push.

Feel free to chime in on the comments section.  I will try to time stamp everything I post.  Should be a fun day.

News

Predators trade former Admiral Alexander Sulzer for a Used Puck Bag

The Nashville Predators were involved in an unusual trade today.  Former Milwaukee Admirals defenseman Alexander Sulzer was traded to the Florida Panthers for a conditional seventh round pick.

Predators General Manager David Poile must be clearing roster and cap space, because otherwise this trade makes little sense.

Nashville may not even get anything back in the deal (not even the $1 in the Ray Sheppard trade from a few decades back), because the Predators will  only receive a Panthers seventh-round pick if Sulzer appears on the Florida’s Reserve List during the 2011-12 season.  If not, there is nothing in return, not even some Zamboni gasoline or a used puck bag.

Curious stuff, your thoughts Roundtable?

Game Recaps

Grant Lewis Sparks Milwaukee’s 6-1 Victory Over Oklahoma City

Remember those early season troubles with Oklahoma City?  Consider them a thing of the past.

Grant Lewis carried the day for Milwaukee, racking up a three point night as the Admirals completely shut down the Barons with a 6-1 victory Wednesday’s night.

Things didn’t look good for Milwaukee in the early going as Oklahoma City center Milan Kytnar opened the scoring just 1:29 in.  But the Barons got into penalty trouble from that point forward and Lewis took over.

First Lewis helped setup Gabriel Bourque’s power play goal five minutes in.  Then in the final minute of the first period, Lewis doubled his goal total with a power play tally.  52 seconds later Ryan Flynn picked up the back breaker for the Admirals, giving Milwaukee a 3-1 lead with just five seconds left in the opening stanza.

Milwaukee added three more goals in the second period for the final margin of victory.  First it was Ryan Thang, then Lewis scored his second of the game, and finally Andreas Thuresson closed out the scoring.  The Admirals coasted home from there with a rather uneventful third period.

After a rough first AHL start in Milwaukee on Tuesday, goaltender Anders Lindback had a solid night in between the pipes for the Admirals, stopping 32 of 33 shots.

Meanwhile, Milwaukee lit up longtime NHL netminder Martin Gerber with four goals on just 17 shots, before chasing him out of the net in the second period.

Tonight marked the Admirals first action against the Barons with Zack Stortini in the line up, but the heavy weight goon was quiet against Milwaukee.  Stortini picked up just one minor penalty for tripping late in the first period.  However, that penalty resulted in the Admirals’ second goal.

Along with Lewis, Milwaukee got multi-point nights from Roman Josi (2 assists), Blake Geoffrion (2 assists), Ryan Thang (1 goal, 1 assist) and Gabriel Bourque (1 goal, 1 assist).

No Linus Klasen in the line up proved no problem for the Admirals offensively on this two-game southern swing.  Milwaukee racked up 11 goals in the back to back games.

With the win the Admirals actually gained some separation in the Western Conference race.  Milwaukee moved up to 75 points on the season, which is four in front of second place Peoria.

The Admirals return home Friday for another clash with the Chicago Wolves.  It is Milwaukee’s only home game in their next five contests.

So Roundtable, what do you think of the outstanding night from Grant Lewis?  Could he a be a solution to Milwaukee’s power play struggles, or was tonight’s effort just a fluke?