Category: News

News

Taking a Look at Milwaukee Alums who are playing/have played with the Nashville Predators in 2010-2011

With Nick Spaling finally getting over the hump and scoring his first NHL goal, I thought it would be worth taking a look at the progress of some of the Admirals who have played with Nashville so far this season, but also who have spent time in Milwaukee.

Spaling hasn’t had much puck luck in the NHL, as it took 50 games to get over the hump against the New York Islanders.  On a 5-on-3 power play Spaling setup on the right side of the net.  A couple of nice passes later and Spaling had himself a gaping net.

“It was a pretty nice play and they set me up pretty good there,” Spaling said.  “It was a wide open and I just had to put it in.  I was pretty lucky to get that one.”

(Check out the rest of his post game conversation here)

It is now going on two weeks and Mark Dekanich has yet to get a start with Nashville during his second stint with the club in 2010-2011.  The problem has been the unbelievable play of goaltender Anders Lindback.   Lindback has two shut outs in a row, and those starts weren’t even his best so far.  Last Wednesday Lindback shut down Detroit for a 3-2 Nashville win, making 15 saves in a third period dominated by the Red Wings.

Dekanich looks likely to get in goal for his first NHL game sometime this week as Nashville faces three games in four nights starting tonight at home against San Jose.

Fellow Scandinavians, Teemu Laakso and Linus Klasen, have each played in one game a piece with the Predators and both have yet to record a goal.

Of the other players who skated with Milwaukee in 2009-2010 and are currently with Nashville, Cal O’Reilly has six goals and 18 points, Colin Wilson has six goals and 12 points, Cody Franson is off to a great start with 4 goals so far and Alexander Sulzer has yet to score in 12 games of NHL action.

Stay tuned later this week for my feature on the relationship between Nashville and Milwaukee in the Predators organization, and in January for my piece on the success of Milwaukee developing NHL talent.

News

New Caption Contest

Long break in the middle of the week… So to help pass the time, here’s another caption contest for you, courtesy of the lens of Scott Paulus.

As usual, media room cookies will be awarded to the winner and delivered to their seats at a future Admirals game.  Or if the winner isn’t local, maybe we’ll send you an autographed picture of Sutty eating media room cookies.  That’d have to be able to get you, like, 25 cents on eBay.  Maybe a buck with the buy-it-now option….

ANYWAY…..

RULES:  Submit a caption of the picture, or you can give quotes to the players in the picture in the comments section of this post.  Just make us laugh!  Keep the content PG-13, and don’t insult your fellow fans.

Good luck!

News

2010 Admirals High School Hockey Showdown

The 2010 Milwaukee Admirals High School Showdown will be host for the fifth year to a group of top teams in Wisconsin high school hockey.  The tournament has produced three of the last five WIAA state champions and once again appears to be a key to the top teams’ seasons.  The holiday tournament will run from December 27-29.

The teams in the holiday showdown are all from southeastern Wisconsin and consist of Cedarburg, Germantown, Kenosha, Mequon Homestead, University School of Milwaukee, Marquette University High School, Whitefish Bay/Nicolet/Shorewood and Hartland Arrowhead.

University School is the defending Admirals Showdown Champion and used its success in the tournament to springboard their run to the WIAA State Championship.   Last year’s champion Wildcats won their first round game  2-1 in a shootout against Marquette.  In the semi-finals they defeated Cedarburg 3-2, and would knock out Arrowhead 4-2 in the finals.

This year Marquette High enters the tournament as the highest ranked team in the Wisconsin High School Power Rankings and are currently ranked #4 in the state.  Marquette will face Germantown in the first round.  University School faces Kenosha, Homestead takes on Cedarburg, and Arrowhead matches up against WNS.

Each team is guaranteed at least one game at the Bradley Center and is the highlight of some the teams seasons.

News

Battle Tested Ads Down Barons

The Admirals finished a three games in three days set getting five out of a possible six points, capping the weekend with a 2-1 victory over the Oklahoma City Barons.

Things didn’t start out peachy, with Blake Geoffrion whistled for a stick infraction just 49 seconds into the game.  The penalty was able to be killed, but then  5:33 into the game, Teemu Hartikainen skated the puck out of the far circle towards the blue line in his own zone. He dropped the puck back to Liam Reddox who was waiting in the same circle.  He gathered the puck, spun  360 and put the puck on net.  Reddox’s shot found the back of the net to the surprise of everyone. The shot never left the ice and beat Smith five hole to give the Barons an early lead.  It may have been deflected.

16:48 into the first period Bendfeld felt he was wronged in some way by Aaron Johnson. Bendfeld began to hack, shove and poke at Johnson as they skated up and down the ice. Johnson not laying down pushed back but for the most part was disciplined in not taking the bait. Scott Ford on the other hand didn’t like the way Bendfeld was acting and decided to REGULATE.  After trading blows and Ford getting Bendfeld’s helmet off Ford began to work the body like Rocky on a slab of meat. When Bendfeld let his guard down Ford would get Bendfeld with a right cross. It was probably the best fight I have seen Ford involved in. Unanimous decision went to Ford in the bout.

Greg Stewart went to the sin bin with about a minute and a half left in the first for a double minor high sticking. This would give the Admirals the opportunity to get pucks on net considering that prior to the penalty the Admirals had a whopping 1 shot on goal. After the double minor the Admirals had a blistering five shots, compared to the Barons’ 14.

The Admirals were able to convert in the second period and tie the game at 1 aside. With a 2 on 1 breakaway it was Chris Mueller and Mark Santorelli  skating into the zone with the lone defender Dave Bonk.   Skating in with Santorelli following, Mueller dropped the puck back to Santorelli and went to the far side as The Proof came to the near circle. Santo put on the breaks showed a quick deek bringing Bonk to the ice in a defensive slide. Santorelli let Bonk pass by then skated to the slot and wristed a shot through traffic and lit the lamp at the 11:23 mark.  It was a great goal and dare I say, heady goal as well.

The Admirals were able to minimize the differential in SOG in the second period getting the majority of chances, 9 shots vs. Barons’ 6. Even Mark Santorelli said in the second intermission interview with the acclaimed Matt Moore that they needed to get shots on goal in the 3rd period.

… And shots they got. Just 1:39 into the third period Klasen brought the puck down the near boards uncontested. He was able to get into the near circle and that is when he let loose with a wrister that caught Barons’ goalie Martin Gerber in the mask (incredibly plain, boring, pedantic, dull, unexciting mask). The rebound fell into the slot where a crashing Mueller slashed at the puck on his backhand and netted his first goal and second point of the night.

That goal would be the last of the game for both teams but not for lack of trying. The Admirals always find a way to make things difficult or exciting, depending on your view point. With 1:30 to go in the game Brett Palin decided that skating 5 on 5 wasn’t fair for the Barons. So he decided to one hand shove a player to the ground and draw the penalty. Late penalties seem to be habitual for the Admirals this season. In this instance however, the Admirals were able to overcome the odd man attack and hang on to the win.

More to come….but feel free to start the discussion.

News

Comparing College Hockey to the Pros

The first few years that college hockey players play professionally have a tendency to be either feast or famine.  Some players like Jonathan Toews, Joe Pavelski, Zach Parise, Blake Wheeler and Dany Heatley adjust their games quickly to pro level, while others like Kyle Turris, Kevin Porter, Ryan Duncan and T. J. Hensick struggle adapting their games to the faster professional pace.

Current Nashville Predators goaltender Mark Dekanich is a player that has had lot of success in his young professional career.  Dekanich’s success came after he excelled playing four years of Division 1 college hockey at Colgate University.  The 2005-2006 season was the Raiders’ best of the past decade, as Dekanich, then a sophomore, backstopped Colgate to ECAC regular season championship.

Recently Dekanich chatted with me about the differences between playing college hockey and professional hockey:

Which is more difficult, playing college hockey or professional hockey?

Dekanich: “In college we had a lot more to do.  We practiced everyday just like we do now, but after practiced we had to go home and read for class, write papers, prepare for tests and do other things like that.  It is actually less work as a professional.  When were done at the rink, we’re done for the day, so after that I have to go home and try find something for myself to do to pass the rest of the day away.”

What are some some of things you learned from your college experience that paid off during your time as a professional?

Dekanich: “There were a lot of things I had to learn like living on my own.  That helped prepare me for things like cooking for myself now that I play pro.”

To read more from my interview with Dekanich, check out my feature on the netminder on MilwaukeeAdmirals.com.

So Roundtable, this year’s Admirals feature several ex-college players, such as Blake Geoffrion, Ryan Flynn, Chris Mueller, Scott Ford, Grant Lewis, Mike Barlett, Mark Van Guilder and Ryan Thang.
Which players have adjusted their games the best to the professional level, which are still a work in progress, and which are too early to tell?

News

A Cheap Plug And A Couple Injury Notes

Our friend in press row Chris Peppas has made contributions to a new book called “Pea Soup For The Packer Heart”.  If you bleed green and gold, please be advised that there will be a book signing at the Ads game this Saturday night, with $5 from each sale going to the Admirals Power Play Foundation.  Keep an eye out for more details from Chris, but here’s a link to the book’s home page:  www.peasouppackerbook.com .  Check it out.

Mark Van Guilder is itching to get back to action, but there’s still some trouble getting a good grip on a stick.  As soon as he can do that, he should be back in the lineup.

Matt Halischuk hopes to return before we turn the calendar over to 2011.

News

How Do the Virtual Milwaukee Admirals Stack Up?

A few years ago video game manufacturer EA Sports added the AHL to its options of teams you can use for their NHL video game.  I am not a frequent “gamer,” but I like to dabble from time to time, and I’ve found the addition of the AHL teams to be a pretty neat thing.  Imagine matching your hometown club against the best in the NHL in an exhibition match, or playing a showdown between an NHL team and its top AHL affiliate.

Having recently purchased “NHL ’11” as a early Christmas gift for a friend, I figured it would be a lot of fun taking the virtual Admirals for a spin.  Now my friend is a far better “gamer” than I am (my glory days on the Sega Genesis have long since passed me by), but I managed to go 1-2-0 against him, using Milwaukee vs. Lake Erie twice and Wilkes-Barre Scranton once.

Here are some of my observations about the virtual Admirals:

1) Mark Santorelli is amazing.  It was really fun using both Santorellis on the same line last year on “NHL ’10,” but virtual Mark continues to be a dynamite player on the game for the Admirals.  My best play was a 2-on-1 one-timer which Santorelli usually finished for a goal.

2) Linus Klasen is an unknown.  I never could quite get a handle on how best to utilize Klasen on the offensive attack, even on the power play.  Most likely that’s because I don’t know how to use all the special player moves, but virtual Klasen proved a touch maddening.  Zero points in three games.

3) Brett Palin, Teemu Laakso, Jonathon Blum and Scott Ford were all dependable.  Despite my poor record, every game was low scoring.  My virtual Admirals defense blocked an amazing amount of shots.   I was especially impressed with virtual Palin, who hit everything that moved.

4) Chet Pickard played like Chet Pickard has so far.  The rosters we used for the game must have had Mark Dekanich called up with Nashville, because my only options were Jeremy Smith and Chet Pickard in net.  I couldn’t manage a big save from virtual Pickard when I needed it, and I couple of goals I wanted back big time.

So Roundtable, when/if you play video game hockey, do you choose to play with the Milwaukee Admirals?  If you do, then what are some of your observations?  Do some of the virtual Admirals surprise or disappoint you?  Who is your favorite virtual Admirals player?

News

Moving on

That’s what we have to do.  Last night was pretty rough, and the coaches are going to do everything they can to get the guys ready for the next game Sunday afternoon in Peoria.

On Sunday, Peoria will be playing in their third game in three days, and their first one at home.  Hopefully the Ads can show off some speed and take advantage of a team that may be a bit winded from travelling to Hamilton, Lake Erie Cleveland, and then back home.

Ready for some good news?  Blake Geoffrion told Aaron Sims in last night’s broadcast that he is expecting to dress for Sunday’s game.  Geoffrion had been out since November 7th, after taking a blow to the head from the Wolves’ Spencer Machacek.

While it’ll be great to get a center back, Geoffrion will need to start contributing offensively.  In 12 games, he has obtained a point in just 3 of them, and none of them have been goals.  Earlier in the season, the Thuresson – Geoffrion – Klasen line was getting some good chances.  Maybe Blake’s return will jumpstart Thuresson and spark some more production out of Linus?  We’ll see.
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Yahoo sports….gotta love em.  Here’s a clip from the preview for tonight’s Preds/Canes game.

Rinne, who will likely make his 12th consecutive start, has compiled a 1.45 goals-against average while winning both of his career meetings against the Hurricanes (11-11-3). The most recent was a 2-1 shootout win Nov. 20, when Rinne made 21 saves through overtime before stopping two attempts in the tiebreaker.

While I’m not really a betting man, I’d be willing to wager that the consecutive starts streak is going to be broken tonight.

And according to Yahoo! fantasy hockey, Mark Dekanich is owned by someone in 0% of all leagues.  So you now have the opportunity to be the first person in the country to pick up Mark Dekanich!  Make it happen!

News

Admirals Road Trip Lessons

During the life of a hockey season, there tend to be a few turning points, positive and negative that have an effect on the course of a whole campaign.  During the Admirals 10-game November road swing, a couple of major momentum shifts occurred.

Milwaukee started off the trip hot, then went ice cold in the middle, but finished the trip strong.   In the process, the Admirals became a better team now than they were prior to leaving Milwaukee for an extended period of time.

So what do the players and coaches think were the lessons from the trip?

Coach Lane Lambert:

“I think the biggest quality we took from the trip was our ability to learn from adversity, and for us to overcome and come together as a group.  During the middle the trip we went through a bit of a tough patch, but I thought our leadership really showed through.  It was a learning experience for us to go through that adversity, but adversity can make you stronger if you go about it in the right way.  I think we did a good job of (dealing) with it.”

(Now Nashville) goaltender Mark Dekanich:

“Anytime your on the road for such a long period of time like that it brings guys together.  I think it’s a good experience especially for the younger guys, who are playing in their first year as a professional, to get to see how the veterans handle themselves on the road and to see what we need to do to be successful.  There was a lot of ups and downs during the trip, but I think we did a fairly good job of managing that.  We were 5-3-2 on that than 10 game swing, which is not too bad.”

Defenseman Scott Ford:

“I think anytime you go on the road for such a long period of time, it gives your team a chance to jell together and kind of learn a little bit about each other.  You spend a lot of time together, eat meals together and get to know each other more on a personal level, so that can help you jell as a team.  I think we saw that with this trip.”