Author: Ryan

News

“It’s Not Pond Hockey Here”


(Photo Credit:  Scott Paulus)

After setting the league on fire in October, Linus Klasen’s production has settled down a bit.  On this roadtrip, he has only produced one goal and one assist.  And on Friday night, Klasen found himself as a healthy scratch against the Texas Stars.

This may come as a surprise to many, that a team would bench their leading scorer.  But there’s a lot more to the story.

In Lane Lambert’s pre-game interview with Aaron Sims, which will be broadcast before the game against the Houston Aeros tonight on Sportsradio1250 WSSP, Coach talks about a lot of things….Faceoffs, Steve Begin, Dan Gendur, penalty killing, Houston scouting report….oh, and what’s up with Klasen.

Here’s a clip from the interview.

“Well he’s got to raise his compete level.  He’s got to be a lot more detailed.  It’s not pond hockey here; we’re playing under a team system and a team structure.  He’s a terrific individual skilled player, and we need him.  We need him to be on our team and we need him to be playing well.  And he’s going to score for us yes, but at the end of the day, Linus has been more of a liability lately on the ice turning pucks over and in the defensive zone, than he has been putting up any numbers.  At some point in time when we’re asking our team to be detailed and be committed, the players or player that isn’t has to sit and watch and get on board.  And that’s what happened to him last night.

This sounds like it could be Peter Olvecky part two, here.  I hope not….because we all know how that ended….and it wasn’t well.

No word yet on whether or not he’ll be scratched again tonight in Houston.

I’ll go on record saying that I support Lane’s decision 100%.  There’s no room for players in such a structured system at this level to just do their own thing.  The question now is going to be how will Linus respond on the ice and at practice.

Again, catch the full interview in the pre-game show of tonight’s broadcast on Sportsradio 1250 WSSP.

Game Recaps

Shorthanded Ads Pitch Shutout Over Stars

No Linus Klasen.  No Matt Halischuk.  No Mark Van Guilder.  No Blake Geoffrion.

No problem.

Steve Begin scored the only goal of the game 13:26 into the 3rd period, and the Admirals snapped their losing skid Friday night just outside of Austin, Texas.  1-0, Ads over Stars.

Full disclosure….didn’t get a chance to hear the broadcast…so I’m working off the box score, the game recaps, and a couple horrible rounds of bowling… (started with two splits…and that kind of set the tone for the evening)

Mark Dekanich (only your SECOND star of the game) turned aside all 29 shots in the win.  It was his 3rd shutout the year, which ties him for the league lead in that category.  Think he’ll get the start Saturday night in Houston?

Dan Gendur did make his debut, and had a team high four shots on goal.  And the Ads dressed seven defensemen, so Grant Lewis was able to get some game time.  Good thing too — he was the primary assist on Begin’s goal.

While the Admirals power play woes continued (0 for 4), they kept the Stars off the board on all seven of their power plays, including another late game penalty….(And it wasn’t Begin this time either!)  Kelsey Wilson was guilty of a high-sticking infraction with 1:04 left in the game.

I’ll sum it up like this…..great to get these two points to get them back on track.  Just what the doctor ordered.

News

Should The Preds Re-assign Colin Wilson?


(Photo credit:  Scott Paulus)

This concept was brought up in the comments section of another post, but I think it would be worth an entire post.

A Preds blogger had mentioned that it might be good for the Preds to swap out Wilson and Nick Spaling for Steve Begin and Jamie Lundmark.

I’ve presented the scenerio to some of the folks over at Ontheforecheck.com, and I’ll cherry pick some of their thoughts throughout this post.

Colin Wilson has two goals and four assists on the season so far, playing in  20 games.  Obviously, expectations were higher for Wilson this year and one could look at that stat line and suggest that maybe he’s not ready yet.  Seth Lake offers this summation of Wilson’s season so far.

“My thought was (and still largely is) that Wilson has been the most displaced player on the roster this season due to the injuries that have plagued our lineup.  In the season opener he was on the wing with Lombardi at center and Erat on the wing.  Within two games both of his linemates were out of the lineup with injuries and Wilson started to get shuffled as the other lines simply moved up and he slid backward.  After Goc was injured, Wilson got switched to center where he was very inconsistent, then when Goc returned he was again moved back to wing until Legwand went down and he was yo-yo’d back and forth from shift to shift as Trotz tried to find some chemistry.”

In the last 12 games, Wilson has just one assist…November 3rd at Phoenix.

Now, last season, Wilson had two goals and two assists before a groin injury sidelined him after a Halloween game.  Less than a month later, Wilson was sent to Milwaukee on an extended conditioning assignment.  40 games later, Wilson was almost a point per game, and was starting to play with the confidence that you’d expect from such an elite prospect.  We watched the change right in front of us.  He had points in 11 of his last 12 games in Milwaukee, and knew it was only a matter of time before he’d be recalled.

Would it be beneficial for his development to spend some more time in Milwaukee, getting minutes on a top line?

Seth thinks so.

“It’s a long term development and asset management issue more than anything else for me right now.  I think Wilson’s not being as effective as he can be at the NHL level with limited minutes and not really having any consistency in his role from game to game and needs to get back to playing bigger minutes as a top-six forward to avoid stunting his development.

“Is it realistic to expect the Predators to make these moves?  Probably not, but to me…I don’t see a real reason not to right now.”

Chris Burton, from OTF has a similar take.

“I think that the idea of swapping these players out is a good one, but unrealistic. Spaling will be sent down eventually, when Lombardi returns, but I don’t think Wilson goes anywhere. Would it help his game to center Klasen and Thuresson, or whoever? Most likely. The Predators are struggling right now, and so is Wilson – but Trotz isn’t putting him in a position to succeed. Nine minutes a game is NOT giving him the best opportunity. Maybe he’s not showing Trotz what he needs to see, but its impossible to do so alongside Spaling and Kostitsyn. Wilson is very much a top six forward.  At any rate, I’d say there’s an outside possibility Wilson is demoted for Lundmark. Jamie would provide hustle and a “Swiss Army Knife” type ability, but in the end, nothing’s gonna happen.”

So Roundtable, what do you think?  Obviously, from the Admirals perspective, we could use any kind of offensive jump-start possible right now.  But from the Preds perspective, and from the perspective of Wilson’s long-term development, do you think this move would be beneficial or realistic?

News

Not-So-Special-Teams On Display In Admirals Loss

The last time the Admirals played in Milwaukee, it was a feel-good 4-1 drubbing of the Chicago Wolves.  The Ads scored twice on the power-play, and outside of the Blake Geoffrion hit that has knocked him out of action, it was a great send off for the team as they embarked on this 10-game road trip.

The Admirals have not scored on the power play since.  That’s zero  for 24 with the man-advantage in seven games on this road trip.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday night, the Oklahoma City Barons scored three power play goals of their own, en route to a 4-1 victory over the Admirals.

The first goal came after a 5×3 power play expired, with Kelsey Wilson still in the box serving a hooking penalty.  Credit to the PK unit for killing off the 5×3, especially since one of the Admirals skaters was playing without a stick.  That unit was out there a long time with the Admirals unable to clear the zone.  And while Mark Dekanich made a spectacular save on Linus Omark’s first shot, Omark was able to score on the follow-up.

Colin McDonald deflected a Taylor Chorney pass in the 2nd period for a power play goal while Linus Klasen served a high-sticking penalty that was called behind the play.

Liam Reddox scored an even strength breakaway goal for the Barons after Mark Santorelli giftwrapped it for him in the neutral zone.  Made it a 3-0 lead 54 seconds into the 3rd period.  A backbreaker.

Linus Omark scored his second power play marker of the game later in the 3rd period just after another 5×3 power play finished up.  Mark Santorelli had just come back on the ice when Omark’s backhand shot lifted the puck over Dex’s pads.

Chris Mueller answered back, finishing a 2-on-1 rush with his 7th goal of the year 50 seconds later.   Santorelli got his first assist of the year on the goal.

Memo to the rest of the team — whatever Chris Mueller is eating for breakfast on this roadtrip, make it your business to do the same.  Whatever music he’s listening to to get ready for the game, make it your business to learn the words.  Outside of Mark Dekanich, Chris Mueller has been the MVP of this road trip.

———

NOTES:

– Linus Klasen was able to play after leaving Sunday evening’s game.  Blake Geoffrion is still out.

– Dan Gendur did not make his Admiral debut.

– Seven games into the ten game road trip, the Admirals have outshot their opponent just once — the 4-0 win over Lake Erie.

– In these two games against OKC, the Admirals gave up 5 power play goals on 12 chances.

-QUESTION FOR DISCUSSION:

Hopefully you aren’t hitting the panic button just yet…..but in light of this southern swing, what are you concerned about the most with the way this team is playing?

News

Ads Prepare For OKC Rematch; Recall Gendur

The Admirals continue their southern trip tonight with a rematch against the Oklahoma City Barons.  And they’ve also made a roster move, recalling Dan Gendur from Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees of the CHL.

Gendur….Gendur….Gendur….where have we heard that name before?

He was the throw-in player in the deal that brought defenseman Shane O’Brien to Nashville, and sent Jonas Anderson and Ryan Parent to the Vancouver organization. 

In ten games, Gendur has two goals and six assists.

If he dresses tonight, he’ll be wearing #15.

UPDATE:

Klasen is questionable for tonight.  He’s practicing, but we’ll see how he feels.  Blake is out for tonight.  Mueller should be good to go.

Game Recaps

Ads Shutout By Stars

Richard Bachman was Taking Care Of Business.

Richard Bachman gave the Admirals No Sugar Tonight.

Any other BTO or Guess Who jokes you want to make?

Bachman turned aside all 26 shots the Admirals attempted, and the Stars were victorious 2-0 Saturday night in suburban Austin, Texas.

I encourage you to read the recap of this game over at 100 Degree Hockey — they are a Roundtable-approved blog that does excellent work, and they were actually AT the game.  Follow them on twitter @100degreehockey, if you like.

This was the Admirals first regulation loss since October 30th in Abbotsford.

The Admirals offense sleepwalked through most of the first 40 minutes, as they registed just their 8th shot of the game when there was about five and a half minutes left in the 2nd.  The shots came a little more frequently from that point on with the aid of some 5-on-3 power play time, a Stars team content to play some of the dump and chase game, and almost three minutes with the extra attacker at the end of the game after pulling Mark Dekanich.  Coach Lambert shook the lines up a bit in the 3rd period and some better energy was a result,  but Bachman and his defense had all the answers.

Dekanich stopped 30 of 32 shots in the loss.  A lighter workload than last night in San Antonio.  I expect we’ll see Jeremy Smith in the crease tomorrow evening.

The only goal the Stars needed came with 34 seconds left in the first period, as Greg Rallo fired a wrister from the slot that clanged off the post and in the net past a screened Dekanich.  Ahh, the dreaded goal-scored-against-in-the-final-minute-of-a-period sequence.

Tonight’s glass-is-half-full moment is brought to you by Mountain Fury.  Make that half glass a full glass with Mountain Fury.  Fury the fury! 

Yeah, bummer about the last 48 hours….the game in San Antonio last night, and the shutout tonight….but friends, we’re halfway done with the 10-game road trip, and I think we should be pretty happy with a record of 3-1-0-1.

Tomorrow morning, the Admirals will fly to Oklahoma City to play their first ever game against the Barons.  5:05 is the scheduled faceoff time, provided there aren’t any zambonis that break prior.

ITEM FOR DISCUSSION:

At the 11:49 mark of the 1st period, Maxime Fortunus was called for tripping, and Gabriel Bourque was called for diving.  Obviously the Koharski-du-jour felt it was okay to call them both….but where do you stand?  Should it be just one or the other?  Or is it okay to call both on a play?

Game Recaps

Ads Outshot 51-24, Earn Point In Shootout Loss

Both teams came into the game riding five game winning streaks.  The San Antonion Rampge were able to run it to six, as they defeated the Admirals 4-3 in a shootout.

Mark Dekanich was peppered with 51 shots in the game, including 25 in the 2nd period.   And then after stopping the opening shootout attempt, Dex let in the next three, while the Admirals didn’t put any past Rampage goalie Matt Climie in the shootout.

Dekanich deserved a better fate.  He is the reason that the Admirals were even in this game.  The game was scoreless through the first 38 minutes, but Pete MacArthur scored to give the Rampge the lead, and thus end Dekanich’s franchise record scoreless streak at 209:31 straight minutes.  He deserves quite the attaboy for that.

His subsequent scoreless streak was stopped after 15 seconds, as Mikkel Boedker scored to give the Rampage a two goal lead.

But the Admirals answered back 47 seconds later with Mike Bartlett’s first of the year.  Ryan Flynn was playing the puck behind the net, and passed to Roman Josi at the point.  His shot was stopped by Matt Climie’s pads, but Bartlett was there to put the rebound in.  It was Flynn’s first professional point.

So after being outshot 36 to 11 over the first two periods, the Admirals found themselves only down one goal, and on a power play to start the 3rd period, thanks to an Oliver Ekman-Larsson interference penalty.

The Admirals didn’t score on that power play, but did tie the game up nine seconds after it expired.  Matt Halischuk scored his 6th goal of the season — a wrister that went between Climie’s legs.

Chris Mueller gave the Admirals the lead 2:08 later with his third shorthanded goal of the season.  (Last season, the Admirals had three shorties all year!)  Mueller went in a breakaway after Maxim Goncharov turned the puck over, and he beat Climie glove side.

San Antonio was able to tie the game while Kelsey Wilson was serving a tripping minor.  Admirals nemesis Tim Stapleton had the power play goal just 12 seconds into the advantage, and with 5:20 left in the game.

In overtime, the Admirals thought they had scored the game winner after a puck went off of Mueller’s body towards the net.  Climie appeared to make the save, but was pushed back into the net as part of a pileup.  The goal judge never turned their light on, and after the officials discussed the play, it was officially ruled no goal.

Dekanich came up huge on a Tim Stapleton breakaway moments later.

Steve Begin took another late game penalty — this one a hooking minor with 1:11 left in OT.  After withstanding the early pressure on the 4-3 power play, the man-advantage was negated after Brett MacLean was called for goaltender interference with 14 seconds left in OT.

NOTES:

– The start of the game was delayed after one of the zambonis started leaking hydrolic fluid onto the ice.   Apparently, this guy got a new job.

– While it’s great to get a point out of this one, especially a game where the ice seemed to be slanted at times, it’s still an extra point that a division rival ended up getting in the standings.  Hopefully, it won’t come back to haunt the team once we get to April.

– For our glass-is-half-full readers…that was 7th straight game the Admirals have received at least one point. Sure beats the alternative.

– On to Austin to take on the Stars Saturday night — a team coming off a shootout win at Oklahoma City on Friday night. They have a longer way to travel than the Ads do.

News

This and That

This post is going to be link-tastic!

– Aaron Sims shares an anecdote about what life is like travelling in the AHL.  There were some bumps in the road last week as the Admirals were travelling from Grand Rapids to Cleveland.  It’s a great story.  And as a wise girl once said, “there is no aspect, no facet, no moment of life that can’t be improved with pizza.”

– Chet Pickard got his first win in….. awhile…. earlier this week.  I think that giving an interview to Josh Cooper of the Tennessean was what sparked it.  It’s a very good read, and it finds Chet reflecting a lot on what the last 9 months have been like.  You can also download an mp3 of a radio interview that goaltending coach Mitch Korn gave, and he addresses Chet’s growth a bit.

– So the Admirals are going to play 1st place San Antonio on Friday.  (wait…is that right?  Let me check my notes here….yep….1ST PLACE SAN ANTONIO).   They have the most points in the whole league right now….partly credited to the fact that they’ve played more games than almost every other team, but partly credited to the fact that they are winning.  They’ve got a six game winning streak already this season, and are currently riding a five game winning streak.  Pretty nice.  They’ve also played 12 of their 18 games at home, winning 9 of those games.  Also doesn’t hurt that their #1 goalie has a GAA under 2.

Former Admirals?  Yeah, some.  Nolan Yonkman is probably the first one that comes to mind, but he just recently got called up to the ‘Yotes.  Here is an article with some quotes from our ex-captain.  So he might not be around on Friday.  But Jed Ortmeyer should be.  As should Bracken Kearns, and Matt Beaudoin — who incidentally is their leading scorer right now.  And Admirals nemesis Tim Stapleton is holding his own down there too.

– I think Bruce Bochy was robbed.

–  Anyone notice who is leading the Predators in points so far this season?

– And finally, Hockey’s Future ranks the Predators as having the best organization in terms of prospects.  Check out their most recent writeup, and I’d be interested to know where you think they have missed the mark.

Game Recaps

Chet Pickard Discards Monkey

Chet Pickard is now on a winning streak of one game.

Ok, maybe that’s not a streak.  But it’s a win, and that’s awesome.

Chet was in net this afternoon for the Cyclones as they visted the Toledo Walleye, and made 31 saves on 32 shots, as the Cyclones held on to win 2-1.

I say “held on” because they were outshot 17-4 in the 3rd period.  But Chet stopped them all.

So please join me in congratulating Chet on removing that ugly-ass monkey from his back.

Game Recaps

Mueller Stays Hot, Admirals Sweep Weekend Series With Monsters

What a weekend for Chris Mueller.

Playing against his former team (he played in 59 games for Lake Erie in the 08-09 season), Mueller had a five point weekend.  Two goals and an assist last night, and the first and last goal this afternoon.  The last goal was a shorthanded tally with 1:07 left in the game, giving the Admirals a thrilling 3-2 win over the Monsters.

Admirals recap is here, Lake Erie “recap” and photos are here, the box score is here, the updated standings are here, and Waldo is here.

How did we get shorthanded so late in the game?  Steve Begin was called for a boarding penalty, and then he got a stick up in his face.  Begin took exception to that, as did Kelsey Wilson.  All dance partners got two minutes for roughing, but no high stick call to even out the Begin boarding call.

At that point, the philosophy might be to just get the game to overtime, get at least a point, and then see what happens.

Gabriel Bourque was able to clear the puck from the defensive zone, and then Mueller picked the pocket of Monster center Ryan Stoa.  Breaking in on rookie goaltender Trevor Cann, Mueller scored on the backhand to give the Admirals the lead.

Speaking of rookie goaltenders, Jeremy Smith made his first AHL start in net for the Ads.  He turned aside 25 of 27 shots to earn his first AHL win.  The only shots that beat him…a shorthanded goal from Mike Carmen found the back of the net through Smith’s five-hole, and a Justin Mercier shot from the slot that Smith was screened on.  He also made some spectacular saves that showed off his athleticism.

I asked Aaron Sims after the game how comfortable Smith looked in net.  “For a kid making his first start, he just seemed real sure about himself.  Willing to challenge.”  Back in pre-season, there were some concerns about rebound control, and he let a few big ones out there this afternoon.  But on some of those rebound chances, Aaron says that Smith “flashed a glove that was just unreal-quick.”  Very encouraging.

On the radio broadcast after the game, Ian Herbers told Aaron that it was a tough call regarding who was going to get the start today.  That original plan was to start Smith, but with Dekanich doing his best brick wall impersonation in the last two games, they weren’t sure.  Word is that Dex “tweeked” an injury at the rink in the morning, and was held out as a pre-caution.  Aaron later clarified with Ian that the injury was not anything serious.  May be just soreness.  And with the team off until next Friday, I think Dex should be ready to go down in Texas, when they begin their next 3-in-3 stretch of games.

But Ian used the word “maintenance” when talking about Dex.  The red flag that waves is that while Dex has been nothing short of outstanding, he may be starting to feel the wear-and-tear that comes with being the #1 goalie.

Somewhat overshadowed with the Mueller and Smith stories….Roman Josi scored his first North American goal in the 2nd period while the teams were playing 4×4.  A shot from the slot that went over Cann’s glove.

Coach Lambert said last week that pretty soon, fans are going to be seeing that Josi may be the most talented defenseman that we’ve had in Milwaukee.  And that says A LOT, considering how many defenseman playing in Nashville have spent some time here.

NOTES:

Mark Van Guilder — suffered a broken thumb in practice on Thursday.  So he’ll be out for awhile.  With Geoffrion out too, the Admirals lost two centers this week.  Mueller and Mike Bartlett are picking up the center slack.  Maybe Mueller stays there for awhile.

– That line of Mark Santorelli, Chris Mueller, and Gabriel Bourque was by far the best line this weekend.  You’ve got two guys with great speed and tenacity, and then you’ve got Mark Santorelli, who’s got some skill and is starting to play a little more physically than he has in the past.  So it’s kind of a melting pot of a line.  And those three guys have 11 of the 35-non-Klasen goals the team has scored this year.

Questions for discussion:

– Just going to keep it general.  We’re 15 games in.  The team has won five in a row, including the first 3 on this 10 game trip.  How are you feeling about this team?  Cautiously optimistic?  Tickled pink?  Think the best is yet to come?  Think we’re getting way ahead of ourselves?  Give me a player (other than Klasen) who has really impressed you with his game.