The Admirals lost badly in Grand Rapids Saturday night. The Griffins shutout the Ads 5-0 in large credit to a four-point night for Cory Emmerton. As bad as that scoreline sounds this game could have been a completely different story if the Ads capitalized on their power-play, which went 0-9. If you ask me, the Ads really can’t get out of the state of Michigan fast enough.

This game started off with a taste of last night’s game in mind. Mike Liambas dropped the gloves with ex-Admiral Jordin Tootoo. It’ll be great to get the video highlights of this one. Sounded like it ended in a draw, but –as fighting goes– these two would match up nicely. The fight took place less than thirty-seconds into the game.

The Griffins response off the fight was swift. The defending Calder Cup champs popped in two-goals on three shots in the opening 5:22 of the first period. The first goal came from Cory Emmerton who snapped a shot into the top shelf past Ads starting goalie Magnus Hellberg. The second goal came just 2:24 later when Calle Jarnkrok beat the glove of Hellberg to make it a fast 2-0 Griffins lead.

Round II between Liambas and Tootoo took place 10:28 after their opening fight. This one sounded a bit more lively than the first tussle. A few good blows were landed for both and ended with a Liambas take down.

In the second period the Griffins were able to score two more goals to make it 4-0. Landon Ferraro deflected a low wrist shot from the point by Alexey Marchenko for the third goal of the game. Next came a shorthanded effort by Emmerton for his second goal of the game. The shorthanded rush started with Landon Ferraro who fed the puck over to Emmerton who beat Hellberg to push the gap between the two sides miles beyond reach. This was the sixth shorthanded goal allowed by the Admirals this season.

After Mark Van Guilder went to the box, the Ads had their best opportunity to score a goal on a shorthanded breakaway. The man on the shorthanded attack was Kevin Henderson who went for a backhanded effort. The shot was denied by Tom McCollum and it may have been the biggest save of the thirty-one he posted in his shutout performance.

Moments right after the chance for Henderson, the Ads were lucky to avoid yet another Griffins goal thanks in part to a quick whistle. Pulkkinen managed to poke the puck past Hellberg but the referees had already blown play dead. Despite the lamp being lit, the goal horn blasting, and fans going bananers the goal was waved off nearly as fast as the puck crossed the line. Perhaps a bit of a mercy whistle on the officials part.

For good measure, the Griffins added a power-play goal late in the third period to make it a 5-0 final score. The goal went to Pulkkinen and an assist went to Cory Emmerton – giving him a four-point night (two goals, two assists).

The game finished off with a fight between Joonas Jarvinen and Brennan Evans. The fight was a slow one. They do match up like heavy weights compared to Liambas versus Tootoo. While this game was a rough one for the Ads – the team showing its grit throughout these two games in Grand Rapids said a lot about their physical playing attitude. The last time they came into Grand Rapids, ahead of these two games, was a 5-0 loss where the Ads were skated circles around. The tempo was set in yesterday’s tilt with three fights. Tonight, there were another three fights. They might not have shown up tonight offensively but the Ads are in no way a team to be walked over. Despite a rough set with the Griffins – at least there is some major fight shown by everyone on the team.

Thoughts on tonight’s game? Thoughts on these two games in Grand Rapids? What is it about playing the Griffins that brings out the worst in the Ads? Is this a let down performance by Magnus Hellberg or more-so the team in front of him? What happened to the Admirals power-play that looked back in stride during the games at home against the Barons?

The Admirals lost 4-2 on the road against the Grand Rapids Griffins Friday night. The Griffins score three goals in the space of 3:17 at the end of the first period to really put the stranglehold on the Ads tonight. The Ads did receive goals from Joonas Rask (his first of the season) and Colton Sissons (his team best tenth of the season) but just didn’t have enough late in the third period to claw back even before the Griffins empty netter sealed the result.

Long story short: this game was pretty darn intense. Mike Liambas against former-Admiral Tristan Grant would become a staple of this game and it all started just five-minutes into the game. Joonas Rask skated through the neutral zone and was sandwiched by Grant and Tomas Jurco. Grant went high. Jurco went low. Liambas came to the rescue and landed some good ones on Grant before having his jersey pulled around his head to end the fight.

Then came a moment I’ve been awaiting for the better part of this season. That’s right. Joonas Rask scored his first goal of the season. The Fin was Johnny-on-the-spot to secure a rebound and smack a backhander past Tom McCollum to give the Ads the game’s first goal. For Rask, this was his first professional goal since his debut with the Ads last season: 4/19/13 vs. Charlotte.

Then came another moment.. this one being much more surprising. Similar to the opening fight of the game an Admirals player came to the rescue of a teammate on the end of a big hit. The man who was hit? Mathieu Tousignant. The man to his rescue and drop the gloves? Rask. In a matter of moments Rask was an assist shy of a first period Gordie How hat trick. He went toe-to-toe with Brennan Evans. Rask clearly lost the bout but also won over plenty of respect from more than just his teammates by stepping up to the plate.

Grand Rapids leveled the game at 1-1 through a quick-fire power-play goal from Ryan Sproul. The rookie d-man hit a rocket past Ads goalie Scott Darling. It was his sixth goal of the season.

The Griffins were then the recipient of an incredibly awkward bounce off the glass behind Darling’s net. The puck spanked off the glass, fooled Darling, and fell right in place for Mitch Callahan to take care of the rest. Just like that it was a 2-1 hockey game.

Grand Rapids wouldn’t stop there to end the first period, either. Teemu Pulkkinen scored from a rebound to net the team’s third goal in the span of 3:17. That was Pulkkinen’s tenth goal of the season.

The second period was very intense but started with an Admirals goal. Colton Sissons tallied his team leading tenth goal of the season. Sissons was able to take a rebound from McCollum and backhand it past him to draw things back to a one-goal game at 3-2.

Then came the rough stuff – and I mean rough. Liambas and Grant were reunited on the ice and Grant crushed him with a high elbow near the head. Liambas went down incredibly hard and stayed down for awhile before getting up and skating over to the bench. As was the case with previous fights in the game, an Ads player came to the rescue from this heavy Griffins hit. This go-round it was Tousignant who went after Grant. As was not the case with previous fights, despite them occurring in roughly the exact same circumstances, Tousignant was stamped with a ten-minute misconduct for instigating. The coaches on the bench were heated in regards to that call – with good reason. I still don’t understand that decision versus letting the other fights happen without an instigator.

In the late staged of the third period, with the game still 3-2 Griffins, the wacky calls from the referees continued. Ex-Admiral Jordin Tootoo tripped Miikka Salomaki. The call on the ice was a trip on Tootoo and a dive by Salomaki. This made absolutely zero sense what so ever to me. If it is a dive by Salomaki – it’s a dive and no trip should be called. If it is a tripping call – then how can it possibly be a dive?

The call meant the game would be ending with four-on-four hockey instead of the Ads having a power-play chance with an extra attacker to follow once Darling emptied the Admirals’ net. Instead, it was an empty net five-on-four for the Ads. The Griffins managed to miss the empty net three times and iced the puck a few times in the closing seconds. They eventually capped the game off by hitting that empty net through Landon Ferraro.

Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda. These two are back at it tomorrow night.

(Unfortunately the “Game Highlights” from Grand Rapids cut out the opening fight between Liambas and Grant.. and the Griffins announcers can’t pronounce Ads names correctly.)

FIGHT UPDATES: Liambas vs. Grant. Rask vs. Evans. Tousignant vs. Grant.

Thoughts on this game? Will there be more fireworks tomorrow night? Will Joonas Rask’s goal be a lift for his game? How do you feel Scott Darling played in this game? Is it positive to see the team stick up for one-another through fights or would you rather see the team avoid drawing additional penalties?

(Photo credit to Scott Paulus)

The Admirals were able to shutout the Oklahoma City Barons 4-0 Thursday night. Magnus Hellberg finished the game off with a 40 save shutout and earned his first win since 11/22 vs. CHI. The goal scoring was on-point tonight with help from two power-play goals, one from even-strength, and an empty netter to seal the deal.

After a rough opening power-play, the Ads had the chance to shine with the man-advantage after a too many men on the ice penalty against the Barons. A great entry into the zone led to a tic-tac-toe effort between Charles Roussel, Miikka Salomaki, and Austin Watson. From the point, Roussel was able to sling a pass to the right faceoff circle to Salomaki – who then tossed the puck to the front of the net. There was plenty of traffic in front of Barons netminder Richard Bachman, but the puck knuckled up, off the shin of Watson, and in for a power-play goal. That’s Watson’s seventh-goal of the season.

In the middle of the action a fight between Mike Liambas and Steve MacIntyre broke out. This clearly carried over from the previous game in which MacIntyre was trying to engage several Admirals during the game – including a cross-check to Liambas’ neck. This being a fight between Liambas (5’9”) and MacIntyre (6’5”)… it was as awkward to look at as I’m sure it had to be to fight in. There weren’t many blows thrown. Heavy grappling and a take down by MacIntyre. Liambas appeared to hurt the left half of his body as a result of the scrap. He did return to the game the very next period.

In the second period the Ads tallied another power-play goal. A physical drive down the boards by Vinny Saponari lead to an errant clearance by the Barons that fell to Bryan Rodney at the blueline. While this wasn’t one of Rodney’s better nights on the ice as an Admiral –lots of giveaways for him tonight– he was able to display exactly why he can be lethal offensively when passing from the point. Rodney took a quick peak at the power-play unit in front of him, and picked out a wide-open Anthony Bitetto lightning quick. Bitetto was able to skate in off the right faceoff circle, measure his shot, and burned Bachman with a wrist shot. That was Bitetto’s eighth-goal of the season and fifth-goal on the power-play.

Colton Sissons tagged the Barons in the third period for his team leading ninth-goal of the season. This play was triggered from another great feed from Rodney that put Sissons into a decent scoring opportunity at the low right circle. The shot by Sissons was fantastic. He took advantage of his shooting angle, roofed the puck above Bachman’s left shoulder, and extended the Ads lead to 3-0.

Late in the third period, the Barons were put on the power-play from a Saponari slash that hacked Linus Omark to the ice. The Barons, already with the man-advantage, pulled their goalie looking to get a breakthrough against Magnus Hellberg. Saponari left the box, found a loose puck, and scored an empty net goal for his first Admiral goal.

While his play this season might feel hot and cold at times, the display tonight in net from Hellberg was by far his best display in net this season. The only thing that was going to beat him tonight was himself. Literally. The biggest save of the game for Hellberg might not have even counted on the scorer’s sheet. A wild bounce off the boards fooled Hellberg, who was preparing to play the dump-in behind the net, and steering right in on goal. The big Swede leaped back in front of the net and cleared it away before putting a damper on his 40 save shutout performance. Make no mistakes about it: the defense in front of him tonight, playing against a unit as skilled as the Barons, were sharp from start to finish. Still, Hellberg never looked flustered or fooled on a single shot to the net tonight. For how long he’s had to wait for a start, 11/30 @ Charlotte, this was quite a performance for him.

Injury notes: Scott Ford, who I spoke to a week ago as he was wearing a boot that had behind it a broken foot, actually suited up and played tonight – a full three-to-six weeks ahead of schedule. Meanwhile, Simon Moser was not in tonight’s lineup due to back issues.

Thoughts on the win tonight? Is this the performance you’ve been waiting to see for Magnus Hellberg? How on Earth did Scott Ford play tonight’s game with a broken foot? Are the power-play woes resolved? Do these last two games set the stage for positive results in a back-to-back scenario tomorrow and Saturday in Grand Rapids? Seriously, what is Scott Ford made of to be able to play tonight?!

(Photo credit to Scott Paulus)

The Admirals came out firing with a 5-2 win over the Oklahoma City Barons Friday night. The Ads produced four unanswered goals to start this game. All in all, goals scored by Colton Sissons, Mark Van Guilder, Austin Watson, Anthony Bitetto, and Kevin Henderson proved that a week’s worth of practice went to great use in preparation for this game.

This contest opened with a scrap between Mathieu Tousignant and Travis Ewanyk. The fight started up in the corner after the whistle blew. It was a big time jab fest. Close call as far as calling a winner in this one. Might have to give the edge to Ewanyk for the ending.

The Ads picked up the opening goal thanks to speed and a big time mistake by the Barons. Miikka Salomaki had a mini-break into the zone. He had Brandon Davidson close him down and that forced Salomaki to slow down and whirl a pass.. to no one in particular. Thankfully, in an act of panic or blindness, Barons centerman Roman Horak sent the puck right on the tape of Colton Sissons who fired immediately. The shot beat Laurent Brossoit and extended Sissons team lead in goals with his eighth of the season.

Just a little over two minutes later the Ads scored again. This goal featured a quality pass from Taylor Beck and intelligent skating on the ice by Mark Van Guilder to get on the backdoor of the net. Beck secured a turnover in the corner and skated goalward. The moment Beck picked out Van Guilder there was no hope for Brossoit to stop MVG’s tap in. It was a quick 2-0 Ads lead off of Van Guilder’s fourth goal of the season.

Then came the second period and, quite possibly, the Ads best period they will muster up all season. The Ads scored two more goals, earned three power-plays, and posted a season best twenty-one shots in the period. The Barons posted a woeful four shots in the second period.

Goal number three on the evening was scored by Austin Watson after yet another beauty of a pass by Beck. The Ads wheeled around the zone and Beck teed up Watson with a backhanded pass from behind the net that Watson hit first-time. The shot went to the roof of goal for Watson’s sixth goal of the season.

The Ads finally went slump busters on the power-play thanks to Anthony Bitetto. The sustained offensive pressure by the Ads in the second period was incredible and really showcased on this particular goal. Great keep ins by the point-men, Bryan Rodney especially, lead to Bitetto’s seventh goal of the season. This ended the Ads cringe-worthy 0-25 run on the power-play and also ended the night in net for Barons goalie Brossoit. This gave a chance for Ty Rimmer in the Barons net… which included eleven second period saves on eleven second period shots in 13:26 of ice time… how about that for an offensive outburst?

The third period saw the Barons finally end Scott Darling’s shutout bid after Linus Omark picked up his twelfth goal of the season. Omark raced through the neutral zone and continued his individual rush all the way to goal where he threw a puck at the net that hit off Charles Roussel’s skate and in. The goal for Omark extended his point streak to seven-consecutive games: 2 goals and 9 assists.

After a charging penalty against Mike Liambas, the Barons were able to gather more momentum off of Omark’s goal and make it a 4-2 hockey game. A heavy shot from Brad Hunt on the blue-line produced a power-play goal. The shot kept rising and rising just about clanking the crossbar on its way in.

You know who hates two goal leads? Everyone. The ice was starting to tilt towards the Barons but the Ads were able to finish them off through Kevin Henderson’s second goal of the year. Watson was able to deliver a very soft pass near the slot to Henderson who simply took a whack at it. The puck never left the ice, pinged the near post, and beat Rimmer before he could get a toe to it.

It was a bit of a chippy affair at points. A fair bit of chirping at one-another and some heavy hits dished out. Worst of the worst to me was a cross-check to the neck of Liambas delivered by noted enforcer Steve MacIntyre. The Ads held their composure extremely well in this game. The Ads earned seven power-plays to the Barons two. Still, with a game between the two set for this coming Thursday – message sending may have been on the mind for the Barons after a rough game on their part. With less than thirty-seconds remaining Joonas Jarvinen and Will Acton dropped the gloves in a short but fairly intense fight. Acton landed a good one. Jarvinen had a take down with some particularily nasty things said in Finnish at him… one would assume.

All things told, this was a great response by an Admirals team after several days off. They win 5-2 and outshoot the Barons 44-30 – a season high in shots on goal. Tonight was the first game since 1/25/13 where they held a lead of four goals – that happened in an 8-2 win over these same Barons.

It will be another lengthy break until the rematch. If tonight’s performance says anything about how the team’s compete level was put to the test during a week worth of practice – it’s going to be worth the wait.

Thoughts on tonight’s game? Worth the wait? Did the break finally allow the offense to wake up? Thoughts on Darling getting the start tonight instead of Hellberg? Was this the return of the Taylor Beck we’ve come to know?

The Admirals won 2-1 against the Charlotte Checkers Sunday afternoon. After conceding the opening goal to Zach Boychuk and the Checkers, the Ads behind Miikka Salomaki, Austin Watson, and Scott Darling came back to pick up the Ads first win in regulation since 11/16 in Iowa.

“I thought our guys had a real good compete level today,” said Milwaukee Admirals assistant coach Stan Drulia after the game on Sports Radio 1250 WSSP. “We felt pretty comfortable as the game went along. The guys were playing the right way. They were doing a lot of the little things. We had a couple of guys step up. We were physical on the forecheck as a group. I think that really sent the message as the game went along.”

Perhaps starting where they left off last night, Mike Liambas and Nicolas Blanchard dropped the gloves the first chance they could when both men were out on the ice together. This carried over from the events of last night where Liambas took a charging call against Blanchard and was subsequently jumped by him – drawing a third man in penalty – and causing Blanchard’s night to end with a game misconduct. The fight was a quick one. Hard to say who won the scrap.

In the dying seconds of the first period Liambas was at it again. After a tightly contested period Liambas drew a charging penalty and Ads starting goalie Scott Darling picked up an unsportsmanlike conduct to give the Checkers a very late five-on-three power-play chance. Just as the Checkers did for their second goal in last night’s game, Zach Boychuk scored a lightning fast goal after the face off win to give the home-side a 1-0 lead – with only eight-seconds remaining in the period.

In yet another flashback to last night’s game Miikka Salomaki ripped a wrist shot from between the face off circles for a goal. The equalizer came at the 14:54 mark of the second period. It was a period heavily dominated by the Ads who held the Checkers to only three shots on goal in the period – the lowest total the Ads have held an opponent all season. The goal for Salomaki is his fifth of the season and now sees him tied with Colton Sissons for the team lead in points with fourteen.

Austin Watson picked up the game-winning goal off of a rebound effort near the midway point of the third period. His linemates, Zach Budish and Kevin Henderson, set him up on the play with a puck to the net that Checkers netminder Rob Madore spilled out. Watson was there to backhand the rebounder and give the Ads their first lead in regulation since 11/19 against Abbotsford Heat. The Ads held on tight to the 2-1 lead all the way until the final horn.

The win in net goes to Scott Darling who started the back half of this two-in two in Charlotte.

“He’s a confident guy,” said Drulia of Scott Darling. “He wants to play. He’s battling for minutes. Obviously, Magnus [Hellberg] is the guy right now and we have to find a way to get him going so he’s ready in case Nashville needs him. Darling’s buying his time. He gets his opportunity today. I thought we were really good in front of him.”
Darling’s game in this one was real solid. While the team in front of him kept the shot totals down he managed to stop 17-18 shots on goal. The lone goal he did allow came right after the Checkers were given a full two-minutes worth of five-on-three power-play. If not for that lone lapse, we may well be talking about Darling posting back-to-back shutouts in games he has started in.

The upcoming schedule for the Ads will see a decent rest period for the team. The next game is Friday at home against the Oklahoma City Barons. They will then have nearly another week off when they play those same Barons at home the following Thursday. Tired bodies will no doubt get healed up. Practice regarding the team’s recent offensive and power-play struggles will also no doubt be worked on. It should be a productive next two weeks for the team with a light break in an intense AHL schedule.

Thoughts on today’s game? How would you rate Salomaki’s season to this point? Would you like to see more of Scott Darling in net? How do you feel this upcoming stretch of off days for the Ads can impact the team?

The Admirals lost 4-1 against the Charlotte Checkers Saturday night. This wasn’t a pretty one at all. The Checkers came to life in the second period and held off the Admirals for the majority of this game. The lone consolation goal for the Ads came from Miikka Salomaki who picked up his fourth of the season. That was that as far as the Ads were concerned, and they’ll need to reload quickly because these two meet again tomorrow afternoon.

“It was a slow game,” said Milwaukee Admirals assistant coach Stan Drulia after the game on Sports Radio 1250 WSSP. “There was no pace. Pretty lifeless by both teams. Then they got the goal, and then the power-play goal off the face off. We just couldn’t really find ourselves after that at all.”

Charlotte scored the opening goal in the second period through Chris Terry’s team best eighth goal of the season. The Checkers broke out of their zone lead by Zach Boychuk who dished it off to Brett Sutter who then crossed paths and teed up Terry for the goal.

After a slow opening period and a flat start to the second period, Mike Liambas took to the fighting stage in hopes he could ignite a fire in his team. He went toe-to-toe with Matthew Corrente and this sounded like a decent bout for the always fearless Liambas. This fight here may also have played part in a later scrum in the game.

After a boarding penalty against Kevin Henderson, the Checkers scored very quickly off a power-play goal from Boychuk to make it a 2-0 game. Eight seconds into the power-play the Checkers won the draw, passed around the puck, and Boychuk’s wrister beat Magnus Hellberg who possibly never even saw the puck.

“We floundered a little bit with our identity,” said Drulia. “I didn’t think we competed as hard as we usually do.”

Then things got ugly on the ice. Liambas took a run along the boards that drew a charging penalty but was then jumped by two Checkers players. Also in the mix of the scrum was Mathieu Tousignant who sounded as if he was being pounded against the ice. Hopefully some highlights from tonight’s game kick up so this incident can be more visualized to me. Based on Aaron Sim’s call though, the take down from behind on Liambas and Tousignant’s head against the ice, a few things there sounded very very bad. The net result of this scrum: Liambas, two-minutes for charging and five for fighting. Nicolas Blanchard, ten-minute game misconduct for third man in. Matthew Corrente, four-minutes on a double minor for roughing. Matt Marquardt, five-minutes for fighting.

In the third period the Checkers tagged the Ads off of another goal from the top of the circle to push the lead to 3-0. This go-round Justin Shugg blasted a shot from the left circle that beat the screen of Jared Staal and Hellberg in net.

Consolation goal for the Ads came after a faceoff win from Colton Sissons set up Miikka Salomaki in the slot for his fourth goal of the season. Salomaki’s shot pinged hard off the crossbar and down. It needed video review to determine if the puck did in fact cross the line. It did, and the score was drawn back to a 3-1 Checkers lead with 10:59 remaining in the third period.

Nothing came off from there for the Ads. Charlotte capped off the game with a late empty net goal from Aaron Palushaj. That finished off a 4-1 defeat of a very sluggish Admirals team that will look to fight back quickly tomorrow afternoon.

“Good,” said Drulia about facing the Checkers so soon tomorrow afternoon. “I hope [this game] is fresh in [the Admirals] minds.”

Thoughts on tonight’s performance? Are you more worried about the Ads’ ability to score goals or defend at this point? What has happened to the team that started the year so hot? What is missing? And how can that be implemented so quickly into tomorrow afternoon’s rematch?

The Admirals lost 2-1 in overtime against the Rockford IceHogs Wednesday night.

While they may have earned a point on the road this is certainly a game that the Ads should have walked away from victorious. The goalies were brilliant at both ends of the rink in this one – neither allowed a puck to get behind them until the third period. Yet the backbreaker comes in OT with a poor penalty taken by Scott Valentine that leads to a four-on-three power-play opportunity that sealed the Ads fate tonight.

While the goal scoring came later on in this contest the Ads produced one of those rare fast starts. Credit that to the weekend off and very fresh legs on the ice. The Ads outshot the IceHogs 12-7 in the first period and 15-9 in the second period. Major credit has to be given to IceHogs’ netminder Kent Simpson who was pretty much lights-out tonight – stopping 33-34 shots on goal.

The third period is where the goals came in and, against the run of play through the first two periods, it was the IceHogs who managed to score first. Joakim Nordstrom picked up a feed in the slot from Mark McNeill to finally tally the game’s opening goal at the 7:07 mark of the third period.

After a holding penalty against Austin Watson the Ads aggressive penalty-kill were able to race into attack mode and score their third shorthanded goal of the season. A shot by IceHogs d-man Brett Skinner was blocked in front by Joonas Jarvinen. The big Fin acted quickly and delivered an outlet pass for Taylor Beck who broke off on a breakaway. Beck went forehand-to-backhand to beat the tip-top Simpson in net to level the game at 1-1. The goal by Beck is his fifth of the season and fourth of this month.

After a late surge by the IceHogs, one that required a last second save of Magnus Hellberg to deny Jeremy Morin, the two teams headed to OT. Just a minute and a half through OT Ads defensemen turned forward turned defensemen Scott Valentine took a swipe up high on Alex Broadhurst and went to the box for roughing. The Ads special teams at this moment in the game had gone 0-4 on the power-play and 3-3 on the penalty-kill with a shorthanded goal. Still, this is OT hockey where there is plenty more space to operate and the IceHogs didn’t waste time delivering the goods. A one-timed shot was deflected in past Hellberg and the IceHogs edged the Ads in a game they probably shouldn’t have even earned a point in. The game-winner was officially credited to McNeill. For the Ads, who have played in four OT games this season, this was the third time they have lost on a power-play goal in OT.

Some other notes out of this game: Scott Ford was listed as out with a lower-body injury. Initial reaction on my end was that this might be something precautionary. According to Aaron Sims on his radio call tonight the captain might miss a few weeks. In light of that, the “C” patch is off the ice meaning there will be an added “A” divvied out to Admiral veterans Kevin Henderson and Bryan Rodney. Henderson will wear the “A” at home and Rodney wore it on the road black uniform tonight. The new kid on the block, Vinny Saponari, played on a line with Henderson and Mark Van Guilder tonight. Saponari didn’t register a shot and was on the ice for the IceHogs opening goal in the third period. Mike Liambas made his return to the lineup after missing the last eight-games. Liambas picked up ten-minutes worth of penalty time after getting into a verbal bout with Theo Peckham. Both players received ten-minute misconducts for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Thoughts on the game tonight? Could the lack of a finishing touch on all those shots just have been a sign of some “off-day” rust or is there a bigger issue when it comes to this team burying chances? Would you say Hellberg and Beck are starting to show that they are back in form? How will this team fair against the Checkers?

On behalf of my family to your’s – Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Let’s just eat everything and get ready for the Charlotte Checkers this weekend.

(Photo credit to Scott Paulus)

The Admirals won 3-2 in a shootout over the Chicago Wolves Friday night. The Ads overcame a two-goal deficit to win in the shootout thanks to regulation goals by Kevin Henderson and Simon Moser. In the shootout, Mathieu Tousignant and Austin Watson scored the goals that set the stage for a glove save by Magnus Hellberg on Keith Aucoin to wrap up the comeback victory.

“If someone could tell me how we won that hockey game,” joked a very pleased Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “Because, for two periods, we thought we were outcompeted. Such a credit to our group. They just keep going.”

After a scoreless first period the Wolves managed to strike for two goals in the second period after two poor plays in the Ads defensive zone.

The opening goal by the Wolves was scored by Cody Beach after a relentless shift by Chicago. The Wolves came in waves with that shift but finally scored from a rebound. The shot by Sergey Andronov was stopped from a left-pad save by Magnus Hellberg but spilled out to Beach. The forward, ghosting behind the Admirals defense at the mouth of goal, was quick to strike for his first goal of the season.

The follow up effort by the Wolves came two minutes later after a communications breakdown between Hellberg and his defensemen. Hellberg played the puck behind his net, left it there as if a defensemen was going to swoop in, and no Admiral did so. Instead Tyler Shattock flew in, collected the free puck, and passed it out from behind the net to Pat Cannone. A flustered Hellberg might not have even seen that puck after leaving it behind his net. It was 2-0 to the Wolves.

Capitalizing on a Wolves mistake lead to the Admirals surge back into this game. A bad turnover by the Wolves, spearheaded by Mathieu Tousignant, lead to a mini-break for Kevin Henderson. The winger powered to goal and showed some soft hands with a silky smooth backhanded finish to beat Jake Allen in net. It was Henderson’s first goal since the last season’s finale in the playoffs on May 5th in Texas. The goal by the Admirals also broke a scoreless drought of 128:50.

“It feels great,” said Kevin Henderson about scoring his first goal of the season. “To get that goal. To help the team get in the right direction to get back against Chicago was huge. Hopefully there is more to come.”

As the second period horn sounded to signal the end of the period some of the chippiness you can expect from a rivalry game came through. Anthony Bitetto and Keith Aucoin got into it a little bit and both received minors for roughing that would carry over into the next period. With the team looking for a boost, the coaching staff turned to veteran leader and team captain Scott Ford during the second intermission.

“To be honest with you, after the second period, we [the coaches] didn’t even go in the room,” said Evason. “We just told Scott Ford that it’s their team and we see what happens. [The team] figured it out. Whatever was said between the second and third was all them.”

So, with four-on-four hockey to start the third period, there was space for the speedsters to shine. The Ads cashed in just twenty-eight seconds before the teams were about see Bitetto and Aucoin return to the ice. Much like the opening goal for the Wolves the Admirals equalizer came from a blast from the point and scored from the rebound. Bryan Rodney was the man whose rocket shot pounded off the end boards, twisting Allen in net, and causing a loose puck to spill over to Simon Moser. Allen had no chance to recover after committing to the shot by Rodney and Moser scored his fourth goal of the season.

This game then went buzzed through overtime and needed a shootout to decide it. The Ads decided to shoot first. Goals in the shootout were scored by Tousignant and Austin Watson. The shootout goal for Watson held the game in the balance for the Ads as Aucoin skated out for the Wolves crucial shootout attempt. Hellberg made a glove save and the Ads skated off with a big come from behind victory over their Amtrak Rivals.

Thoughts on tonight’s game? How good does this win feel after those previous two losses? Do you think this game can send the team off on their upcoming lengthy road trip in the right direction?

The Admirals were routed and shutout 5-0 by the Grand Rapids Griffins Wednesday night. The Griffins came flying out of the gate from the opening puck drop. They held the Ads without a shot through the opening fourteen minutes and, from period two on, popped in five goals en route to the win.

“[The Griffins] played a fast game,” said Milwaukee Admirals assistant coach Stan Drulia after the game on Sports Radio 1250 WSSP. “We couldn’t get our legs under us – especially in that first period. I thought, once we got through that first period and weathered the storm, we’d respond a little better. Just looking at things we made a lot of tired plays. I didn’t think the guys had their minds in it. Physically seemed to do some decent things but there was lots of fatigue out there it looked like.”

Coming into this game there was some roster movement going down on the Griffins end of things. They added veterans Patrick Eaves and Jordin Tootoo and that meant, due to the roster minimum, others on the team needed to sit out of the lineup. The Griffins sat out defensemen Brennan Evans and team captain Jeff Hoggan. Tootoo played 100 games as a member of the Milwaukee Admirals from 2004-06 with 23 goals, 26 assists, and 399 PIM’s.

The opening period started with a quick scrap between Mathieu Tousignant and Mitch Callahan. It didn’t sound like this lasted very long. It picked up quick after some chippiness from Tousignant and ended with a fast take down for Callahan.

Major talking point of this first period was the disparity in shots. Good news? The Griffins didn’t cash in on their fast start. However, they outshot the Ads 14-4 in the opening frame and held the Ads without a shot until there was 6:08 remaining in the period. That first shot on goal by the Admirals came on a power-play off the stick of Anthony Bitetto.

After dominating the first twenty-minutes, the Griffins continued to attack and finally were rewarded with a goal on their seventh shot. Riley Sheahan scored on the power-play after collecting a rebound just inside the bottom left circle. His follow up shot beat Hellberg between the shoulder and post to make it 1-0.

Scary moment for the Ads when veteran Mark Van Guilder was hit hard in front of the Griffins team bench by Tootoo. Van Guilder stayed down in pain for awhile and the crowd was dead silent. MVG managed to get up on his own power and sat behind the Ads bench rather than straight to the locker room. He did make a return to the game following the hit.

Just as the Ads started putting in some shots and earning a power-play, the Griffins tagged them with a shorthanded goal. Mitch Callahan poked in a loose puck that Hellberg had trapped between his legs. Hellberg may have been hoping for a whistle but it never came. That’s the fifth shorthanded goal the Ads have conceded this season.

The Griffins started the third period on an abbreviated power-play. There were fifty-one seconds remaining on a penalty to Joonas Jarvinen for roughing and Cory Emmerton scored with two-seconds remaining on the man-advantage. The shot somehow squeaked through Hellberg’s five-hole for yet another Griffins’ special teams goal.

A fight broke out minutes after the Griffins third goal. This go-round it was former-teammates and good friends Scott Ford and Triston Grant slugging it out. Grant seemed a little bit surprised by this fight but the two did have it out. This was a veteran move on the part of the skipper Ford. He was looking to inject some type of energy into a deflated Admirals team. In my opinion, it may have come a period or maybe even two periods short.

Magnus Hellberg’s night ended after the Griffins scored their fourth of the night. This time a bullet from Sheahan was deflected by Callahan for his second of the night. Out goes Hellberg and stepping into the inferno was Scott Darling for the rest of the game. Hellberg’s line tonight: 35 saves on 39 shots. He is now 2-7-1-1 in net this season.

Just for good measure the Griffins scored against Scott Darling to make it 5-0. This was a very odd goal as the puck seemed to skipped up in the air and roll off the back of Darling and in. Another case of, this really just isn’t our night tonight.

Not a lot of positives to take from this game right now. My hope is to see an appropriate response come Friday night against the Chicago Wolves. I think a lot can be gained from losses such as the last two that the Ads have endured. The team simply has to learn and adjust.

Thoughts on this game? What happened tonight? What could have been done differently to slow down the Griffins? Do you think the Ads can rebound by Friday?

(Photo credit to Scott Paulus)

The Admirals lost 4-3 in overtime to the Abbotsford Heat Tuesday night. The Heat, who have the best record in the AHL, were able to fight back from a two goal deficit to win in OT. The Ads started the game quick with goals from Austin Watson, Simon Moser, and Miikka Salomaki, but were just not able to come up with win as the Heat came to life in the third period.

“We had tons of chances to score and couldn’t finish,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “Their goalie played good. Couple of goals that maybe we’d want back as a team. Not only our goalie but as a team we made mistakes and it ended up in our net. I don’t think you could say [the Heat] outplayed us in the third period. We had our opportunities. We didn’t put them away.”

The Ads haven’t been known for quick starts this season. Up against the best team in the AHL the Ads managed to come out of the opening period with a 2-0 lead.

Austin Watson scored the opening goal of the game off a rush from the right wing into goal. Passes from Bryan Rodney up to Miikka Salomaki tapped on to Watson sent the forward loose into the attacking zone. The Heat defense nearly stick checked the puck off Watson but a toe-drag and a quick wrist shot later – the Ads were up 1-0.

A late boarding penalty put the Admirals power-play unit on the ice with 1:07 remaining in the first period. A face off win and quick passes –circling from the point to the right face off dot– teed up Simon Moser for a one-timer and his third goal of the season. The period ended with the Ads up 2-0. Entering tonight, they were 3-0-0-0 when leading after the opening period of play. Again, quick starts aren’t a frequent occurrence for the Admirals but -backs against the wall tonight- they got one.

In the second period the Heat produced their first goal of the game off of a power-play. The penalty was a high sticking call against Kevin Henderson and the Ads nearly killed it off. Yet, the Heat put the hammer down and a one-timer off the left faceoff dot by Blair Jones made it a 2-1 hockey game.

Miikka Salomaki kept his hot night going by scoring a beauty of a goal to give the Ads a two-goal cushion. Salomaki, who had assisted the first two goals of the game, had defenders surrounding him and he let fly with a shot that beat Ortio to his blocker-side and belted the near post for his third goal of the season.

“That’s probably [Salomaki’s] best game,” said Evason. “Obviously, he has a great goal but hounding the puck, stick skills, his competitiveness, he finishes every check. You wish every hockey player played the way that he plays the game.”

The third period began with a 3-1 Ads lead. The Heat, just as they would have hoped, were able to cut the lead down to one with plenty of the third still to play for. Markus Granlund was able to score with just over fifteen-minutes remaining to make it a 3-2 game.

Abbotsford tied the game up midway through the third period after a quick counter attack overwhelmed the Ads defense. Greg Nemisz’s shot on goal appeared to take a deflection as the puck’s flight path knuckled low under the glove of Hellberg to make it 3-3.

The Ads did have some chances to finish off the game in OT. Two come to mind. Both from Anthony Bitetto in the space of about five-seconds. Bitetto had a quick paced run on goal and one-timed a shot into the pads of Joni Ortio in net. Right after that chance, Bitetto sat on the side of Ortio’s net, fired a close-range shot, and was robbed. Two high quality chances for Bitetto in a matter of seconds with no reward.

Sadly for Bitetto the bad news kept coming for him as he took a high sticking penalty with 1:50 left in OT. The Heat, sensing the moment, called timeout to draw up a play for the 4-on-3 power-play chance. They won the draw. Boom. Ben Street tallied the game-winner for his team best ninth goal of the season.

“We lost the draw,” said Evason of the goal in OT. “We allowed their guy to walk into a prime scoring position. Although it gets deflected off of Joe [Piskula’s] stick he shouldn’t have been allowed to shoot in that spot.”

While the Ads did come up shy of a victory in this game there was plenty to be happy about with this result. The Ads had a great first two period of hockey – especially the first. Unfortunate to not come away with the win, but the Heat have now won ten of their last eleven games. This was always going to be a tough grinder of a game. To have actually outplayed the Heat through two period is a result and the performance bodes really well for tomorrow night’s match up with yet another high-powered offense, the Griffins.

Thoughts on the game? Who impressed you tonight? Who didn’t impress you tonight? What does this game have you thinking in regards to tomorrow night’s game with the Griffins? Will they be able to repeat their previous results against the Griffins tomorrow?