Category: Chatterbox

Chatterbox

The Chatterbox, Vol. 35
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There haven’t been too many things to smile about from this opening playoff series so far. Here. Have a snow shower from the Sheriff. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)

Last night’s 5-2 defeat to the Toronto Marlies made things rather grim for the Milwaukee Admirals. They now need to win all three games in Toronto to overcome a 2-0 series deficit in a best of five scenario.

Nevermind the playoff series implications of over coming those odds. The Admirals have only managed to win three consecutive road games once this season.

Oct. 12 @ Abbotsford: W, 2-1 (SO)
Oct. 18 @ Grand Rapids: W, 3-2
Nov. 3 @ Iowa: W, 5-2

Yeah. That was a long time ago in a season far, far away. Something else to consider and feel depressed about? The Marlies have not lost three straight games in Toronto this season. In fact, they’ve only lost consecutive games on home ice on three separate occasions this season.

Things are grim. It is going to take a massive surge the likes of which the Admirals had during PekkaMania. We all know the bad news, here. The good news is that the coaching staff and players on the Admirals end of things sure have plenty of film to dissect and solve their problems. They have until Thursday night to prepare for the start of what, if they pulled it off, would be nothing short of miraculous.

This still feels like a special Admirals team to me. The forwards have been out-muscled but they have the same capacity to wear down an opponent. To get the forward lines rolling means getting major pressure off Admirals defensemen and, therefore, Marek Mazanec – who has been brilliant in this series despite some blown assignments in front of him and a barrage of penalty kills to survive.

Including the regular season finale the Admirals have lost three-straight games. The last time they recorded successive defeats came in the poor run prior to Pekka Rinne‘s return when they lost five games in a row. I’m not saying they’ll come out and score nine goals to break out of it as they did that string of bad results – but they have the capacity to explode just as easily.

If there is anything more frustrating than the idea of this team being swept out of the opening round of the playoffs it is that they have the exact same abilities as Toronto to equally deliver games like the Marlies have in Milwaukee. For the Admirals to enter the playoffs and not show a touch of that… that would be the most frustrating thing you would take from this entire series.

After the game I spoke with Dean Evason and Mark Van Guilder. For those wondering about a general tone felt around the locker room – they were still upbeat after game one – they were angry and disappointed after game two. I think you’ll hear a bit of that out of these interviews. Here’s what both said following the game.

Continue reading “The Chatterbox, Vol. 35” →

Chatterbox

The Chatterbox, Vol. 33
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These guys are ready for Friday night. How about you? (Photo Credit: Daniel Lavender)

Today was “Media Day” for the Milwaukee Admirals ahead of this weekend’s opening playoff series against the Toronto Marlies. I attended practice and talked with plenty of guys on the team. Let’s dive in!

Firstly, all forwards are healthy. Mike Liambas participated in the full practice today and has been back in that cycle for the last two days. The lone man out with injury is Scott Valentine. I had the chance to talk with him briefly and it would seem that his season is over due to a shoulder operation he had done recently. He is in good spirits but, as you’d expect, disappointed to be out at this point in the season.

Forsberg-Jarnkrok-Cehlin
Moser-Sissons-Beck
Wathier-Van Guilder-Watson
Salomaki-Tousignant-Saponari
Liambas-Pimm-Rask

Those were the forward lines from this morning’s practice. It is worth mentioning that Joe Pendenza did flip places at center on the bottom line every now and then.

Of the newbies we heard about joining the team yesterday – both were on ice today. Jaynen Rissling was wearing the #5 and Garrett Noonan was wearing the #23. I don’t know what it is… Teddy Ruth or Michael Young… but that #5 is sort of this season’s Little Bastard. Luckily for Noonan – I’ve already discovered that he might have the best nickname on the team: Fozzie Bear.

There actually was a legit media group today that included more than just myself and Dave Boehler. WISN-12 and FOX-6 were on hand for the morning practice and scrums – so watch your local news this evening or later tonight to see your Admirals in fancy TV-land!.

I was able to get all requested players you readers asked for on Twitter or Facebook today. So this edition of the Chatterbox includes Dean Evason, Anthony Bitetto, Joonas Rask, Charles-Olivier Roussel, and Miikka Salomaki. Here is what all the guys had to say today.

Continue reading “The Chatterbox, Vol. 33” →

Chatterbox

The Chatterbox, Vol. 32
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The Milwaukee Admirals hit center ice and salute the crowd following their 5-1 victory over the Charlotte Checkers Friday night. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)

My title from yesterday’s game story was “The Power of Power.” What was I referring to? Well, the almighty words of Jeremy Clarkson of course. POWER! … I digress. Actually, the Admirals last night went full-strength with their playoff arsenal of forwards and simply blew the Charlotte Checkers to smithereens.

The Checkers were in full playoff survival mode last night. They entered the game as the ninth seed of the Western Conference needing to win out their season, and get some luck, to stand a chance of passing the Oklahoma City Barons for the eighth and final playoff spot. The Checkers were in last night’s game for about the first three minutes or so. Then the Admirals tilted the ice, rolled the freight train of four talented forward lines, and grinded the Checkers playoff hopes to nothingness. You would never have known, having watched that game start to finish, that the Checkers were the ones playing desperately for their spot in the playoffs.

The Admirals have now won five-straight games. In eight April games they have only lost once. Players returned from Nashville, from injury, and have all been crafted into the lineup with time to knock off the rust and become a well oiled machine as the playoffs arrive this coming week.

There is so much to be excited about with this Admirals team right now. Need some sort of proof? Last night the Admirals had nothing to play for and their opponent was in a must win scenario. It looked systematic for the Admirals in their 5-1 victory over the Checkers. Imagine how the Admirals can play when they are the ones in the must win scenario that is playoff hockey.

After the game I had the opportunity to speak with Dean Evason, Anthony Bitetto, Taylor Beck, and Joonas Jarvinen. Here is what everyone was talking about following the regular season home finale.

Continue reading “The Chatterbox, Vol. 32” →

Chatterbox

The Chatterbox, Vol. 31
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Calle Jarnkrok and Mark Van Guilder are on the same team now. And that’s great! (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)

Today’s practice was held at Wilson Park. I wasn’t on hand for that like I was yesterday’s practice -but- I did speak with a few players back at the locker room: Taylor Beck, Calle Jarnkrok, and Mark Van Guilder.

The majority of my talk today with Beck and Van was for a feature story on Mr. Beck that will be up on Roundtable Monday. Still, we were talking about the current state of the team as it enters the playoffs. Here is what everyone had to say this afternoon.

Continue reading “The Chatterbox, Vol. 31” →

Blender, Chatterbox, News, Scouting

The Blender, Vol. 7
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Teddy Bears. Teddy Bears Everywhere. (Photo Credit: Sara Stathas)

The Milwaukee Admirals did a few things in last 4-1 win that hasn’t happened in quite some time. Let’s evaluate.

The Pointless Wolves…

First regulation win against the Chicago Wolves since 4/20/13 in Chicago. If you want to get more technical about it, considering this team was effectively the Peoria Rivermen a season ago, it was a whopping one entire day after that game, 4/21/13 in Peoria. Either way you look at it – a Magnus Hellberg shutout was the factor in the Ads last regulation win over the Wolves.

Austin Watson’s Hat Trick…

The last time a member of the Milwaukee Admirals scored a hat trick was by Juuso Puustinen on 1/25/13 against the Oklahoma City Barons. That night was also a concert night. Puustinen had Brantley Gilbert. Watson had Gavin DeGraw.

For those also wondering when the last hat trick was prior to Puustinen you’ll have to go back to 11/29/11 when Chris Mueller scored three goals and an assist against the Abbotsford Heat.

Three Goals In One Period…

The last time an Admiral scored three goals in a single period of hockey was by Dave Scratchard on 4/9/10. He actually scored four-goals that night – scoring the final three in succession in a span of 12:42 of ice time during the third period. Watson scored all three of his goals from the power-play in a span of 8:54 of ice time in the second period.

Fun Fact, Scratchard’s four-goal game took place on *drum roll* a concert night. It was KC and the Sunshine Band that night.

~The Chatterbox~

After the game I was in a full sprint to get my story up – get to and through interviews fast – all before Gavin DeGraw’s concert drowned out the BC with loud noises. In addition, the Admirals were also in “pack up camp” mode with the road trip to Iowa today. I suppose what I’m saying is… this was a quicker interview section than I’d have liked it to be.

I spoke with Dean Evason, Austin Watson, and Simon Moser. Despite the quick interviews – Mathieu Tousignant made sure we had at least one interview bomb on the Roundtable today. …I suspect payback… Here is what everyone had to say following last night’s win.

Continue reading “The Blender, Vol. 7” →

Chatterbox

The Chatterbox, Vol. 30
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Colton Sissons returned to the Milwaukee Admirals last night after a thirteen game spell with the Nashville Predators. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)

The Admirals won 3-1 over the Rockford IceHogs last night. It was the Ads seventh win over the IceHogs in eleven games this season. The finale in the season series will be played this Friday in Rockford.

After the game I spoke with Dean Evason, Colton Sissons, Jonathan Diaby, and Mathieu Tousignant.

For those who have listened in on previous installments of the Chatterbox, where Tousignant talks about players around him during his interview (Vol. 21 and Vol. 22), we had a few gems tonight with cameos from Charles-Olivier Roussel and Anthony Bitetto.

Let’s dive into last night’s post-game interviews!

Continue reading “The Chatterbox, Vol. 30” →

Chatterbox, News

The Chatterbox, Vol. 29
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The newest member of the Milwaukee Admirals, Mikko Vainonen, chills out with fellow Finn Joonas Jarvinen during today’s practice.

This morning’s practice at the BMO Harris Bradley Center provided a pretty good look into tomorrow night. There was a new addition to the Admirals today at practice along with a few absentees. Let’s dive into the ins and outs of today’s practice.

The first thing that took me awhile to figure out was – who is the guy wearing the #12 helmet? As it turns out, Mikko Vainonen has officially joined the Admirals following the Kingston Frontenacs elimination from the OHL playoffs. Kingston lost in overtime of game seven against Peterborough last week.

Vainonen was drafted by the Nashville Predators in the fourth round (118th overall) of the 2012 NHL Draft. The 19-year old from Helsinki, Finland played two seasons of junior hockey with Kingston: 112 games, 40 points (8 goals, 32 assists), and 115 penalty minutes. In the recent seven game playoff series against Peterborough he scored 4 points (1 goal, 3 assists) and had 8 penalty minutes. Prior to playing junior hockey in North America he played 8 games with HIFK Helsinki of the Finnish Elite League.

The list of players not at today’s practice went as follows: Scott Ford (injury), Mark Van Guilder (injury), Scott Valentine (injury), and Michael Young (released from ATO).

Ford took a nasty hit in Saturday’s game in Chicago. First impressions suggested he had an issue with his right leg. As the Sheriff pointed out on Twitter he also received some pretty good patch work done to his face.

Van Guilder is still resting up from a lower-body injury and is considered day-to-day according to head coach Dean Evason. As for Valentine, I kind of sort of forgot to ask about his status and availability so I made my own conclusion.

Young was released from his ATO today and may well be joining a new team in the AHL this week. He played his first career game as a professional hockey player when the Admirals played in Toronto. Unfortunately he was injured in that exact same game. His release, and injuries to Ford and Valentine, does mean defensemen such as Jonathan Diaby, Kirill Gotovets, and the newbie Vainonen all have a shot at playing their first professional game tomorrow night.

These are how the forward lines looked this morning:

Forsberg-Salomaki-Cehlin
Watson-Wathier-Beck
Saponari-Pimm-Pendenza
Liambas-Tousignant-Rask

After practice was all finished up I chatted with Dean Evason, Joe Piskula, Mikko Vainonen, and Francis Wathier. Here is what everyone had to say ahead of tomorrow night’s game against the Rockford IceHogs.

Continue reading “The Chatterbox, Vol. 29” →

Blender, Chatterbox, News, Scouting

The Blender, Vol. 6
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Taylor Beck has been hitting plenty of posts of late. That wasn’t the case last night as he scored twice in the Milwaukee Admirals 4-1 victory over the Iowa Wild. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)

The Admirals won 4-1 last night over the Iowa Wild. The nail in the coffin came from Filip Forsberg‘s late second period power-play goal. Things seemed rather tight and along the walls up until then. Enter the third period – and away went the Wild’s composure.

Mathieu Tousignant might chirp up a storm during the course of a game. He can play an equally agitating game for his speed and strength on the ice – hounding puck carriers or just cycling a forecheck. He also doesn’t shy away from finishing off his checks. And it was just that which blew the lid off of Brad Winchester last night.

The incident between those two seemed to get up the nose of Curt Gogol. With only 1:09 remaining in the game, and Tousignant on the ice, Gogol sought him out and attempted to sucker him as the puck was actually in the Wild’s attacking end. Tousignant seemed like he instantly hit the deck once he saw Gogol’s stick come flying up around his face – and did get out of the game without further incident. Meanwhile, Gogol was handed an instigating minor, a fighting major, and a game misconduct for instigating.

This was somewhat reminiscent of the Admirals 9-1 victory over the Wild when Corbin Baldwin was a human torpedo on the ice – and really, for the way he was acting on the ice, made the game seem secondary from the perspective of the Wild. Credit where credit is due, at least Baldwin asked Mike Liambas to fight rather than take matters into his own hands and do his team massive damage by taking unnecessary penalties in the process.

Those two moments left a slightly bitter taste in my mouth at the end of this game. Still, you can take it as a positive that the Admirals maintained composure and let the Wild shoot their foot right off. As you’ll hear Tousignant say – they took huge penalties in that last period and it put the game to bed.

~The Chatterbox~

After the game I spoke with Dean Evason, Scott Darling, Taylor Beck, Joe Pendenza, and Mathieu Tousignant. This is what everyone had to say after the win against the Iowa Wild.

Continue reading “The Blender, Vol. 6” →

Chatterbox, News

The Chatterbox, Vol. 28

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Today I trekked into the morning practice at the BMO Harris Bradley Center. I arrived nice and early. Admired Anthony Bitetto‘s new haircut. Then took watch for the session.

Michael Young was the first man on the ice. He hasn’t played since getting injured in his professional debut in Toronto. Then the rest of the Admirals trickled out – including the new blood: Jonathan Diaby, Kirill Gotovets, and Joe Pendenza.

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On the Admirals injury front – we had two real pleasant sights today: Simon Moser and Joonas Jarvinen were on the ice.

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Moser took part in the full practice. He was wearing the red “no contact” jersey but seemed to be in real good form. Moser is not expected to participate in game action this weekend – but is getting closer and closer to a return.

Jarvinen also took part on the full practice and, unlike Moser, he was in the typical black defenseman jersey. There still isn’t necessarily a time table for a return. And I think the amount of bodies in camp right now helps Jarvinen in the sense that there isn’t a rush to bring him back before he’s 100%. Still, great to see the big Finn back on the ice.

The ATO trio from yesterday looked rather good from what I saw today. I was impressed with Diaby. He seemed to move around real well for a 6’5″ defenseman. He has plenty of size, seems good on his skates – particularly moving backwards, and looked real comfortable already.

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Pendenza played on a line with Filip Forsberg and Patrick Cehlin today at practice. I feel like it is hard to judge him fairly when I’m seeing Forsberg toe-dragging and making the moves that he was today in practice. It somewhat took away from his line-combo work. That said, from a few drills where he worked on wing and odd-man rushes – I liked his speed. Seems to have a good burst out of that first step.

Gotovets, compared to all other Admirals d-men, really stood out because of his size. When all Ads defensemen are in their black practice gear the size of the players pop that extra bit against the ice. So, when you see a 5’11” Gotovets next to our goalies, you do kind of notice. He isn’t exactly Ryan Ellis-like with that size either. His game is not particularly about offensive flashiness. It’s about defense with him. It may be hard to gauge a player from watching him for an hour long practice – but he really appeared to keep things in front of him rather nicely. As was the case with the other new faces – I didn’t really see anything stand out as overwhelmed, flustered, jumpy, or nervous. It seemed controlled. And that I take as the real bright spot for all of them.

One player that I did not see in today’s practice was the Admirals Man of the Year, Mark Van Guilder. I didn’t ask about his absence. I didn’t get the impression that any move back to the NHL was in the cards – other then him not participating in practice. Just worth mentioning. I would assume he’ll be in the lineup tomorrow barring another recall in the next 24 hours.

When practice finished up I talked with head coach Dean Evason. I then had the chance to welcome in the new faces and hear from captain Scott Ford. Here is what all had to say following practice.

Continue reading “The Chatterbox, Vol. 28” →

Chatterbox

The Chatterbox, Vol. 27
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Quite possibly lost in all the news shuffle leading into last night’s game was Braden Pimm – who made his professional hockey debut last night as a member of the Milwaukee Admirals. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)

The Admirals four-game point streak was snapped with a 3-1 defeat at the hands of the division leading Grand Rapids Griffins last night. It really wasn’t until the third period until the Ads seemed to find some congruity and play on or above the Griffins level. Sadly, with the game level at 1-1, the Griffins found a late goal that put a dent in the Ads hope to gain a point out of the meeting.

You could considering the result frustrating. You could consider the four-game losing streak against Grand Rapids a red flag. But, I caution you to consider the following. The Griffins were in pretty much in full force last night. The Admirals were running a full line shy of their maximum capacity. No Mark Van Guilder. No Calle Jarnkrok. No Colton Sissons. They were all in Nashville last night. Simon Moser and Joonas Jarvinen are also on the comeback trail from injuries. And the Admirals still battled down to the wire with the Western Conference’s second best team.

It might be a bummer to fall three-minutes short last night. But I still see lots and lots of promise – even in a losing effort such as the one against the Griffins. The strength of the team, putting themselves in a chance to earn a point or more, is the difference a season makes. Earlier in the season, they could have fallen to Grand Rapids to the toll of 5-0 (11/20/13) or, again, 5-0 (12/14/13). They were in that exact same mode through two periods last night – but were only down a goal – and then found an equalizer in the third period.

Heads up, Roundtable. It’s that sort of character and new found confidence that should see the month of April get good. There are four games against a hot Chicago Wolves team, two against the evil Rockford IceHogs, two against the Iowa Wild, and one against a playoff push opponent – the Charlotte Checkers (current eighth seed).

It’s time to get watertight for the Admirals. I think they are getting right there with the best of them. When the reinforcements arrive from Nashville – it will only make them that much better. Nine. That’s how many games remain in the season. Then playoff season begins.

Following the game I spoke with Dean Evason, Filip Forsberg, and Braden Pimm. Here is what the group had to say after the defeat against the Griffins.

Continue reading “The Chatterbox, Vol. 27” →