Author: Jason Karnosky

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Admirals Prepare for a Texas Two-Step of the Two Week Variety

A pair of three games in three nights.  A four games in five nights stretch.  Seven total games in 10 days.  No matter how you slice it, Milwaukee sure is going to get its money’s worth of playing hockey in the Texas vicinity over the next week and a half.

But this will hardly be a vacation to the warmth of the Lone Star state.  The Admirals will be facing quality hockey clubs in each contest over the trip, including bookend games with the the West Division leading San Antonio Rampage.  There is also a pair of games in Austin where Milwaukee will face last year’s Western Conference Champions, the Texas Stars.

But perhaps the most intriguing matchup of the trip comes with a pair of games in Oklahoma City.  The Admirals and Barons each stand at 21 points (The Ads have played two less games), so Milwaukee’s first ever trip to Oklahoma’s state capital takes on even more significance.

With a majority of home games remaining on the schedule after December 1st, a few big wins on this trip would put the streaking Admirals in excellent position through the first quarter of the season.

So Roundtable, how many wins are you expecting for Milwaukee on their seven game Texas swing?  And how many wins does Milwaukee need for the trip to be considered a success?

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Three Things Milwaukee is Doing Well, Three Things the Admirals Need to Work on.

Three things Milwaukee is doing well:

1)  The play of Mark Dekanich.

Off to a blazing start, goaltender Mark Dekanich is clearly the MVP of the Admirals in the early going this season.  In 11 games of action, Dekanich has allowed just 16 goals, while racking up eight wins against just two losses.  His statistics are staggering, headlined by a goals against average of 1.48 and a save percentage of 94.5, which are far and away the best in the AHL.  The only issue between the pipes that Milwaukee has faced so far is that Dekanich can’t play every night.

2) Turning defense into offense.

Prior to season Milwaukee’s strength appeared to be its defense.  Through the first 15 games this season the Admirals blueline has been stout, limiting quality scoring chances against.  But the Admirals defense is also keying an impressive transition game.  Jonathon Blum, Roman Josi, and Teemu Laakso represent three of the best two-way defenders in the AHL, and all three are off to great starts.

3) Balanced Scoring.

Sporting a balanced offensive attack is pivotal to success in hockey, especially at the AHL level.  Teams that feature only one scoring line usually go haywire in the middle of the season when NHL teams are forced to make significant injury call ups.   So far Milwaukee has found a nice balance on the score sheet, getting offensive contributions from each of its first three lines.  Linus Klasen remains the focal point with eight goals and 14 points, but Milwaukee features 12 players with five points or more through the first 15 games of the season, making the Admirals a tough team to matchup against.

Three things the Admirals need to work on:

1) Improve special teams.

Through 15 games, Milwaukee stands tied for fifth overall in league points, sporting an impressive 9-3-3 record.  But the special teams have lagged behind during the Admirals fast start.  Milwaukee owns a decent power play, ranked 14th and clicking at a 17.6% clip.  But strangely the penalty kill has lagged behind.  The Admirals rank just 17th overall, successful at killing penalties 82% of the time.  In order to remain among the league’s elite teams, Milwaukee must improve on its special teams play.

2) Find a solid No. 2 in net.

It seems inevitable that Mark Dekanich will get a well-deserved NHL shot, whether with Nashville or via a transaction to another team.  But even if Dekanich stays in the AHL all season, Milwaukee still faces seven more occasions of three games in three nights, including two on the upcoming Texas swing.  With a win in his first start this season with Milwaukee, maybe Jeremy Smith can be the solution to the Admirals backup goaltender quagmire.

3) Get Blake Geoffrion on the scoreboard.

No player in Milwaukee faces a microscope quite like Blake Geoffrion, who got off to a slow start.  But Geoffrion showed signs of figuring things out prior to getting knocked out of Milwaukee’s 4-1 win against Chicago on November 7 (Geoffrion hasn’t been back in game action since).  When he does comeback, getting that first goal should spark a surge in Geoffrion’s offensive game.

So Roundtable, what do you think are Milwaukee’s strengths and weaknesses in the early going?

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Linus Klasen Looking to Reignite His Offense Against Lake Erie

Despite scoring eight goals in his first 11 games with Milwaukee, Admirals forward Linus Klasen is hardly content with his performance so far.

“Of course I am happy with my production so far, but I am never satisfied,” Klasen said.  “I am going to keep working every day to try to keep producing even more.   If you get satisfied, that’s when it can turn around on you really fast.”

The gifted Swede, who is scoreless in his last two games, hopes to reignite his offense this weekend against Lake Erie, a team that is missing its top goaltender.  Longtime NHL veteran John Grahame is currently up with the Colorado Avalanche with starter Craig Anderson injured for an indefinite period of time.

Speaking of the Monsters, this weekend Milwaukee will see a team that has a lot of similarities to themselves.  Lake Erie is a young and dynamic squad that is growing in confidence with every game.

“Grand Rapids and Lake Erie are both very good teams and fast teams, so we will be challenged (this week),” Milwaukee coach Lane Lambert said.

Several names on the Monsters should be familiar to Wisconsin hockey fans.  Lake Erie’s fifth leading scorer is former Badgers forward Matthew Ford.  At least three other Monsters played for the University of Minnesota, including R. J. Anderson, Ryan Stoa and Mike Carman.

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Admirals Set to Become Road Warriors

And so it begins, the 10-game marathon road trip for the Milwaukee Admirals.

Today the team got on the bus and left for a franchise-tying travel adventure, visiting six different AHL cities along the way–Grand Rapids, Cleveland, San Antonio, Austin, Oklahoma City, Austin (again), Houston and San Antonio (part deux).

(Here is a google map of the trip just in case you wanted to follow Milwaukee on its cross country trek)

For coach Lane Lambert, the roadie presents an opportunity to find out a lot about his young squad.

“Though we’ve played six games already on the road, there will be some things that we will learn on this 10-game trip,” Lambert said. “We should get a good assessment (of our club).”

By the time Milwaukee leaves San Antonio on Sunday, November 28, the Admirals will have played 22 games so far this season or over a fourth of its 80-game total.  Lambert expects Milwaukee to have its main team concepts polished up by the end of the trek.

“This is the time when we really need to solidify the systems in our game,” Lambert said.

Milwaukee currently stands in fourth place in the West Division with 15 points.  Sitting in that position or better on December 1st will go a long way for the Admirals in 2010-2011, as in each month going forward Milwaukee plays more home games than road games.

Bonus:  Some Fun Stats for the Trip and Beyond

1) If the Admirals cover the entire trip by bus they will have logged nearly 5,000 miles, or spent nearly three and half days just traveling.

2) Using an estimate of gas at $3 a gallon and traveling in a bus that gets 10 miles per gallon, Milwaukee will have spent $1,441.80 on fuel for the trip.

3) Using the best routes by bus, the Admirals will spend time traveling in eight different states:  Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas (the team will miss a ninth, Kansas, by just a few miles).

4) Strangely, Milwaukee travels on no road trips longer than three consecutive games after November’s 10-game southern quest.  In fact, this trip is only one all season longer than three games.

5) If you think Lambert is joking about assessing his club, check out my season preview.

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How Milwaukee Can Beat Chicago

When the puck drops Sunday afternoon at the Bradley Center, Milwaukee will try to do something that they haven’t all season—beat Chicago.

In the three prior meetings with the Wolves, the Admirals have found three different ways to drop games.  It started with a 3-2 loss in overtime at home on October 15, then a 3-2 shootout defeat the next night in Chicago, and finally falling 4-3 in a regulation decision on October 24 at Allstate Arena.

For Milwaukee coach Lane Lambert, the first step toward knocking off Chicago starts with better netminding.

“We have to get good goaltending,” Lambert said. “I feel like we should have won two out of the three games against the Wolves, but we didn’t get saves when we needed them.”

Lambert also believes that a consistent effort against Chicago will go a long way toward getting that first win against last year’s West Division champs.

“We have to string a full 60 minutes together against them,” Lambert said.  “In the past we’ve had lulls and it hurt us on the scoreboard.”

Newly acquired Steve Begin, who played his first game with the Admirals against Chicago agrees with Lambert, but also believes Milwaukee needs to pay more attention to the little things.

“We made a lot of mistakes in that game,” Begin said.  “But we can beat them if we skate for 60 minutes, have good communication on the ice and take care of the details.”

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November’s Only Home Stand Looms Large for Milwaukee

Brace yourself Admirals fans:  Milwaukee’s schedule is about to take another nasty turn.

In the month of November the Admirals have just three measly home games and none past this Sunday’s game meeting with Chicago.  Therefore this week’s matchups—games against Rockford on Wednesday, Peoria on Friday, and the team’s fourth meeting of season with the Wolves on Sunday—represent a vital stretch for Milwaukee to gain significant points in the AHL standings.

“We would really like to get the month off on the right foot considering we’re going on the road for the next ten games,” Admirals coach Lane Lambert said.  “That’s the general objective for these next three games—for us to have a strong start.”

The other key to this week’s contests is that they are West Division games played against Milwaukee three closest geographic rivals.  Currently, the Admirals sit in sixth place in the West, chasing both Chicago and Peoria.  Milwaukee could move up the ladder by claiming four or more points on the week.

Obviously, the first days of November is far too early in the season to start worrying about Milwaukee’s playoff positioning.  But a couple of big home wins this week would make life a lot less stressful on Lambert’s crew as the Admirals head south for the latter half of the month.

So, Roundtable:  How many points do you think Milwaukee will get out of these next three games?  Would anything less than four be considered a disappointment?  Why?

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Milwaukee Journeys to Abbotsford to Face a Familiar Foe

There is one team in the AHL not like the others—the Abbotsford Heat.

Located just over an hour’s drive east of Vancouver, British Colombia, Abbotsford is most geographically isolated city in the AHL.  The nearest league city to the Heat is Winnipeg, Manitoba, which is located three Canadian provinces further east, or over a day’s drive by bus.  (Check out the Map of all the AHL team locations here)

Therefore when teams travel to Abbotsford, it is often for a two-game stint in order to reduce travel expenses.  This weekend Milwaukee has unenviable task of making the western trek.

But what makes this year’s trip even more peculiar is that it represents the final meetings between Milwaukee and Abbotsford this season.

“There’s parts of our schedule I don’t like, and parts I like, and it’s going to be that way every year,” Admirals coach Lane Lambert said.  “It’s bizarre that we play the same team four times in the first month of the season and then we don’t see them again.”

So far the Admirals have burned the Heat, winning both of their home games by a combined 9-3 count. Milwaukee has counted for half of Abbotsford’s losses so far this season.

“Obviously we’ll be very familiar with each other by the time the final buzzer goes next Saturday,” Lambert said.

Speaking of familiar, one player on the Heat Admirals fans should recognize is former Wisconsin Badgers defenseman Joe Piskula.

After playing five games in the NHL with the Los Angeles Kings in 2006-2007, Piskula’s career stagnated with the Manchester Monarchs.  The Antigo, Wisconsin native is hoping a change of scenery to the Canadian Northwest may reinvigorate his once promising career.

So what do think Roundtable?  Should the AHL balance the schedule out more?  Or does the league’s special case of Abbotsford make the scheduling quirk ok?

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What Steve Begin Brings to Milwaukee

Anytime a player with an NHL pedigree such as Steve Begin’s gets assigned to an AHL club, the league’s fans get excited.  These players offer the hardcore hockey fan a name they can recognize and not a prospect they have to do their homework on.

But for the Admirals supporters who don’t know much about Steve Begin, let me shine a little light on the subject.  At 32-years old Begin is no rookie.  His best offensive days (10 goals in 2003-2004 and 11 in 2005-2006) are behind him, yet Begin proved effective in his checking role with the Boston last year.  This was especially true during the playoffs when Begin took advantage of expanded ice time as the Bruins lost key players to injuries.  During the off-season Begin likely would have resigned in Boston if the Bruins weren’t so strapped by salary cap issues.

Despite his limited offensive game, Begin remains an effective two-way forward and a menace to play against.  The Quebec-native is a constant competitor on the ice, who skates with a work ethic that makes him easy to coach.

Therefore Begin seems a natural fit in blue-collar organization like Nashville, a team that prides itself in playing a gritty style.  Begin’s time in Milwaukee will involve conditioning to get his NHL legs back under him after he missed all of training camp as an unsigned free agent.

However, if an opportunity on the Predators third or fourth line appears, expect Begin to be one of the first players General Manager David Poile inquires about.

(Author’s Note:  Steve Begin played his first game with the Milwaukee Admirals Sunday at Chicago, picking up an assist, while centering the team’s starting line with Chris Mueller and Gabriel Bourque.  He also took a controversial penalty late in third period that effectively ended Milwaukee’s comeback hopes.  To hear coach Lane Lambert thoughts on the call, check out Andy Grebe’s game recap Blog, Wolves Fend Off Ads 4-3:  https://admiralsroundtable.com/2010/10/24/wolves-fend-of-ads-4-3/)

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Managing Three Games in Three Nights

One of the few drawbacks of playing hockey in the AHL is the occurrence of three game stretches played in three nights.  As marquee draw in many of the league’s markets, maximizing the amount of weekend dates is a must.

How a coach like Milwaukee’s Lane Lambert handles the three in three can make or break a season.

“In the games we as coaches have to manage our players and manage our ice times a little bit more,” Lambert said.  “We also have to look at potentially putting other players into our lineup and switching it up a little bit over the course of the weekend.”

October 23-25 marks the first of eight of those such occasions for Milwaukee on the schedule, with a road game at Grand Rapids, home game against Abbotsford and a road game at Chicago.  Managing goaltenders properly is perhaps the most difficult variable Lambert has to deal with during the long weekend.

“We will play both goaltenders,” Lambert said.  “As far as how the rotation goes I haven’t decided yet, but (Mark) Dekanich will start in Grand Rapids and we will go from there.”

As stressful as a three in three can be for a coach, it can be exhausting for a player.  College teams only play a long weekend during the conference playoffs in a best two out of three situation.

Therefore it will be a big adjustment for rookies like Blake Geoffrion.

“Three games in three nights is something I have to get used to,” Geoffrion said.  “It requires recovering properly so you can play at your best each night.”

So Roundtable, I ask you, what do you think Milwaukee should do to maximize their chances for success this weekend?  Rotate the goalies or stick with the hot hand?  Change up the lineup every night or stick with what is working?

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A Three Pack of Questions with Admirals President Jon Greenberg

Speaking of Jon Greenberg, during the Home Opener I sat down with the Milwaukee Admirals President for a few a minutes to get his initial thoughts about this year’s club.

Question 1: What are your first impressions of this year’s youthful Admirals?

Greenberg: “As much as we like to see guys come back here year after year, we are all excited to see the prospects that Nashville has in their system that come through here and to see what they are capable of doing.  I like guys such as Blake Geoffrion and Linus Klasen, so hopefully it will be a good year.”

Question 2: Early in the season Milwaukee’s blueline should be one of the team’s strengths.  How do you see the Admirals defense shaping up?

Greenberg: “Defense has always been a strong point in Nashville’s farm system and I don’t think this year is going to be any different.  Once Roman Josi comes back from his injury I think we are going to be even deeper.”

Question 3: What are your early expectations for Milwaukee?

Greenberg: “When you have so many new guys like we do this year, it is about getting used to playing with each other.  I have never worried about the start as long as we are a good team at the finish.”