This afternoon the AHL announced this season’s recipient for the Fred T. Hunt Award – given to the player who best exemplifies qualities of sportsmanship, determination and dedication to hockey. Yet again, it is a member of the Admirals own Midwest Division: the Iowa Wild’s captain and former Wisconsin Badger Jake Dowell.

Per the AHL’s release:

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … The American Hockey League announced today that Jake Dowell of the Iowa Wild has been named the 2013-14 winner of the Fred T. Hunt Memorial Award as the AHL player who best exemplifies the qualities of sportsmanship, determination and dedication to hockey.

The award is voted on by coaches, players and members of the media in each of the league’s 30 cities.

Dowell has served as captain of the Wild during the team’s first season in Iowa while also dealing with personal tragedy. Dowell’s father, John, passed away in February after a lengthy battle with Huntington’s disease, a debilitating genetic neurological disorder which also affects his older brother, Luke. Dowell’s openness about his family’s fight with Huntington’s disease and his advocacy for a cure has brought national awareness to the cause, while Dowell and his Wild teammates have taken part in charity drives and fundraisers for research.

A native of Eau Claire, Wis., Dowell has remained a leader on the ice in Des Moines throughout his trying season, appearing in 54 games with Iowa as well as one with the Wild’s NHL affiliate in Minnesota, with whom he is currently on recall. The seventh-year pro out of the University of Wisconsin has played 157 career games in the NHL with Chicago, Dallas and Minnesota, along with 302 career AHL contests with Iowa, Houston, Rockford and Norfolk. He was originally drafted by the Blackhawks in 2004.

This award, which was first presented by the AHL in 1978, honors the late Fred T. Hunt, a long-time contributor to the league who won three Calder Cup championships as a player and three more as a general manager during a career spent primarily with the AHL’s Buffalo Bisons and the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres. Previous winners of the award include Ross Yates (1983), Glenn Merkosky (1987, ’91), Bruce Boudreau (1988), Murray Eaves (’89, ’90), John Anderson (1992), Tim Tookey (1993), Ken Gernander (1996, 2004), Randy Cunneyworth (2000), Mike Keane (2007), Ajay Baines (2009), Casey Borer (2010), Bryan Helmer (2011), Chris Minard (2012) and Brandon Davidson (2013).

In operation since 1936, the American Hockey League continues to serve as the top development league for all 30 National Hockey League teams. Nearly 90 percent of all players competing in the NHL are AHL graduates, and through the years the American Hockey League has been home to more than 100 honored members of the Hockey Hall of Fame. The 2013-14 regular season ends on Apr. 19, and then 16 clubs will continue to vie for the league’s coveted championship trophy when the 2014 Calder Cup Playoffs get underway.

The next AHL award will be announced on Monday and will be the Dudley “Red” Garrett Award for outstanding rookie.

Today the Milwaukee Admirals unveiled a snazy new website. I’m proud to have one of the first articles to be displayed, a feature story on Mark Van Guilder’s recall to Nashville and the work he’s put in for six years to get to that point.

Here are a couple of snippets from MVG in the piece:

“I never really thought that yeah I’m going to play in the NHL. It was always a dream of mine, but until last year, it really was just a dream. It wasn’t really until the end of last season that I realized that this really was so close.”

“I felt so far away that whole season in the Coast. Playing in the NHL did not even seem like a possibility. It’s been a very slow climb to get from there (to now).”

“I think almost every guy that I had played with on the team had either talked to me or texted me congratulations before I even got there. When I walked in Gabriel Bourque gave me a big hug, and of all of the guys were just so excited for me. They told me I had earned it, so it was pretty special.”

“I think my story might help guys around here that are struggling a little bit, are not happy with the ice time they are getting or are dealing with going up and down from Cincinnati. If you stick with it and just keep working, eventually good things will happen.”

You can view the full story, including quotes from Lane Lambert, Paul Fenton, Dean Evason, Colton Sissons, Scott Ford and Shea Weber right here. Thanks to Daniel Lavender for some of soundbites used in this piece.

The next set of awards from the AHL has been announced. Today it is the AHL’s first and second All-Star teams. Yet again, there aren’t any representatives of the Milwaukee Admirals but there are some players out of our Midwest Division rivals.

AHL First Team All-Stars

Forwards: Mike Hoffman (Binghamton Senators), Travis Morin (Texas Stars), and Colton Sceviour (Texas Stars).

Defensemen: T.J. Brennan (Toronto Marlies) and Adam Clendening (Rockford IceHogs).

Goalie: Jake Allen (Chicago Wolves).

AHL Second Team All Stars

Forwards: Zach Boychuk (Charlotte Checkers), Andy Miele (Portland Pirates), and Spencer Abbott (Toronto Marlies).

Defensemen: Adam Almquist (Grand Rapids Griffins) and Brad Hunt (Oklahoma City Barons).

Goalie: Petr Mrazek (Grand Rapids Griffins).

You can read a snippet on all the selections on the AHL’s website right now. Tomorrow’s AHL award will be the Fred T. Hunt Award for sportsmanship, determination, and dedication.

What are your thoughts on the AHL’s selections for first and second team All-Star teams?

This afternoon the AHL announced its 2013-14 AHL All-Rookie Team. Despite great rookie campaigns from the likes of Colton Sissons and Miikka Salomaki – there were no representatives of the Milwaukee Admirals on the selected team.

Forwards: Ryan Strome (Bridgeport Sound Tigers), Teemu Pulkkinen (Grand Rapids Griffins), and Curtis McKenzie (Texas Stars).

Defensemen: Ryan Sproul (Grand Rapids Griffins) and Brenden Kichton (St. John’s IceCaps).

Goalie: Joni Ortio (Abbotsford Heat).

Other players that missed out on this list, that have had great rookie seasons, include: Alexander Khokhlachev (Providence Bruins), Lucas Lessio (Portland Pirates), Brett Ritchie (Texas Stars), and Ty Rattie (Chicago Wolves).

This is the first of many awards set to be announced by the AHL in the coming days:

Apr. 9 – 2013-14 AHL All-Rookie Team
Apr. 10 – 2013-14 AHL First and Second All-Star Teams
Apr. 11 – Fred T. Hunt Award (sportsmanship, determination, dedication)
Apr. 14 – Dudley “Red” Garrett Award (outstanding rookie)
Apr. 15 – Louis A.R. Pieri Award (outstanding coach)
Apr. 16 – Eddie Shore Award (outstanding defenseman)
Apr. 17 – Yanick Dupré Memorial Award (AHL Man of the Year)
Apr. 17 – Aldege “Baz” Bastien Award (outstanding goaltender)
Apr. 18 – Les Cunningham Award (most valuable player)

Do you agree with the AHL’s selection for the All-Rookie Team? Did our top two rookies deserve a mention? Which award, if any, will the Admirals have a chance at winning?

This afternoon the Nashville Predators officially reassigned Colton Sissons to the Milwaukee Admirals. The move comes after the 20-year-old played in thirteen games since being recalled on March 10. In that time Sissons scored his first career NHL goal along with two assists.

Sissons upped his total to  seventeen NHL games in his first professional playing season putting up a total of four points (one goal, three assists). As far ice time goes, Sissons set a personal best last weekend, 15:13 TOI, in the Predators 4-3 shootout win over the Washington Capitals. He followed that up with the second lowest total of the season: 7:13 TOI in a 5-2 road win against the Anaheim Ducks. With the return of Paul Gaustad in yesterday’s 3-0 shutout – Sissons was a healthy scratch.

He returns to the Admirals as the team’s fourth highest scorer 41 points (24 goals, 17 assists). Mind you, he has done that in far less games than those in front of him. He is tied on the team with Taylor Beck in points per game with 0.73 Pt/G – despite Sissons playing four less games than Beck.

With the Rockford IceHogs coming in tomorrow night it should be an added bonus for Sissons. He has scored 8 points (5 goals, 3 assists) in nine games against Rockford this season including 2 goals in the game prior to his last recall to Nashville.

So Roundtable… How would like to welcome Colton Sissons back to Milwaukee? Do you think his latest stint in the NHL games will make him an even more effective player with the Admirals?

Hello Roundtable. I’m hoping to have a relaxing Sunday today -but- want to ask you all a question that I’ve had in mind a lot in recent weeks.

Should the Admirals avoid gaining the fifth overall playoff seed in the Western Conference with the threat of a first round match up against the Chicago Wolves?

It seems like the Admirals have been planted in the Midwest Division (third place) and Western Conference (sixth place) for a solid month now. With the teams in front of them hardly changing up much – it seems as if those potential opening round opponents become fairly clear.

If the season ended today, the Admirals would play against the Toronto Marlies in a three versus six match up. In the past five years the Ads have dominated that head-to-head: 8-2-1-1 (18 points from twelve games). This season they swept the Marlies: Jan. 21 vs. Toronto: W, 3-2… Mar. 22 @ Toronto: W, 5-1.

While the Marlies have seven more wins and points than the Admirals – they also have a full 292 more penalty minutes too. Only one team in the entire league has been shorthanded more often, Bridgeport Sound Tigers (388), than the Marlies (349). With that in mind they have the tenth ranked penalty kill in the AHL with a 83.7 PK% and the Admirals have four power-play goals against them in just two games this season.

Now, let’s think about that other option should the Admirals jump the Abbotsford Heat for fifth place in the Western Conference: the Wolves.

With the exception of last night, which ended 4-1 in the Wolves favor, every game has been a white knuckle ride to the finish. The Amtrak Rivalry has seen nine of its ten games be decided by one-goal. Not to mention, the Wolves are 7-0-1-2 (17 points) against the Admirals this season. They have yet to be defeated in regulation by the Admirals this season. You would have to go back to the final game of last season when the Ads won 3-0 over the Peoria Rivermen (who effectively became the current iteration of these Wolves) behind Magnus Hellberg‘s 20-save shutout.

Jake Allen will be a massive hurdle for anyone to really face come playoff season – but he would hit the Admirals hard should they meet again in the playoffs. He has played in eight of the ten games against Milwaukee this season and won six of them. He has a 1.69 GAA, 0.933 SV%, and a shutout.

The Admirals best netminder in this meeting? You guessed it, Scott Darling: two games, one win, 0.97 GAA, 0.967 SV%, and one shutout. Marek Mazanec, another candidate for the net in the playoffs, has faced the Wolves twice and lost both times: 3.22 GAA and a 0.889 SV%.

When it comes to the skaters and the eye-twitchy state known as plus/minus – the Admirals have twelve players with either a positive or even rating versus the Wolves who have twenty-eight. As for the negatives, the Ads have fourteen players with minus ratings against only three for the Wolves. Taylor Beck and Bryan Rodney are a combined -19 against the Wolves this season.

While the playoff reinforcements would certainly help… Colton Sissons 4 points (2 goals, 2 assists), Calle Jarnkrok 4 points (3 goals, 1 assist) against the Wolves… it is still a four-five match up that I think would go against the Admirals as opposed to the current playoff rankings.

Pro: you know what you’re getting against the Wolves having played them so much this month and the entire season. Con: you know what you’re getting against the Wolves having played them so much this month and the entire season.

Interesting thought. Something that is still rather out of the Admirals control as far as how other teams shape out the playoff seeds as the season creeps to a halt. If I could simply pick and choose opponents as to where the Admirals are hovering – I like exactly where we are right now.

What do you think about the potential opening playoff match up? Should the Admirals be playing for the sixth seed or pushing for the fifth seed? How would the Amtrak Rivalry pan out in an opening round series?