The Admirals managed to shutout the Iowa Wild 1-0 on the road Saturday night. Scott Darling, making his second career AHL start, earned his first AHL decision with a 32 save shutout victory on the road. The lone goal of the game came late in the first period off of a Colton Sissons redirection for his seventh goal of the season.

The news going into this one was interesting to follow. Just prior to the game it was announced that Magnus Hellberg suffered a “lower body” injury during the middle of last night’s 4-3 loss to the Chicago Wolves. He played through the rest of that game and did travel with the team to Iowa. Yet, he was officially listed as “out” for this game.

Filling in for him, as the emergency goalie, was 46-year old coach, off-ice official, and Des Moines area resident Derek Hender. This wasn’t the first time Hender has served in this capacity in Iowa this year. He filled in as an emergency goalie for the Texas Stars earlier this month.

This meant Scott Darling was going to get the start in net and his response was really good. He faced a total of 32 shots. Didn’t allow many rebounds. Denied the Wild on a few breakaway and odd-man rush opportunities. And he held the fort in the dying seconds of the game when the Wild had a power-play with the extra-attacker on the ice. The shutout victory goes down as his first career AHL decision in net.

The lone goal of the game came after a rather tame first period for both sides. The Admirals goal came with less than three minutes remaining in the first period thanks to a deflection. Joonas Jarvinen’s shot to the net bounced off of Colton Sissons’ skate, fooling Darcy Kuemper in net, and giving the Ads a first period lead. The goal for Sissons is his team-leading seventh goal of the season.

The action picked up big time in the late stages of regulation. With four minutes remaining and the Admirals on the power-play Darling was required to deny a shorthanded effort. Miikka Salomaki tossed a puck towards Anthony Bitetto and it managed to get in-behind him. Racing after and claiming the loose puck was Jake Dowell who was then off on a shorthanded breakaway. Darling made a crucial stop to keep it 1-0 and bail out the failed connection from Salomaki to Bitetto.

With 1:02 remaining, Ads defenseman Bryan Rodney was called for holding and the Wild decided to take their timeout and pull their goalie. The Wild did establish some pucks to the net but they passed themselves out of the attacking zone and then went offsides with seventeen seconds remaining.

The best chances to win the game for the Wild were behind them the moment the puck left the zone. The Ads managed to hang on by the strength of Scott Darling and a deflection off of Colton Sissons to get the Ads back in the win column.

Thoughts on Scott Darling’s performance tonight? How good of a response was this by the team after a less than stellar game against the Wolves just 24 hours prior? If Hellberg is out for an extended period of time do you now feel confident that Darling could hold down the net in that time? Though the defense was good tonight, any concerns in the offense only scoring one goal from thirty-four shots tonight?

(Photo credit to Scott Paulus)

The Admirals lost 4-3 against the Chicago Wolves Friday night. Another slow start meant the team had to climb out of yet another 2-0 deficit in the first period at home. While it happened twice against the Texas Stars during the opening homestand – it couldn’t be done tonight. The Wolves went on to win their fourth-straight game on the road.

“Our starts have been pretty good as of late, but we didn’t like our entire game from the drop of the puck,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “Regardless of where we were when it got 2-0 we didn’t do anything to be involved and give ourselves a chance to even score a goal.”

This game started off with that little element of chippiness you come to expect from an Amtrak Rivalry game. After Anthony Bitetto decided to play the man and not the puck, Cody Beach of the Wolves skated over and talked up a fight. Bitetto passed on the opportunity but Tousignant decided he would have a go. They wound up calling matching roughing calls between Beach-Tousignant but tagged Beach with an additional for his antics with Bitetto.

Response? Poor.

The Wolves turned that Admiral power-play into a shorthanded goal. After Bitetto made a great sliding effort to block a shot, Nathan Longpre stuck to the play and banked the puck off of Chris Porter and past Magnus Hellberg in net.

After another successful Wolves penalty kill they beat Hellberg again. This goal came right off of the kill with Dmitrij Jaskin managing to slide the puck underneath the big Swede in net and make it a 2-0 hockey game.

“You have those games sometimes where you come out a little flat,” commented Taylor Beck. “They hopped on us early and they did a good job. They came to play. We have to be a lot more sharper with our passing and with our detail. They took advantage of our mistakes early and we couldn’t catch up to them.”

Captain Scott Ford answered back with his first goal of the season and first as an Admiral since March 16, 2012 in Lake Erie. Ford ripped a shot from the point and into traffic. The puck took a deflection off of a Wolves stick and even clanked off the far post before finding twine.

Just over five minutes later the Wolves restored their two-goal lead. The Admiral defensively were spread thin in front of Hellberg. Prior to the series of passes that would net the goal, Bitetto took a stick to the back of his knee and tripped right in front of the Ads goal. There wasn’t a call for tripping, but the move lead to some open ice for the Wolves who played a tic-tac-toe game between Shane Harper-Tyler Shattock-Pat Cannone. The passing was crisp. The shot by Cannone wasn’t going to be denied. 3-1 Wolves.

One thing worthy of mention: boarding penalties. This game saw four of them. The worst of which came at the tail end of the first period when Miikka Salomaki blasted Sergey Andronov into the boards directly in front of the Admirals bench. Andronov stayed down and hunched over for quite awhile before heading behind the Wolves bench. He did manage to return to the game… hockey players, right?

There weren’t many highlights in the second period. Save for this one. After losing the draw on a power-play faceoff, Tyler Shattock attempted to get the puck as clear as he could. His problem: Scott Valentine… who checked him hard enough to pry open the Admirals penalty box door. The hit was so violent that play had to be stopped temporarily after an off-ice official could be treated after the door swung open and clipped him in the penalty box.

Much more action occurred in the third period and started with the Ads narrowing the Wolves lead to 3-2. The Admirals power-play responded with a beautiful pass from Colton Sissons that teed up Taylor Beck for his fourth goal of the season. Considering how eventful this past week has been for Beck the goal showed some good poise and maturity on his part dealing with the ying-yang effect these past few days.

“It was a quick week up [in Nashville],” said Beck. “Happy to be back. Happy to hopefully help [the Admirals] start winning again. It’s been a little bit rough lately but we have a good team here and we’ll be really good down the stretch.”

With 2:13 remaining following an offsides call that kept the puck in the Wolves defensive zone, the Ads used their timeout and decided to pull Hellberg in favor of using the extra attacker. There were some looks to the net, but the game was effectively capped off when Corey Locke popped in an empty netter with 1:01 remaining in the game.

“We wanted to give ourselves the best and the longest opportunity,” said Evason of the decision to pull Hellberg during the timeout. “Normally you’re going to pull the goalie at 1:40-ish. Some coaches, 1:30. We like the two minute mark. Why not give ourselves the chance to have some sustained pressure? We want to side on the side of being aggressive and giving our group an opportunity to score.”

Credit to the Ads, though. The “never say die” attitude still showed up with a Tousignant goal with 25 seconds remaining. A sharp pass from the corner by Joonas Rask picked out the Quebec native who made a slick move to beat Allen in net. While nothing more than a late consolation goal in a defeat – it’s still nice to see the team refuse to quit on a game.

“We knew that [the Wolves] are a veteran hockey club,” said Evason. “[The Wolves] come to play. They know how to play the game and they out-competed us. We don’t say that very often about our group.”

Thoughts on the game? What is it about these slow starts for the Ads? How do you feel Taylor Beck played in his return to Milwaukee? What players are standing out to you – both in a good way and a bad way? What will the response be tomorrow night in Iowa?

(Photo credit to Scott Paulus)

The Admirals won 2-1 against the red hot Grand Rapids Griffins Wednesday night. An early goal from Colton Sissons and a late third period tally from Mark Van Guilder proved decisive as the Ads break a run of three consecutive losses.

“Grand Rapids is a real good team,” commented Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “They have so much speed and skill. We thought we did a real good job through the neutral zone. We limited their speed. We didn’t give them the odd man rushes that I think they’re used to. When we can play tight like that we should be in a good spot most nights.”

Slow starts have plagued the Ads so far this season. Facing a skilled Griffins team, the Ads made sure to buck that trend by scoring one-minute and fifteen seconds into the game.

The starting line of Salomaki-Watson-Rask kicked off the game by pushing the puck in the Griffins zone, generating shots and turnovers, and helped keep the puck deep as they changed lines. Moser-Sissons-Forsberg entered the ice and instantly attacked the net. After a few good taps at Griffins netminder Tom McCollum the puck went past him thanks to a final push from Colton Sissons. That’s Sissons sixth goal of the season and ties him up with Anthony Bitetto for the team lead in goals.

Grand Rapids, for as hot as they have been coming into the game, started pretty flat. They didn’t register a shot on goal until the twelfth minute of the game. Right after that Gustav Nyquist took a tripping penalty to stunt that momentum that wouldn’t creep back into the first period until the Griffins first power-play. Shots would finish 13-7 in the first period, but the best quality chances were coming off the tape of Admirals sticks.

The second period was cruising by without much drama. Through eight minutes in the second period shots were only 3-1 in the period in favor of the Griffins. For an Admirals team that faced a second period shots total of 20, 20, and 17 in the previous three road games… that’s fantastic defensive work against a team as lethal as the Griffins.

After a scramble in front of Magnus Hellberg, Mitch Callahan of the Griffins fired a loose puck near post at Hellberg. The light was lit but the celebrations were mute and the officials began conversing. There was plenty of pressure on Hellberg’s doorstep, but, upon further review, they called it a good goal to tie the game at 1-1.

Midway through the third period the Ads nearly capitalized on the power-play if not for the awareness of Landon Ferraro. The Ads power-play unit wasn’t having much luck tonight, going 0-4, but in the final seconds of a man-advantage Sissons tagged a puck through McCollum in net. The puck was in the crease making its way past the goal line. Right in front to bail out his netminder, Ferraro gave one firm smack at the puck to clear it out of danger and keep the game tied.

As the ice tilted for the Ads, Mark Van Guilder picked up the eventual game-winning goal to make it 2-1. The team was working hard in the attacking zone when Kevin Henderson’s shot to the net ricocheted off of McCollum and near Van Guilder. MVG, who was working traffic in front of the net, skated out, snagged the puck, and wristed low putting the puck beneath the flustered Griffins goalie for the go-ahead and decisive goal.
With the Griffins net empty, they did manage a few quality looks to the net amidst tight defensive pressure by the Admirals. Badge of honor goes to the game’s first star recipient, Sissons, who made two big shot blocks to close out the game… the last of which looked downright painful to watch.

Hats off to Hellberg. After having a rough -probably rusty- return to the net on the Texas leg of the four game road trip – Hellberg managed to stop 28-29 shots on goal to earn his first AHL victory since the second game of the season. While his stay up in Nashville might have opened his mind his reflexes and timing were just a bit off in his two appearances against the Texas Stars. He made a good start in a shootout loss to San Antonio, but still faced a total of 93 shots in three days of work after a lengthy lay off while up in Nashville.

“It was a great experience to be up [in Nashville], practice with the guys, and see how it was in the show,” said Magnus Hellberg. “At the same time you have to play games to develop. You kind of lose that feeling pretty quickly when you don’t play. I think in a way it was good that we got a lot of shots on us this last weekend – even though it was a tough one. I didn’t play my best game on Friday. I felt a little bit more like my normal me on Sunday even though we lost in a shootout. Today we won 2-1 and the boys battled hard. It was a step in the right direction.”

Tonight, the team looked really composed defensively against an outstanding Grand Rapids Griffins group that entered the game on fire by winning seven-straight games. There were many positives to take from tonight’s game. The top two lines tonight (Salomaki-Watson-Rask / Moser-Sissons-Forsberg) were outstanding on both sides of the puck. The penalty kill was sharp tonight going 3-3 in kills with great efforts by both Joe Piskula and Scott Ford on the back end denying several attempts to deal the puck around the cage and catch Hellberg off balance.

The negatives could still be a wavering in consistency during the second period. The road trip’s worst period seemed to be the second period and tonight that was also the case as they were outshot by the Griffins 15-3 in the period. No telling what the real cause is, but the response in the third period was rather good. Shots were in the Ads favor, 16-7, and the space to roam wasn’t really there for the Griffins.

This is what I call a well-deserved win for the effort out on the ice tonight.

Thoughts on the game? Has Sissons been the Ads best forward this season? Is Magnus Hellberg back up to speed? Why do you feel there is a drop off in the second period and what can be done about it? Will Filip Forsberg still be an Admiral come Friday night?

The Admirals picked up a point but lost on the road to the San Antonio Rampage 3-2 in a shootout. The late Sunday afternoon contest finished off the Ads four game road trip which saw them go 1-2-0-1.

This game started somewhat slowly compared to the previous bouts with the Stars. There wasn’t a goal scored until the second period. The best chances in the first period for both teams came seconds apart from one another. Rampage defensemen Mike Mottau, just out of the box after a hooking penalty, caught the puck out of the penalty box for a breakaway chance that would be denied by Magnus Hellberg. Right after that Filip Forsberg had a chance of his own only to ring his wrist shot off the pipe.

The opening goal came in at the 14:19 mark of the second period. After a lengthy shift for the Admirals the Rampage forced a turnover. The rush the other way led to a goal for Steve Pinizzotto. That’s his second goal in as many games.

Only 1:21 after the opening goal the Rampage fired home another goal. The puck stayed the way of San Antonio out of the opening goal, and led to a goal by one-time Admiral Jed Ortmeyer to make it a 2-0 Rampage advantage.

As has been the identity of the Ads this season: they don’t quit. After drawing a hooking call the Ads tallied with a power-play goal. Mark Van Guilder picked out a wide open Bryan Rodney who buried the puck past Dov Grumet-Morris in net for his second goal of the season.

In the third period the Ads managed to level the game up at 2-2. The line of the night, Simon Moser – Austin Watson – Filip Forsberg, produced a goal through Moser after some great puck movement between the group. That’s Moser’s second goal of the season and first since October 19th.

The real story of this game was the goaltending. Hellberg and Grumet-Morris were fabulous in this one and both played key roles as to why this game lasted through overtime and all the way to the shootout. Hellberg stopped 43-45 shots. Grumet-Morris countered with a strong effort of his own stopping 31-33. While shots against were plenty again for the Ads, it looks as if Magnus has shed any rust that was present in his games against the Texas Stars.

The shootout was basically capped off on the first shooter. The one and only goal scored in the shootout came off the tape of Jon Matsumoto for the San Antonio Rampage, who scored five hole. Colton Sissons, denied. Filip Forsberg, denied. Joonas Rask, denied. Austin Watson, denied. And then Bryan Rodney was also denied by Grumet-Morris – a perfect 5-5 in shootout saves to add to his first star effort in regulation.

Thoughts on this road trip? Any particular player stand out during this four game trip? How do you feel Hellberg and Forsberg played this weekend? What can we expect when the Ads return to home ice this Wednesday?

The Admirals lost 5-4 against the Texas Stars Saturday night. Once again, the Stars had a lethal second period effort that proved to power them on to victory. The Ads did managed to claw back into this game. After trailing 5-1, the Ads scrapped out three late third period goals to nearly make for a stunning comeback. Though, time ran out on the late push for the Ads who go on to drop their second straight game in regulation.

“We gave up five goals,” said assistant coach Stan Drulia after the game on Sports Radio 1250 WSSP. “Most of them were from transition situations where we had puck possession and [the Stars] do a good job of that. We ran out of time at the end, but it’s a sixty-minute game and we didn’t push hard enough at the start.”

As far as roster shake ups ahead of this game went, it was nothing as drastic as the days ahead of this weekend with call ups and call downs. Instead, Scott Valentine stepped into the forward role to fill in for the injured Mike Liambas. This opened up a spot on defense for Charles-Oliver Roussel to return to the lineup. Still no word on how long Liambas will be out. For now, expect a roster similar to what the Ads dished up tonight.

The Texas Stars opened the scoring this go-round. Taylor Peters fired a shot off of Darling and the loose puck was hammered into the net by Francis Wathier.

Just seconds after an Admiral power-play expired, the team kept the gas on and came away with an equalizing goal. The initial shot by Filip Forsberg was stopped by Stars goaltender Allen York. It was then spilled out into the path of Austin Watson who popped in the rebound for his third goal of the season.

A big opportunity came for the Ads at 16:59 of the opening period. After some rough stuff behind the play, both marked as interference calls, the Ads received a full two minutes worth of five-on-three power-play time. There were too many passes taking place on the power-play and just not enough pucks to the net as you would want with that much space to attack. In the end, the opportunity went without a goal as the pesky Stars penalty kill escaped without damage.

The previous night Texas produced twenty shots in the second period. Tonight? They did it again. The Stars outshot the Ads 20-11 in the second. Of those twenty shots three went past Darling.

“We were fairly happy with our first period,” said Drulia on Sports Radio 1250 WSSP. “In the second period we turned the puck over twice at their blue line. Took an offensive zone penalty which lead to their power-play goal. Three situations that we were well in control of that ended up going into the back of our net.”

Texas restored their lead after Curtis McKenzie slipped the puck underneath a poke check of Darling. The shot squeaked between his legs and the Ads trailed 2-1.

The next goal for Texas came off of a power-play opportunity after a Mathieu Tousignant roughing call. A Kevin Connauton blast from the blueline was deflected by Mike Hedden to push the Stars lead to 3-1.

Late in the second, the Stars produced their third unanswered goal of the period. Jamie Oleksiak slapped in a bomb from the faceoff dot making it a 4-1 Stars lead.

Magnus Hellberg started the final period in net. Not quite by anyone’s choice. Scott Darling had an equipment issue at the beginning of the third period, went off the ice to fix it, Hellberg went in the net, and Darling never returned to the game. As it turns out, Darling’s skate broke just as the team went back out on the ice… tough break for a first career AHL start.

The Stars incredible penalty kill unit was at it again tonight by scoring another shorthanded goal. Ex-Admiral Chris Mueller generated an Ads turnover from the blue line and sent Toby Peterson loose on a breakaway. He went the distance and finished off the shorthanded break with a backhanded finish through Hellberg’s five-hole.

Then came the drama. The Ads were trailing 5-1 with 7:18 remaining in the game.

Off of the same power-play that cost the Ads a shorty, Zach Budish answered the call. Budish was at the goal mouth and kept plugging away at the puck for a goal to end the Stars run of four unanswered goals scored.

The Ads then answered with another goal to make it a 5-3 game. Simon Moser kicked the puck with his skate out to Filip Forsberg who picked out the eventual goal scorer, Colton Sissons. That’s Sissons fifth goal of the season.

Hellberg then went to the bench to bring out an extra attacker for the Admirals. With forty-one seconds remaining they scored with the extra attacker on the ice to make it a 5-4 hockey game. The pace and effort of the Ads right out of the goal from Sissons shook the Stars. This goal was scored by Anthony Bitetto for his team-best sixth goal of the season.

Milwaukee managed to have a few more cracks at tying the game up. In the end, there just wasn’t enough time on the clock for them to draw back level with the Stars. It ended 5-4. The loss in net actually end up being credited to Magnus Hellberg who played the third period but conceded the game-winning goal… ouch.

Thoughts on tonight’s game? The late response by the team? What do you think can help the Admirals start games quickly and more effectively? Can it be corrected in time for their game in San Antonio tomorrow afternoon?

The Admirals lost 7-4 against the Texas Stars Friday night. It is the first time this season the Ads have lost in regulation and ends the eight-game point streak to start the season.

This game marked the return of Magnus Hellberg and Kevin Henderson to the Ads lineup. It also marked the AHL debut of Filip Forsberg.

For Hellberg, this wasn’t him at his sparkling best. He made thirty-three saves, good. But he also let in six goals, ouch. This was his first game in net since an October 26th cameo in Nashville. Since then it has been a combination of practices, warm-ups, and sitting on the Nashville Predators bench. He only played 12:12 of ice time in that lone NHL appearance. Perhaps a reason why his timing was just -that- much off tonight.

Henderson returned to the Ads lineup for his first game since October 18th in a road win against the Grand Rapids Griffins. He didn’t factor too much into the score sheet: no points on one shot with a plus/minus of -2. Yet, his presence to the team on both sides of the puck is a plus. Was he overwhelmed in his return from injury? Hard to say. But expect #15 to be a factor as he gets his legs back under him.

Making the headlines going into this game was the AHL and Admiral debut of Filip Forsberg. How did he play? Great. He scored a goal and an assist tonight. Even better than that was his work rate on the ice, drawing penalties, and producing chances for his teammates. He spent a lot of time on the ice with Colton Sissons and Simon Moser tonight. That line seemed to be one of the better groups on the ice in this game.

The Ads did manage to score the opening goal in this game. Joonas Jarvinen scored his first goal of the season after his shot was deflected en route to the net. This was the third straight game where the Ads managed to open the scoring after a lengthy drought in which they failed to do so since the opening game in Abbotsford. Slow starts have been a talking point of the Ads. Clearly they’ve been working to jump out of the gates much faster.

An early turning point in this game happened by way of injury to Mike Liambas. It sounded as though he took a hit near the boards, stayed down briefly on the ice, and skated off to the Ads bench. Liambas has been a part of the Ads most effective line early in this season: with Tousignant and Rask/Budish. Him leaving so early in the game left a hole in the forward group and a physical presence few forwards in the team can match. According to assistant coach Stan Drulia after the game, Liambas was “looking good” and walking around in his suit after the game. No word as to whether or not this is a short term or long term injury, but he will be reevaluated tomorrow morning.

The first period would end at a 1-1 tie after a goal from Jamie Oleksiak. The Stars, from the middle of the first period and whole of the second period, really began to tilt the ice against the Ads. Oleksiak let loose a slap shot that bested Hellberg in net to level things in the opening frame.

Enter the second period. Enter a horrific period of hockey for the Admirals. Penalties really gashed the Ads in the second. How bad did it get? Mark Van Guilder received two-minutes for roughing. No joke. In total, the Ads took five penalties for ten penalty minutes. This gave the Stars multiple power-play chances – including two lengthy 5-on-3 efforts.

Texas produced quickly in the second period with a power-play goal off of one of those two-man advantage situations. Travis Morin scored with a backhanded shot to give the Stars a 2-1 lead.

Moments later, yet another power-play goal for the Stars. This go-round it was Colton Sceviour with a wrister from the left circle.

It wasn’t all Stars on the power-play, though. The Ads managed to answer with one of their own. Miikka Salomaki smashed a one-timer through heavy net front traffic to draw the Stars lead back, 3-2.

Just thirty-four seconds later, wind right out of the Admirals sails, and puck being picked out of the net yet again. The Stars picked out Morin in the slot, he beat Hellberg five hole, and scored his tenth goal of the season – restoring a two-goal lead.

The advantage in shots for the Stars through two periods was rather cringe-worthy. They managed to outshoot the Ads 33-12 in the opening two frames – including 20-6 in the second period alone.

The third period did start just as the Ads would have wanted to. The Ads scored a power-play goal off of a blistering one-time shot by Forsberg. The score was again cut to a one goal Texas lead, 4-3.

Now, in my opinion, here comes the biggest talking point of the game. While the Ads clearly weren’t playing their best hockey. They were still doing what they do best: scrapping it out and staying in striking distance late in a game. So, when the Stars netminder Josh Robinson mishandled a puck and it went into the net… you would be thinking the Ads clawed back yet another two-goal Texas Stars lead. But, the officials blew the play dead instantly. The goal didn’t count. It was still a 4-3 hockey game. The error by Robinson wouldn’t haunt the Stars.

Not only did it not haunt the Stars. The very next puck drop of the game lead to a blocked shot that sent the Stars on a two-on-zip breakaway. Brett Ritchie had Toby Petersen but finished it himself. The two goal lead was restored for the Stars, 5-3.

The Ads did manage to score another power-play goal in this game courtesy of “Mr. Power-Play” Anthony Bitetto. This goal drew the game to a 5-4 scoreline, and it goes down as Bitetto’s fifth goal of the season and third on the power-play.

The backbreaker would come just three minutes after Bitetto’s goal as the Stars scored shorthanded. Colton Sceviour zipped down the left wing and sent a backhander past Hellberg on the short side of goal – yet again restoring a two goal cushion for the Stars.

Hellberg slammed his stick in disgust after conceding the shorty… and that’s how his night would end. He stopped thirty-three of thirty-nine shots before giving way to Admiral debutant Scott Darling.

Darling faced one shot and made one save before the Ads pulled him off the ice for the extra attacker. Scott Glennie of the Stars would cap off the game by scoring on the empty net. Game. Over.

Rough night after a lengthy time off. Still, there were some real positives to the Ads game tonight. Miikka Salomaki had a four-point night for the Ads (1 goal and 3 assists). Salomaki factored into all Admirals goals and, were this game to have finished a little differently, would have easily been the big star of the night. Meanwhile, Forsberg played real well in his debut outing as an Admiral. He put up two points, drew penalties, and was an effective player tonight in an otherwise rough game.

The point streak ends at eight consecutive games. The Ads finally lose in regulation. Yet, the team is set to bounce right back against these same Texas Stars tomorrow night.

Your thoughts on tonight’s game? Salomaki? Forsberg? How do you feel about Hellberg’s performance tonight? Was Hellberg’s night in net just a sign of a goalie who hasn’t played in a game for awhile or something more? How do you think the Ads bounce back after conceding seven goals?

The Admirals won 5-2 on the road against the Iowa Wild late Sunday afternoon. Penalties were pretty abundant in this one: 64 combined penalty minutes. Yet, goals from five different Ads (Budish, Beck, Rodney, Cehlin, and Van Guilder) kept the point streak alive through eight games. The Ads have yet to lose in regulation this season. Netminder Marek Mazanec now has five wins in five starts. How about this team right now?

“It was not the type of game we expected today,” said assistant coach Stan Drulia after the game on Sports Radio 1250 WSSP. “We knew [the Iowa Wild] were playing three games in three nights and we had a fairly late travel day coming over yesterday. We were hoping to play a game of five-on-five hockey, but we got into all the penalties, power-plays, penalties. It shut a lot of guys down in certain situations. It was kind of feast or famine for both teams.”

As expected, the defense was given a slight shake up ahead of the game. Bryan Rodney returned to the lineup after serving his two-game suspension for an illegal check to the head. Also suiting up, for the first time all season, was Joonas Jarvinen who had been sidelined with an undisclosed injury. The roster shake up meant Teddy Ruth was sent down to the Cincinnati Cyclones. Ruth had played in four games for the Ads, didn’t score a point, and had neutral plus-minus. Perhaps the time down in the ECHL could help Ruth in the same way it did Bitetto last year.

The Ads managed to score the opening goal for the second straight game. Zach Budish scored his first goal of the season off of a one-time shot beat Wild netminder Johan Gustafsson. The goal was set up by Mark Van Guilder and Miikka Salomaki.

Iowa tied the game up in the final minute of the first period on the power-play. A shot from Steven Kampfer was denied by Marek Mazanec. Another robbery by Mazanec took place on Erik Haula. Yet, all the net front pressure meant that any rebound would be a tap in. That’s exactly how the power-play for the Wild would end when Jason Zucker backhanded the rebound to tie things up with thirty-nine seconds remaining in the first period.

Just forty-five seconds into the second period the Wild put a puck past Mazanec to give them a 2-1 lead. The goal, scored by Steven Kampfer, squeaked through the arm of Mazanec on the short-side.

Fight I. was between Mike Liambas and Corbin Baldwin in the second period. Talk about fearless. Liambas (5’9”) versus Baldwin (6’5”). With Aaron Sims call, this sounded like a pretty good one. Here’s hoping the YouTube machine cooks up some footage!

Fight II. took place moments later. This go-round was Mathieu Tousignant against Raphael Bussieres. Much quicker scrap. Take down for Bussieres in the end.

Fight III. was between Anthony Bitetto and Jake Dowell. Bitetto was called for slashing and lined up the experienced tough-man Dowell. The tussle was the third fight in the space of 3:02 of ice time. Egads!

The Ads responded to the Wild’s late first period goal with one of their own to end the second period. Taylor Beck managed to knot the game up at 2-2 with twenty-six seconds remaining in the period.

Bryan Rodney scored a power-play goal in the third period to give the Ads a 3-2 lead. This has to feel great for Rodney. First game back after suspension and he scores a rocket on the Ads PP unit. That is his first goal as a member of the Ads.

“[Rodney] is a real presence on the bench,” said Drulia on Sports Radio 1250 WSSP. “Saying the right things. Leading the group. On the back end, adding Jarvinen today for his first game of the year. The [defensive] core changed drastically overnight with the insertion of those two players. We have so much veteran leadership on the back end. They play hard. [Rodney] is so calm, cool, and collected with the puck. He makes things happen.”

Rodney continued his good return when one of his shots from the point would be cashed in by Patrick Cehlin. That’s Cehlin’s second goal of the season and it put the Ads up 4-2.

The third period, much quieter by the second period’s standards, was capped off by a Van Guilder empty netter. It would seem the three-in-three did just have a slight effect in the third period. The Ads were in relative control most of the period. Shots on Mazanec were managible. The game finished 5-2 and the Ads remain the AHL’s lone team to not have a loss in regulation.

“They have tremendous work ethic,” said Drulia on Sports Radio 1250 WSSP. “I think it goes to your leadership group. Scott Ford, we brought him back last year for a reason. We didn’t want [Ford] to leave when he opted to sign with St. Louis and end up in Peoria. Bringing [Ford] back is a huge factor for us. [Ford] makes a difference on and off the ice. I think we’re just a calm group.”

Thoughts on Rodney’s return performance? How about Mazanec’s run in net? Hey, how about this team in general? In the words of Aaron Sims in his post-game show, “What is going on?” The Ads are the only team in the AHL unbeaten in regulation. They have earned a point in all games played. What do you all feel is the biggest factor in this great start to the season?

(Photo courtesy of Scott Paulus)

The Admirals won 4-2 against the Rockford IceHogs Friday night. Goals scored by Shalla, Salomaki, Bitetto, and Beck powered the Ads to their third-straight win. The victory also holds the point streak to seven consecutive games. The Ads have yet to lose in regulation this season.

The Ads finally snapped two ugly stretches by scoring the opening goal of the game on the power-play. Entering the contest, the Ads were on an 0-9 run on the power-play. Plus, it was the first time since the opening game of the season where the Ads managed to score the first goal. How? Scott Valentine took a one-timed howitzer that IceHogs goalie Kent Simpson couldn’t get full grasp of. Right there to reap the benefits was Joshua Shalla who poked the puck in for the opener and his second goal of the season.

“We were great in the first period,” said Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “We took the game to them. We were physical. We didn’t turn pucks over. We got pucks to the net. [The team] did exactly what they wanted to do in order to give them a chance to have success.”

Mark McNeill managed to score his seventh goal of the season to tie things up quickly for the IceHogs. McNeill was on the Marek Mazanec’s doorstep after a deflected shot from the point knuckled in on goal. Mazanec was down and out with the entirety of the net for McNeill to shoot into.

After a two-on-one between Watson and Rask broke down on the way to goal, the puck fell behind Miikka Salomaki who spun around and let fly. The 20-year old Fin managed to sling his shot past Simpson for his first career AHL goal to restore the Ads one goal lead..

In the second period an outstanding shift put in from a line consisting of Liambas-Tousignant-Budish led to an Anthony Bitetto goal. Crafty skating and puck movement by Tousignant set the stage for a series of passes that eventually went to the tape of Bitetto, who skated in, went with a backhander, and snuck one by Simpson. That’s Bitetto’s fourth goal of the season.

“It’s a good story,” said Evason of Anythony Bitetto’s performance this season. “He got sent down last year. Came back with absolutely the right attitude. He was in tremendous shape. We asked him to drop his body fat, to get into shape, that he’s going to be a key guy for us this year and or the Nashville Predators organization. He did all the right things. He came in [this season] in tremendous shape and it shows. You watch him carry the puck up and lug it out of our zone. The best breakout is if a defenseman can carry it all the way down to the other end and make a play with it. He does that every game.”

Rockford clawed back with a power-play goal after an unnecessary play from Salomaki saw him off for interference. The goal was set up by a behind the net pass by Dylan Olsen that picked out Alex Broadhurst on the right wing. Broadhurst let fly and scored his fourth goal of the season and close the score to a 3-2 Admiral lead.

Taylor Beck put the finishing touches to the game by scoring an empty net goal on an Ads power-play. The goal for Beck is his second of the season and acted as a nice reward for a good defensive night for the more typically offensive puck wielding Beck.

Another game and another win under the belt for goaltender Marek Mazanec. It wasn’t as flashy as some of his outings during this four-game homestand, but he is proving more and more reliable as he gets the chance to start games on a regular basis. Tonight’s game he produced twenty-eight saves and the two goals he allowed weren’t soft by any means.

The Ads are now off to Iowa where they begin the first of a four-game road trip.

How long will the point streak last? Who impressed you the most this opening homestand? Discuss! Discuss!

The Admirals won 3-2 in overtime against the Texas Stars Wednesday night. Yet another 2-0 comeback was required for the Ads to reach OT. Goals from Anthony Bitetto and Austin Watson leveled the score. 33 saves from Marek Mazanec kept the Stars in-check. And veteran Mark Van Guilder sealed the game with a GWG in OT to preserve the Ads hot start to the season.

“We can’t continually get down,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “We praised them for not giving up and continuing to push forward, but we have to be better to start hockey games. There is no question about it. We can’t continually do this all year. It’s going to bite us for sure.”

With last game in mind, the Ads started much better than their last outing as far as pace was concerned. They generated some chances from the boards to the net. Best of all, they weren’t letting the Stars blaze past them with their speed.

Sadly mistakes started to mount and the Stars cashed in with the opening goal. A turnover in the Ads defensive zone almost turned into an instant goal. Thanks to a hook by Scott Ford it went down as a power-play chance instead.

Unfortunately, that chance would net the opening goal for the Stars. A skipping and loose puck around the net couldn’t be cleared or closed down by the Ads. Colton Sceviour wound up popping in the loose puck above a scrambling Mazanec. This is the fifth straight game where the Ads failed to score first. The lone time they managed to do so was in the opening game of the season in Abbotsford.

The pace continued ramping up for the Stars. By the end of the first period it proved to be too much for the Ads to handle as they conceded again. This was a goal generated by speed and stellar passing from the Stars. Jyrki Jokipakka to Mike Hedden to Brett Ritchie. Tic. Tac. Toe. The shot by Ritchie was an absolute rocket that flew by Mazanec to give the Stars a 2-0 first period lead.

Period number two featured no scoring but some chippy moments out on the ice. Mathieu Tousignant, not once but twice, was hit to the head by Stars d-man Cameron Gaunce. The second “coming-together” lead to a roughing call against Gaunce which laid out Tousignant.

Next up in the sniper-scope was Mike Liambas. The Ads go-to enforcer dropped the gloves at the end of the first period with Francis Wathier (I call it a draw on the fighting scorecards). Late on in the second period Liambas was slashed on the way to the net by Aaron Rome. Liambas looked to the linesman for a slashing call, looked back down for the puck, and was planted into the boards very awkwardly. There was absolutely no call for boarding. The slashing call was the lone call on the play. Fortunately for the Ads, Mr. Liambas skated off and did not miss a shift despite being down face first in pain after the hit.

Anthony Bitetto continued his hot start to the season as he put the finishing touches off on a great breakout play. The entry into the zone saw the Ads stay wide as a group, keeping the Stars somewhat frozen, and passes by Simon Moser and Joonas Rask set Bitetto up for an open shot. That’s Bitetto’s third goal of the season. He had just one goal all last season.

The comeback was capped off by Austin Watson with 5:50 remaining in the third period. A no-look backhanded pass by Tousignant went straight to the net, bounced off Rask, and into the patch of Watson to make it two goals in two games for the Michigan native.

“I think for me it’s just a little confidence,” said Austin Watson of his recent performances. “I thought I had some good chances the first few games and nothing was going in for me. Credit to [Tousignant] tonight. He grinds the puck out for twenty-seconds. I was on the ice for five-seconds and he hits me for an open net, almost. Guys are putting pucks in the right places and I’ve been fortunate enough to put myself in the right spot to have the chance at a goal scoring opportunity.”

The Ads were getting trapped in their own zone late in OT and allowed a full line change to the Stars before Patrick Cehlin managed to fight the puck out of the zone. Then the unthinkable. Cehlin didn’t dump the puck. He kept skating, skating, skating, and before you knew it the Ads chewed out an OT winning goal off the stick of Mark Van Guilder. The Ads might have skipped a line change on the charge down the ice. Given they scored off of that rush lead by Cehlin – no harm, no foul.

“A win is a win,” laughed Anthony Bitetto. “If we comeback or come out and beat a team early, a win is a win. Yeah we want to come out of the gate a little bit quicker and get on the right page early but, at this point, a win is a win. We just have to keep rolling with it.”

The Ads are undefeated in regulation through their first six games. They are 4-0-2-0 and have claimed 10 of 12 points to start the season. Next up the Ads cap off the homestand with a game against the evil –EVIL– Rockford IceHogs.

Thoughts of the Ads to this point? Scrappy? Too slow at the start of games?

The Admirals won 4-2 against the red hot Texas Stars Saturday night. A great second period effort from the Ads propelled the team to victory after trailing by two goals in the first period.

“We were fortunate we were only down two,” said Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “Five on five we weren’t bad in the first period. We just weren’t as detailed as we thought we should have been.”

Colton Sissons continued his outstanding start to the season by scoring two goals. Joshua Shalla and Austin Watson both tallied their first goals of the season. While a great 26 save performance in net by Marek Mazenec helped secure the victory at home.

Former Admiral Chris Mueller started for the Stars and won the opening face-off in his first game against his old team. The popular Admiral was the go-to guy in the pre-game skate as several players and members of the team talked to Mueller. Everyone was quite happy to see him back around the rink.

“It’s always good to see guys who you went to war with,” smiled Mike Liambas.

The Ads earned the opening power-play chance from an interference call by Texas while they were in their offensive zone. The Ads produced two good chances off the stick of Anthony Bitetto. His shots were clean to the net but failed to produce a goal.

The unfortunate then took place. A turnover from the Ads blueline lead to a shorthanded breakaway chance for Travis Morin. Bryan Rodney insured that would not happen by hitting Morin square in the head with a shoulder. The intent for a head shot wasn’t there. Looked like he was going in body-to-body but the pace of Morin altered the angle of impact.

Nevertheless, power-play gone – 4-on-4 hockey with a power-play to the Stars instead. The Stars cashed in just as the 4-on-4 expired. A great pass from Maxime Fortunus reached Morin whose slapper deflected off of Curtis McKenzie for a PP goal.

With the Ads earning another power-play, the Stars PK unit outpaced and simply suffocated the Admirals in their own zone. This lead to a turnover right in front of Mazanec and an unassisted shorthanded goal by Stars center Taylor Peters.

The first intermission was much needed for the Ads who were very over-powered in the first period. How do they start the second frame? Hot. They battled the boards strong and seemed to work the Stars onto their back-foot.

Reward would come after a great shift by the Liambas-Sissons-Rask line put the Ads on the scoreboard. Liambas tossed a puck to the net that Cristopher Nilstorp couldn’t trap. Sissons was right on top of the net to tap in the loose puck for his third goal of the season.

Persistence continued for the Ads as they equalized late in the second period after a silky series of passes. The break into the zone started off with Bitetto, who slowed down to find Van Guilder, and he picked out Joshua Shalla who one-timed it past Nilstorp for an equalizing goal.

The Ads didn’t let off the gas after the equalizer. Just one minute and thirteen seconds after Shalla’s goal Sissons tagged the net for his second of the game. Sissons took a great backhanded feed from the wall by Taylor Beck and deposited his wrister under Nilstorp’s blocker arm. That would be goal number four for him now.

With the Stars beginning to tilt the ice, the Ads and Austin Watson came from nowhere to push the lead to 4-2 in the closing stages of the third period. Watson skated in from the right wing and ripped a shot over the glove of Nilstorp for his first goal of the season.

Texas managed a strong push with their net empty (as well as a man-advantage from a Scott Ford boarding call), but the Ads held on for a 4-2 win over the visiting Stars. A really solid effort by the team after a sluggish start that saw them trail 2-0 and that deficit could have been even larger after the opening period.

Standout player of the evening was netminder Marek Mazenec. He posted 26 saves in the victory. More importantly he made some stellar “last line of defense” saves with the speed of the Stars attack getting the jump on the Ads defense. He looked very confident in net and the rest of the team really believes in the young Czech.

“We said right from the start that Mazenec and Hellberg were going to be 1 and 1-a,” commented Evason. “We didn’t come into the season that [Hellberg] was one and Mazenec was two. We planned on flipping them and seeing where we sit. It’s a nice thing to have two guys that we feel are real good prospects. [Mazenec] showed it tonight.”

The two will lock horns again Wednesday night and I, for one, can’t wait for the sequel.