The Milwaukee Admirals earned a 3-0 shutout on the road against the San Antonio Rampage Friday night at the AT&T Center.

Marek Mazanec didn’t have the busiest of nights in net but he denied all nineteen shots he faced to earn his second shutout for the Admirals this season and sixth of his AHL career. Vladislav Kamenev marked his return to the lineup scoring the game-opening goal which would also prove to be the game-winner tonight. The win for the Admirals snaps a four-game winless skid while the loss for the Rampage is their eleventh straight defeat on home ice.

To start the second period the Rampage had the Admirals pinned and managed to match their first period shot total of six within the opening four minutes of the frame. Unfortunately for them that all meant nothing and Taylor Aronson hit Vladislav Kamenev on a home run pass as he came off the Admirals bench. Kamenev was all alone on a breakaway and snapped a shot over the glove of Roman Will for his seventh goal of the season.

The second period would persist with several chances for the Admirals on the power-play. They had two chances on five-on-three power-play opportunities and went 0/5 from the power-play in the sandwich stanza alone. The last of those five-on-three power-plays came to an end after Maxim Noreau floored Max Reinhart with a standup check upon zone entry which caught the attention of Frédérick Gaudreau who rushed after the Rampage defenseman, started a fight, and picked up an instigator and misconduct for his troubles.

In the third period the penalty troubles for the Rampage finally caught up with them. After a delay of game call sent Duncan Siemens to the box the Admirals notched their first power-play goal of the night from their eighth power-play opportunity. A spectacular keep in by Aronson at the blueline not only prevented a potential two-on-one shorthanded break the other way but pushed the puck over to Kamenev who dished to the open Colton Sissons in front of the net for a rapid fire shot and his fifth goal of the season.

The Rampage did have a chance to make a dent in the Admirals lead when they had a fifty-seven second five-on-three power-play opportunity with 8:11 remaining in regulation. They burned their timeout and wouldn’t come close again.

Shortly removed from their power-play chance Rampage defenseman Maxim Noreau put this game away after an awful turnover deep in his own zone that fell to Adam Payerl who shot and scored past Will immediately. Payerl’s seventh goal of the season made it a 3-0 game with 2:33 remaining in regulation to polish the game off.

Marek Mazanec’s night in net wasn’t the most challenging he’ll experience in his career but he answered the bell when tasked to make saves. In particular, the start to the second period he needed to be big and push aside the pressure that the Rampage brewed up. He got through that and the Admirals scored moments later from a Kamenev that Mazanec managed to get an assist from. That goalie assist makes Mazanec the Admirals all-time AHL points leader from the goaltending position. He was tied with Pekka Rinne with six-assists before notching number seven tonight.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played all the roster moves in the history of planet Earth happened. Kevin Fiala and Cody Bass were recalled by the Nashville Predators. Viktor Arvidsson was reassigned from the Predators to the Admirals and Garrett Noonan was sent from the Admirals to the Cincinnati Cyclones (ECHL). Predators placed forward Cody Hodgson on waivers, he cleared waivers, and joined the Admirals. The Predators made two trades that directly impacted the Admirals. Conor Allen was traded to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for Patrick Mullen. Victor Bartley was traded to the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for Stefan Elliot. Bartley was then packaged with NHL All-Star John Scott to the Montreal Canadiens for Jarred Tinordi and Stefan Fournier. Tonight’s line combinations for the Admirals saw the return of many faces and introduction of a couple more: Arvidsson-Sissons-Hodgson, Åberg-Kamenev-Gaudreau, White-Reinhard-Görtz, Devane-Girard-Payerl, Alm-Aronson, Näkyvä-Mullen, Murphy-Oligny. Tonight’s scratches were: Joe Pendenza (healthy), Jonathan Diaby (healthy), Stefan Elliot (yet to join team). This game marked the return to the Admirals lineup for Taylor Aronson after having missed the previous eight-games due to a lower-body injury. The win tonight for the Admirals makes them the first team in the AHL’s Western Conference to reach 50 points this season. Yet, through points percentage, the Admirals are fourth in the Western Conference standings.

How did this Milwaukee Admirals squad look with its new face lift (if you will)? How did Patrick Mullen, Cody Hodgson, Viktor Arvidsson, Vladislav Kamenev, and Taylor Aronson all look in their Admirals debut/return?

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The Milwaukee Admirals lost 4-1 against the Iowa Wild Saturday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.

The Admirals have now lost four straight games and five of their last six-games. Meanwhile, this win for the Wild was their fourth win from five games.

The Wild were able to get out in front six minutes into the first period through Zack Mitchell’s eleventh goal of the season. The Admirals defense was caught over-committing numbers to a puck battle on the left wing and, when the puck freed up, Mitchell had the slot all to himself to get a pass and wire in a shot through the wickets of Juuse Saros to give the Wild a 1-0 lead.

In the second period a great individual effort by Max Reinhart put the Admirals level at 1-1. Reinhart was swooping down the left wing when he snapped a low wrister off the pads of former-Admirals goaltender Jeremy Smith. The puck bounced ever so slightly off the pads and Reinhart took a second crack at the free puck and managed to get it through for his team leading eleventh goal of the season.

It only took 2:19 of ice time before the Wild regained their lead. A pass behind the Admirals net hit hard off of Jimmy Oligny’s stick and spilled into the offensive zone for the Wild. Kurtis Gabriel launched in, corralled the loose puck, and roofed a backhander past Saros for his fourth goal of the season.

After an extended shift in attack Mitchell added his second of the game to give the Wild a 3-1 second period lead. The Wild’s cycle game had the Admirals in a scramble and, eventually, a puck kicked back towards Mitchell at the top of the left wing circle where he would move in and rip a wrister high glove-side of Saros to bury his twelfth goal of the season.

There weren’t many highlights for the Admirals to speak of in this game but they did receive one during a third period penalty kill. As Zach Palmquist was racing into the zone down the right wing wall Cody Bass hammered him up and into the curved glass at the Admirals bench – cracking it clean in half. There was a slight delay to repair the ice and it appeared a fan was hurt when the glass panel exploded out of place.

The Wild bashed in another goal after a sequence of passes and rebounds that set up Michael Keränen at the side of the cage for a tap in and his sixth goal of the season. The troubling factor was once again the Wild winning a five-on-five battle but the initial shot by Joe Finley as he lept up into the play forced a rebound off to Saros glove side where Keränen was alone for the garbage tally.

With 2:26 remaining, trailing 4-1, the Admirals called for Saros to come to the bench and go for the desperate empty net and extra attacker scenario. That all went for naught in both respects and the game would end with that final scoreline.

Ramblings: Since last night’s game there were no roster moves made by the Milwaukee Admirals. Relating to last night’s game, Grand Rapids Griffins forward Alden Hirschfeld suffered a seizure during the contest and left the Van Andel Arena in stable condition. He visited his teammates this morning and was cited to be in good spirits and set to travel back to Toledo to rest at home with his family. Tonight’s line combinations for the Admirals featured some pretty drastic changes: White-Sissons-Åberg, Fiala-Gaudreau-Görtz, Payerl-Reinhart-Bass, Devane-Girard-Pendenza, Näkyvä-Alm, Allen-Oligny, Noonan-Murphy. Tonight’s scratches were: Vladislav Kamenev (jet lag), Zac Larraza (healthy), Jonathan Diaby (healthy), Victor Bartley (undisclosed), and Taylor Aronson (lower-body).

What are your reactions to this game? What is it about the Milwaukee Admirals that always seem to get the best of the Iowa Wild?

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The Milwaukee Admirals lost 4-2 on the road against the Grand Rapids Griffins Friday night at the Van Andel Arena.

This game was going the typical way for the Admirals against the Griffins this season. None of that really mattered though when a scary medical situation unfolded at the Grand Rapids Griffins bench where 27-year old forward Alden Hirschfeld collapsed. Medical assistance was required and received immediately. The game would resume but the result, outside of Cody Bass’ first career goal as a member of the Admirals, didn’t change. The Admirals have now lost four of their last five games.

“Obviously that was a very scary moment,” commented Milwaukee Admirals assistant coach Stan Drulia after the game while talking to radio play-by-play broadcaster Aaron Sims on 105.7 FM The Fan. “That’s the first time that I’ve experienced that. I know I looked over, we were screaming for a too many men on the ice call, I looked over at their bench and their players were catching [Hirschfeld] as he was falling to the ground. The medical response got their in phenomenal time. The guys got the medical people over. [Doug Agnew] jumped off the bench and got there right away. Obviously it’s a very scary moment. We’re able to go into the locker room but we didn’t get a whole lot of information from them at all. He seemed to be doing ok. That’s all we could pass on to the guys. Certainly was a different mood the last twenty-six minutes of the game for sure.”

It wouldn’t take the home team long before getting on the board in the first period. After a poor turnover by Max Görtz at his defensive zone blue line – Jeff Hoggan snapped up the puck and passed over to Tomas Nosek who would wire a wrister from the slot past the blocker side of Marek Mazanec to score his third goal of the season.

There was then a “fight” between Adam Payerl and Richard Nedomlel. The two locked horns back in the Griffins defensive zone behind the action and didn’t really get much of a fight to earn their fight majors. Payerl’s bucket came off. Nedomlel landed one body shot. And then Payerl lost his balance and the two tumbled down on top of each other. Not much of a scrap but you almost have to give the edge in your fight cards to Nedomlel based on the one punch landed.

Following an interference penalty against Jamie Devane the Griffins tagged the Admirals on the power-play to give themselves a 2-0 lead with 7:12 remaining in the first period. Martin Frk delivered an absolute howitzer of a slap shot from just above the slot that whistled past the glove of Mazanec for his eleventh goal of the season.

With time expiring in the first period Görtz was able to redeem his early mistake by setting up fellow Swede Pontus Åberg for a goal with thirty-three seconds remaining in the frame. Görtz won a puck battle along the right wing wall and used his body to shield for a pass to the on-rushing Åberg. The stickhandling Åberg displayed to dip around two Griffins and release a shot out of a toe-drag was world class. Jared Coreau was literally left to look at the replay as Åberg celebrated his ninth goal of the season.

In the second period Cody Bass received a rude awakening to his return to the ice after missing sixteen games worth of Admirals hockey. Nedomlel, who already had a previous fighting major, started throwing punches clean to the head of Bass before any sort of a fight was initiated. Bass’ hand was effectively forced to start trading back and the two went at it for a bit before Nedomlel polished Bass off. It was Nedomlel’s second fighting major of the game so his night ended right there.

Not too far removed from the fight between Bass and Nedomlel – Griffins defenseman Nathan Paetsch scored twice to push the Griffins lead out to 4-1.

Paetsch was given credit on the Griffins third goal of the game that came after an outstanding start by the Admirals in the second period. A pass from Zach Nastasiuk behind the net trickled into the slot where Paetsch was stationed. He took a swat, the puck knuckled off traffic, popped up into the air, and fell over the left shoulder of Mazanec for a really bad break of a goal that shunted momentum that the Admirals were building to re-establish the Griffins two-goal advantage.

The second goal for Paetsch wasn’t without some controversy. While the defenseman’s wrister from the high right faceoff circle went in clean it was the amount of players on the ice that got Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason hot. There wasn’t a too many men on the ice call made. And Paetsch had his third and fourth goals of the season scored in the space of 2:07 of ice time to give the Griffins a 4-1 lead.

Following a penalty against the Griffins for a too many men on the ice penalty with 6:19 remaining in the second period a terrifying situation unfolded on the Grand Rapids bench. Alden Hrischfeld collapsed on the bench which instantly prompted the medical attention from the Griffins bench, Admirals head trainer Doug Agnew rushed over to assist, and the paramedics on hand at the Van Andel Arena raced across the ice to get to the bench.

As this occurred, Griffins and Admirals players cleared their benches and gathered together in neutral ice. The crowd was silent as Hirschfeld was attended to by various medical attention. The players, coaches, and officials would soon go back to their respective locker rooms with Admirals assistant coach Stan Drulia directing Griffins players to head down the Admirals tunnel to reach the Griffins locker room without disturbing the scene at the site of their bench and locker room tunnel.

Hirschfeld would eventually sit upright to the applause and relief of the 7,514 in attendance tonight. He would eventually be laid down on a stretcher and taken off the ice. The early report given by the Griffins over Twitter was that Hirschfeld was in a stable condition and being transported to the hospital.

The game would continue with the second intermission being enacted from the moment Hirschfeld left the rink. The 6:19 remaining in the second period would be played after the second intermission and, after a minute break, the third period would start.

From the moment the game resumed, even with an Admirals power-play to start things off, things felt like a blur. The game’s pace was slow. The action wasn’t anywhere near as physical or intense. The rest of the second period flew past and it looked as if the third period was heading the same way. That is until Bass marked his return, not just with a fight, but with his first goal as a member of the Admirals. Garrett Noonan delivered an incredible no-look backhanded pass as he was skating around the net. This caught Coreau sliding back to his near post and Bass’ shot went against the slide far post to pick up his first goal of the season, first as a member of the Milwaukee Admirals, and thirty-eighth of his AHL career.

Mazanec would go to the bench to bring on the extra attacker with 1:23 remaining in regulation but the Admirals couldn’t get anything established offensively in the attacking zone to mount a late comeback bid. The game ended with a 4-2 Griffins win and the Admirals have now lost four of their last five games.

“We have to keep learning,” cited Drulia. “They’re a really good hockey team. Obviously they’ve got our number and we’re not scoring enough goals against them. We tried to do a couple different things as the game went along. So we have some different video to look at. I thought this was the most chances we’ve had over the course of a sixty-minute game against them in the games that we’ve played. We were just pretty unfortunate. We turned a puck over on the first one. We didn’t win a battle on the second goal against. We get a tough bounce on the third goal. And the fourth goal was too many men on the ice. We didn’t play bad. We did some pretty good things. We just haven’t been able to get some puck luck right now that you get when you’re on a roll and we have to find a way to turn that around.”

UPDATE: Alden Hirschfeld had a seizure at tonight’s game, but is doing well and is resting with his family.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals played on Tuesday the team released Vinny Saponari from his PTO contract. Saponari has since rejoined Greenville (ECHL). The Nashville Predators acquired Ryan Johansen from the Columbus Blue Jackets for Seth Jones on Wednesday. Tonight’s line combinations for the Admirals were: Fiala-Sissons-Gaudreau, Åberg-Reinhart-Görtz, White-Girard-Payerl, Devane-Pendenza-Bass, Allen-Oligny, Murphy-Alm, Noonan-Näkyvä. Tonight’s scratches included: Zac Larraza (healthy), Vladislav Kamenev (yet to rejoin the team from World Juniors), Jonathan Diaby (healthy), Victor Bartley (undisclosed), and Taylor Aronson (lower-body). This game marked the return of Cody Bass after having missed all of December due to an upper-body injury. In total, Bass missed sixteen games due to that injury. This game also marked the return of defenseman Trevor Murphy for his first piece of game action since receiving an illegal check to the head by Rockford IceHogs All-Star forward Ryan Hartman. Murphy had missed the Admirals last seven games due to an “upper-body” injury.

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The Milwaukee Admirals lost 4-0 against the Lake Erie Monsters Tuesday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.

This was the Admirals seventh game played in its last eleven days. It was also the Monsters fourth game of a ten game road trip. Both looked sluggish. Both played sloppy. But it was the Admirals that never looked to have any life left in this system. They were accumulated only nineteen shots on goal and Brad Thiessen, a PTO signing for the Monsters from the Admirals ECHL affiliate the Cincinnati Cyclones, stopped them all.

After a slow lifeless start to this game the Monsters scored the opening goal from a shorthanded tally midway through the send period. A puck was rimming up and out towards the right wind wall on the Admirals power-play when it hit a seam and kicked out into the faceoff circle. Max Reinhart and Michael Chaput were racing for the same spot and Chaput won the race, chipped a puck past Reinhart, and was off on an odd-man break the other way. Conor Allen split Chaput and Manny Malhotra. The saucer pass wing to wing was delivered to perfection and Malhotra beat Juuse Saros glove side to record his first goal of the season.

The Monsters added to their lead later in the second period from a net-front battle. Michael Paliotta was swooping down the left wing when he hit a snap pass to the opposite wing back post to Kerby Rychel that was put on net, deflected off the leg of Garrett Noonan defending out in front, and popped into the net past Saros by the man that initiated the entire play – Paliotta. The goal was his sixth scored this season.

In the third period, after a lengthy shift in attack, the Monsters tagged the Admirals for another goal. The cycle play kept rolling and, for a moment, had Saros scrambling out to make a stop and get back in position. Once he was stationed back in place Dillon Heatherington threw a snapshot from the center point that elevated crossbar and down for his second goal of the season.

For desperation sake, the Admirals went empty net and extra attacker with 3:30 remaining in regulation while trailing by three-goals. This went as you might have expected given how the game went: poor. Chaput, who had assisted on all three previous goals, scored into the empty net for his seventh goal of the season.

The result for Saros in net is only the fourth loss from eighteen games played this season. He stopped nineteen of the Monsters twenty-three of shots on goal tonight. I’d go as far to say he was the most active Admirals player on the ice tonight.

Ramblings: Prior to tonight’s game the Nashville Predators signed Milwaukee Admirals forward Frédérick Gaudreau to a two-year entry level contract. Vladislav Kamenev and his Russian team were defeated 4-3 in overtime by the host country Finland in the 2016 IIHF World Junior Championships gold medal game. Kamenev scored the game’s opening goal from a power-play and was given a game misconduct with two minutes remaining in regulation for unsportsmanlike conduct. Tonight’s line combinations for the Admirals were: Fiala-Sissons-Gaudreau, Åberg-Reinhart-Payerl, White-Girard-Görtz, Devane-Pendenza-Larraza, Noonan-Oligny, Allen-Alm, Diaby-Näkyvä. Tonight’s scratches were: Cody Bass (upper-body), Vinny Saponari (healthy), Taylor Aronson (lower-body), Victor Bartley (undisclosed), and Trevor Murphy (upper-body).

What can you even say after a game like this? What is wrong and can you simply say this team is tired?

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The Milwaukee Admirals lost 3-2 in overtime on the road against the Rockford IceHogs Sunday evening at the BMO Harris Bank Center.

This was the eighth meeting of the season between the Admirals and IceHogs and it would be the fourth time that overtime was required. For the first time this season it was the IceHogs winning not only in overtime against the Admirals but on home ice against the Admirals.

In the first period it actually felt like the third period the Admirals survived trickled into this evening’s first period. It took until 9:57 of the first period until Zac Larraza registered the Admirals first shot on goal. The game was all Rockford out the gate and that pressure would turn into a goal.

As Ville Pokka wound up for a shot from the left point both Vinny Hinostroza and Garret Ross were stationed in front of Marek Mazanec. The shot glanced off the stick of Hinostroza and trickled past the left pad of Mazanec and across for his fourth goal of the season.

Against the run of wave upon wave of attack by the IceHogs the first penalties of the game opened ice up for the Admirals to equalize in the first period. Kevin Fiala was called for crosschecking and Ryan Hartman was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty which put the game at four-on-four. Adam Payerl was able to generate an offensive zone turnover and whirled off a shot that beat Michael Leighton to score his sixth goal of the season. The first period ended with the IceHogs up 16-11 in shots on goal but with a 1-1 scoreline.

The second period was nearly identical in the sense that the IceHogs were rolling, picked up a goal, and then made a mistake that cost them their lead once more.

After a tripping call against Fiala the IceHogs scored from the power-play off of another net-front deflection. Pokka was once again the trigger man for the IceHogs with the initial shot. This time he was stationed out on the right wing circle when the ripped a wrister that deflected off of Pierre-Cédric Labrie and through Mazanec. The goal for Labrie was his eighth of the season.

The Admirals were put right back into the thick of the game after a poor sequence by Nolan Valleau allowed Matt White to get a step on him and then slashed the Admirals forward on a breakaway to force the officials to call for a penalty shot. White skated in centrally, faked a snap shot, and threw a low wrister just above the left pad of Leighton to score his fourth goal since joining the Admirals on PTO basis from the Manchester Monarchs (ECHL).

For the fourth time in eight games between these two teams this season overtime was required. In the overtime period IceHogs defenseman Pokka created a turnover from the Admirals attacking blueline and was off to the races on a breakaway. His initial shot rang iron and left Mazanec down and out. Following up for the rebound was Labrie who threw a forehand shot into the wide open net to win it in overtime through his second goal of the game and ninth of the season. Pokka recorded a primary assist on all three IceHogs goals.

Tip of the cap to Mazanec in net. He takes the tough luck loss tonight but he was incredible between the pipes for the Admirals. He stopped 35/38 shots on goal and is a massive reason as to why the Admirals at the very least can say they took a point from this contest. In a season built around points percentage thanks to the Californian based teams of the Pacific Division – that point earned still holds big value.

Ramblings: There were no roster moves made within the Nashville Predators organization overnight. As such, the exact same line combinations and scratches were implemented today for the Milwaukee Admirals. Lines: Fiala-Sissons-Gaudreau, Åberg-Reinhart-Payerl, White-Girard-Görtz, Devane-Pendenza-Larraza, Noonan-Oligny, Allen-Alm, Diaby-Näkyvä, Scratches: Cody Bass (upper-body), Vinny Saponari (healthy), Taylor Aronson (lower-body), Victor Bartley (undisclosed), and Trevor Murphy (upper-body). After the game, Milwaukee Admirals assistant coach Stan Drulia informed play-by-play announcer Aaron Sims that the Admirals players will be taking tomorrow off to rest up ahead of Tuesday night’s game against the Lake Erie Monsters.

Thoughts on tonight’s game? What was wrong with the Milwaukee Admirals tonight? Did the overly defensive approach from last night’s finish trickle into tonight or is this team just tired right now?

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The Milwaukee Admirals won 3-1 against the Lake Erie Monsters Saturday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.

This game was another tale of the Admirals ability to adapt to different game situations and succeed as a team. The first period was open with great power-play work. The rest of the game tightened up with the Monsters getting better and better as time went on. Juuse Saros and the Admirals defense stayed tight to keep the Monsters to their lone tally on the night and claim their eight win from their last ten games.

“You just have to watch the third period,” commented Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason when discussing Juuse Saros’ performance in net. “We were hemmed in our zone basically the whole third period and he was huge, smother pucks, calm, made big saves when he had too, just very intelligent freezes, and gave us a chance in the end to get us to the empty net [goal].”

Tonight’s first period was all about power-play goals. The Admirals and Monsters combined for three in the opening frame to end at a 2-1 Admirals advantage.

The Max Görtz Show officially began six-minutes into the first period. Some slow and patient puck movement from the Admirals eventually lead to the breakthrough they were looking for. Kristian Näkyvä passed from the point to Kevin Fiala who was set up on the high right wing faceoff circle before snapping a low wrister that Joonas Korpisalo kicked off his pads into the left wing. Görtz was all alone for the rebound and smacked it over the top of the sprawling goaltender for his eighth goal of the season.

It would be too long before Görtz scored again on the power-play to record his ninth goal of the season and give the Admirals a 2-0 lead. This Admirals power-play was far less patient and calm than the initial chance. Instead, it was absolute chaos. Frédérick Gaudreau ripped a hard wrister from the right wing circle – Korpisalo made the save but pushed the puck in-line with the net front presence of Colton Sissons and he nearly tallied from the rebound. Then Görtz wired a shot hard off the left wing post and out. Thankfully, things settled, and Görtz would label a wrist shot top shelf blocker side of Korpisalo for his second power-play goal of the first period.

“Görtz has a world class shot,” smiled Evason. “He gets a little bit of space and he can find wholes.”

As noted, the first period power-play goals did include one for the Monsters. While the net result was a puck in the back of the net – it wasn’t a shot on goal. Ryan Craig was setup low in the left of the trapezoid and was attempting to pass opposite wing. His pass banked off of the sliding trail leg of Jimmy Oligny and underneath Juuse Saros to award the Monsters team captain with his seventh goal of the season.

As they game pushed forward the tempo altered. The second period was far more tightly defended and space to shoot forced long range chances. This barreled over into the third period with the exception of one thing: the Monsters were all over the Admirals.

In the third period the Monsters outshot the Admirals 14-6. As time was expiring, Jamie Devane put away an empty netter to record his third goal of the season and make it a 3-1 Admirals lead. For the wave upon wave of pressure the Monsters poured on in the third period, the young Finnish netminder was tremendous. Saros stopped 32/33 shots on goal to earn his twelfth win from thirteen games.

“Fun is a good word,” laughed Juuse Saros when asked how to describe the third period. “It’s always nice to have a lot of shots. You don’t have to think a lot. You just play there.”

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played they recalled defenseman Jonathan Diaby from the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL. In 2016 IIHF World Junior Championship news, Russian team captain Vladislav Kamenev scored the game-tying goal with the empty net and extra attacker on followed up with the game-winning goal in overtime to see Russia beat Denmark 4-3 and advance to the Semi-Finals where they’ll face USA on Monday. The winner will advance to the Gold Medal game and the loser will play in the Bronze Medal game on Tuesday. Tonight’s line combinations for the Admirals were: Fiala-Sissons-Gaudreau, Åberg-Reinhart-Payerl, White-Girard-Görtz, Devane-Pendenza-Larraza, Noonan-Oligny, Allen-Alm, Diaby-Näkyvä. Tonight’s scratches were: Cody Bass (upper-body), Vinny Saponari (healthy), Taylor Aronson (lower-body), Victor Bartley (undisclosed), and Trevor Murphy (upper-body).

Thoughts on tonight’s game? How impressive has the Milwaukee Admirals special teams, power-play and penalty kill, been lately? How did Jonathan Diaby look in his return to the AHL?

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The Milwaukee Admirals were shutout 3-0 on the road against the Grand Rapids Griffins Thursday night at the Van Andel Arena. The loss for the Admirals ends what was a five-game winning streak and the shutout ends Max Görtz six-game points streak.

Jared Coreau’s dominance of the Admirals continued once again tonight in Grand Rapids. If not before then this is officially the night he has earned Admirals Killer status. In his career against the Admirals Coreau has made eight appearances, seven starts, gone 6-1-0-0 stopping 172/179 shots for a 0.961 save percentage and 0.87 goals against average. Tonight was the third time in his career that he has shutout the Admirals.

This sloppy choppy game wouldn’t see a breakthrough in the goal scoring department until midway through the second period. Anthony Mantha was fighting through Victor Bartley for position off the right wing pocket as the Griffins forward threw a puck up into the slot. Mark Zengerle received the pass from Mantha and was able to spin off a backhand pass for the on-rushing Eric Tangradi who took the feed first-time to beat Marek Mazanec for his fourteenth goal of the season. Tangradi has scored points in nine of his last ten games for the Griffins.

In the third period, the Griffins caught the Admirals defensemen over-committing to the same spot on the ice and capitalized from the confusion to pick up a two-goal cushion. Jimmy Oligny left the front of the net to get the puck carrier Louis-Marc Aubry before he could wrap-around a shot or get a pass centered into the slot. The problem is that Conor Allen was already chasing him so if Oligny doesn’t stop the puck from getting past him the front of the net was wide open. Oligny didn’t get there. Colton Sissons could make the recovery read as Jeff Hoggan went into the wide open goal mouth area and scored from Aubry’s pass for his fourth goal of the season.

The game spiraled down to the final four minutes of regulation when the Admirals were given a power-play chance to create a miraculous comeback. The net was emptied but the Admirals theme of shooting pucks over the top of the net kept persisting. In the end, Aubry would score an empty net goal with what would literally be a walk off tally as the goal was counted but no-one opted to see how much clock was left for a follow-up faceoff. Aubry’s fourth goal of the season made this one end in a 3-0 final.

Give a small tip of the cap to Mazanec in net for the Admirals tonight. Once again, he played outstanding and –in these last two games against the Griffins– has stopped 63/65 shots on goal. The only thing missing for Mazanec tonight was the goal support. Sadly, the defense of the Griffins made for Admirals puck movement to be a tough enough task alone – much less shooting on Coreau down at the opposite end from Mazanec.

Ramblings: Once again, there were no roster moves made within the Nashville Predators organization since the last time the Milwaukee Admirals took to the ice. Tonight’s line combinations were: Fiala-Sissons-Gaudreau, White-Reinhard-Payerl, Larraza-Girard-Görtz, Devane-Pendenza-Saponari, Näkyvä-Alm, Allen-Oligny, Noonan-Bartley. Tonight’s scratches were: Pontus Åberg (undisclosed injury), Cody Bass (upper-body), Trevor Murphy (upper-body), and Taylor Aronson (lower-body). Vladislav Kamenev didn’t score a point today but Russia won 2-1 over Slovakia to remain unbeaten at 2016 IIHF World Junior Championships. Five minutes into the first period, Frédérick Gaudreau took a solid open ice check from Eric Tangradi in neutral ice. He wouldn’t return in the game until midway through the second period. Later in the second period Félix Girard, set up in front of Marek Mazanec defending, took a wrist shot to the mouth. He did not return to the game.

Thoughts on tonight’s game? Is this the sort of effort that brings the Milwaukee Admirals back down to Earth to expose weaknesses in the team or can the Griffins defense simply be given credit for dictating the game?

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The Milwaukee Admirals pitched a 3-0 shutout over the Grand Rapids Griffins Tuesday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.

A pair of power-play goals in the second period gave the Admirals some nice breathing space but the real story came between the pipes. Marek Mazanec stopped all thirty shots the Griffins labeled on target and earned his first shutout of the season and fifth of his AHL career with the Milwaukee Admirals. He was crucial in the Admirals penalty killing tonight as the Ads denied all four power-plays for the Griffins.

“Our penalty kill was the difference,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “Our penalty kill, clearly, the best penalty killer is your goaltender. Which it was last night with [Juuse Saros] and then again tonight with [Marek Mazanec]. But the blocked shots – the commitment – especially that last one where we were hemmed in our zone the entire two minutes – all four guys were out there for the entire two minutes. Sticks were great. Their compete level was great. Their commitment was awesome. That was the difference in the game. No question.”

After a dump and chase stylized first period the game received its first goal in the second period. Xavier Ouellet was beaten on a foot race down the left wing by Pontus Åberg, went for the football tackle, and was called for a holding minor. This set the table for more power-play theatrics from a group that scored twice the night prior. Kevin Fiala was stationed low in the right wing, skated in towards goal, unleashed a hard pass between the legs of defenseman Nathan Paetsch, and hit Max Görtz on top of the left wing faceoff circle. The Swede’s quick wrister beat Jared Coreau high blocker side for his seventh goal of the season. Görtz now has a six-game point streak.

“[Max Görtz] is great,” smiled Evason. “He just goes about his business. He’s played on arguably the fourth line, he’s played on the first line, when [Colton Sissons] came back he got bumped to maybe the third line – it doesn’t matter. That’s what our group is all about.”

Then, late in the second period during the midst of a scrambly shift that saw a puck kicking around the Griffins attacking zone, Åberg drew another penalty after taking an Anthony Mantha stick to the chops. If the play leading up to the penalty can be considered scrambly than what unfolded in front of Coreau in net could probably be labeled pinball-esque. The puck was skipping loose, taking shot attempts, getting blocked down, and finally fell back in the right wing faceoff circle for Fiala who unloaded an absolute howitzer of a slap shot that soared into the net for his sixth goal of the season. If Fiala hit that shot any harder he might have gone in the net with the puck. It was a spectacular effort from the nineteen year old.

The Griffins, trailing by two goals, went empty net and extra attacker with 2:30 remaining in regulation. Not too long after that the Admirals buried an empty netter after a Görtz saucer pass picked out Matt White on the left wing in neutral ice. White won the zone to avoid icing, fired, and scored his third goal of the season to cap off the Admirals 3-0 win over the Griffins.

Marek Mazanec was nothing short of brilliant in net. He stopped all thirty shots he faced to record his first shutout of this season and the fifth of his AHL career with the Admirals. He came up huge time and time again in what might be his best performance in net since making his North American pro debut back in the 2013-14 season.

“It kind of doesn’t matter who is in the lineup,” commented Marek Mazanec on the recent run of form for the Admirals. “As long as we stick to the system, and do the right things, we can win every game.”

Ramblings: There were no roster moves made within the organization since last night’s game. On top of that, there wasn’t even a need for the Milwaukee Admirals to alter last night’s roster setup. Tonight’s line combinations: Fiala-Sissons-Gaudreau, Åberg -Reinhart-Payerl, White-Girard-Görtz, Devane-Pendenza-Larraza, Allen-Oligny, Näkyvä-Alm, Noonan-Bartley. Tonight’s scratches were: Trevor Murphy (upper-body), Taylor Aronson (lower-body), Vinny Saponari (healthy), and Cody Bass (upper-body). In 2016 IIHF World Juniors news, Vladislav Kamenev scored a goal and an assist in today’s 4-1 win for Russia over Belarus. Captain Kamenev has 3 points (2 goals, 1 assist) in Russia’s last two games and Russia has been perfect through its opening three-games of the group stage.

Thoughts on tonight’s game? How great was Marek Mazanec in net? Did the Admirals out Griffins the Griffins tonight?

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The Milwaukee Admirals won 4-1 against the Chicago Wolves Monday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.

This game started more than thirty-minutes late due to the weather impeding the Chicago Wolves travel. Once things finally got started the Admirals took the lead fast and really controlled the action from start to finish to claim their fourth-straight win.

“It doesn’t matter of it’s a 10:30 (AM) game, it doesn’t matter if it’s a night game, or afternoon game. When the puck is dropped our group has been ready to play,” commented Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason after the game. “It’s a credit to the group – the leadership within the room. [The delay] had no effect.”

This game wouldn’t officially start until after 7:35 PM due to a travel delay that impeded the Chicago Wolves from arriving to the building on schedule. Thankfully, the Wolves’ minds might have still been on the bus because just past two-minutes into this game the Admirals were on the board. An Admirals keep in along the blue line was forced up towards Max Görtz in the high slot and the Swede smacked a backhander through net front traffic and on towards Jordan Binnington. The puck hit off Matt White’s stick and dropped down in front of Félix Girard who was able to get the puck past Binnington after collecting his own rebound to score his fourth goal of the season.

It looked to be a really short fight but it wasn’t penalized that way. Jamie Devane and Cody Beach got into it after a big hit by Beach in front of the Admirals bench. Devane landed a solid shot that appeared to hurt Beach bad enough to put him on his wallet. Devane was given a double minor for roughing while Beach went down towards the Wolves locker room tunnel with a single rough minor. The Admirals penalty kill off of this incident didn’t allow a shot on goal.

Sadly, as great as the Admirals penalty kill was, the Wolves scored moments after their power-play expired to level the game at 1-1. Evan Trupp undressed Kristian Näkyvä out of his skates with a great deke out of the left wing pocket. After getting past Näkyvä – Trupp was able to lay off a pass for Yannick Veilleux who scored on a backhander over the glove of Juuse Saros for his seventh goal of the season.

Less than a minute later the Admirals were back out in front with a first period lead. Conor Allen jumped up into the attack from the blueline, carried the puck deep around Binnington’s net, and froze four Wolves players in the process. All the burgundy sweaters sat back and watched as Allen’s pass before going behind the cage went square to Görtz as he was all alone between the faceoff circles. His forehander beat Binnington on the glove side for the Swede’s sixth goal of the season.

The second period finally saw the Admirals get a power-play opportunity. Not only that, but it saw their captain mark his return to Milwaukee with a goal. A fantastic tic-tac-toe passing play went Frédérick Gaudreau in the low right wing, to Kevin Fiala in the trapezoid, to Colton Sissons low right wing faceoff circle with a one-time blast past Binnington to score his fourth goal of the season. It was Sissons first game back with the Admirals since 11/24/15 when he scored a goal on home ice against the San Antonio Rampage.

“It’s just business as usual,” said Admirals team captain Colton Sissons of his return to the AHL. “It’s just hockey. No matter if I’m up in Nashville in the NHL or down here. I don’t try to change anything about my game I just kind of do my thing. It usually works out if I don’t get too worked up no matter what situation I’m in.”

During the third period, Jacob Doty was whistled down for a holding minor when Joe Pendenza raced past him on offensive zone entry down the right wing. This gave the Admirals yet another power-play chance and another which they’d cash in from. Fiala stickhandled off the right wing wall and into the faceoff circle. Chris Butler was stuck in place. Binnington was caught being mesmerized. And Fiala snapped a shot high glove for his fifth goal of the season.

With all said and done the young Finnish goaltender collected yet another win to his name this season. Saros has won eleven of his last twelve starts and has thirteen wins on the season. He stopped 35/36 tonight in net for the Admirals to help secure the 4-1 win.

Ramblings: Prior to tonight’s game the Nashville Predators activated Mike Fisher from injured reserve and reassigned Colton Sissons to the Milwaukee Admirals. Vladislav Kamenev scored a goal in Russia’s 6-4 win over the host country Finland today in the second game of the group stage in the 2016 IIHF World Junior Championship. Tonight’s game was delayed thirty-five minutes due to a travel delay for the Chicago Wolves. Tonight’s line combinations were: Fiala-Sissons-Gaudreau, Åberg -Reinhart-Payerl, White-Girard-Görtz, Devane-Pendenza-Larraza, Allen-Oligny, Näkyvä-Alm, Noonan-Bartley. Tonight’s scratches were: Trevor Murphy (upper-body), Taylor Aronson (lower-body), Vinny Saponari (healthy), and Cody Bass (upper-body). Tonight’s attendance, despite the awful weather, was a rowdy 4,443 – who were all rewarded with special vouchers to attend an Admirals game for free later this season as a ‘Thank You’ for putting up with the weather and start time delay.

Thoughts on tonight’s game? Were you able to attend this game? How great did Colton Sissons look in his first game back with the Admirals?

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The Milwaukee Admirals won 2-1 in a shootout on the road against the Rockford IceHogs Saturday night at the BMO Harris Bank Center.

This wasn’t the run and gun style of hockey the Admirals have been caught up in as of late. Instead it was a defensive duel with both Marek Mazanec and Michael Leighton coming up big in net for their respective teams. This game would push all the way to a shootout where the Admirals would claim their fifth shootout victory from five attempts this season and third shootout win this month. No team in the AHL has more shootout wins than the Admirals.

It wasn’t quite the first period you might have been expecting for the IceHogs. Having lost on home ice to the Admirals 6-2 prior to the Christmas break you’d have thought a fired up IceHogs team would be looking to storm out of the blocks early and set the tempo. That didn’t happen at all and it took 11:40 of ice time before the hosts even registered a shot on goal.

As the first period was ending, Vinny Hinostroza was tagged with a double-minor for roughing after trying to get after Conor Allen only to have Joe Pendenza answer the bell. No punches were exchanged but it meant the Admirals would have an abbreviated power-play that overlapped into the second period with Kristian Näkyvä set to exit the box five-seconds into the sandwich stanza.

Within the first minute of the second period the Admirals would cash in from Hinostroza’s outburst with yet another power-play goal for Frédérick Gaudreau. As a puck battle ensued in the left wing pocket – Vinny Saponari was able to push free over to Gaudreau who was all alone in the high slot. His wrister was snapped on net faster than Michael Leighton appeared to know how to deal with it as the veteran goaltender stayed standing up as the puck flew past him. Gaudreau now has nine goals this season and has scored six of them from the power-play.

The IceHogs started to dictate the pace from that point forward in the second period. After winning an in-zone faceoff they would level the game up at 1-1. The Admirals were left puck watching when Marko Dano glided along the right wing. As Dano was puck carrying Chris DeSousa skated backwards from traffic and to the back post of Marek Mazanec. No one picked him up. Dano’s pass went clean to him. And DeSousa had his third goal of the season.

A late power-play from a Max Reinhart crosschecking minor gave the IceHogs a chance to steal the win with 2:04 remaining in regulation. Mazanec would come up huge during the Admirals penalty kill and the game went into overtime. Similarly, the Admirals would get a power-play chance of their own during the three-on-three overtime frame and would also see a chance to end the game go for naught. A shootout was required.

Kevin Fiala was the first man up for the shootout and his now trademark move of swinging out from the right wing, stickhanding the goaltender to sleep while skating in towards the slot, and snapping a forehand shot worked once more. Garret Ross followed up for the IceHogs by missing the net entirely on a wild backhander attempt. Gaudreau was next up and he took a straight forward approach, skating straight down the middle and firing, to score past Leighton and give the Admirals match point in the shootout. Up stepped Hinostroza who skated very wide to the right wing, slowed down, and attempted to check back with a shot low to the blocker side of Mazanec but the Czech netminder made the save with his left toe to provide the Admirals with their third straight win.

This season the Admirals have been dazzling when it comes to competing in the shootout. They’re a perfect five for five in the shootout this season and, in this current month of December, they have won more shootout games than all of last season with three wins. The Admirals went two wins from nine shootouts last season.

Another area of the shotout which has been remarkable has been the goaltending. Between Mazanec and Juuse Saros the Admirals goaltending duo have a 0.938 save percentage in the shootout. There has only been one shootout goal allowed by the Admirals from sixteen total attempts while its own shooters are coming in at a 0.500 clip scoring eight out of sixteen attempts: Fiala and Gaudreau are a combined 7/10 from shootout attempts this season.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played on Monday there were a pair of roster moves made. Petter Granberg’s two week (fourteen consecutive days) conditioning assignment was completed on Tuesday and he was returned to the Nashville Predators. Early this morning the Admirals recalled defenseman Garrett Noonan from the Cincinnati Cyclones (ECHL). Tonight’s line combinations were: Fiala-Gaudreau-Görtz, Åberg-Reinhart-Payerl, Larraza-Girard-White, Devane-Pendenza-Saponari, Allen-Oligny, Näkyvä-Alm, Noonan-Bartley. Tonight’s scratches were: Cody Bass (upper-body), Trevor Murphy (upper-body), and Taylor Aronson (lower-body injury). Tonight marked the return of both Conor Allen and Johan Alm. Allen had missed the previous seven straight games due to an upper-body injury while Alm, who was out for eight straight games due to a lower-body injury, missed the last five-games as a healthy scratch. Aronson was injured late in Monday’s game and, according to Aaron Sims, will be out three-to-five weeks with a lower-body injury. Earlier today the 2016 IIHF World Junior Championships kicked off in Finland. Vladislav Kamenev, team captain of Russia, earned a 2-1 shootout win of his own over the Czech Republic. The Grand Rapids Griffins won 7-3 tonight on the road against the Lake Erie Monsters to push their winning streak to fifteen-games.

Thoughts on tonight’s game? Once again, this depleted Admirals squad showed that it can not only play a different style of hockey but match up against one of the better teams in the AHL. Impressed by all that’s going on right now? Mazanec’s shootout numbers in the past have been rough. Is he starting to turn a corner for the better this season?

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