After giving up a pair of one-goal leads in the third period, Chris Mueller was awarded a penalty shot in the overtime period. And he beat Lake Erie goaltender Trevor Cann to give the Admirals a 3-2 victory.
The win snapped Milwaukee’s 6-game road losing streak — their longest such streak since 1997.
The snakebitten Ryan Thang really deserves an assist on the penalty shot, as his pass to Mueller sprung him on the breakaway that Mueller converted on. But brownie points aren’t an official AHL stat…and Thang remains pointless in 2012.
The Admirals did manage to keep another streak going though, and a good streak at that. They’ve now scored a power play goal in 8 straight games. They scored a pair tonight! Kyle Wilson in the first period, who was strong with his stick in front of the goal while being worked over by a defender. And Zack Stortini had a power play goal too, deflecting a Scott Valentine shot from the point after a Wilson face-off win.
Wilson at center. Good returns so far.
Wilson had the only goal of the first period, and it stayed that way until early in the third period, when the Monsters scored the second a power play ended. Stortini answered a few minutes later, but Cameron Gaunce tied the game with 5:27 left in the third period with a shot from the point through traffic.
Jeremy Smith was in the crease for his second game in two nights, and got the win for the Admirals turning aside 23 of 25 shots.
Taylor Beck and Tyler Sloan were both injured last night in Hamilton, and neither played tonight. No call-ups were needed, as Jeff Foss and Chris Cahill were both on the trip. No word yet on how serious the injuries are.
The Ads are off until Sunday, when they’ll play in Rockford to try to start a new road WINNING streak.
Sloppy turnovers in the neutral zone and missed assignments in the defensive zone were the two culprits in the Admirals’ 4-2 loss to the Hamilton Bulldogs Wednesday night, extending their road loss streak to 6 games.
Chris Mueller scored on a perfectly executed 5-on-3 power play that tied the game at 1 early in the second period. But the Bulldogs scored the next three before Mueller scored his second of the game after a Bulldog turnover.
The Admirals had a power play chance with 8:07 left in the game, but could not convert. And then Scott Valentine took a cross-checking penalty with 2:49 in the game, which pretty much sealed the deal for the Bulldog win.
– This may have been the first time this season that Michael Latta didn’t play center for most of the game. And after a strong game at center on Sunday, Kyle Wilson found himself taking face-offs tonight.
– The new lines were thrown out the window after Taylor Beck left the game early in the second period. Coach Drulia didn’t give any details about what happened on the radio post-game show. (If they have to call someone up from Cincy….well, at least they’ll be in Ohio tomorrow.)
– Juuso Puustinen, who had scored in three of his last four games, passed up a lot of shots in favor of pass plays even when he had open looks. He ended the night with just one shot on goal. On the post game show, Coach Drulia said that Puustinen had a great morning skate…so much that he wanted to be Puustinen’s linemate tonight.
– Tyler Sloan was especially sloppy with the puck. And the Bulldogs scored while he was in the penalty box.
– Ryan Thang was pointless again, but was robbed a couple of times by Bulldog goaltender Robert Mayer.
– Back at it again tomorrow…see if they can get some revenge on the Lake Erie Monsters, and see if they can get that road monkey off of their bus.
We may have overlooked his struggles because we’ve been so fixated on others (cough Blake cough), but one could argue that one of the biggest disappointments of the season so far is Ryan Thang.
After a strong second half and even stronger playoff season last spring, Thang busted out of the gates this season with three goals and an assist in his first two games. Through seven games in October, he had five goals and one assist. Great start!
Then….he got called up to Nashville for a cup of coffee. He played one game against the Chicago Blackhawks, and by most accounts, held his own just fine out there.
Upon his return to Milwaukee, the production has slowed down quite a bit. In his 28 games since the call-up and consistently playing on the top two lines, Thanger just has four goals and eight assists.
And nothing yet in the calendar year 2012. His last goal was 12/26. His last assist was 12/28. His pointless games streak sits at 8 games heading into Hamilton tonight.
Is he just snakebitten? Thang leads the team in shots on goal, and he’s got a positive plus/minus number. So he’s around when good stuff is happening.
Is he just a slow starter? In his first 20 games last season, he had no goals and four assists….although it was his first full season as a pro.
At his current pace, he’d end this season in the same neighborhood of offensive production that he had last year. But I think that the expectation coming into this year was a little loftier than simply holding that ground.
There are 41 games left, so there’s plenty of time for him to catch fire and make more of an offensive impact. But if he doesn’t, his fate may be more along the lines of Andreas Thuresson, as he watches other guys pass him on the depth chart.
AHL Commissioner David Andrews was in Milwaukee on Sunday for the Admirals’ game against the Lake Erie Monsters. Mr. Andrews was very gracious with his time, and I borrowed about five minutes of his second intermission to talk with him about player safety, video replay, and more.
Admirals Roundtable: With Brendan Shanahan in charge of discipline in the NHL, there’s been somewhat of a change of behavior up there. Have you noticed a trickle down effect in the AHL?
David Andrews: Well, I hope so. We’ve worked closely with Brendan at the start of the year to make sure that we understood the standards that were going to be put in place in the National Hockey League for discipline, and we stay in touch with him on a regular basis. I think when you look at our suspension record over the last couple months…through the first half of the season I think we’re about triple where we were a year ago. So we’ve taken, I wouldn’t say a stricter stand… we’ve always taken a pretty strict stand on head shots in the American Hockey League…but with the rule changes it has opened up more opportunity for us to look at more plays. So I think it’s having an impact.
But as I said to Aaron earlier (Editor’s note: Mr. Andrews did a radio interview with Aaron Sims right before talking to me)…what we’re seeing in terms of concussions both in the NHL and the AHL, is that the vast majority of them are not happening from illegal plays. Tougher disciplinary standard is important for player safety, and it’s important that our guys have the same standard in our league as what they’re going to find in the NHL as they go back and forth. But it’s not the be all and end all of player safety, and we need get a better understanding of how these concussions are happening, and what the mechanism of the injuries are, because most of them that we’ve seen are not coming from plays that are illegal.
AR: What has been the feedback that you’ve received so far from the realignment, schedule modification, and playoff settings.
DA: First of all, our league was pretty much unanimous in favor of the realignment…it was something that we needed to do, not so much to look like the NHL, although it appeared that way, but because of the geography. When we moved the Winnipeg team to St. Johns, Newfoundland, clearly they couldn’t stay in the Western Conference, and we needed to make some realignment there. And when we tried to build it into four divisions, it just wasn’t a good fit. When we went to six divisions, it was a very good fit. So that’s how we got there.
The schedule modification has been well received by our fans, and it’s been well received by the players. Obviously, it’s another factor for player safety, to get them more rest and more practice time. We’ve extended our calendar by a week and reduced the number of games, so there’s not as much travel pressure on the players. And our ticket sales are up 10% this year versus last year. So I think it’s been very positive.
And so far we haven’t gotten to the playoffs where people can give us an opinion, but we think it’s a better format than we had last year.
AR: Now this is your 18th year as commissioner of the AHL….what are some ways that the league can still grow, and can you see yourself as the commissioner in another ten years?
DA: No, I don’t see myself as the commissioner in another ten years. I have in my own mind a time limit on how long I’m going to stay in the position. I’ve been here 18 years and in the league for 25, so it won’t be too much longer…a few more years I guess. I think where we need to head is to continue to serve as the primary player development league for the NHL. We’ve had great success with that model. I think we’ll continue to see some evolution of markets, and we may see some migration further west with some our teams over time. But for the most part, we’re in a good place…we’ve never been in a better place in terms of our business, in terms of our relationship with the NHL, and we just have to keep growing on that.
AR: I’m sure this is one of your least favorite questions to field, but I have to ask it. Video replay. It’s in the NHL, they have it at the college level… What are some of the major roadblocks to it being implemented at this level?
DA: Well, the major raodblock up until now has been cost, to tell you the truth. To do it right, it’s very expensive. We’re testing a system right now in Bridgeport, Connecticut. We’re going to report on that system to our board in January. I would be surprised if in one way or another we don’t have some sort of video replay in place by next season.
AR: The NHL’s realignment plan that was just placed on hold by the union had somewhat of a balanced schedule with at least a home-and-home series against every team in the league. Is that something that you’d like to see in the AHL?
DA: I think in a perfect world, perhaps yes. But I don’t think we’ll see it. Our league is still very much driven by rivalries and is very much driven by travel cost. It’s unlikely that we’ll ever see a balanced schedule in our league. I think our fans are for the most part pretty happy with the way we structure it. Some of our season ticket holders would like to see a few more teams than what they see, particularly here in the Western Conference. But we’re seeing more variety now than we did, and I expect we’ll continue to see more and more of that, but I doubt that we’ll ever see each team playing every other team in the league.
AR: The AHL All-Star game coming up in Atlantic City — I think it was a great idea… we’ve got a place that wants to throw a big party and that’s very cool. Would you consider having the All-Star game as a destination like this on a regular basis?
DA: I think we would consider it, but we do have a couple of our member cities who are eager to host the game in the next couple of years. And I expect we’ll go to those cities before we go to another destination like Atlantic City.
AR: And finally….I understand that you’re a sports marketing professor at the university level. What are some of the topics that you talk about in your class? What’s on the syllabus?
DA: Oh gosh, the syllabus is pretty much just talking about almost everything that we do in marketing sports and in sport management. For the most part, we’re focused on sales and on branding, and all of those sorts of things. But I’m not REALLY a full professor….I’m just an adjunct!
(Many many thanks to Mr. Andrews for his time and his thoughtful responses.)
My vacation was great. Thanks for asking. Saw the Caps shutout the Penguins. It was delightful.
So Brodie Dupont cleared waivers earlier this week. While he has been rehabing from his Achilles injury in Milwaukee, he hadn’t actually been on the Admirals roster until he cleared waivers.
Aaron Sims tweeted today that Dupont will be making his Admiral debut tonight against the Wolves. What line do you want to see him on? I’d like to see him with Van Flynder.
Dupont was obtained during the off-season in the trade that sent Andreas Thuresson to the Rangers organization. So far, Thuresson has 9 goals and 6 assists in 37 games.
Despite Dupont missing the first 33 games of the season, I think we’ll still get the better end of that deal.
Dupont = #36
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You probably don’t need to be reminded, as most of you are educated consumers….but Sunday’s game is a 1pm start.
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More Packers playoff tickets are up for grabs tomorrow. And here’s a look at the Scott Ford bobblehead. How did they do with the design?
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Admirals Crew! The Booster Club! They’ve got that table behind section 206 that you should go visit. And they’ve got an event coming up later this month. From their website, it’s CASINO NIGHT!
Featuring casino style gaming and raffle prizes! Doors open at 5pm and the gambling starts at 7pm.
Cost to enter is $30 a person or $50 a couple. Price includes food, beer and soda plus a ticket worth $500 in chips for gambling.
Raffle tickets for various gift baskets and prizes will be 1 for $1 or 6 for $5.
Sorry, no children under 16 at this event. You don’t have to be a Crew member to attend!
The fundraising committee is looking for raffle prize donations for this event! Donations can include Admirals memorabilia or other simple items such as a movie basket. If you are interested in donating please contact fundraising via the e-mail listed above.
I have an easier time with the team losing if the other team scores 4 good goals. In that case, good on them, they beat us. Fine.
Simply put…..after the exhibitions in the last two games….the Milwaukee goaltending needs to be better, or the Admirals won’t be playing meaningful games after your income taxes are due.
The Admirals lost this one 4-2, with Engren giving up three in the first period before being relieved, and then an empty netter at the end of the game. Juuso Puustinen had a power play goal for the Admirals, and Chris Mueller made it a one-goal game late.
Here are the video highlights from the game, courtesy of the Rivermen.
In a game with first place in the division on the line, it was a pretty exciting match for 59:40 of the game.
But two ghastly defensive lapses in those twenty seconds in the third period were the difference in the game, as the Charlotte Checkers came from behind to sink the Admirals 4-3 Saturday night.
Anders Lindback gave up the textbook definition of a “soft goal” 9:01 into the third period that tied the game at 3. With the play heading back up the ice, the Admirals never did clear the zone. Zac Dalpe picked up the puck just inside the blue line, turned, and fired the puck on net. And it went in.
Lindback says that he obviously wants to have that one back.
I’m not fond that he used the word “assuming” in there. But I’m not sure if there’s ever a good explanation when you are caught snoozing.
On the next shift, the regularly reliable Tyler Sloan turned the puck over in the Admirals zone, and it turned into a 2-on-nobody rush. Matthew Pistilli fed the puck across the low slot to Zach Boychuk for the easy goal.
Sloan takes full responsibility for it.
Outside of that, Coach Herbers thought the team played pretty well.
That’ll do it for Lindback’s vacation to Milwaukee. He’ll be going back to Nashville tomorrow morning, and Jeremy Smith will be sent back down. Here’s Coach Herbers on Lindback’s weekend.
The teams exchanged power play goals in the first period. With Zac Dalpe in the box serving a tripping penalty, Kyle Wilson was the toe of a tic-tac-toe passing play, and his shot from the top of the near circle beat Checkers goaltender Mike Murphy.
Dalpe got his revenge a little later in the period while Scott Valentine’s holding penalty was winding down. A pass from Zach Boychuk didn’t make it through the crease to the intended recipient. Instead it kind of bounced around in between Lindback’s pads that were down on the ice. The puck wasn’t secured and squirted out to the right doorstep, and Dalpe found it first.
The Checkers took a 2-1 lead on a goal that took a couple of bad bounces, as the initial shot from Derek Joslin was deflected by an Admiral on its way to the net. The shot ended up going wide, but caromed off of Lindback’s stick, which was laying on the ice behind the net for some reason. The puck came back out front, and Nicolas Blanchard put it in the net. Surprised that the post wasn’t sealed there.
About seven and a half minutes later, Taylor Beck tied the game on a great offensive rush. Ryan Flynn’s penalty had just expired, and the two of them led the rush into the offensive zone on the right wing. (see video)
Jon Blum crashing the net helped open things up a bit, and after Murphy committed to the poke-check, it was a great play by Beck to bring the puck in front and around the goaltender.
Later in the period, the Ads regained the lead on a Chris Mueller goal. Pistilli couldn’t control the puck in the high slot, and it kicked behind him to Zack Stortini, who found Mueller all alone in front of Murphy.
– Playing the Checkers makes you realize how slow the Admirals are. They go on lots of odd-man rushes…they don’t always execute well, and some of the credit for that goes to the other team pushing back…but they had a lot of chances to have good things happen.
– The Admirals didn’t get their second shot on goal in the third period until there was 7:33 left in the game.
– Here’s a positive. I really like the way Taylor Beck is playing right now. I was pretty critical earlier in the season, but he’s arguably grown as a player more than anyone else on the team. In his last 15 games, he’s totaled 4 goals, 10 assists, and has gone from being -9 to being +1 defensively. He hasn’t been a minus since November 27th.
– Here’s a negative. Blake Geoffrion. Not an impact.
– Jon Blum. Mixed bag again. There are some heady plays, there are some plays where he tries to force things, and there are X’s and O’s plays that just aren’t being made.
– I thought Chris Mueller played one of his best games of the season on both ends of the ice.
– And for our friends in Windsor…..mazel tovs are in order for Ryan Ellis, as he scored his first NHL goal tonight against Kirk and the Canes. It was a power play marker with 5:32 left in the game, which gave the Preds a 5-1 lead.
– Referee Shaun Davis. The King of calling a penalty that has nothing to do with the actual infraction that took place on the ice. Do you think it’s stage fright, or he just isn’t watching all that closely?
Questions:
Okay — you saw two games of Anders Lindback this weekend. Of the seven goals he gave up this weekend, how many of them would you consider GOOD goals? Any other thoughts on his play?
Would Chet Pickard have made that save on the game-tying goal?
How do you fix Blake Geoffrion? Linemates? Is it an attitude thing?
Ryan Thang. One assist in his last 5 games. Is he snakebitten, or is he not having as much of an impact as he did the second half of last year and out of the gate this year?
Can they rebound in Peoria tomorrow night? The Rivermen were off tonight, so they won’t be finishing a 3-in-3 set like the Admirals will be. Taking two of three games this weekend sounds better than losing four of their last five.
So here’s the play we were talking about in last night’s recap.
Stortini with a big hit that was ruled a clean hit. Brophey takes exception. Stortini gives him what he asked for and more. And a gloved punch comes in from the bench.
Liffiton got two minutes for roughing on the play, and was NOT tossed from the game.
UPDATE: As you know, news doesn’t wait for after business hours…
Lindback and Blum are the winners of a most-expenses-paid trip to Milwaukee this weekend.
Jim Diamond, who writes for the Nashville Predators Examiner site, published some news late Thursday night that will likely have quite the impact on this upcoming weekend for the Admirals.
So good for Smitty on his promotion. And good for us to get some time with Lindback. Smitty will be the 5th Admiral this year to earn their first NHL call-up, after Thang, Josi, Ellis, and Bourque (who scored his first NHL goal tonight, incidentally….)
It’s a well done piece by Diamond, and I urge you to read it…but I’ll quote here what he said at the end of the article.
With Lindback headed north, the question is whether or not he will have some company on his flight. The team is currently carrying eight defensemen. Head coach Barry Trotz said following the Dallas game that they will soon be discussing their blue line situation. Smart money says Ryan Ellis will be headed back with an outside chance that Jonathon Blum is reassigned for the second time this season.
It’ll be interesting to see who they decide and for what reason. Who would you rather have sent back?
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