The Admirals won 5-2 against the Rockford IceHogs at the MSOE Kern Center Friday night. It was a great glimpse for fans in Milwaukee to get their first taste of the 2015-16 Admirals in game action. And they didn’t disappoint. Despite a quick tally for the IceHogs to open the game it was all Admirals for the majority of this contest.

“We were happy with the outcome,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “But we were also happy with a lot of people and their performances tonight. Really liked [Juuse] Saros in net. Was real calm. But there was a lot of people that are still fighting for opportunities and still fighting for jobs. Lot of people showed very well.”

Even for those expecting a fast start from the IceHogs, coming off an exhibition last night against the Chicago Wolves, you wouldn’t have expected them to start this fast. Only seventeen seconds into the game and a Dennis Robertson shot from the right point pelted off of Juuse Saros right pad and into the path of Mark McNeill for the opening goal.

“Everything happened pretty fast there,” said Juuse Saros. “We had a tough start.”

As the opening frame started to heat up the Admirals were able to work themselves more and more into the controlling stakes of game. Puck control and persistent pressure on defense had the IceHogs on the backfoot.

After goaltender Mac Carruth was whistled for a delay of game penalty the Admirals equalized with a power-play goal. A hard shot aimed low through traffic by Conor Allen at the point managed to ricochet out to Max Reinhart who zipped in the rebound to make it 1-1.

Only moments later, Joe Pendenza made a great play behind the net to pick out a wide open Felix Girard in front of the net where he would beat Carruth to the glove side to give the Admirals a 2-1 lead.

In the second period Pontus Åberg was able to extend the Admirals lead to 3-1. The energy in attack spilled into the sandwich stanza and quick passes managed to open up the left wing for Åberg to slot past Carruth.

Then came a scrap. Jimmy Oligny was looking game for a fight in the first period and got his dance partner midway through the second period in Patrick Koudys. There were some clean shots landed from both. I’ll take a guess that Oligny landed the better of the exchanges because he made it to the box and Koudys left for repairs.

The third period resulted in the second goal of the night for Åberg as he roamed the left wing. Adam Payerl provided a great lofted pass from the right wing to tee up Åberg for the back post finish.

A little past the halfway point in the third period and Chris DeSousa decided he had enough. The IceHogs forward crosschecked Girard after an initial faceoff draw and then came the fisticuffs. The bout was more of a quick judo throw and wrasslin’ match on the ice with DeSousa on top. He then proceeded to spout venom at any Admirals player he could see including that one bench he skated past.

In the closing minutes of the game the IceHogs would finally do what they managed to do so effortlessly to start the game, beat Saros. The IceHogs had a two-on-one break which ended with Kyle Stroh burying a puck high blocker side off a feed from Peter Schneider.

The following faceoff was taken with the IceHogs net emptied. Quicker than you could say it – Max Görtz had scored on the empty net to finish this game off at 5-2.

“We’ve got some decisions to make,” said Evason of the roster. “Which is great. We feel that we have a lot of people that can play on a regular basis and we’re looking forward to it shaking down tomorrow night.”

The Admirals play their final exhibition game of this pre-season tomorrow night on the road against the Wolves. The regular season starts Saturday October 10th on the road against those same Wolves and the home opener is Friday October 16th against the Charlotte Checkers.

Ramblings: Tonight’s line combinations were: Salomäki-Reinhart-Moss, Åberg-Kamenev-Payerl, Pendenza-Girard-Görtz, Rissling-Gaudreau-Robinson, Allen-Näkyvä, Noonan-Oligny, Murphy-Diaby, with Saros in net. Tomorrow night Marek Mazanec will start in net and there should be some changes to the skaters that dress and get scratches as well.

The Admirals lost 4-3 in a shootout on the road against the Chicago Wolves Saturday night. Perhaps it would be fitting for the Admirals 2014-15 season finale to have played out the way that it did. The Wolves didn’t have a lead in this contest until Terry Broadhurst’s seventh round shootout attempt beat the glove of Marek Mazanec. A season of high highs and low lows ends with the Admirals on a six-game losing streak to end the year in last place of the Midwest Division.

Rich Clune and Yannick Veilleux did their interpretation of the Wolves pre-game ceremonies via face-punching midway through the first period. It was a really spirited bout as both knocked each other’s hats off before running out of gas in the fight.

Mark Van Guilder was on the receiving end of a rare error by Jordan Binnington to notch his eleventh goal of the season. The Wolves netminder overplayed a puck to the right of his cage in an attempt to paddle a puck behind his net but Zach Budish was directly on him to spin around a pass on the left side for a tap in for Van Guilder to give the Admirals a first period lead.

In the second period the Admirals survived an onslaught of power-play time for the Wolves, including two successive five-on-three chances, only to concede momnts later. Colton Parayko threw a puck towards the front of the net from the right wing half-wall and the shot deflected past Marek Mazanec off of Joe Piskula’s left skate and in for Parayko’s fourth goal of the season.

Fortunately for the Admirals they would regain the lead only fourteen seconds later after yet another brilliant goal scored by Viktor Arvidsson on the season. The Swede flew in from the neutral zone, faked a slap shot from the high right point that froze both a defender and the netminder, swooped behind the net, and snapped home the wrap-around shot for his twenty-second goal of the season.

Unfortunately, the Admirals were burnt with less than ten-seconds remaining in the second period. The Wolves were able to outmaneuver the overlapping Admirals defensive pairing of Garrett Noonan and Anthony Bitetto with Robby Fabbri passing off to Terry Broadhurst’s center lane drive. Broadhurst took that pass first time and beat Mazanec stick side to tally his eighth goal of the season.

It took forty-nine seconds of the third period for the Admirals to regain the lead. Austin Watson worked around the boards and chipped a pass from the left wing wall to Colton Sissons as he broke in with speed towards the net. Sissons was able to skate around Joel Edmundson, get a shot off, and score on his own rebound before Parayko could close him down. The goal for Sissons is his twenty-fifth goal of the season. Per Aaron Sims, he became the first member of the Admirals in the AHL history of the team to start his career off with back-to-back twenty-five goal seasons.

A blunder by Johan Alm led directly to the Wolves equalizing goal less than three minutes after the tally for Sissons. Alm had plenty of space around him at the Admirals attacking blue line but attempted to pass across to Bitetto. Colin Fraser was directly in that passing lane and forced the puck out to center before winning the footrace and burying his breakaway for his ninth goal of the season.

The Admirals season would end after one final dryscrape, four-on-four to three-on-three overtime period, and shootout later. The netminders were solid in the shootout. The forced it to last seven round and only the final attempt was the lone success from the skaters that stepped up. Broadhurst weaved his way in on Mazanec before beating him on a forehand shot to the glove side to finish the game off. The Wolves never lead until claiming victory in the shootout.

This season is officially over and the Milwaukee Admirals 2014-15 campaign ends with a record of 33-28-8-7 (81 points). The way that results shaped out have landed the Admirals in last place of the Midwest Division this season behind the Lake Erie Monsters. The Grand Rapids Griffins officially clinched the division with a Rockford IceHogs loss to the Toronto Marlies tonight.

Ramblings: The Admirals dressed seven defensemen tonight with Joe Pendenza picking up a knock to his left wrist in last night’s home finale. This meant Jimmy Oligny joining the defensive ranks with the fourth line cycling a different center throughout the night. Joining Pendenza as scratches tonight were Felix Girard (out for the season), Miikka Salomaki (out for the season).

With the season over, what are your thoughts on all that transpired? What were the highlights and what were the lowlights? Was this game a microcosm of the last few months for the Admirals?

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The Admirals lost 3-2 in overtime against the Toronto Marlies Friday night. In the final home game of the Admirals 2014-15 season things went as they have lately. The Admirals showed some spurts of genius but ultimately couldn’t get a two-goal lead and fell in overtime. The Marlies have now locked up the AHL Western Conference playoff picture by securing their place tonight.

The Marlies opened up the scoring in the closing seconds of an abbreviated power-play opportunity. Rich Clune was called for a holding penalty to end the Admirals power-play and William Nylander’s twelfth goal of the season came moments later. Matt Frattin and Byron Froese wheeled along the end board and Froese passed out from the left wing side of the net to the on-rushing Nylander. Magnus Hellberg made the initial save with his glove but the puck fell free and Nylander scored on his own rebound.

In the second period Anthony Bitetto scored his fourth goal of the season to level things up at 1-1. Frederick Gaudreau passed off from the low left wing for Bitetto as he skated in from the right point. Bitetto controlled and then snapped a wrister in on goal that deflected off of Greg McKegg’s stick and past his goaltender Antoine Bibeau.

The Admirals took the lead on a power-play goal from Viktor Arvidsson. Pontus Aberg’s initial shot from the low right wing half wall deflected off the net front screen of Austin Watson and back into the path of Arvidsson sitting on the left wing faceoff dot. He hammered a slap shot past Bibeau for his twenty-first goal of the season.

In the closing seconds of the second period, T.J. Brennan engaged Clune in a verbal spat that escalated with Clune getting called for a roughing minor with Brennan ducking a physical altercation. When the second period horn sounded Mike Liambas and Frazer McLaren were jawing each other to pieces and finally threw off various bits of their hockey attire to throw down. The officials were having none of this and prevented a fight from happening but not without more words and a few punches thrown through striped shirts. Both received game misconducts for the altercation.

Just past the halfway point of the third period the Marlies equalized at 2-2 after a goal by Sam Carrick. A loose puck to the blocker side of Hellberg was given a wild swipe by Carrick and the shot somehow alluded the big Swede in net and found its way in for Carrick’s ninth goal of the season. The general reaction of the play was mute as the goal light went on but no one really reacted to the shot. It was only officially called a goal after video review.

This game would spill into overtime and the three-on-three portion. Toronto would cap off the Admirals home finale by burying a wing-to-wing feed from Nylander to Brendan Mikkelson that was buried on the right wing back post of Hellberg for Mikkelson’s ninth goal of the season. The win for the Marlies secured their spot in the 2015 Calder Cup Playoffs.

Ramblings: The Milwaukee Admirals were officially eliminated from playoff contention on Tuesday night when the Toronto Marlies defeated the Iowa Wild 5-2. It ends a run of twelve straight playoff seasons for the Admirals in the AHL. This will be the first season without playoff hockey in Milwaukee since the Admirals debut season to the AHL of 2001-02. The Admirals roster moves since last Friday included: Kevin Fiala being recalled to the Nashville Predators, Garrett Noonan being recalled to the Admirals from the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL, Gary Steffes being released from his PTO contract to rejoin the Allen Americans in the ECHL for their playoff run, and Scott Ford also being released from his PTO contract to rejoin the South Carolina Stingrays of the ECHL for their playoff run. Tonight’s scratches for the Admirals were Felix Girard (out for the season), Miikka Salomaki (out for the season), and Jimmy Oligny (healthy).

Thoughts on tonight’s game? Do you feel the team looked any different without the pressure of getting into the playoffs on their backs? Who do you feel played their last game in Milwaukee as a member of Admirals tonight?

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The Admirals lost 4-1 against the Chicago Wolves Friday night. The Amtrak Rivals came back to win their first game of the entire season after trailing in the second period. Jordan Binnington was dominant in net for the Wolves as he made thirty-nine saves to allow the Wolves to win this year’s Amtrak Rivalry trophy.

This game started off with a quick fight between Mike Liambas and Jacob Doty. A net front scrum in the Wolves end escalated into a bout between the two and there was at minimum one haymaker landed from each before the pair spilled to the ice.

Viktor Arvidsson’s twentieth goal of the season opened up the scoring in the first period. Anthony Bitetto was able to keep a puck in the Admirals attacking zone and passed up to Arvidsson. The Swede, skating away from his eventual target, wired a wrister over the glove shoulder of Jordan Binnington, off the crossbar, and down. Arvidsson joined Austin Watson and Colton Sissons as Admirals with twenty or more goals scored this season.

In the second period the Admirals pelted twenty shots on goal. The story was Wolves netminder Binnington who was lights out in the sandwich stanza. He was making some sensational saves and was responsible for the second period scoreline staying exactly as it was after the first frame.

After weathering the second period storm the Wolves equalized 2:20 into the third period. Jani Hakanpaa leapt up from the point to work towards the right wing of Mazanec’s cage. As he swooped down he dished to the net front presence of the first period combatant Doty who scored over the glove shoulder of Mazanec despite Joe Piskula draped all over him as the shot was released. It was Doty’s second goal of the season – all of which have come in Milwaukee.

Close to eight minutes into the third period, Mark Van Guilder went to swat a puck out of the air and got the puck followed by Pat Cannone’s face. The officials called a double-minor for high sticking on the play but failed to call a slashing penalty when Joe Pendenza had his stick swatted out of his hands. Shortly after Pendenza retrieved his stick the Wolves had scored a tic-tac-toe goal with Shane Harper sliding across the front of the net from the low left wing to score his thirty-first goal of the season.

With 2:25 remaining in regulation the Wolves capped off an odd-man rush to put the game out of reach. Harper was in a shooting position forever and a day before Magnus Paajarvi finally dropped back to him. The shot rifled past Mazanec for his second goal of the period and thirty-second of the season.

Adam Cracknell added an empty netter almost instantly following the Admirals decision to go for the extra attacker. It was his tenth goal of the season but it was pretty much unnecessary. Binnington only ever needed the Wolves to get him two back after Arvidsson tagged him. He stopped thirty-nine shots in the game. His performance allowed the Wolves to win their first game of the season after trailing heading into the third period. They were 0-25-3-1 before tonight.

Not only was the Admirals loss crushing but the rest of the league responded against them as well. The Toronto Marlies defeated the Rochester Americans 3-1 and the Hamilton Bulldogs won 4-3 over the Texas Stars. The Admirals no longer control their destiny and it is going to take something miraculous at this point to continue their playoff consecutive appearances streak.

Ramblings: Tonight’s scratches for the Admirals were Jonathan Diaby (healthy), Felix Girard (out for the season), Miikka Salomaki (out for the season), Zach Budish (healthy), and Pontus Åberg (healthy).

Did the officials get the Mark Van Guilder high sticking call right? Blown calls aside, where did the Admirals high rate of attack go from the second period to the third period?

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The Admirals lost 6-2 on the road against the Grand Rapids Griffins Wednesday night. It appears the defensive mistake bug, which haunted the Admirals during their season long road trip last month, returned tonight. The Admirals swapped goalies twice in this game as the rough keeps getting rough and the team lost in regulation for the fourteenth time since the start of February.

Grand Rapids got on the board from the power-play off of their first shot on goal in the game. Kevin Fiala was called for a trip after the Admirals opening power-play chance came and went. With their power-play opportunity, Nathan Paetsch slid a puck on over to the right wing for Anthony Mantha whose slap shot wired through traffic and beat Magnus Hellberg low glove side just over his pad. It was Mantha’s fifteenth goal of the season.

A little over halfway through the first period the Griffins added a second goal to make it 2-0. After the Admirals won a defensive zone faceoff, and attempted to clear the zone, Griffins defenseman Brennan Evans held the puck on the left point before delivering a hesitation-style shot. Andy Miele was camped out in front of Hellberg and managed to get a stick to Evans point shot to record his twenty-fourth goal of the season.

Colton Sissons reputation against the Griffins continued late in the first period. After a Johan Alm wrist shot from the left point Sissons got the redirect that beat Tom McCollum past the blocker for his twenty-fourth goal of the season and his eleventh scored against Grand Rapids in eighteen career games.

The second period went just about as badly as it could for the Admirals. Just about all of their defensive mistakes were punished. Johan Alm was caught behind his own net with Mantha aggressively hunting him down, forced a turnover, and passed out in front of the net for Andreas Athanasiou. It was a quick one-timed swat for Athanasiou past Hellberg for his fifteenth goal of the season.

Only twenty-nine seconds later another defensive lapse by the Admirals cost them a goal. Another turnover was forced out in front of Hellberg, who was hung out to dry, and Martin Frk buried his fifth goal of the season. The Admirals would burn their timeout after the goal and make the goaltending change. Hellberg stopped 10/14 shots on goal on the night before giving way to Marek Mazanec.

After Griffins captain Jeff Hoggan went to the box for tripping the Admirals allowed their twelfth shorthanded goal of the season. It was a simple chip and clear off the wall from Kevin Porter to Athanasiou. Rather than throw the puck deep Athanasiou plowed forward, beat Taylor Aronson with speed, cut in front of him, and finished five hole on Mazanec’s first shot that he faced since replacing Hellberg. It was Athanasiou’s second goal of the period and sixteenth goal of the season.

Triston Grant would set a career best in goals scored in a single season by notching his thirteenth goal late in the second period. The veteran Admiral, who won a Calder Cup with the Griffins in 2012-13, nailed a slap shot from the right wing low to the ice and beat McCollum far post. His previous career high for goals scored in a season came as a member of the Admirals during the 2009-10 season when he tallied twelve.

In the third period, Mazanec attempted to glove a shot by Xavier Ouellet that had knuckled up into the air. He stepped up to the top of his crease and missed the catch with the glove, tumbled on his skates for a bit, and watched as Mark Zengerle scored with ease for his fourteenth goal of the season.

Mazanec was immediately pulled from net after the goal by Zengerle. Mazanec stopped 6/8 shots on goal in relief of Hellberg before Hellberg hopped right back into the game to go 2/2 in saves to finish things up.

The Admirals record is now 33-27-7-6 (79 points) on the season with three games remaining. They are primed for the Toronto Marlies to knock them out of the playoffs right now unless the Admirals can string wins against the Chicago Wolves, and the Marlies next Friday, in those last three games. As far as things look tonight. It doesn’t look good at all. The Admirals playoff streak is hanging by the smallest of threads.

Ramblings: Tonight the Admirals shook up their line combinations which meant that the scratches tonight included Zach Budish (healthy), Frederick Gaudreau (healthy), and Jonathan Diaby (healthy). Miikka Salomaki and Felix Girard are out for the rest of the season due to injury. The Admirals season series has now finished up against the Griffins. They went 3-5-1-1 against the Griffins in 2014-15 while the Griffins bettered their record from a season ago by posting a 7-2-1-0 record against the Admirals.

What has happened to the Admirals team? Is tonight’s result the final nail in the coffin as far as the Admirals playoffs hopes are concerned? Do they have a chance to win out this season and maintain their spot? If the Admirals make it into the playoffs, do you even like their chances in an opening round series against a top team such as the Utica Comets or these same Griffins?

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The Admirals lost 5-3 on the road against the Rockford IceHogs Tuesday night. It was the Spencer Abbott show as he continued to be a dominant force for the IceHogs since he was traded from the Toronto Marlies for T.J. Brennan. Abbott recorded two goals and two assists as the Admirals four game point streak came to an end tonight.

It was the IceHogs jumping out in front with a tally for defenseman Stephen Johns in the first period. Spencer Abbott peeled off of the right wing corner with a backhanded pass straight to Johns as he skated back into the slot. His shot was rifled low stick side on Marek Mazanec and went in for his fourth goal of the season.

The second period started with a bout between Rich Clune and Cody Bass. The two exchanged some rapid fire right handed jabs at each other. Clune was landing clean early and kept trading away despite Bass punching his helmet off. This ended with a spill to the ice. In your fight cards, I’d suggest scoring this an even ten for both combatants.

Abbott was on the scoresheet again in the second period when he recorded his fifteenth goal of the season. A turnover in the Admirals attacking zone allowed the IceHogs to chip forward and send Abbott off on a breakaway. He finished off by letting the puck roll through Mazanec’s five hole. It is his eighth goal for the IceHogs in fourteen games since being traded over from the Toronto Marlies.

Austin Watson responded thirty-five seconds later to record his team leading twenty-fifth goal of the season. Pontus Åberg’s initial shot was stopped by Antti Raanta but the Finn wasn’t able to prevent the rebound opportunity by Watson from going in.

Scott Ford was given a five minute major for boarding at 9:26 of the second period. The Admirals nearly held up through the entire penalty kill but with fifteen seconds remaining Brandon Mashinter scored on the third shot from the major power-play to pick up his sixteenth goal of the season. Peter Regin was able to slip a backhanded pass through to Mashinter who flew from left to right to finish on a backhander to the blocker side of Mazanec for the power-play goal.

Gary Steffes scored his fourth goal with the Admirals in the opening minute of the third period to make it a one-goal game. Åberg rounded the cage and threw a pass from the low left wing out in front of the net where Steffes was crashing to pick up the goal. Steffes, between his time with the Admirals in the AHL and Allen Americans in the ECHL, has scored forty-eight goals in his 2014-15 campaign.

Near the midway point of the third period, and after some solid work by Vince Hinostroza, the IceHogs restored their two-goal advantage with Keith Seabrook’s first goal in the AHL this season. No one picked up Seabrook as he stepped up and into the right wing. Hinostroza picked him out and it was a simple finished to the near post for Seabrook.

Less than two minutes later, Abbott ripped in his second goal of the game to make it a 5-2 IceHogs lead. Regin chipped a puck out from the left wing wall and Abbott skated up on Johan Alm before wiring a shot high to the glove side of Mazanec for his sixteenth goal of the season. It ended Mazanec’s night in net. He stopped 19/24 shots on goal before giving way to Magnus Hellberg.

After a late fracas between Matt Carey and Taylor Aronson, the Admirals tagged the IceHogs for a late power-play goal to make it 5-3 with twenty-seconds remaining. Kevin Fiala’s shot from the right wing bounced around in front of Raanta and Watson was able to put away the garbage for his second goal of the night and twenty-sixth of the season.

The game would end right there with another Admirals regulation loss. Elsewhere around the league tonight the Hamilton Bulldogs lost 3-1 against the Utica Comets which will mean the Ads will remain in eighth place in the Western Conference tonight. Though, that gap between eight and everyone else that trails is vacuum packed tight right about now.

Ramblings: Tonight’s scratches for the Admirals included Eric Robinson, Joe Pendenza, and Jimmy Oligny. All scratches were healthy. The Toronto Marlies moved into ninth in the Western Conference with a Brendan Leipsic hat trick headlining their 7-4 win over the Adirondack Flames. The Chicago Wolves won 7-3 over the Lake Erie Monsters to move two points clear of the Admirals with two games in-hand.

Thoughts on tonight’s game? When the Admirals score to make it 3-2 a minute into the third period where does this game fall to pieces? Can the Admirals regain their defensive composure when they face the Griffins tomorrow night?

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The Admirals lost 3-2 in a shootout against the Texas Stars Friday night. For the fourth consecutive game the Admirals went past regulation to earn a point. Sadly, it is the third time in that span that they could only earn a single point.

“That was a hell of a hockey game,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “We played great, goalie played great, [defense] played great, got good goals. What else can you ask for? The result, as far as that one extra point isn’t there, but my gosh we played the way that we need to play. It was very positive.”

There was a really good start for the Admirals that all went for naught when Derek Hulak scored from a rebounder to give the Stars a first period lead. Justin Dowling beat Taylor Aronson on the left wing and skated in on goal. His shot banked off Marek Mazanec’s chest and into the path of Hulak for a quick backhanded swipe on the rebound to score his nineteenth goal of the season.

Kevin Fiala would respond by the end of the first period with his eleventh goal of the season. Branden Troock’s outlet pass for Jamie Oleksiak was botched and Fiala raced in to intercept the soft pass. The 18-year old proceeded to dangle through Oleksiak and then Stars team captain Maxime Fortunus before burying a wrist shot on the near post past the blocker of Jack Campbell.

“He’s a special player,” said Evason. “Nashville obviously knew it when they drafted him. We know why we brought him here to get North American-ized. He’s just responded great. His skill level is one thing but he wants to play, he wants to win, he’s a good teammate, he’s got everything to set himself up to be a great great pro. He just needs a bit more time because he’s eighteen.”

The Admirals took their first lead of the game after a power-play goal scored by Austin Watson. Anthony Bitetto stepped in from the right point to deliver a hard shot towards the net. Watson wasn’t picked up by the Stars penalty kill as he moved off the wall and towards the front of the net. He caught Bitetto’s shot with his stick blade and deflected the shot up and over Campbell’s glove for his team leading twenty-fourth goal of the season.

A defensive breakdown with less than five minutes remaining in the second period leveled the score back up again. Greg Rallo swooped down the right wing and was able to catch the trailing Travis Morin racing to the backdoor of Mazanec. Joe Piskula and Jonathan Diaby were both occupied with Brendan Ranford’s net front presence and Morin won the foot race to the back post against Colton Sissons for the tap in on the left wing. It goes down as Morin’s twentieth goal of the season. It is his fourth career twenty goal season in the AHL.

This game ended up being decided in the shootout after flying through overtime without ever needing to go into three-on-three hockey. The Admirals went first in the shootout and, after Frederick Gaudreau and Fiala both scored, it was up to Mazanec to get a stop against Morin for the win. That didn’t happen. Gary Steffes stepped up next for the Admirals and scored on a backhand forehand move. Mazanec was once again beaten with a chance to win the game and missed out on the Devin Shore forehand shot. After Pontus Aberg was stopped by a glove save from Campbell it was Dowling finishing off the shootout with a wrister to the blocker side of Mazanec. The Stars scored on the last four shootout attempts that they had and three of them burnt the blocker side of Mazanec.

The Admirals will get a slight bit of a rest with the weekend off. Their next games are both on the road and will take place Tuesday and Wednesday. The first stop is against the Rockford IceHogs and the following day they’ll face the Grand Rapids Griffins. It’s not going to be an easy task facing the top two teams in the Midwest Division on back-to-back nights but it’s playoff time for the Admirals right now. Each game should be treated as such. These are teams that the Admirals would have to beat to make it to the Calder Cup. The same has to be said to make it into the Calder Cup Playoffs.

Ramblings: Tonight’s scratches for the Admirals were Eric Robinson (healthy), Joe Pendenza (healthy), and Jimmy Oligny (healthy). The Admirals played their twenty-third overtime game tonight. They are tied with the St. John’s IceCaps for the AHL lead in overtime games played this season.

What is your take from tonight’s game? Was this still a positive result for the Admirals? How do you feel the playoff picture is forming right now.

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The Admirals won a 3-2 overtime thriller on the road against the Lake Erie Monsters Wednesday night. The Admirals trailed 2-0 entering the third period against a goaltender in Calvin Pickard who was razor sharp tonight for the Monsters. Triston Grant, Gary Steffes, and a monumental penalty kill helped push this game into overtime for the Admirals where Kevin Fiala’s heroics snapped the six-game losing streak.

It was a decent enough opening road period for the Admirals but with just 8.8 seconds remaining the Monsters tagged Marek Mazanec for the game’s first goal. After negating an icing call, Monsters winger Michael Schumacher was able to throw a wrist shot low on the Czech netminder before Taylor Aronson could get a stick check on him. The low shot hit off Mazanec’s pads and into the path of Trevor Cheek who scored five hole on the rebound for his sixth goal of the season.

The second period started with a “Save of the Year” candidate from Lake Erie’s Calvin Pickard. The Admirals had their top line out on the ice to start the period and Kevin Fiala had all the net in the world to shoot on when the puck slid over to him on the low right wing circle. Pickard made a lunging dive out of desperation and made the glove save to rob Fiala.

Reid Petryk would score his third goal of the season just prior to the midway point of the game to make it a 2-0 Monsters lead. Petryk managed to fend off Anthony Bitetto from the blueline and whipped in a wrist shot from the high slot that went straight into the roof of the net past Mazanec.

The Admirals were finally able to solve Pickard 2:07 into the third period to make it a one-goal contest. Mark Van Guilder battle off Cheek on the end boards to wrap around a puck to the front of the net where Triston Grant was able to bury his twelfth goal of the season. This matches a career mark in goal scoring for Grant who tallied twelve goals during the 2009-10 season.

With 5:19 remaining in regulation the Admirals completed their third period comeback to make it a 2-2 game. Joe Piskula’s shot from the middle of the blueline knuckled up on Pickard who spilled a rebound out to Gary Steffes who settled the puck and fired for his third goal of the season in the AHL and first scored at even strength.

Then, only fifty-four seconds after equalizing, came a moment of controversy for the Admirals. Viktor Arvidsson made a hard drive from the right wing in on goal and ran through the Monsters netminder Pickard. He was given a charging major and a game misconduct that put the Monsters on the power-play for the rest of regulation and thirty-five second of overtime.

Fortunately for the Admirals, their penalty killing late in the game was up to the task to end the night a perfect 3/3 on the PK while killing nine minutes worth of power-play time.

Kevin Fiala was chosen to take a seat in the penalty box to serve the final seconds of Arvidsson’s charging major for the start of overtime. Once he exited the box he and his teammates were on an odd-man counter from the blueline. Fiala entered on the puck from the left wing, dangled past a stick check, and wired a wrister off the toe drag for the game-winner and his tenth goal scored for the Admirals this season. The Admirals losing streak of six-games is over.

Ramblings: Prior to the game, the Nashville Predators reassigned Viktor Arvidsson to the Milwaukee Admirals. Tonight’s scratches for the Admirals were Joe Pendenza (healthy), Eric Robinson (healthy), and Jimmy Oligny (healthy). The Admirals allowed twenty shots on goal in the second period. It was the most they’ve allowed in a single period this season. The Chicago Wolves defeated the Toronto Marlies 2-1 in regulation tonight. Therefore the standings remain as such.

What is your reaction to this Admirals game? How up, down, and around was this game? Were the officials right to give Arvidsson a major and a game misconduct? How huge was this win for overall confidence moving forward?

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The Admirals lost 2-1 in overtime on the road against the Lake Erie Monsters Tuesday night. It took a late power-play goal from Gary Steffes to equalize this game for the Admirals in the third period after trailing from 3:46 of the first period. The Monsters managed to score through traffic in overtime to hand the Admirals their sixth straight loss.

It was the white hot Andrew Agozzino opening the scoring tonight in the first period. The Monsters forward was camped out in front of Magnus Hellberg when he redirected a point shot by Bruno Gervais that alluded the Swedish netminder’s glove. The goal for Agozzino was his twenty-third of the season and helped extend his current point streak to twelve games. It is the longest point streak in the AHL this season by two-games.

In the second period, while the Admirals were killing a five-on-three power-play for 1:30 of ice time, Hellberg appeared to be struggling with his right leg after making a big post-to-post save to rob Ben Street on the right wing. Hellberg was helped off the ice by Admirals head trainer Doug Agnew and didn’t put weight down on his right leg on his way off the ice. Marek Mazanec stepped in and replaced him for the remainder of the game.

Halfway through the third period the Admirals were able to cash in from a power-play to level the game at 1-1. Just as he did for his first career Admirals goal, Gary Steffes and Colton Sissons linked up for a power-play goal from a shot-pass redirect. Sissons threw a puck towards Steffes who got his stick-blade to it and angled the shot far post past Calvin Pickard for his second goal in the AHL this season.

Before this game could go to overtime there was a massive chance for the Monsters to close things out in regulation. The Monsters forward Street had a breakaway from the Admirals blueline and was one-on-one with Mazanec. The Czech stayed big in net, allowed Street to make to make his moves en route to goal, before stopping him cold and forcing the puck off to the left wing corner.

Sadly in overtime, the Admirals were never even able to register a shot on goal and it was the Monsters taking the final point on the evening. They set up plenty of bodies in front of Mazanec and Cody Corbett stepped up from the point and fired a wrist shot glove side for the game-winner and his second goal of the season.

The Admirals losing streak might be rough right now. They have lost six straight games and have only one win from their previous twelve games. But, gaining points as they have in their last two games might be a sign of things turning around. There are seven games left in the season. Results such as the last two could have just as easily been regulation defeats but they weren’t. Things are starting to sharpen up and the Admirals will now need to see those overtime losses turn to wins.

Ramblings: Tonight’s scratches for the Admirals were Frederick Gaudreau and Jonathan Diaby. Both were healthy scratches whilst Miikka Salomaki and Felix Girard are both out for the rest of the season due to injury. Gary Steffes was playing in his first career game against his former-AHL squad the Lake Erie Monsters. With his goal tonight, Steffes has scored forty-six goals between the AHL and ECHL this season. For the moment, the Admirals have moved back into third place of the Midwest Division and seventh in the Western Conference.

What is your reaction to tonight’s game? Are you happy to see the Admirals fight back to earn a point? If Hellberg is in fact hurt, what is your current confidence level of Mazanec being the man moving forward? What have you thought of Gary Steffes since his introduction to the Admirals?

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The Admirals lost 3-2 in overtime against the Chicago Wolves on the road Saturday night. Once more, it was a good effort for the Admirals and one that saw them fight hard late to earn a point. Despite their efforts the Admirals Killer that is Jeremy Welsh buzz sawed them once more and the Admirals have now lost five straight games with only one win from their previous eleven contests.

It was the Admirals scoring a shorthanded goal to open up the scoring tonight. Joe Pendenza jarred a puck loose while battling at center ice with Petteri Lindbohm. When the puck was sent free Rich Clune gathered it up and broke in all alone for a breakaway. He fired a wrist shot that went underneath the blocker arm of Matt Climie and in for his sixth goal of the season and second scored shorthanded.

The Wolves neglected quite a few opportunities to drop the gloves last night. In fact, that’s the main reason why Clune referred to them as a soft hockey club at the beginning of the season. There would be fight majors handed out in the first period after a heavyweight bout between Scott Ford and Jacob Doty. Both threw some powerful overhand rights mixed with left jabs. I’d give the edge in the fight card to Doty who knocked the veteran Admiral defenseman’s lid off and was stood tall when the officials came to stop the fight.

Ty Rattie continued his hot run of late by recording his twentieth goal of the season in the closing minutes of the first period. A strong rush into the zone put the Admirals defense into a scramble while the Wolves started setting up shop. Brendan Bell stepped up from the left point and threw a puck low towards the net and it ricocheted out into the right wing where Rattie was sitting and waiting. Magnus Hellberg tried to make a Superman save out of desperation as he slid from post to post but he never had a chance on the quick release shot from Rattie.

Jeremy Welsh and Adam Cracknell continued where they left off last night against the Admirals in the second period. Welsh spearheaded a rush through Gary Steffes and Colton Sissons in the neutral zone before losing the handle off the puck. The unfortunate pinballing that would take place landed the puck in line for the oncoming Cracknell who ripped a shot by the glove of Hellberg. It was Cracknell’s third goal against the Admirals this weekend and seventh on the season.

From that goal onwards the Admirals offensive pressure was relentless. They outshot the Wolves 10-5 in the second period and 13-4 in the third period. That pressure was rewarded when a turnover in the Wolves defensive zone was wristed from the right wing wall by Zach Budish into the top shelf past the glove of Climie to tie the game with 2:57 remaining in regulation. The goal was Budish’s sixth of the season.

This game went to overtime and nearly ended immediately when a Wolves turnover set Gary Steffes off on a breakaway. Steffes shot was stopped by a left pad save from Climie. The turnaround and momentum quickly bit the Admirals. A shot by Joel Edmundson from the right point took a harsh deflection from Rattie. Hellberg was anticipating the initial Edmundson shot but it trickled away towards the left wing where Jeremy Welsh smacked in the loose puck for the game winner. It is Welsh’s seventeenth goal of the season. His Admiral Killer status continues. And he has scored seven of his seventeen goals on the season against Milwaukee.

Ramblings: Prior to tonight’s game the Nashville Predators reassigned Kevin Fiala to the Milwaukee Admirals. With last night’s announcement from Admirals head coach Dean Evason that Felix Girard will miss the rest of this season it meant that tonight’s scratches were both healthy: Frederick Gaudreau and Jonathan Diaby. With the results as they stand tonight, the Admirals have fallen from seventh to eighth place in the Western Conference standings.

Thoughts on tonight’s game? Did the Admirals deserve better than this tonight considering their performance? Does this game still have the potential to lift them heading into the upcoming road games against the Lake Erie Monsters?

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