Firstly, I would like to apologize for the delay in getting post-game interviews and Chatterbox up in a quicker fashion. I just felt that the Milwaukee Admirals 5-2 loss against the Chicago Wolves on home ice was the sort of game where I really wanted to chew on it before really forcing it down. There were some positives within the night but it all got fogged out by numerous sloppy plays. The short and sweet of it: these last two games just haven’t been the Admirals of this season so far.

Continue reading “Chatterbox, Vol. 160” →

Today’s plan of attack was a simple one. Attend practice and then gather up some new Fifteen interviews in prep for all the road hockey that the Milwaukee Admirals have in front of them in the month of December. Today’s plan after seeing Miikka Salomäki on the ice for the Admirals at the MSOE Kern Center? A bit different.

There are a few notes then that need to be made. Salomäki has been assigned to the Admirals from the Nashville Predators on a two-week (fourteen consecutive days) conditioning assignment. He will be wearing his traditional #20 for the Admirals and will be back in action this weekend when the Admirals battle the Cleveland Monsters on the road Friday and Saturday.

The other news that came about while watching practice was that defenseman Adam Pardy was placed on waivers. The reason being has more to do with the following news. Pardy was signed to an NHL contract by the Nashville Predators this morning. Pardy was acquired by the Admirals earlier this season from the Springfield Falcons in exchange for Eric Robinson, Teddy Doherty, and Brandon Whitney. He was under an AHL contract. He is now contracted to the Predators.

As far as what I saw at practice for the Admirals today it was generally a split squad type of day with a mixture of special teams drills, some rush work, quick tempo clearing the zone, and a shootout drill. There wasn’t too much to note there then so let’s shift back to those notes once again.

Salomäki has been on the mend after blocking a shot with his hand topside with the Predators. He has in recent times been getting back to practicing with the team. This spurt with the Admirals should get his game sharpness back. With a hand injury you’d be able to do a fair amount of conditioning work but there is a difference between that and playing full-bore hockey the way that Salomäki does. Getting him back to match fitness is really all that the Predators will be looking for and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s back with the Predators following the Admirals two-game stint in Cleveland this weekend. They’re going to be grinding style games, Salomäki style games, and he should be ready after that. He can of course go for longer if required but I don’t see that happening.

Pardy’s news today is a good one. You really can never have too much veteran defensive depth in the system. Should the Predators get into a tougher spot they now have a veteran who has 338 games of NHL experience under his belt to come in, fill a role, and look the part if needed. He’s done a terrific job since arriving to the Admirals organization. His defensive partnership with first-year pro Alex Carrier has been outstanding. That relationship, on and off the ice, has also showed the character that Pardy is as a leader and someone there to help teach up a student such as Carrier. Pardy plugged into the Admirals quickly and him getting the NHL contract that alluded him with the Florida Panthers earlier in the year is just nice to see.

Speaking of Carrier. That’s the lone man I was able to grab for an upcoming edition of Fifteen that will run tomorrow as we welcome in December. There is a good story to this as well. My plans today obviously changed with all the news. I gave some tip-offs to guys that I wanted to chat with including Carrier who would be doing the feature interview. It just so happened that Carrier was bumped from doing it not just once (Pardy) not just twice (Salomäki) but three times (construction noise). Massive apologies to him -but- he’s a great sport and provided a great interview. You’ll hear it tomorrow. Hopefully it, such as the following, isn’t hindered too much by UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena construction background noise… it was as if they were unearthing dinosaur bones from deep beneath the North side of the Arena today.

The on-the-fly Chatterbox today includes Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason as well as Pardy and Salomäki. Here were today’s interviews following Wednesday’s practice.

Comments on the comments from today? What do you think about the Nashville Predators decision to sign Adam Pardy to an NHL contract?

Be sure to keep updated with Admirals Roundtable through social media platform of your choice: follow along Twitter, like us on Facebook, get photo updates on Instagram, and listen along on SoundCloud.

It wasn’t a win but it was another game that saw the Milwaukee Admirals in circumstances where they could have easily gotten down on themselves and conceded early as well as late in the game. There was so much roster activity yesterday that the true test last night might have come less in the form of the Manitoba Moose and more in the form of the ability of the coaching staff and veteran leadership group to stay the course. It wasn’t a win, true, but the Admirals made it to overtime to earn yet another point.

The month of November for the Admirals is now over. They played a total of ten games and never lost a single game in regulation: 8-0-1-1. The five game winning streak that they had did come to an end in the overtime loss to the Moose -but- it being an overtime loss still meant that the point streak would continue. That is now eleven games strong. The last time that the Admirals lost in regulation was the home opener on October 29th. If that isn’t crazy enough – take into account how last year’s team and this year’s team have performed in the month of November: 19-1-1-1 combined record.

What I take from this start by the Admirals is that a foundation is being set. The times in which the team faces stretches of adversity and losing consecutive games in regulation will come. Lessons will be learned from those times, for sure, but the core of what this year’s Admirals are capable of being is showing through early in this 2016-17 season by virtue of how adaptable, resilient, and composed the group can be.

Lastly, the Admirals overtime loss last night did see them take a point. The rest of the league was in action last night, as well. The result? Your Milwaukee Admirals currently have the best record based on points percentage (0.794) in the entire AHL right now. How about that? It’s still early. It is. This run that the Admirals have been on though is still impressive to say the least.

After last night’s game I had the chance to speak with Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason as well as Trevor Murphy, Jonas Gunnarsson, and Cody Bass. These were their comments following the 4-3 shootout loss to the Moose at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.

Comments on the comments? Thinking of last night, and the food poisoning game that also saw the Admirals lose but claim a point in the process, what do we think of the Milwaukee Admirals ability to play when circumstances outside of their control stretch the roster thin?

Be sure to keep updated with Admirals Roundtable through social media platform of your choice: follow along Twitter, like us on Facebook, get photo updates on Instagram, and listen along on SoundCloud.

At the moment that I’m writing this I just enjoyed a lovely drive from Rockford back to Racine. And with that lengthy piece of night time driving I really had the chance to digest the Milwaukee Admirals 3-2 shootout win over the Rockford IceHogs that little bit more. Heck, I think it took the post-game interviews for my heart to start beating normally again. This year’s Admirals team, in short, is just special. This year’s Admirals team, in length, is the following.

The IceHogs delivered one of the most physical games that the Admirals have played in all season. It was a hard hitting game and I think it would be a safe bet to assume the IceHogs delivered more hits than shots on goal – or at the very least quality scoring chances forced. Despite that, the Admirals really did start settling down into a good groove in the second period and started to tilt the ice heavily. All to no reward, too.

Marek Mazanec has a somewhat negative spotlight on him at the moment and his purpose of being back with the Admirals is to change that. He needs the ice time. He needs to get his confidence back up. He needs to get back to battling for pucks and be a sharper goaltender than the NHL level requires him to be. It had to be among the very first shots he faced in the game but he ends up allowing a power-play goal. It deflected out in front of him, off his own defenseman’s stick, and past the blocker shoulder. The IceHogs then burned through the Admirals with pace in a counter attack to beat Mazanec blocker side from a rush play. It was 2-0 IceHogs despite them nearly being doubled up in shots.

Mazanec looked really good in that game. He was square to shooters and was helping out his defensemen a ton with keeping the puck cycling in and out of the zone. Mazanec’s last outing for the Admirals saw him make a pair of blunders passing the puck around his net but it may have been the strongest element to his game last night. It was a redeeming performance.

Yet, for all the good that the Admirals did. They were still down 2-0. Good effort from the likes of Harry Zolnierczyk playing at a high rate of speed on the night. Good all around game again from Admirals captain Trevor Smith. And yet another terrific effort by the defensive pairing of Adam Pardy and Alex Carrier. All that. Nothing to show for it.

It’s at that moment where you could have just as easily seen an Admirals team that became complacent. “Perhaps it just isn’t our night,” said a fictitious Adam Payerl. “The pucks just aren’t bouncing our way,” said a very fictitious Petter Granberg. “Oh, mon Dieu,” possibly exclaimed the real Félix Girard.

Things weren’t bad. They weren’t. They were good. Not great. All that seemed to be lacking in the game was quality finishing or getting a loose puck around the net from a rebound or a blocked shot. Those just weren’t coming despite shot after shot onslaught by the Admirals that ended up seeing the game finish with a shot disparity of Admirals 38, IceHogs 16. The Admirals held the IceHogs to 16 shots in 65 minutes of hockey. That is insanely good defensive effort and offensive pressure being mounted to keep the ice tilted. There just weren’t finishes to them. Until, that is, the last five minutes of the game.

The first goal from Frédérick Gaudreau came on the power-play. It was a break that the team needed and one where you could get a collective sense of “finally” from the group. Perhaps lost in that was also a small sense of “uh-oh” on the part of the IceHogs. And what makes the Admirals as special as they are is that their fight to win games is always at such a high level regardless of the situation and, likewise, they stay calm throughout the process. If the Admirals seem to find a sign of a team wilting a bit they keep the pressure on. When the Admirals worked a puck loose around Mac Carruth and kept fighting in the scrum to get a rebound past him – that was just that. Vladislav Kamenev found the loose puck and smacked it home to make what was a 2-0 “Oh, mon Dieu” game with five minutes left in regulation into a “there goes those Admirals again” …game.

I’m pretty certain I’ve made the joke either here in a post or through social media but I am starting to just get used to this year’s Admirals team being able to comeback from whatever hole they happen to get themselves into. 2-0 down? Well, they already came back from 3-0? Why not? I’ll give you this much, though. Leaving it to the final minutes like in that game with Rockford made it more tense in that respect -but- they still did it. I’m starting to give up on asking just how are they constantly able to do that and just start accepting that they do it all the time now – it’s just a force of habit. This year’s Admirals are more resilient than a cockroaches.

I keep thing at some point these sorts of games will and probably should end on a sour note. It’s just that this team isn’t having it right now. These last four games in particular have had the make-up of a playoff style hockey game. Everything is so tight and well structured from a defensive standpoint and it comes down to which offense can grind out the result. The Admirals have won all four of those games. This is a ten-game point streak and a five-game winning streak that might just be seeing the Admirals starting to get to another gear. It’s almost worth pulling yourself back a bit to just take it all in.

After the game I ended up speaking with Milwaukee Admirals assistant coach Scott Ford. I also was able to chat with Marek Mazanec and Cody Bass. These were their comments after the shootout win in Rockford.

Comments from the comments? What does the resiliency of this year’s Milwaukee Admirals say to you? Do you view the Admirals ability to comeback as a positive or a negative that they’re tip-toeing past at the moment?

Be sure to keep updated with Admirals Roundtable through social media platform of your choice: follow along Twitter, like us on Facebook, get photo updates on Instagram, and listen along on SoundCloud.

Last night’s performance by the Milwaukee Admirals was one of the strongest the team has had all season. For awhile now the talk has been to play a complete sixty-minutes of hockey and these past three-games have really shown just that level of commitment from the entire group. It was defensive minded for the two-games in Cleveland. Yet, last night the Admirals really took a leap forward from what they had accomplished against the Cleveland Monsters and the result was a completely smothering effort to beat the Grand Rapids Griffins 3-1.

I suppose we can get past the elephant in the room right away. The Admirals and Juuse Saros really deserved a shutout last night. It would have solidified what was such a masterful team performance against a great team in the Griffins. Unfortunately it just seemed as though tempers were rising a touch at the end and it got the better of the Admirals by way of penalty trouble. You’re asking for trouble when you give the Griffins numerous power-play chances. You’re really asking for trouble when you give them a full two-minutes to play with a two-man advantage. It burned the Admirals. It slightly stings knowing that’s the way the shutout bid ended. But it doesn’t negate the result and the collective effort to make the shutout such a possibility.

Saros made stops when he needed to. His best save of the night came from what I felt was the Griffins lone solid scoring opportunity at full-strength. Shortly after Trevor Smith scored in the first period the Griffins worked a piece of space open for themselves with Kyle Criscuolo sneaking behind the Admirals defense. Criscuolo was wide open from the low right wing, unleashed a wrister from the bottom of the right wing face-off circle, and his shot went against the grain while Saros held tight to the near post. The shot stayed low and Saros was just able to get the right-toe to it. Beyond that? I can’t say that anything else was all that stressful for the Admirals defensively or for Saros in net. …aside from that two full minutes of five-on-three penalty kill but we went over that.

Saros though just continues to be astonishingly consistent in net. In his AHL career during the regular season he has now made 48 career starts with the Admirals, holds a record in net of 38-9-0-0, 2.10 goals against average, 0.926 save percentage, and five shutouts. That’s a winning percentage of 0.792 when he starts in net. He current leads the AHL this season in wins (9) and is second in goals against average (1.59) and save percentage (0.945) to Casey DeSmith (1.40 GAA, 0.949 SV%) who has played just five games this season. Saros arrived to Milwaukee on a hype train and it is only gathering steam that should pack a punch once it is needed in Nashville. He is absolutely the real deal.

Offensively the Admirals really looked to establish themselves against a defense that in the past has made them sputter in place. There were stretches in that game where the Griffins didn’t even look like they belonged on the same ice as the Admirals. Bizarrely, it felt oh-so often like how most Admirals and Griffins games have felt in recent years but with the roles reversing. The Admirals were the ones clogging lanes, pressuring pucks, winning battles, and scrapping at the net. The Griffins were the ones pressured into making poor passing decisions, turning pucks over, seeing shots get blocked by bodies or sticks, and being unable to find a real flow to the game. It was so impressive to see. And it might finally have been a showcase of just how this year’s Admirals look playing at their maximum potential.

There are numerous individual mentions that could be made out of that game. Though I feel that top line deserves it the most. Smith obviously scored the two goals in the game but that entire line set the tempo from the opening puck drop. The Admirals captain with Kevin Fiala and Matt White around him played a quick, hard, and skillful game. It was a table setting line. I got the feeling every shift that followed was trying to match the compete level.

Fiala has looked better with each passing game with the Admirals during this recent AHL stint. If the goal is to find a consistent high-energy effort from a shift to shift basis from him then he is getting there. He isn’t giving Viktor Arvidsson levels of “whoa, look at that guy” or even Pontus Åberg levels of wanting to double shift him because of how good he’s looking. But, that’s why he is in Milwaukee and why there is a Milwaukee relative to Nashville. He’s learning. He’s improving. And he had a solid effort last night.

Another notable player from last night’s game was defenseman Anthony Bitetto. It wasn’t even until I spoke with him after the game that I took into account how, for a conditioning assignment, he was thrown right into the fire: Cleveland Monsters (last year’s Calder Cup Champions) and Grand Rapids Griffins (always -always- tough). He was paired as a lefty-lefty tandem with Trevor Murphy and really looked to be much more comfortable than his first game back. Bitetto skated really well. He made smart decisions with the puck. And was really locked in when working in the defensive zone: positioning, battling the wall, stick work, blocking shots, and operating around Saros in net.

Bitetto’s conditioning assignment with the Admirals will come to an end following last night’s performance. He logged two games. He played as a seventh defenseman for the Admirals in the comeback and looked good. The Admirals then sat Jack Dougherty for the night to get Bitetto a more lengthy run on the ice and he responded well with a much stronger game. The Ads won both contests he participated in and both were highly defensively sound and structured performances by the team. Bitetto should be back in Nashville come Friday night when the team hosts the Winnipeg Jets.

Right now the Admirals hold a record of 11-2-1-1 (24 points, 0.800 points percentage). With the win over the second placed team in their division last night they now have a 6 point gap in the Central Division. In terms of sheer points, 24 points, they have the most in the Western Conference by 6 points over the Grand Rapids Griffins and Tucson Roadrunners. The Admirals are second to only the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (25 points) in the entire league as far as points earned. The WBS Penguins have played two-more games than the Admirals have at this point though. And, back to that lovely points percentage figure that the Pacific Division brought in last season, the Ads are second to only the Roadrunners in points percentage in the entire league and trail them by (0.018).

The Admirals are on a nine-game point streak. They are just starting to play some of their absolute best hockey as this run is extending. In short, Happy Thanksgiving Admirals fans.

After last night’s game I caught up with Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. I also spoke with Bitetto, Saros, and Fiala. This is what they had to say following the Admirals victory over the Griffins on Wednesday night at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.

On a last note. Both Cody Bass and Matt Carle were placed on waivers by the Nashville Predators yesterday. Keep an eye out for news today to see if they (1) clear waivers (2) get reassigned to the Milwaukee Admirals (3) accept their assignment to the AHL.

Comments on the comments? Do you feel that the upcoming amount of road games will throw this current run of form for the Milwaukee Admirals for a loop?

Be sure to keep updated with Admirals Roundtable through social media platform of your choice: follow along Twitter, like us on Facebook, get photo updates on Instagram, and listen along on SoundCloud.

This morning’s practice at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena gave a small preview into what to expect out of the Milwaukee Admirals clash against the Grand Rapids Griffins tomorrow night. The forward groups look set and the team was working on plenty of drills that saw them working North and South at pace.

Zolnierczyk-Kamenev-Gaudreau
White-Smith-Fiala
Liambas-Girard-Payerl
Florek-Kirkland-Görtz

Pardy-Carrier
Murphy-Dougherty
Oligny-Granberg
Bitetto

Saros
Gunnarsson

The forward group was trimmed down to twelve this morning when Anthony Richard, along with defenseman Jonathan Diaby, were reassigned to the Cincinnati Cyclones (ECHL). That made for consistent line drills up front. As for the defense that is a completely different story.

The defensive pairings I gathered are essentially the norm with Anthony Bitetto slapped on at the end. In reality, today saw Bitetto pretty much running drills with everyone – including a lefty-lefty pairing with Trevor Murphy. It could be possible for the Admirals to once again dress seven defensemen as they did against the Cleveland Monsters last time out. That could mean sitting Justin Kirkland, dressing Bitetto as the seventh d-man, and rotating centers on the the fourth line.

After practice wrapped up I had the chance to speak at length with Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. I also spoke with Juuse Saros and Frédérick Gaudreau. Here were today’s interviews with the team.

Be sure to keep updated with Admirals Roundtable through social media platform of your choice: follow along Twitter, like us on Facebook, get photo updates on Instagram, and listen along on SoundCloud.

Is it me or are we all just starting to get used to the Milwaukee Admirals ability to comeback in games now? The past three games the Admirals have managed to find the strength to claw back and earn either wins or points in games they may well have otherwise squandered completely. Last Wednesday’s School Day game saw the Admirals go down 3-2, 4-3, and defeat the Chicago Wolves 5-4 in overtime. Last Saturday the Admirals went down badly 3-0 to the Grand Rapids Griffins but fought back to take a point in a 4-3 overtime loss. And then -last night- the Admirals come from behind against the Charlotte Checkers late in the second period from a 2-0 deficit to win 3-2 in overtime.

This honestly shouldn’t be a place where there is a level of comfort. Yet, I kind of don’t get a sense of panic on the ice when the Admirals actually do concede a goal or two. The group doesn’t seem to switch off or change much of what was happening prior to the goal or goals being scored because they’re well aware of their capabilities at five-on-five, power-play, or penalty kill. If there is time on the clock this Admirals team seems to be able to stay calm as a group and continue to press forward as a group.

What would be absolutely swell would be if the need to come from behind wasn’t required in the first place. That’s a no doubter. It’s just a position in a game that the Admirals haven’t been in often enough yet. The best scenario of that to date would probably be the 7-3 win on the road over the Rockford IceHogs and even still in that game they trailed 2-1 at one stage of the first period before really shutting the door from there on out.

It’s all been such an odd start to the season. I don’t think I have seen this Admirals team play a solid, well polished, and complete 60-minutes of hockey yet this season. And they are still holding a record of 8-2-1-1 (18 points, 0.750 points percentage). I suppose the short and sweet of it is: at what point will this comeback flavor of the Admirals stop coming back and actually start to hurt? When will we all see the Admirals as individuals and therefore as a team start playing up to their full potential? Because they actually haven’t yet and they are getting by through some tight battles where they can sneak out the results.

I’d imagine the true test is sitting before the Admirals now. In their next 18 games, from now through the month of December, they will be logging 12 road games. The travel schedule involved sees them go from Cleveland, Rockford, Cleveland again, Iowa, Grand Rapids, Texas, Grand Rapids again, Chicago, and Chicago all over again – with some home trips interspersed. If the style of games the Admirals have been playing haven’t been taxing enough the actual league schedule in front of them outta add even more of a weight to the body and to the mind. It has been great to see the Admirals earning these results, regardless of the game situation, because these points earned now might be paying off in the long run for the road trips to come.

After last night’s game I spoke with Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason as well as quite a few players: Harry Zolnierczyk, Trevor Smith, Jonas Gunnarsson, and Frédérick Gaudreau. Here were their post-game comments.

Comments on the comments? Do you think the upcoming weight of road games will start to see the Admirals slow down or will they start finding better ways to achieve the results that they currently are?

Be sure to keep updated with Admirals Roundtable through social media platform of your choice: follow along Twitter, like us on Facebook, get photo updates on Instagram, and listen along on SoundCloud.

I was hoping for yet another edition of Chatterbox based around fan requests this morning. Yet, as it so happens, there was a curveball thrown by the organization with goaltending moves taking place. Marek Mazanec went up to the Nashville Predators and Juuse Saros didn’t get reassigned to take his place. Instead, Mark Visentin was recalled from the Admirals ECHL affiliate the Cincinnati Cyclones. It’s unclear as of now whether or not Pekka Rinne was out from practice for the Predators purely for a maintenance day or if Saros and Mazanec will provide goaltending duties tomorrow night up in Toronto. Time will tell. And, luckily, there isn’t exactly a lot of time before things get all that more clear.

What does seem to be clear, regardless of how moves shake out, is that Jonas Gunnarsson will be getting his second start of the season for the Admirals tomorrow night. Gunnarsson’s North American pro debut did not go so well but I’d argue there wasn’t much he could do on the night as the defense sort of fell apart in a 6-1 win for the Iowa Wild at the Wells Fargo Arena. Gunnarsson has been patiently waiting to get another crack at it ever since.

As far as everything else that took place at today’s morning practice? That too was a little bit, well, different. I felt like I was watching some sort of a video game at times with all sorts of different practice equipment on the ice all at once. The majority of practice was conducted with an emphasis on these skill drills with the practice tools in use. It wasn’t your typical practice day so, as far as line combinations go, the best I can offer up is that it is exactly the same minus the fact that Adam Pardy was absent from practice today as he is nursing a lower-body injury. It’s unclear whether or not today was simply a day of recovery for him or if he will miss tomorrow night because of it or not. If so, the Admirals would likely rotate in Jonathan Diaby who did perform rather well in his brief spell with the Cyclones.

Once practice came to an end I spoke with Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason to get his comments on the goaltending moves that were made as well as what it will be like when his ol’ teammate Ulf Samuelsson takes the bench as head coach of the Charlotte Checkers tomorrow night. I then chatted with Harry Zolnierczyk who was shadowed by his new PR Director Trevor Murphy. With Visentin now back in Milwaukee I had the chance to ask him about what it was like starting against his former team on the day of the food poisoning chaos in the organization. And -thankfully- I did get the top requested Kevin Fiala to round out the day and ask up one of the age old questions: what is up with the stick tape? Exhibit A, B, C, and D. It is always a fun topic to bring up and one that had him actually wanting to show me how he tailors his stick blade for use. I might take him up on that next time.

Anyways! Busy day. Busy after practice wrap-up. Here is the talk from the locker room today.

In a final note, I did have a quick discussion with Justin Kirkland today specifically about why he changed his number from #24 to #19. As you may have known Kirkland’s number in Kelowna was #23 and that number was unavailable as the now team captain Trevor Smith chose that and had veteran preference to it. With that unavailable he went one-up but once Eric Robinson was traded to the Springfield Falcons it opened up the #19 which Kirkland wore growing up. He asked if he could make the change and was given the thumbs up.

Be sure to keep updated with Admirals Roundtable through social media platform of your choice: follow along Twitter, like us on Facebook, get photo updates on Instagram, and listen along on SoundCloud.