The effort was there for the Ads in their home opener, but unfortunately the Checkers had the finesse in the moments that mattered.

Charlotte displayed some brilliant offensive plays and benefited from a few defensive gaffes to down Milwaukee 4-3, saddling the Ads with their first loss of the season.

The Ads’ forecheck was as aggressive as you could hope for, particularly in the opening period. Getting the puck out of its own end was a tall task for Charlotte in the early going.

But that tough, gritty play ended up costing the Admirals all night.

Milwaukee spent 19 minutes in the penalty box giving Charlotte plenty of scoring opportunities while cutting into its own. The Admirals simply had to spend too much time on their heels, and had a tough time finishing when they did get chances.

Here’s Coach Evason’s reaction.

Victor Rask scored the game’s first goal 12:10 into the game after receiving a great feed from Jerome Samson to beat Smitty between his legs.

Gabriel Bourque had the answer 12:18 into the second, scoring Milwaukee’s first home goal of the season. And it was an unassisted beauty. After knocking over Samson and acting like Rasmus Rissanen wasn’t even there, Bourque fired the puck right past Justin Peters to tie it up 1-1.

Coach thought the goal was a rallying point for the team.

The Checkers took the lead back about three minutes later when Drayson Bowman beat a screened Smith on a power play. Charlotte struck again a few minutes later when Sean Dolan reached into his bag of tricks and pulled out a textbook wraparound after a Victor Bartley miscue.

It got bleaker early in the third when Captain Moore fell down in his own zone and Zach Boychuk flung one over Smith’s right shoulder to make it 4-1.

After that one it looked like the Ads might go quietly into the night.

The first period tenacity returned, however, and the Admirals started converting on power plays rather than trying to stave them off.

Patrick Cehlin got a great pass from Bourque and Furied the Fury on a 5-on-3 chance to make it 4-2.

The Ads still weren’t done. With three minutes left, Mattias Ekholm capitalized on another power play chance, getting a fat rebound off a soft Taylor Beck shot and burying it to make it a one-goal deficit.

The Checkers held on, despite another late Fury opportunity.

For the most part, again, the effort was definitely there. Milwaukee fought back to win the shots battle 25-23 despite losing it in the first two periods.

Smitty made quite a few saves he shouldn’t have, but was a little late on one he should’ve.

The defense looked solid in spurts, particularly on the penalty kill. 19 minutes in the box collectively only resulted in one Charlotte goal.

Scott Valentine was all over the place and made a few nice diving blocks. Aside from his gift to Boychuk, Moore had a few hits big enough to show why the “C” is on his chest.

Anthony Bitetto got to see a little time at forward with Daniel Bang and Juuso Puustinen sitting out and did a pretty good job crashing the boards.

Here’s Coach on Bitetto’s play and the status of Puustinen.

Bourque was Bourque. When it looked bad, he was there to answer with some NHL-quality play. Cehlin continued to give himself chances by being active around the net. He leads the Ads in goals with three after picking up another tonight.

Overall, fans can take solace in the fact that this doesn’t look like a team that’s going to lay down. With the way they came out of the locker room and at times really dictated the flow of the game, it looked a lot like Coach Evason had lit a new fire under them.

Now they just need to work on controlling that fire.

In the meantime, here’s Chris Mueller decking somebody.

After spotting the Grand Rapids Griffins a 2-0 lead, the Admirals battled back to take home a 3-2 victory to open the 2012-13 campaign.

Rookie Patrick Cehlin scored the game-tying and game-winning goals in the third period, while Jeremy Smith made 19 saves on 21 shots to pick up his first win of the season.

Of course Coach Evason is pleased to get that first win out of the way right out of the gate.  And he was very pleased with how the team played 5-on-5 throughout the night.

The Griffins opened the scoring 9:49 into the game while Michael Latta was serving an interference penalty.  The penalty kill was moving along very well, with a couple of quick clears.  But one attempted clear by Blum was kept in at the point.  About 20  seconds later, Joakim Andersson stuffed it home after Smitty made a couple of saves from in close.

With the Admirals on a power play in the 2nd period, the puck wasn’t held in by Blum at the blue line, and Landon Ferraro scooped up the puck.  He went in all alone and was able to beat Smitty for the shorthanded goal at 15:31 of the second.

Let me be clear — I am not dumping on Jon Blum’s game.  He played very well over the course of the game, and assisted on one of Cehlin’s goals.  So don’t let the fact that he was on the ice for both Griffin goals detract from the fact that he was good tonight.  Okay?  Okay.

In the final minute of the second period, the Admirals scored their first of the year.  Jeremy Smith passed the puck to Mattias Ekholm, who then fed a long pass to Chris Mueller at the offensive blue line.  Mueller went in all alone on Griffins goaltender Jordan Pearce.  It was his 70th career Admiral goal, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.

More from the coach:

Smitty wasn’t originally awarded the second assist on the goal, but the scorers eventually added it.  And it was a GREAT pass by Ekholm.

Cehlin tied it in the 3:28 into the third period, putting in a rebound of a Jon Blum shot.  Pearce made a good save, but the rebound kicked right to Cehlin who was driving to the net from the near face-off circle.

Cehlin’s second goal came on a Mountain Fury power play about four minutes later.  He certainly deserves the credit for finishing the play, but Taylor Beck deserves a ton of credit for the perfect cross-ice pass to find him.

Late in the game, the Admirals were shot blocking machines, with Austin Watson getting name-checked by the coach after the game for his defense.

LINES:

Bourque  – Mueller – Puustinen
Bang – Latta – Beck
Cehlin – Lajunen – MacLellan
Henderson – Van Guilder – Watson

Moore – Bartley
Blum – Valentine
Jarvinen – Ekholm

– Smitty was sharp in net, and Coach Evason had some nice praise for him.

– Daniel Bang had a breakaway chance in the first period, and had a nice game….until he left with an injury.  Here’s the coach.

Cehlin was bumped up to take his place on that line…and scored two goals.

– The Mountain Fury power play?  Yeah, it was great to get a goal, but they finished 1-7 on the night.  The didn’t score on a minute of 5×3 time, nor did they score on a four-minute power play after a Louis-Marc Aubry high stick.  (full disclosure…those did overlap).  But it was at a crucial time at the game, midway through the third period after the Admirals had taken the lead.  A goal at that point would have been huge to finish the Griffins off.  And Coach says they’ll be working on the power play this week.

– I thought all the lines did some good things tonight….none of them were invisible.  And all of the defensive pairings did good things as well.  The Admirals really did have the better chances 5-on-5 throughout the vast majority of the game.

So the team will have a happy bus-ride back to Milwaukee tonight, and they’ll have a week of practice before the home opener next Friday night.

– Chuck-a-puck cleanup time:  3:16

QUESTIONS:

– Just an easy one….. How great is it that hockey season is finally back?

Enjoy the highlights….

Thanks to an excruciatingly long second period, the Ads dropped their second preseason game against the Chicago Wolves 3-1 at the MSOE Kern Center.

Though no goals were scored for either side, the first twenty minutes of play were pretty solid all-around for Milwaukee. Magnus Hellberg got the nod to start between the pipes and he didn’t disappoint in the early going.

The big goalie made seven saves and got a lot of help from his defense led by Anthoney Bitetto. Bitetto definitely looked the most impressive from the blue line throughout the game, breaking up a couple of big Chicago chances and setting up quite a few good opportunities offensively.

Hellberg made three more saves in the second period before Chicago’s Mark Matheson fired a quick, unexpected laser from the top of the left circle that found the right side of the net to put Chicago on the board first, 8:13 into the period.

Less than two minutes later, Jordan Schroeder made it 2-0 Wolves, lifting one right over Hellberg’s left shoulder (no easy task). That got Coach Evason to make the change to Jeremy Smith.

Here’s Coach on what he thought of Hellberg’s night:

Smitty let the purest goal of the night for either team in when Schroeder made it 3-0 on a Wolves power play. After that, he settled down and stopped the last 10 shots he saw, keeping the Admirals within striking distance.

The Ads ended up outshooting the Wolves 30-23 for the game, but they just weren’t able to poke many in. They did a good job crowding the net, which they were rewarded for early in the third.

Andre Bouvet Morrisette did a great job grinding for the puck and freeing it up in front, and Ben Ryan snapped it passed Eddie Lack with 15:29 left in the game. Jack MacLellan picked up the second assist.

That would be all for the Ads as they couldn’t finish most of their opportunities, partially because of execution issues, partially because there was no Lack of great play from Chicago’s net minder.

Milwaukee never Furied the Fury, despite six power play opportunities. The Chicago penalty kill looked more aggressive at times than its full strength offense, and the Ads just didn’t seem ready for it.

Here’s Coach on the team’s Lack of scoring: (okay I’ll stop now)

Besides the outcome, the Ads got some positive individual performances (which is really what you’re looking for in the preseason anyway.) Daniel Bang wins the Charlie Hustle award for the night. He did a good job creating opportunities for himself all game and Coach took notice.

Here’s Coach on the Borque-Mueller-Bang line we saw towards the end of the game.

Some other notables:

MVG and Bourque were solid as usual, creating a good chunk of the better opportunities Milwaukee had last night. Latta threw himself around a lot and looked pretty good from a physicality standpoint. Kevin Henderson spent a lot of time in the box.

Cuts were announced this morning. Cam Reid was released and Aronson, Roussel, and Bouvet-Morrisette were shipped down to Cincy. Hmm. Morrisette sent down after getting an assist. Isn’t it ironic?

Questions:

Any other players stand out to you guys?

What’d you think of Coach’s responses?

Sad/Glad to see any of the guys headed down to Cincy?

Hockey’s back.  Can I get a hallelujah?

The Admirals opened their pre-season schedule in Rockford on Thursday night, and the IceHogs came back from a 2-0 first period deficit to edge the Admirals 3-2 in a shootout.

While of course they wanted to win the game, Coach Evason says that there’s more to the pre-season games than just that.

Jani Lajunen has the distinction of having the first Admiral goal of the fall.  After Juuso Puustinen’s shot/pass went wide of Carter Hutton, Lajunen was behind the goal-line and banked the puck off of Hutton and in the net.

Eight minutes later while on the power play (#furythefury), Anthony Bitetto’s shot was deflected by Juuso Puustinen off metal.  Daniel Bang was right in front of the net and finished the job.

In the second period, the IceHogs scored a pair to even things up.  Marcus Kruger fired a hard one-timer from the top of the near circle that went off Smitty’s glove and in at 6:23.  And then while the Admirals were down two men, Ben Smith poked home the goal after a scramble in front of Magnus Hellberg.

In the shootout, Hellberg allowed goals on the first three shooters he faced, while the Admirals could only get two past relief netminder Mac Carruth.

Lines:

Jack MacLellan – Michael Latta – Taylor Beck
Daniel Bang – Jani Lajunen – Juuso Puustinen
Josh Shalla – Ben Ryan – Austin Watson
Patrick Cehlin – Andre Bouvet-Morrisette – Cam Reid

Foss-Valentine
Bartley-Roussel
Bitetto-Jarvinen

Of their 20 dressed players, the Admirals played 9 rookies and 2 additional guys making their North American debut, while the IceHogs had some familiar names and some NHL experience.  Names like Nick Leddy, Jimmy Hayes, Andrew Shaw, Ben Smith, and one of the Brookbanks.

No, Rob Flick did not play.

Coach Evason likes how they stacked up against the veteran IceHogs.

The team did some good things, and they did some bad things.  The penalty kill was good overall, but they also found themselves down 5-on-3 on three different occasions.  Guys would make some solid plays, and then take a Yonking penalty.

But it’s the first game, after three practices.  This was a good starting point against a good and seasoned IceHogs team, that already had a pre-season game under their belts.  Plenty to build on and work on from tonight’s game.  We asked Coach if he was pleased with how the things they worked on in practice translated into the game situation.

What should we expect with the roster for Saturday’s game at the Kern Center?

We also got our first look at hybrid icing in action.

Impressive:

Patrick Cehlin: On a line with a couple of guys that seem destined to be playing hockey in a city other than Milwaukee, Cehlin stood out in a big way with his speed, stickwork, and drive to the net.  Looking forward to seeing more.

Victor Bartley:  He wore an “A” on his jersey and picked up right where he left off at the end of last season.  Great puck mover, solid in both ends, and he even came to the defense of a teammate in the sort of way that you’d see Scott Ford do it last year.  Jimmy Hayes had a really big hit on Anthony Bitetto behind the Admiral goal in the 2nd period, and Bartley took exception.  He ended up getting a roughing penalty on the play, but there was zero hesitation on his part.  His teammate got rocked, and he jumped in.

Scott Valentine:  Overall, a solid game, but what stands out to me was what a one-man-wrecking crew he was down low as the Ads were killing off a 5-on-3 in the third period.  He was blocking passes in the lanes, he was winning races to pucks, disrupting timing, and he was without a doubt the best player on the ice that shift.  I’m concerned that he may be on the short end of a numbers game once Ryan Ellis gets healthy, but he played well tonight.

Daniel Bang:  Played on the line with Puustinen and Lajunen, and wasn’t afraid to drive to the net.  Great net presence, and got rewarded with a goal.

Joonas Jarvinen:  Got the second assist on both Admiral goals, and was solid in his own end.  Dropped the gloves against Brookbank and fought to a draw.  Neither guy got any particularly good shots in, which for Brookbank, must be a huge disappointment.  Joonas held his own fine, and made good decisions throughout the night.

Jeremy Smith:  VERY sharp.  And needed to be early on.  How did he spend his summer?  Getting even better.  I think we’ll be in good shape with him again this year.

Others:

Austin Watson:  Had some good plays on the forecheck and backcheck, but didn’t notice much else.

Josh Shalla:  Didn’t notice him much at all.  After the stellar junior career, was hoping he’d have more of an offensive impact.  But it’s just one game…hope we’ll see him Saturday.

Andre Bouvet-Morrisette:  Probably going to Cincy.  Didn’t do much to help his cause to be kept here.  Cam Reid didn’t help himself much either.

Charles-Olivier Roussel:  Played much better than the last time we saw him.  Not afraid to jump in the play, but the flip side is that he can get caught up ice when the puck goes the other way.  Ok in his own end.  Probably a Cincy guy with our depth charts the way they are.

Magnus Hellberg:  The return of the big goalie!  Good positioning and reactions.  Made some big saves in the third period.  A bit scrambly at times.  Played well overall, but I think there’s plenty that Mitch Korn will want to work on with him.

________________________________

Follow Trey on Twitter @adsroundtable
Follow Ryan on Twitter @ryanadmirals

The 2011-12 campaign came to an end Wednesday night, as the Abbotsford Heat scored the go-ahead goal in the third period to win the game and the series over Milwaukee.  The final score was 4-2, and the Heat win the series 3-games-to-none.

The Heat had seven power play chances, and scored on two of them….and a third goal came a second after a power play ended.

The Admirals scored a pair of power play goals of their own late in the second period to tie things up, courtesy of Kyle Wilson and Victor Bartley.  But a Taylor Beck yonking penalty (aka delay of game) led to a Dustin Sylvester power play goal at 8:47 of the third period, as his shot beat Jeremy Smith over his right shoulder.  Clay Wilson had the empty-netter with 30 seconds left in the third, to put the cherry on top of their series sweep.

—————

Notes:

– Lineup changes.  Ben Ryan, Scott Valentine, Jeff Foss out.  Victor Bartley, Joel Champagne, and new guy Anthony Bibetto in.

– Krys Kolanos?  A pair of assists tonight.  8 points in the series.

– Jon Blum took a boarding penalty 9 seconds into the game.  And then took another one at 3:34.  The Heat had 6 power play chances over the first 30 minutes of the game.  Tough to get stuff going when you’re skating down a man that often against a team as good as Abbotsford.

Breaking down the fourth wall here for a moment…….What else is there to say right now?  I doubt I have anything particularly profound to add.  As fans, we’re all emotionally invested in the team, and it is immensely sad when the grand curtain comes down.  You don’t need me to tell you that.  You feel it too.  But hockey season ends in heartbreak for every team except the champs.  It was a great effort to make the playoffs, and once there, they faced a pretty damn good team.  Wish it could have ended better, but that’s how it’s going to end this year.

And thus ends quite a remarkable season of Admirals hockey.

We’ll probably feel like taking a trip down memory lane in a few days.  In the meantime, I’d like to take this opportunity to say thank you for reading this blog and being a part of the Roundtable this season.  Thank you to everyone who has commented, or simply lurked in the shadows.  Thank you to every reader who has been with us from Day 1, and all that we’ve picked up along the way.  Thank you to our friends in Nashville, to the Ryan Ellis fan club who stood up for their guy, to friends and family members of the players looking for media coverage, and to anyone who still chuckles at our silly running gags.  And a special thank you to Aaron Sims — one of the all-time greats (and lead singer of Chili Sabotage).

That’s all for now.  Welcome to the off-season.

 

The Milwaukee Admirals are playoff bound.

Controlling their own destiny, the Admirals put up a four-spot in the third period, on their way to a 6-1 win over the visiting Charlotte Checkers on Sunday evening.

As a result, the Admirals clinched the #5 spot in the conference, and will face-off against the Abbotsford Heat in the best-of-five first round of the Calder Cup playoffs.  The series will open in Milwaukee Friday and Sunday, with games three through five in Abbotsford next week.

Coach Herbers isn’t surprised that this team didn’t quit.

Both Milwaukee and Charlotte were playing their third game in three days, and went with the same goaltender for the third time in three days.

Ryan Thang opened the scoring with a power play goal, putting in a rebound of a shot from Kyle Wilson.

Brodie Dupont scored what would eventually be the game winning goal at 6:35 of the second period, skating into the zone on the left wing and firing a shot from the near circle that flat out beat Justin Peters.

Coach Herbers says it was huge to get that two-goal lead.

The Checkers got one back with a power play goal from Jerome Samson, who had a shot from a sharp angle on the far side that beat Smith.  It was such a sharp angle, we thought it hit the side of the net, but no, the red light went off.

Thang scored his second of the gmae with somewhat of a mirror image of Dupont’s goal.  After an icing call was waived off by the linesman, Scott Valentine fed a long pass to Thang on the right wing.  He skated into the zone, and his shot from the right wheel just flat out beat Peters.

Here’s Thang on the play.

I think that was really the back-breaker for the Checkers in this game.  Two out of those three Admiral goals were shots from far out that didn’t have any screens or real distractions.  Yes they were good shots.  But those are the kinds of saves that he needs to make.

Ryan Flynn got a goal about five minutes later, after his shot went in off of Checker D-man Rasmus Rissanen.  Jani Lajunen had an empty net goal nine seconds after the Checkers pulled Peters.  And then Taylor Beck banged home a power play goal with 1:32 to play to complete the scoring.

NOTES:

– Interesting scrum in the first period that sent three Admirals to the box and two Checkers to the box….and somehow, the Admirals got to go from a 5-4 power play to a 5-3 power play?  Mark Lemelin was the referee that called the penalties, and we’re not sure why there wasn’t more protest from the Checker bench.  Durno was assessed four minutes, but still, I’m pretty sure the Ads shouldn’t have had an extra power play there.

– Victor Bartley left the game after that first period scrum.  Day-to-day is the official word.  Hopefully he’ll be ready to go next Friday, because he’s a very important piece of the puzzle for this team.

– Thang opened the season with a pair of goals in Peoria, and closed the regular season with another two goals tonight.  Thang has been playing well recently, and Coach says that he’s going to need to keep that going.

QUESTIONS:

– Do you like the match-up against Abbotsford?

– Tell the truth…did you write this team off in early March?

– What was your regular season highlight?

The Admirals could have clinched tonight with a win over the Wolves, coupled with a Charlotte or Houston loss in their games.

Charlotte and Houston didn’t hold up their end of the donkey.

But the Admirals did.  Jon Blum created a turnover and led a 2-on-0 rush in overtime that Chris Mueller finished, to propel the Admirals to a 2-1 win over the Wolves.

Blummer describes the goal — and deserves a ton of credit for making a really smart play.

He knew exactly what Haydar was going to do, and was able to capitalize.

Coach Herbers says that yeah, it was a huge game, but really, they’ll all been pretty huge for awhile now.

After a scoreless first period, Ryan Thang was credited with a goal at 15:27 of the second.  I couldn’t tell if it was meant to be a shot or a pass towards the crease…but the puck was re-directed by Wolf defenseman Jordan Henry, and it went past Eddie Lack.

Anton Rodin tied it up with 6:33 left in the third period with a shot from just inside the far face-off circle that beat Smitty.  He may have been screened a bit on that shot.

The Ads outshot the Wolves 2-0 in the OT period, with Blum and Mueller being the heroes.  Blum actually figured in both Admiral goals, assisting on Thang’s tally, but wasn’t named one of the three stars.  (1. Lack, 2. Rodin, 3. Smith).

——-

Notes:

Here’s how the lines started out…

Henderson – Van Guilder – Flynn
Dupont – Mueller – Beck
Thang – Wilson – Latta
Ryan – Lajunen – Stortini

In the second period, coach flip-flopped Ben Ryan and Taylor Beck.  Here was the rationale behind the switch.

It seemed light a bit of a fire under Beck, as his play was noticeably better after the change. And Ryan more than held his own on the Mueller line too.

The Ads outshot the Wolves 14-5 in the second period, and really did seem to dominate much of the play, getting some extended time in the offensive zone.

The Wolves did decide to rest some of their regular players for tonight’s game.  Some of them are a bit banged up, and why put them out there in a game that meant very little to the home team?  Scratched were Nolan Baumgartner, Kevin Connauton, Andrew Gordon, Dustin Friesen, Mike Duco, Mark Mancari, Mark Matheson, Steve Reinprecht, Victor Oreskovich, and Matt Climie.  So they were a bit short of their usual firepower.

Meanwhile in Rockford, the IceHogs decided to start Kent Simpson.  Who?  Exactly.  Thanks guys.  And the Charlotte Checkers were able to skate out of the land of Roo with a 4-3 shootout win.

The Houston Aeros put up a 4-spot in the first half of the 2nd period of their game against the San Antonio Rampage, and they kept their post-season hopes alive with a 5-3 victory.

So going into tomorrow, here’s how it looks…

5.  Rochester 86 points
6.  Milwaukee 85 points
7.  San Antonio 85 points
8.  Charlotte 85 points
9.  Houston 84 points

Lake Erie and Peoria are mathematically eliminated.

Tomorrow it’ll be…..

Charlotte @ Milwaukee
Rochester @ Lake Erie
Texas @ Houston
Oklahoma City @ San Antonio

– We get a point, we clinch.
– If Houston loses, we clinch.
-If San Antonio loses in regulation, we clinch.

It’s nice being able to control your own destiny.  Hope to see you at the Bradley Center tomorrow.

No Carter Hutton was out there for Rockford, but it was a lack of quality scoring chances that stymied the Admirals in their first game against the IceHogs since the ‘Brawl at the BC”.

The Ads picked up a crucial point and decreased their magic number to X (not sure…the tiebreakers need to be calculated…but it’ll probably be 3), but Rockford used its last man, Peter LeBlanc, to beat Milwaukee in a shootout.  Final score was 2-1.

One team out-shot the other team 35-16 in the 105 minutes of play (according to the local shot counter). Which one do you suppose was the team in the thick of a frantic run to the playoffs?

The Ads could attribute much of their struggle to put the puck on net to Rockford’s 1-3-1 trap. Neutral ice was tough to cross cleanly, as for every Milwaukee forward there seemed to be two IceHogs ready to shut down passing lanes and force bad turnovers. There were plenty of the latter tonight.

Actually…Don’t call it a trap.  Here’s Coach Herbers.

Our eye in the sky, Ryan Miller, pegged frustrating giveaways at about six key points in the contest, but luckily Smitty was there to clean up the mess for most of them.

Smith stopped 34 of the 35 shots he faced in regulation and overtime.

Michael Latta got a little revenge, putting the Ads up 1-0 with 2:56 left in the second period. Latta got behind both Rockford defensemen and received a perfect cross-ice pass from the top of the left circle courtesy of Ryan Thang.  The pass was re-directed right in off Latta’s stick.

Here’s Coach Herbers on Latta’s game.

The IceHogs tied it up after a mad scramble in front of Jeremy Smith.  Victor Bartley broke his stick shooting the puck, and that prompted a breakaway in the other direction.  Smith made the initial save, but couldn’t cover the puck and the Admirals couldn’t clear it.  After a centering pass, Lady Byng Humanitarian of the year runner-up Rob Flick put the puck into an open net.

Here’s Smith talking about the goal from his perspective.

————

NOTES:

– The best line tonight was the Van Flynderson line, as they were the only ones that were able to get some sustained pressure for any length of time in the offensive zone.

– Michael Latta.  Not a great fight against Flick.  More Rocky V than Rocky IV.  This was his first game back after serving his suspension and missing a couple other games.

– Holy turnovers, Batman!  Latta, Beck, Wilson, Blum, Valentine, Henderson, (flipping sheet of paper over) and Wilson and Beck some more.  Yeah, the ice wasn’t great, but still.

– IceHogs finish season series against Milwaukee going 10-1-0-1.  Also known as pwnd.

– Ads slip to 8th in the conference with two games to go.  What needs to be different tomorrow in Rosemont?

Here are Coach’s thoughts on the matchup tomorrow against the Wolves.

I think most people probably would have said that if the Admirals could finish the NC and TX portion of the 7-game road trip with a 4-1 record, it’d be viewed as a success.

That’s exactly what they did, but that one loss was tonight against the San Antonio Rampage.  It was a 4-1 decision that jumpstarted the Rampage’s playoff hopes.

The Rampage moved up to 5th place in the conference with the win, moving one point ahead of Milwaukee, Houston, Peoria, Lake Erie, and Rochester, who all have 82 points.

Nuts and bolts are here, and the Admirals recap is here.

The Rampage jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period with goals 58 seconds apart late in the frame.  Chris Mueller made it a 2-1 game with a power play goal off of the leg of Nolan Yonkman 7:17 into the second period, but Bill Thomas got that one back 1:36 later after Atte Engren didn’t make a clean save.

The Admirals didn’t have any success on any other power plays, and gave up a 5-on-3 power play goal 4:52 into the third period to really take the wind out of the sails.

Engren was not as sharp has he had been recently.  But again, he can’t be expected to win all that often when the Admirals can’t get more than one goal of support for him.  The Admirals didn’t get an even strength goal in his last two starts.  They got away from their gameplan, spent too much time in the box, and tried to be a little too cute on some bad ice.

This game wrapped up the regular season schedule against the West Division, and it’s too bad.  The Ads finish 14-5-0-1 against the West.

So the team will fly back tomorrow, and then have a couple of days to get ready for the final stretch — Rockford on Friday, the Wolves on Saturday, and then Charlotte on Sunday.

Be advised that there will be a viewing party at Major Goolsby’s on Friday the 13th if you can’t make it to the land of Beef-A-Roo for the game against the IceHogs.

The Admirals are going to sleep tonight in the 5th spot in the conference standings.

Seems pretty improbable, doesn’t it?

The Admirals remained perfect on their road trip by winning their fourth straight, this time a 2-1 shootout win over the Houston Aeros.

While it’s nice to sit INSIDE the top 8 for the first time in a long time, it should be noted that 5th place through 8th place all sit with 82 points.  And then 9th and 10th are just a point behind that.  But the Admirals have done it in less games and have a better winning percentage, so they jump to the top.

After a scoreless first period and a mostly scoreless second period, Chris Mueller knocked Aero defenseman Kris Fredheim off the puck while killing a penalty, and Mueller went in on Matt Hackett for a shorthanded breakaway chance.  He scored his 30th goal of the season — the first Admiral to reach that milestone since Rich Peverley.

The Aeros tied it up at 7:14 of the third period, after a Jon Blum clear went off a skate, and a shot from Brett Bulmer went off the post and in.

The posts…..The Admirals hit metal three times over regulation and overtime.  But the posts, not wanting to be partial, returned the favor in the shootout, as a pair of Aeros shots went “ping” and bounced out.

Jeff Taffe scored in the shootout for the Aeros.  Jon Blum and Ryan Thang scored for the Admirals and this was Atte Engren’s first shootout win of the year.

Engren, again, was solid in net despite a lack of offense in front of him, and he picked up his second straight win.  He stopped 22 of 23 shots.

Notes:

– While Jeremy Smith got the call-up before the game, the Aeros got some reinforcements as the Minnesota Wild season ended yesterday.  Three out of those four defensemen suited up tonight.

– The Admirals end the season series with a perfect 4-0 record against Houston.  Which is nice, but it doesn’t take the sting out of Game 7 last May.

– Michael Latta’s suspension is over, but he didn’t dress.  (Insert joke about how he was jersey-less during “Flick-gate” last week…)

– Off-day tomorrow for the Admirals (for the entire league, actually) and then a rematch against the Rampage on Tuesday to either create some separation or muddy the playoff picture even more.