The Iowa Wild won in the first game under new head coach John Torchetti. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
Is there something about the Iowa Wild playing in Milwaukee? The Wild have only won three times from thirteen games this season. Twice they’ve managed to come to Milwaukee and outwork the Admirals. Going back to last season, the Wild won only two games in the head-to-head with the Ads from ten games. Where did those two wins take place you ask? Milwaukee.
I want to say that this was more a matter of the Wild playing a desperate hockey game, looking to impress their new head coach John Torchetti, and keeping defensively structured to avoid the Admirals forward lines to get a head of stream brewing. The Ads lost the lead thirty-seconds in. And lost the lead just thirty-eight seconds after gaining it back through the Mike Liambas goal festival in the second period.
The game certainly wasn’t out of reach for the Admirals by any means tonight. But tip your cap to the Wild for battling hard against the Ads in their own barn yet again. There’s lots to gain from defeats. Plenty to study and improve upon. I view tonight’s loss for the Admirals as a potential plus for this weekend’s big two-in-two against the Rockford IceHogs. Dust this one off. Learn from it. And get back to winning hockey this weekend.
After the 3-2 defeat to the Wild – I had the chance to speak with Dean Evason, Mike Liambas, Brendan Leipsic, and Marek Mazanec. Here is what they had to say following Wednesday’s game.
Guess where that puck didn’t go? If you answered “the back of the net” you are correct. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
The Admirals improved to an 8-2-0-0 (16 points) record with their 4-0 shutout against the Grand Rapids Griffins on Friday night. The win keeps them three points back of a red hot Rockford IceHogs team that is on a seven-game winning streak.
There are always loads of positives to divvy up after a performance such as the one the Admirals put up against the Griffins. The passing was stellar. The defense played very well in front of Magnus Hellberg – helping him to his eighth career AHL shutout. And the offense put up four goals.
If there were any negatives, it would be that Viktor Stålberg suffered a knee injury as a result of the hip check dished out by Brennan Evans. It was the final game of Stalberg’s conditioning assignment. He’s was due back with Nashville on Saturday. Rather than prepare for his return to an NHL lineup, when the Predators play against the St. Louis Blues Saturday night, he’ll instead no doubt get his knee evaluated for possible ligament damage as a result of the hit from Evans.
After the game I spoke with Dean Evason, Magnus Hellberg, Joe Pendenza, and Triston Grant. Here is what they all had to say after the Admirals 4-0 shutout victory.
It’s been a slow start for Colton Sissons. Was his goal on Sunday the start of bigger things for him offensively? (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
Yesterday, the Milwaukee Admirals were able to get out of a two game funk by winning a very complete, wire-to-wire, 4-1 game against the Chicago Wolves. If anything, the lone down spot came with 1:03 remaining in regulation – the exact moment when Magnus Hellberg lost his shutout bid with the Wolves on a power-play with their net emptied. It was a shame that the shutout wasn’t completed. But, in hindsight, the performance speaks for itself. It was a solid game from the Admirals. And they managed to split the weekend set with the Wolves.
After the game I spoke with Dean Evason, Felix Girard, Magnus Hellberg, Rich Clune, and Viktor Stalberg. This is what everyone had to say after the win against the Amtrak Rivals.
Viktor Stalberg looked every bit the NHL player that he is last night for the Milwaukee Admirals. The only thing lacking for him was a reward for his efforts. He had no points and four shots on goal in the Ads 4-2 defeat to the Iowa Wild. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
The Admirals have finally suffered a defeat. 4-2 at the hands of the Iowa Wild while playing on home ice. Going in, I was expecting to see a repeat of what we saw in Iowa two weeks ago. A match-up of the best team in the AHL against the worst team in the AHL by record. That’s the game of hockey for you, though. The Wild played a tough game against the Admirals and deserved that one.
Now comes the fun part that I’ve been waiting for. How does this young Admirals team respond to a little adversity? There is a away-home two-in-two coming up on Saturday and Sunday with the Chicago Wolves – who are in a two game losing skid as we speak.
The recent performances by the Admirals have been touch and go. And things weren’t as crisp as they should have been against the Wild last night. Something will need to give for the Admirals and Wolves. The Amtrak Rivalry games this weekend should prove to pack a punch or two.
After the defeat to Iowa I spoke with Dean Evason, Austin Watson, and Viktor Stalberg. Here is what they had to say following the Admirals first loss of the season.
Garrett Noonan’s hesitation to shoot from the blue line gave him just the angle he needed to equalize for the Admirals and score his first professional goal on Saturday night against the Lake Erie Monsters. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
Coming into Saturday night’s contest against the Lake Erie Monsters – the Milwaukee Admirals had only trailed an opponent for 1:48 of ice time in five games. That was pushed to the point where the Admirals were only seven some odd minutes shy of their first loss of the season – it would have been a regulation loss – and it would have been a shutout against an offense that registered no less than three goals a game.
Up stepped Garrett Noonan who smashed in his first professional goal to equalize for the Admirals. Then the wild and crazy speed game that is the new AHL overtime format. And then Magnus Hellberg, really needing a good result tonight in relation to how superb Marek Mazanec has been, delivered where he has so often – a shootout. Hellberg now has won 6 career AHL shootouts and has stopped 31/37 attempts in the process.
These last two games that have trickled into overtime haven’t been the best performances that the Admirals have laid down this season. Yet they are finding ways to win them. Six games. Six wins. Four road games. Four road wins. Two overtime games. One overtime win. One shootout win.
I think what excites me the most about this year’s Admirals team isn’t this performance that we are seeing now. It’s how it is going to respond to hitting its first big wall of the season. When that happens. If that happens. I believe this team really could be special this year with the talent and amount of young leaders that it possesses.
After the game, I joined the scrum for head coach Dean Evason. I also had the chance to speak to Magnus Hellberg, Triston Grant, and Garrett Noonan. Here is what everyone had to say following the shootout victory.
This celebration happened six times last night. The Admirals were only able to do it four times in three games against Drew MacIntyre in last year’s playoffs! (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
The Milwaukee Admirals season started with a bang. They won 6-3 and plenty of the new guys looked right at home in their debuts. The second period may have been rough for the Ads. It became a 3-3 games. But the response in the third period speaks highly to what team could be on our hands this season. Instant answer. Quick team defense. And keeping the throttle down when skating up ice for offensive chances.
This might be the youngest team in the AHL but it didn’t show in the opener. Some areas in the defense will need improvement but this is a team that can only get stronger with games played together as a unit. The talent level spoke volumes over the woes of inexperience. And I think that things can be really special with this team in 2014-15.
After the game I spoke with head coach Dean Evason. I also had the chance to talk to Anthony Bitetto, Pontus Åberg, Viktor Arvidsson, and Zach Budish. Here is what everyone had to say after the victorious season opener.
Magnus Hellberg’s 2013-14 season was one to forget. Can he find the success he displayed in his rookie season this year? (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
It was Media Day for the Milwaukee Admirals. This meant getting a good look at the team prior to tomorrow night’s opener and plenty of opportunities to speak with coaches and players.
Let’s start first with what I saw of the team in practice. It currently seems as if Mike Liambas and Patrick Cehlin will start the season out of the lineup as both have injury setbacks. In addition, the forward lines have been given a bit of a shake up.
Pontus Aberg-Colton Sissons-Brendan Leipsic
Miikka Salomaki-Mark Van Guilder-Austin Watson
Viktor Arvidsson-Felix Girard-Triston Grant
Josh Shalla-Frederick Gaudreau/Joe Pendenza-Zach Budish
The bottom line was working between two centers. My gut instinct says Frederick Gaudreau gets the go-ahead of Joe Pendenza for tomorrow night. As for the defensemen. They were all there. All eight of them. As you could imagine that meant pretty static lines during practice. It seemed as though the one that didn’t get rattled much was Anthony Bitetto on the left with Garrett Noonan to his right. Not so cut and dry as to who pairs with who on defense. I think it will become a bit more clear in the first few weeks of the season.
There isn’t exactly media seating at the Kern Center. That meant setting up shop among the fans in the stands. It was about as fun as it looks. (Photo Credit: Sunnie Hirschfield)
The Admirals won the pre-season opener 3-1 against the Rockford IceHogs at the MSOE Kern Center. Despite the IceHogs picking up the opening goal through Alex Broadburst’s shorthander – the game really was all Admirals. Which is surprising when you remember the poor start that saw them on consecutive penalty kills right out of the shoot.
The line that stood out the most for me was the starting forward group of Pontus Aberg, Colton Sissons, and Austin Watson. It seems like they are all on the exact same page, work well off of one another, and can play well in both areas of the ice. I expect this to be the Admirals top forward line come the season opener. And I expect the man who will benefit greatly from this will be Aberg.
The quiet heroes of the game also happened to be everyone on the Admirals defense. It wasn’t really one defenseman excelling over another. It was just good solid work from each d-man. In short, they all took care of business. If not for a flub up along the wall that led to a shorthanded goal. We’d be looking at a shutout in this team’s first outing as a unit. Not too shabby.
After the game I had the chance to speak with head coach Dean Evason. I also spoke with Pontus Aberg, Rob Madore, and Colton Sissons. Here is what everyone had to say following the pre-season opener.
The calm before the storm. The season officially starts with a pre-season game at the MSOE Kern Center tomorrow night. (Photo Credit: Milwaukee Admirals)
The Admirals training camp shifted from Nashville to downtown Milwaukee today. I was on hand to get my first looks of the 2014-15 squad. Here’s what I saw.
When I arrived at the MSOE Kern Center I turned up 30 minutes ahead of the scheduled practice time of 1pm. That meant seeing Patrick Cehlin and Brendan Leipsic‘s lone involvement for team practice today. Both were working light shooting and skating drills with the goaltending trio of Magnus Hellberg, Marek Mazanec, and Rob Madore. Cehlin and Leipsic did not take part in the more than hour long practice that followed.
As far as line combinations were concerned, there was a lot of mixing and matching on the defensive side of the puck. Example, I saw Jaynen Rissling play on three different combinations. The forwards were a little less strenuous on the eyes.
Plenty of line hopping going on later in practice as well but these were the combinations I saw on the ice together the most frequently. I wouldn’t be too surprised to see a lineup close to this for tomorrow night’s pre-season opener. You can view the full roster details from today’s practice here.
Following practice I spoke with head coach Dean Evason. I actually talked with him long enough for all the players to escape the Kern before I could pull them aside as well (whoops). That being said, there was a lot to ask the man going into his third season as the Admirals head coach. Here’s what he had to say after practice.
Dean Evason on all the new faces on the roster:
Evason speaks about the high skill level of the forwards:
Evason’s thoughts on Taylor Beck earning a one-way contract:
Evason discusses what it has been like with Peter Laviolette in charge of Nashville so far:
Evason’s feelings in regards to Scott Ford no longer being with the team:
Evason on how to fill Ford’s leadership and veteran presence on the team:
Evason on team leadership, continued:
The team will have a practice yet again at the MSOE Kern Center tomorrow from 10am until 11am. That will be followed by the first pre-season contest at 7pm against the Rockford IceHogs – again, at the Kern Center.
Thoughts from practice? What do you make of the line combinations? How will the team function defensively with so many left handed shots on the point? Who becomes the next captain of the Milwaukee Admirals?
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Chatterbox in progress! Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Dave Boehler to the right, Anthony Bitetto teaching us about the mythical land of New York in the center, and some Daniel Lavender bloke to the right. (Photo Credit: Milwaukee Admirals on Instagram)
There have been many great soundbites throughout the Milwaukee Admirals 2013-14 season. If there was a real “thank you” that was lacking in yesterday’s Offseason 101 story it was our amazing coaches and players who’ve all contributed to features here on the Roundtable this season.
Whether it was a great one-liner, an interview bomb, inside joke, or Mike Liambas conducting his very own interview – I have had the tape rolling for plenty of great moments around the Admirals locker room this season. Let’s listen back to the best-of-the-best from the 2013-14 Chatterbox.
Admirals Roundtable 