(Photo Credit:  NESN)

Perhaps expecting another four guys being called up to the Predators at some point this week (I kid, I kid), the Admirals have acquired Zach Hamill, on loan from the Florida Panthers.

Hamill is a 24 year old center who was drafted 8th overall by the Bruins in 2007.

This is his third AHL team this season, as he was previously traded from Washington to Florida for forward Casey Wellman.

In 66 games this season between Hershey and San Antonio, he was good for 16 goals and 24 assists, with six of those goals coming on the power play.  Those six power play goals make him now the team leader in that category for the Admirals.  And those 40 points are one off the team lead of Taylor Beck.

Tony Uminski, from the AHL beat of the My San Antonio blog, called him a “career set the table guy with a pass first mentality.”  So maybe he’s a playmaker kind of guy that will give us flashbacks to Cal O’Reilly.

Boston fans?  Don’t remember him nearly as fondly.

For a scathing report card grade from the 2011-12 season, and equally scathing reader comments, here’s an article from Boston’s version of the On The Forecheck blog….it’s on SBNation and it’s called Stanley Cup Of Chowder.

Tough crowd.  To give a guy an F-…..wow….how bad does a player have to be to get an F-?  I don’t think we’ve ever given out an F- in our mid-season report cards!  (Although Jamie Lundmark sure was tempting….quitter). Hamill split time with Providence and Boston in the 11-12 season.  Good enough to earn an NHL paycheck for a chunk of the year.  And the evaluation puts, I think, an extraordinarily high emphasis on points per game.  Counting stats are counting stats, and I’m sure expectations were super high for him as a high draft pick….but unless he steals candy from babies in his free time, I get the sense that the failing grade was more drafter’s remorse than season evaluation.   Maybe the rest of his game was dreadful?  I don’t know.  Never seen him play.  But I’d like to give him the benefit of the doubt.

(The same blog gave him a C+ at mid-season…)

Dan Weiss, the play-by-play guy from the San Antonio Rampage offered this insight via twitter:  “Good on the PP. Creates a lot working off the half wall. Not as effective 5-on-5 as we thought he would be.”

So he’s here now.  He’s a healthy body, a former WHL scoring champ, with 322 games of AHL experience, who can hopefully provide a bit of an offensive spark for this team down the stretch.  We’ll take it.

Daniel Bang will get his first chance in the NHL. Multiple sources reported via Twitter today that the winger is headed up to Nashville.

Mike Fisher, Paul Gaustad, Brandon Yip and Gabriel Bourque all missed this morning’s skate for Nashville, and Bang will likely make his NHL debut tonight against St. Louis.

The recent string of Predator injuries and a big move at the trade deadline have already depleted the Admirals’ offense. Now, still in the hunt for the postseason and just two days after losing Austin Watson, Milwaukee loses another key piece.

Bang’s recorded eight goals and 12 assists in 50 games played this season, but he’s been especially hot of late with six points in his last six games. He’s also one of the fastest guys in the AHL, and coach Dean Evason has previously mentioned the “speed element” he brings to the roster.

So Roundtable, how much will this loss hurt? So far, the Ads have been able to step up in the wake of these moves, but Bang was one of the main guys who’d recently elevated his game. On the flipside, are you happy to see Bang get a shot at the big leagues?

(Photo Credit – Scott Paulus)

Austin Watson didn’t play in last night’s 3-0 shutout over the Checkers.  Today, we officially found out why.

Watson has been recalled to Nashville, and will make his NHL debut tonight against the Blackhawks.

The blogworld and twitterverse are in the process of exploding over this news, so there isn’t too much more for me to add.  Everyone who reads this blog knows how good Watson has been this season overall.  Officially, 20 goals, 16 assists.  Goes to the net, especially on the power play, and is a tremendous shot blocker.

Is this long term or just a cup of coffee?  If this is technically an ’emergency call-up’, then once one of the injured Preds can play again (Gaustad was hurt last night), we should expect Watson sent back.  An NHL team is able to make 4 non-emergency call-ups after the trade deadline.  I don’t know if the paper transactions that took place on the 3rd count, or whether the Ellis and Mueller transactions this week were emergency or otherwise.  Will do some digging on that…

But congrats to Austin Watson, and we hope it’ll be a productive debut tonight.

Ads and Checkers at 2pm.  Preds and Blackhawks play at 6pm.

Our buddy Dave Boehler reported that Ryan Ellis returned to Nashville today. He played in the Admirals’ last four games and scored a goal during that stint.

The Predators also signed forward Paul Crowder to a professional tryout contract. Crowder spent the last two years with the ECHL’s Wheeling Nailers, and played five games for the Manchester Monarchs in 2011-12.

Last season was the 28-year old Victoria, BC native’s most productive as he scored 23 goals and recorded 27 assists in 53 games played for the Nailers. He also scored a goal and picked up four assists in the ECHL playoffs.

That’s all for now. We leave you with this gem from r/hockey if you haven’t already seen it. Enjoy.

The Predators traded a few fan favorites on both the NHL and AHL levels today right at the NHL deadline.

Martin Erat ended up waiving his no trade clause and is headed to the Capitals along with Michael Latta. The Preds get hot shot prospect Filip Forsberg in exchange.

Latta ranks second on the Admirals in points with 34 and first in assists with 26 among active players this season.

In 122 career games as an Admiral, Latta scored 23 goals picked up 41 assists and compiled 286 penalty minutes.

During his time in Milwaukee, Latta endeared himself to Admirals fans with his knack for dropping the gloves to stand up for his team.

The 18-year old Forsberg was Washington’s 11th pick in the first round of the 2012 NHL draft.

So Roundtable, how shocked are you by the move? Do you think it’s the right move for Nashville? On the flip side, how excited are you to get Forsberg? What’s your favorite Latta memory?

After the game in Rosemont on Saturday, Coach Evason said regarding the goaltending situation, “With three in three coming up we need to look for a more veteran type of guy that can help us out.”

Jeremy Smith is injured.  Andrew D’Agostini was released.  And now Joel Martin has been signed to a PTO.

How much of a veteran is he?

He played his first pro game in the 2003-04 season.  (that was a good year, wasn’t it?)

395 regular season games later, the 30 year old goaltender from Fort Worth, Texas is now a Milwaukee Admiral.  For the second time, actually.  He signed a PTO with the Admirals back in December of 2008 prior to a game against the Griffins in Grand Rapids.  I don’t recall the circumstances for sure, but this may have been when Drew MacIntyre left the road trip for the birth of a child, and the Admirals needed a body to operate the bench door.  Martin was released after his one game on 12/20, and then a line of Kyle Gajewski, Ryan Ludzik, and Scott Fankhouser followed.

Martin last played in the AHL in the 2010-11 season as a member of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.  But his counting stats weren’t anything to write home about… 2-12-2 with a 3.54 GAA.

The next season he went overseas to play in Europe, and he’s been a steady hand in the ECHL this season.   And by steady, I mean he’s the hockey equivalent of an “innings-eating pitcher” in baseball.  The guy led the ECHL in appearances and minutes BY FAR.

For the Kalamazoo Wings, he appeared in a whopping 63 of their 72 games, which is 14 more than the guy in second place (Joe Fallon, from Las Vegas).  He logged 3,739 minutes of ice time, which is 843 more than Fallon.

He even played three games in three days on seven separate occasions this season,  with a record of  13-5-2 in those games (he had a no-decision in one of them).

So coming into this three in three weekend, the last thing you can say about Martin is that he’s coming in cold due to a lack of work.

With that large a sample size, it’s not surprising that he led the ECHL in wins.  But he also finished 3rd in save percentage on a team that finished four points out of the final playoff spot.

So Martin’s epic season presses on in Milwaukee.  After that workload in the ECHL, we’ll see how much is left in the tank.  Figure he’ll get one of the games in Charlotte this weekend?

(Photo credit:  Andrew Huxman)

The Admirals are continuing to celebrate 35 years of professional hockey in Milwaukee, presented by BMO Harris Bank.  And this week, they’re announcing the #4 greatest Admiral, as voted by the fans and a special blue ribbon panel.

A bit of a surprise coming in at #4….It’s Beer Cheese, from the Merkt’s Cheese Race promotion.

“He was without a doubt, one of the all-time greats,” says Mike Wojciewchowski, VP of Business Development with the Admirals.  “It didn’t matter what you threw at him — he was always ready to race and put on a show for our fans.  And such a great attitude off the ice too.  He was living the dream every day.”

Beer Cheese was one of the four racing cheese mascots that usually competed in the first intermission at Admirals games from 2007-2012.   While Sharp Cheddar, Port Wine, and Almond Swiss all won their share of races, none of them did it with the frequency and showmanship of Beer Cheese.

When Merkt’s pulled the sponsorship after the 2011-12 season, Beer Cheese had a career record of 134-91.  According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that winning percentage is tops among all racing mascots in professional sports.  Better than Polish Sausage at the Brewer games.  Better than George Washington at the Nationals games.

Better than everybody.

“And some of those losses should have been wins, had I not been disqualified for some bogus infraction called by Matt or Meg or Roscoe!” Beer Cheese says while chuckling.  “As far as I was concerned, there were no rules.  Sometimes I had to play the body, sometimes I had to fight through double teams.  I just had to do whatever I needed to win.  To hear everyone in the building cheering for me as I crossed the finish line…it was the best feeling in the world.”

One of the most memorable victories came on March 8th, 2008 in a game between the Admirals and Rockford IceHogs.  Bret Michaels was performing a post-game concert, so there were over 10,000 fans in the stands, and Beer Cheese had something up his sleeve.

“It was a must-win race for me.  I knew it had to be my night.  So after I left everyone in my dust, I pulled out a sharpie marker and a regular sized tub of Beer Cheese spread.  I signed it, and tossed it into the audience.  I told the fan that the tub was going to be worth something someday.  And now that I’m the 4th greatest Admiral of all time, today is apparently that day.  I hope they still have it.”

But behind the scenes, there was lots of jealousy and resentment among the other competitors.

“I’m pretty sure those skates aren’t regulation size, or they may have been rocket powered,” says a still bitter Almond Swiss.  “I remember a game where he missed the start of the race because he was reading the newspaper over at the bench.  And then he still came back to win.  And he used to make that Roadrunner chirp as he went by.  I really wanted to slug him, but you know, the costume kind of restricts what your arms can do.”

Sharp Cheddar talks about how the resentment got to be so out of control, she hired a professional to knock Beer Cheese out of a race back in 2010.

“It was a Salute To Wrestling promotion at the Admirals game, and Hacksaw Jim Duggan was a special guest.  And he just happened to find himself on the Admiral bench during the cheese race.  And he just happened to have a 2×4 on hand.  And he just happened to catch Beer Cheese at the start of the second lap.  Best $500 I ever spent, even though referee Roscoe blew the call.”

Port Wine is far less bitter, and has remained a close friend of Beer Cheese over the years.

“I’m really happy for old Beery.  This is such a great and well deserved honor for him.  And yeah, I still have a few nightmares about him taking me out in turn four…but that’s just Beery being Beery.  His drive to win and be the best makes him special, and that’s obviously why he did so well in the fan vote.  The race results speak for themselves, but I think he’s more proud of that fan vote.”

Beer Cheese’s influence even made its way into the Admirals locker room.

“We would all gather around the video monitors in the locker room to watch the cheese race every game,” former head coach Lane Lambert recalls.  “I’d tell the guys that if they had as much compete in them as Beer Cheese had, we would give ourselves a good chance to win each and every night.”

Since the sponsorship was pulled, Beer Cheese has retired from ice racing.  But he still is very visible in the dairy community in Wisconsin.

“I give motivational speeches at many of the dairies around the state.  For the bovines out there that can use a metaphorical kick in the udder, I show them that the only things keeping their production down are the imaginary fence-posts in their heads.  It’s very rewarding work — I love making a difference.  But if ever given the opportunity to lace up the old skates again, I want all my fans out there to know that I’d do it in a heartbeat.  I’ll see you in the winner’s circle.”

In our last episode, you may recall that Jeremy Smith was removed from the game in the last minute with what could only officially be described as a ‘lower body injury’.  With the Admirals playing again tonight in Rosemont, they needed to find another goalie and get him to Rosemont quick.

That goalie is going to be former Peterborough Pete (and former Austin Watson teammate) Andrew D’Agostini.

I don’t know if he is going to be the long term answer if Smitty is out for an extended period of time, but he’ll do for today at least.

D’Agostini had just signed an ATO with the Cyclones in the ECHL earlier this month, after his junior season concluded.

Peterborough hasn’t been very good for awhile.  They have finished in 9th (out of 10 teams) in their conference the last three seasons, missing the playoffs.  Perhaps the Watson crew that reads this blog can elaborate on why the Petes weren’t so good (was it goaltending?  Lack of defense?  Lack of scoring?  All of the above?).  Depending on what their biggest issues were, his counting stats may not accurately tell the story of his talent.  Or they might.  D’Agostini sported a four year record of 46-64-9, with his best save percentage and goals against average coming this year:  .911 and 3.24.

He did win the Dan Snyder Trophy as humanitarian of the year in the OHL in 2012, so that’s pretty cool.  And in 2011, he won the Ivan Tenant Award for high school scholastic player of the year.

D’Agostini has suited up for one game with the Cyclones so far.  Last Saturday, he appeared in relief, playing just the final 20 minutes of a 5-1 loss to the Florida Everblades.  He surrendered one power play goal on five shots in that game.

So welcome to the AHL.  Important safety tip, though:  The bench doors at Allstate Arena?  Their correct operation is very important.  Or else, crazy stuff like this happens. (video credit: Wolfkeeper)  Be advised.

Our good buddy Dave Boehler reported today that the Admirals re-signed Brad Winchester after his 25-game PTO contract expired this week. He’ll play tonight in Rockford.

Winchester has scored five goals in his last seven games after scoring just three in his first 18 games.

Also, Craig Smith is headed back to the AHL, rejoining Nashville in Colorado tonight. He scored a goal and picked up four assists in a four-game conditioning assignment with Milwaukee.

So Roundtable, what’s the impact of these two moves?

Dean Evason was selfishly hoping Winchester would stay, and he got his wish. How crucial was Smith to the recent point streak? How much will Milwaukee miss him?