It’s not all that often here on Admirals Roundtable when you’ll be getting an early bird special on a pre-game write up. Then again, it’s not all that often you get Milwaukee Admirals hockey games that start in the AM hours of the morning. That will be the case tomorrow when the Admirals faceoff against the Iowa Wild at 10:30 AM. The Admirals will also have a 10:30 AM start time next week on Wednesday at the BMO Harris Bradley Center when the Lake Erie Monsters make their first visit to Milwaukee. But enough of this AM hockey for the moment. What about Round 3 of Admirals/Wild?

~Iowa~

This is the third time out of eight games that the Admirals will have played against the Wild in Iowa this season. That means only one more trip to Iowa, one long bus trip, exists on the entire 2015-16 calendar. That won’t occur again until March 13th so it’s actually pretty nice that the Admirals are getting these out of their system now.

The first encounter this season ended with a thrilling 3-2 overtime win by the Admirals that saw a goal scored with the net emptied and the extra attacker on. Little did we know at the time but that’s basically been the staple of the season to date. The Admirals have emptied their net and brought that extra attacker on in every game but one this season. Which one didn’t they do it? Last time out in Iowa when Max Görtz scored just as Marek Mazanec was on his way to the bench. That game would end up going a bit more grim than the previous meeting in overtime. The Admirals took a pair of penalties that gave the Wild a five-on-three power-play to work with including an Anthony Bitetto major for crosschecking to give them all of the overtime to be on the power-play. Iowa would cash in off of a Mike Reilly five-on-four goal just as the two-man advantage ended to win 3-2.

I feel as if these two games against the Wild really put a stamp down on how the Admirals have played this season. They are put on the back foot and left to play catch up late. Even when you consider the last game when the Admirals managed to get and hold an early lead for an exciting 24:09 of ice time that second period was all Wild on all sides of the puck. The Wild’s defense in particular were huge in the second game. The Admirals rallied up 42 shots on goal and outshot the Wild by an outrageous 17-2 in the third period. But how many of those chances were perimeter shots that made life easy for Jeremy Smith in the Wild’s net? Shooting for the sake of shooting isn’t a bad thing. Shooting from deep direct to a goalie with a clean line of sight is. If the Admirals are forced to take those types of looks once again they should consider setting their sights low and towards the pads of Smith in an effort to create rebounds or loose pucks around the goal mouth to cause a frenzy amongst Smith but, more importantly, the Wild defense. The Admirals can clearly tilt the ice against this team. They need to try different things that actually make that advantage mean something.

~Playing Smarter~

Another thing to consider in this match-up are the goals against that the Admirals have conceded. They’re pretty much all goals that could have been avoided.

Goal #1: Zack Mitchell takes advantage of a botched play from Stevie Moses on the blue line on an Admirals power-play, Moses gets a stick in on Mitchell, penalty shot called, and penalty shot scored. With better composure on the Admirals power-play this could have been avoided completely.

Goal #2: A shot by Brett Bulmer ricocheted off the end-boards and sent the puck rolling towards the goal mouth and left skate of Juuse Saros. Rather than drop and cover the puck Saros opted to squirm out of the way and nearly fell backwards into his own net. Matt Carey would be on hand to smack home the puck as it trickled further out in front of goal. The fault on this goal isn’t squarely on Saros’ reaction. The fault can be shared with Kristian Näkyvä and Vladislav Kamenev who let Carey fly clean past them both to earn the front net position clean. Don’t puck watch. Act. Not react.

Goal #3: The Wild’s passing cuts through Admirals defensive zone pressure and leads to an in-lose to the net two-on-one situation with Carey on the right of goal, Brett Sutter on the left wing, and Näkyvä as the last man back in front of Mazanec. Carey shot a forehander off the pads of Mazanec and that allowed Sutter to get the rebound goal. How such a simple play led to a two-on-one with everyone stuck in the high right wing trailing the puck movement of the Wild is just plain confusing to me. Once again, act – not react. Defensive structure and composure to hold true to assignments needs to be adhered to.

Goal #4: This is one where you might be able to let everyone off of the hook. It was an absolute bomb of a shot by Joe Finley from the left point that rifled in up under the roof of the net. Could traffic in front of Mazanec have played a part in him seeing the puck? Sure, but I don’t think many goalies on Earth are going to stop that shot. It was pinpoint with power from a guy who last scored three-years ago prior to that shot. The term one in a million can safely be used here.

Goal #5: Simply put, this was the Admirals shooting themselves in the foot. After the roaring comeback of a third period that they had the Admirals proceeded to take a slashing penalty (Conor Allen) and then Bitetto dropped the hammer on the nail of the Admirals own coffin by taking a major penalty for crosschecking – five seconds into the Admirals penalty kill in overtime. You’re begging to be put out of your own misery by doing something like that and Iowa, being being a merciful lord, obliged.

~The AM Element~

Oh yeah. About that start time. I have to imagine it won’t be the biggest shock to the system of the players. It’s more so on the fans who’ll be trying to keep up in work, really. The Admirals tend to practice at the MSOE Kern Center at 10 AM most of the time. What changes here is that you’re switching from a practice mentality to a fully blown competitive atmosphere of a regular season environment. If there is any flag raised due to the start time of this game it will be that. The good news is that it’s a situation that both teams are experiencing. There’s no getting cheated here with that. Though, I wonder if Lake Erie will be citing that with the Admirals getting the experience of tomorrow in their system before Wednesday’s game in Milwaukee.

Thoughts and expectations on tomorrow morning’s game? How will you be keeping up with the action tomorrow? Can the Admirals get this ship pointed in the right direction and shouldn’t a team like the Iowa Wild be the one to do it against?

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Tonight the Milwaukee Admirals get their first repeat opponent of the season. In fact, they’ll have faced these Iowa Wild three times out of the Admirals first eight games of the season. Not only that but all three of those games are roadies to Iowa. Sort of an odd scheduling situation there but one I’m sure the Admirals would rather motor through earlier in the season that the end. It is a heck of a bus ride after all.

“Either way we’re going to be on that bus,” said Colton Sissons after the Admirals loss on Thursday. “It’ll be fine. It’s a long season, man. We’re going to be fine. We’ll have a good attitude when we wake up [Friday], have a bus ride to Des Moines, and it’s going to be one of a few of those this year.”

Correct you are, captain. The Admirals play the Wild eight times this season with four road games. After next Thursday’s game the Admirals won’t see the Wild again until the calendar flips to 2016, January 9th. And they will only have one more Iowa bus trip to take care of for the rest of the season. That game comes March 13th at the end of a three-in-three… good for you, not for us.

As far as this game goes there’s only so much to discuss that hadn’t already been touched upon when we first met this season. I could do a break down of that specific game – but you could read the Game Recap or Ramblings that followed. Biggest changes that have happened really is that the Admirals, potential team violations for this Iowa trip pending, will have: Max Görtz, Viktor Arvidsson, Pontus Åberg, and Anthony Bitetto.

The Wild have a record of 2-5-1-1 (6 points) entering tonight’s game. They have two more points than the Admirals and have played three more games but, thank you California teams and your nonsense, the percentage points standings have these two teams deadlocked in the Central Division at 0.333%. The result tonight will push one ahead. And, honestly, it might already be time for the Admirals to get that percentage to start looking better as it will be dictating the standings this season.

Since these two last met, the Wild’s roster has seen some changes. Both Olivier Archambault and Tanner Eberle (Jordan‘s brother) were sent from Iowa (AHL) to the Quad City Mallards (ECHL). The counter move to that saw Kellan Lain be promoted from Quad City and Andrew Yogan, who took part in the Admirals pre-season training camp in Milwaukee, signed a PTO contract with the Wild. Yogan’s season started with the Cincinnati Cyclones (ECHL) where he played only one games but recorded 3 assists.

Expectations for tonight’s game? Do you think that the Admirals can get and maintain a lead or will this be yet another comeback job?

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A very happy hello and welcome back to the Manitoba Moose. When the Milwaukee Admirals last played the Moose it was 3/5/11. The Admirals lost that game at home 4-2. Mark Dekanich started in net for the Admirals against the Moose’s Tyler Weiman – as Eddie Läck sat on the bench. Your goal scorers on the night were: Sergei Shirokov, Grant Lewis, Yann Sauvé, Guillaume Desbiens, Ryan Flynn, and Cody Hodgson. The only returning name that played in that game is Scott Ford – who is now an assistant coach for the Admirals.

The Admirals never played the Moose under the past banner as the St. John’s IceCaps. You’d expect that from the matter of different conferences and what not. About the only connection you could make, going mad scientist here, is that the Moose became the IceCaps and that both Colton Sissons and Pontus Åberg played in St. John’s barn for the 2014 AHL All Star Classic. They actually played against one-another that night. So, the Moose housed that… sort of.. not really.

~Mooooooooooooose~

The Moose enter tonight’s game with a record of 0-4-1-1 (2 points) and last played on Saturday night when they were shutout by the Lake Erie Monsters, 2-0. Are you feeling better about the Admirals situation now?

If there is any offense in the AHL struggling more than the Moose I’d hate to watch the game footage. The stats do not lie. The Moose have produced a league low 7 goals from 6 games. Frank Vatrano of the Providence Bruins and Devin Shore of the Texas Stars each, as individuals, have scored more goals than the Moose have as a team. Heck, even Vladislav Kamenev on an Admirals offense that is slowly getting it going has scored 4 goals in 5 games.

With such a stagnant offense it’s no surprise that the team leaders in that category aren’t blowing anyone away. Defenseman Brenden Kichton leads the Moose in scoring with 4 points (1 goal, 3 assists) while fellow defenseman Jay Harrison leads the team in goal scoring with a hefty 2 goals on this season. And it’s not as if they don’t have the players to produce, either. Matt Halischuk, Matt Fraser, Thomas Raffl, Patrice Cormier, John Albert, and Chase De Leo are all on the roster. It’s kind of head scratching. Like, first two games of the Admirals season itchy scalp levels of “what’s going on here?”

What can get overlooked in the Moose’s record and lack of offense so far is how good both Connor Hellebuyck and Eric Comrie have performed in net.  Hellebuyck was a rock for the IceCaps last season as a first-year pro: 58 games, 28-22-5-1 record, 2.58 goals against average, 0.921 save percentage, and 6 shutouts. This season he has a 2.48 goals against average and 0.927 save percentage from 4 starts – which includes a heartbreaking overtime loss that saw him lose a shutout bid while carrying 44 saves with only 21 seconds remaining. His batterymate Comrie is experiencing his first full-season of pro hockey this year and, in 2 starts, he has impressed: 1.94 goals against average, 0.945 save percentage, and -like Hellebuyck- was a tough luck loser in overtime with an impressive amount of saves (39) on the night.

I suppose what this game can boil down to is that both offenses aren’t entirely where they want to be right now. The plus side for Manitoba: their goaltending has been incredibly good. The plus side for the Admirals: their offense unloaded with shots on target last game and might just be set to bury some of those chances. The Admirals are also starting to string together some consistent games. By that I mean, the schedule is actually mapping out great for them so they can carry the momentum of last game’s comeback effort -rest up yesterday- and take on the next opponent immediately. The Moose have been stationary from being shutout since Saturday night at home. They’ve made the trek from Manitoba to Milwaukee and could have a bit more lag in their style of play in the opening waves of play than the Admirals will show. This could setup to be a continuation of events for the Admirals finish from last time out but it really does depend on if that Moose offense wakes up or not. It’s that aspect that will make this game.

Expectations for tonight’s game? It’s been such a long time since we’ve seen the Manitoba Moose: do you happen to have any fond memories of an Admirals/Moose game? Would you reward Marek Mazanec with a start tonight for his efforts on Tuesday? Would you really be at all surprised if the Admirals roll out the exact same lineup that played Tuesday or would you make a change with Trevor Murphy or Jamie Devane coming back in for someone else?

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Result from last game aside, I do really get the feeling that the way the Milwaukee Admirals have been playing is trending upwards. What can keep that going is by logging more games and to hopefully see the wins column start growing. Fortunately for the Admirals they now have a lot of games ahead of them which means less rest periods and more action.

~Shooting Stars~

The Texas Stars enter tonight’s game with a record of 5-2-0-0 (10 points) and are currently fourth in the Pacific Division thanks to a thing called points percentage and the Pacific Division in general.

When looking at a glaring difference between the Stars and Admirals all you need to do is look at the amount of goals the two have scored. The Stars have scored 30 goals in 7 games. The Admirals have scored 8 goals from 4 games. Needless to say whoever starts in net for the Admirals, Marek Mazanec or Juuse Saros, will be put to the test all while the offense is going to need to better or match the scoring pace set by the Stars.

~Q&A with Stephen Meserve~

Prior to tonight’s game I was fortunate enough to get in touch with Stephen Meserve of 100 Degree Hockey. He was able to answer up some of my questions on this year’s Texas Stars team and give us all some insight on tonight’s contest.

Admirals Roundtable: It’s still early days of this AHL season but the Texas Stars are 5-2-0-0 (10 points) to start the season. What are you making of this year’s Stars team?

Stephen Meserve: This team can score. There’s no doubt about it. When you took a look at this team over the summer though, that was pretty obvious. They’ve definitely been ahead of the curve on scoring, averaging 4.29 goals per game. That includes a 1-0 shutout loss as well, which pulled the numbers down quite a bit. Devin Shore is the bright spot so far, earning PotW honors last week. His eight goals on the season lead the league, but he’s only a rookie. His ATO time last season is probably a big part of the hot start.

The real question coming into the season though was defense and goaltending. Jack Campbell, the Stars’ 2010 first round pick, was slated to be the starter in Texas until he was injured in Dallas Stars training camp. In his absence, the AHL Stars had a question mark behind John Muse, who was a reliable if unspectacular AHL goalie. Maxime Lagace, who spent most of the last year shuttling around the ECHL, availed himself of the opportunity and has snagged the spot definitively. Despite a 2-2 record, he owns a 2.03 GAA and .931 SV% coming into Milwaukee. One of those losses was the aforementioned 1-0 goalie duel, which saw him stop 32 of 33. For now, that’s a solved problem.

On defense, Texas said goodbye to many veterans including Maxime Fortunus, Derek Meech and Cameron Gaunce. That made way for bigger roles for second-year Ds Julius Honka and Stephen Johns and newcomers Mattias Backman, Esa Lindell, and Ludwig Bystrom. It’s an offensively talented group, but the question of playing defense still remained for the squad. Texas ranks 7th in goals against with 2.29 per game. The penalty kill is midpack at 83.9% (14th). Time will tell if that’s timely goaltending, defensive skill or the lucky combo of them both.

AR: Who are some of the new Stars that Admirals fans should keep an eye out for in this game?

SM: As mentioned above, watch for F Devin Shore. He’s got an obvious nose for the net and scores most of his tallies in tight. He’s a big body and uses it to muscle past defenders to score.

D Esa Lindell is a quiet player whose been making noise on the stat sheet. He’s 1-6=7 and plus-8 on the season so far. If this were the Dallas Stars team of several years ago (lacking defensive prospects), Lindell would probably be in the NHL right now. However, the luxury of a well-stocked system means he gets time to ripen in the AHL.

AR: Maxime Fortunus is no longer on the team as acting captain. We’ve already had the chance to see him in his new outfit with the Iowa Wild. Stepping up as the new captain of the Stars is Travis Morin. Perfect replacement to wear the C, right?

SM: Morin is a great replacement, but he’s definitely going to bring his own style to being captain. He told me during the summer that he wasn’t planning on playing the game any differently just because of the letter. He has traditionally been a pretty quiet guy in the locker room, not the “rah-rah” guy, as he said. He prefers to lead by example. That’s a pretty good example, by the way, as he leads the Stars in basically every offensive category you can imagine.

Expectations for tonight’s game? Do you like the Admirals chances of winning an end-to-end goals-a-blazing game against the Texas Stars? Will Viktor Arvidsson‘s return be a boost to the Admirals offense? Is tonight the night that Kevin Fiala is finally on the ice at the same time that the Admirals produce a goal?

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Happy Foreigner Concert Night, everyone. Remember last season when they were forced to cancel due to the lead singer getting ill prior to showtime? Yeah. That was a fun few hours prior to the gates opening in the BMO Harris Bradley Center as the stage went from being built for sound check and then torn down all while fans weren’t completely aware until shortly before arriving. Hopefully -fingers crossed- all goes well and there is a great game and concert tonight.

As for the hockey side of this story there is a guarantee. There will be a game. And it should be a good one. I’m probably in the minority when I say this but I feel like the Rockford IceHogs are the biggest rivals to the Milwaukee Admirals. Whether it dates back to the bench clearing brawl or so many physically demanding games after – these two always lock up hard and make for an exciting watch. What do the 2015-16 IceHogs have to offer this season? Let’s take a look.

~Oink Oink~

The IceHogs enter tonight’s game with a record of 3-3-0-0 (6 points) from their first six-games. They played last night at home against the Chicago Wolves and won by a 4-3 shootout. As I said, the IceHogs have played six-games this season. The Admirals have only played three-games so far. Take that, and the fact that Rockford played last night, and expect for the visitors to be the ones coming out with speed and precision early tonight. The slight bit of good news could be that due to last night’s game going the distance and through overtime: the longer the game gets the slower the IceHogs might play. It’d be smart for the Admirals to spend the early part of this game grinding down the IceHogs on the boards to wear them out by game’s end.

When looking at the roster – all the names you know and probably don’t love are all still there. Many high level offensive pieces from previous installments of this rivalry remain as well as some new additions. Jeremy Morin is still there. Mark McNeill is still there. Garret Ross, Brandon Mashinter, Dennis Rasmussen, Ryan Hartman, Phillip Danault, Pierre-Cédric Labrie, and Ville Pokka are all back. In total, 33 points of 75 points worth of offense produced by the IceHogs against the Admirals last season is back.

New to the mix or up full-time for this season are: Daniel Paille, Jake Dowell, Mike Liambas, Chris DeSousa, Kyle Baun, Tanner Kero, Ryan Haggerty, and Marko Dano. It’s a really great blend of veteran leadership and young skilled skaters. I particularily like the addition of a player such as Dowell for the leadership qualities he has always brought to the teams he has played for. And it leaves me saying, “As if having 34-year old goaltender Michael Leighton back isn’t enough of a calming effect for a locker room.”

Out of the new names I would specifically like to point out Mr. Kero as one to watch. He already has 7 points (5 goals, 2 assists) in 6 games this season which leads the IceHogs in scoring. He also is tied for the team lead with Morin for shots on goal with 15. This is his first full-season of pro hockey since finishing up his collegiate career at Michigan Tech. He got any sort of those early bird jitters out of his system by playing 6 games with the IceHogs at the end of last season and 6 games in their playoff run. He’s taken that brief experience and entered this season hot offensively. Keep tabs on #10 in red tonight.

Then we have the story of Liambas playing against the Admirals for the first time in his career tonight. I suspect fans will give him a respectful cheer for the first mention or shift or two but, with game time, it will turn to groans. You love players like Liambas when they’re on your team. You hate playing against them. Luckily, I think any sort of tensions should be mute because there is such a good bond between Liambas and the Admirals. Friendships might go out the window when the first puck drops but I’d be surprised if Liambas actually ended up in a fight with a former teammate tonight.

Expectations for tonight’s game? Will the re-introduction of Viktor Arvidsson to the Milwaukee Admirals offense be a big boost? If the Admirals hit a wall and lose big again tonight after their comeback win in Iowa – are they right back into panic mode?

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Rather than completely ignore the Milwaukee Admirals first two games (and losses) let’s focus back to the opponents they faced. The Chicago Wolves won at home, 5-1. The Charlotte Checkers won in Milwaukee, 7-2. What happens when those two forces run into one another? A combined total of 14 goals scored. Yes. There were 14 goals scored and the Wolves came out on top of the Checkers 9-5 (video highlights).

What I’m getting at with that introduction is that the Admirals faced two offensively potent teams that will capitalize on mistakes – BIG TIME. Lesson: stop making mistakes, don’t complicate matters, and keep things simple. And this is where our ol’ sparring buddies the Iowa Wild come in.

~Those Gosh Dern Wildlings~

It’s funny to think a team like the Iowa Wild are a team to be afraid of. Last season they were the worst team in the AHL and achieved that feat with ease with a record of 23-49-2-2 (50 points). The next closest team to them were the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, Norfolk Admirals, and Rochester Americans who all finished with 14 points more than the Wild.

Where this all stops being funny is that of the Wild’s 23 wins last season they claimed 5 wins directly from 8 games against the Milwaukee Admirals. I could never exactly tell who was playing up to whose competition level, the Admirals or the Wild. Were the Wild playing that much better against the Ads or the complete opposite – were the Ads playing down to the competition and getting beat at the Wild’s own miserable game?

It’s now the 2015-16 season and the Wild have already played 4 games versus the Admirals 2 games. The Wild are 1-2-0-1 (3 points) on the season with the Admirals being blown apart in regulation both times out. About playing up or down to the competition… I think the cliche of a new season meaning slates are wiped clean applies here. Both teams have started off awful. This has less to do with matching up against an opponent and more to do with getting one’s own team playing correctly for a change.

I mentioned the Wild’s record. This is the rundown of there results to date: 4-1 loss vs. Charlotte… 5-4 shootout loss vs. Charlotte… 4-1 loss @ Lake Erie… 1-0 shootout loss @ Lake Erie.

If you’re still in awe of what the Checkers managed to do offensively at the hands of the Admirals and are looking at that high scoring game that the Wild managed to muster up with them – take a closer look. The Wild held a 4-1 lead in that game. As impressive as that is what is even more impressive was their ability to squander it. The Wild’s 4-1 lead vanished in the final nine-minutes of the third period. The comeback started with a hooking call against defenseman and alternate captain Tyson Strachan – who then went on to lose his composure and took a ten-minute misconduct for berating the officials in regards to the call. The Checkers cashed in on the power-play to get the ball rolling and would end up equalizing from another power-play that they’d receive forty-nine seconds after scoring to make it a 4-3 game.

On paper, the Admirals and Wild actually sound a bit alike minus the fact the Wild have a bit more going for them offensively. And when I say they’ve got something going for them offensively it’s a lot like saying myself and Emma Watson have a lot going for us as a couple. The Wild haven’t scored a goal in 101:32 of ice time and counting. That makes the Admirals gap between Vladislav Kamenev‘s shorthander to Miikka Salomäki‘s goal (slash own goal by Jake Chelios) of 55:14 of ice time look decent. So which Wild team will turn up? The current goalless drought version or the one that popped in 4 goals in a little over two periods of play against the Checkers?

~Who Is? Who What?~

There are several familiar names that return from last season’s Wild squad. Names that leap out are: Jordan Schroeder, Zack Mitchell, Marc Hagel, and Michael Keränen. Those four alone combined for 21 points (8 goals, 13 assists) against the Admirals last season.

New to the mix for the Wild this season are some veteran names: Maxime Fortunus and Ruslan Fedotenko. Fortunus has 702 games of AHL experience and has always been an outstanding on and off-ice leader. For those that remember, Fedotenko did actually join the Wild midway through last season and actually took part in a 4-2 Wild win in Milwaukee that saw the ol’ Ukrainian score a pair of goals. The two time Stanley Cup winner is back with Iowa for the full-season this time round and should provide veteran quality on the ice and a whole lot of knowledge and experience to an AHL locker room.

Then there is the story of former Admirals goaltender, Jeremy Smith. After leaving the Nashville Predators system he joined the Columbus Blue Jackets organization for the 2013-14 season. On a fun sidenote, he signed the same day as current Admirals forward Cody Bass with the Blue Jackets. When his time in the Columbus Blue Jackets organization ended he moved to the Boston Bruins. Smith had a phenomenal 2014-15 season with the Providence Bruins in the AHL: 22-11-5-2 record, 2.05 goals against average, 0.933 save percentage, and 3 shutouts. He probably tops his 2011-12 season personal best for wins in a season of 31 if he saw the net more than just 39 times. Why didn’t he? Log jam effect with the Bruins pipeline. Behind Joonas Rask‘s lesser known brother there is Malcolm Subban, Zane McIntyre, Matt Ginn, and -laughing above them all- Jonas Gustavsson. That meant Smith was expendable. That doesn’t explain why the Bruins gave him and extension just to loan him to the Iowa Wild anyways but I’m sure that amongst other transactions the Bruins made this past off-season will work out just fine.

Smith is currently three games into his career with the Wild and in those three appearances he has probably felt a heck of a lot like this:

Smith has faced no less than 42 shots on goal per game – PER GAME: 43 shots on goal vs. Charlotte, 45 shots on goal against Charlotte, and 42 shots on goal against Lake Erie. He has no wins and a highly respectable 0.922 save percentage to show for it. I’m not sure whether this means good things for Smith or good things for the Admirals. After all, the Ads have only managed to put up 41 shots on goal in their first two games. Are the Admirals going to bust out the shots tonight or is Smith-y finally going to get an easier night of work in net?

Expectations? Are the Admirals going to notch their first win of the season tonight? If the Admirals lose by a big margin again tonight – is it time to panic only three-games into the season?

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The opener to the 2015-16 season wasn’t very good. Everything fell apart before it ever had a chance to get going all because of a lack of discipline by the Admirals in the opening period. It’s hard to get into a game offensively when you’re on the penalty kill for so long – and it doesn’t help when that penalty kill is also letting in goals.

The good news is that was the opening game. There are still a whopping 75-games left to play yet. That’s still more games to play this season that Californian AHL squads get to feature in! (I kid, I kid) In fact, as bad as that 5-1 loss looks as a result I’m certain that the Admirals will be on the flip-side of a scoreline such as that at some point this season. Actually, why not have one of those games tonight?

~Home Opening Energy~

There is something to be said about feeding off of the energy of a home opening crowd. This season alone there have been 16 home openers held and the home teams are 9-6-1-0 so far. How have the Admirals fared in home openers? Well, dating back to the 2005-06 season, the Admirals are 5-3-1-1 at the BMO Harris Bradley Center on opening night.

Alright, so it’s not the most mind blowing thing in the world. There isn’t a guarantee of victory here by any stretch of the imagination. Yet, let’s look back only one season ago where both combatants of tonight’s home opener in Milwaukee paired up.

The Admirals took down the Checkers 6-3 in last season’s home opener. And, when looking at the game sheet of last year’s box score, you will find 21 returning faces (Checkers, 12… Admirals, 9). All the ingredients are there for the Admirals to recapture some of that electricity from last season’s home opener. And if that isn’t enough perhaps some of last season’s toxicity against the Checkers could manifest itself again.

If it were to get dodgy out on the ice it could center around Rasmus Rissanen. The 24-year old Checkers defenseman always seemed to be on the ice when tensions spiked last season. I’m sure there was a reason for that. No matter, I’d keep an eye out for #2 in red tonight just in case.

~Checking In On Those Checkers~

As mentioned, there are twelve returning names from last season’s opening night roster alone for the Charlotte Checkers. Not too much has really changed in terms of the roster. Last season, the Checkers -like the Admirals- did not make the playoffs. Unlike the Admirals they finished with a sub-500 record: 31-38-6-1 (69 points).

Thanks to the new AHL realignment they move out of the rowdy and high scoring West Division and into the new Central Division. Two games in and they’ve come up trumps both times… on the road… against the Iowa Wild. The first game was a smooth 4-1 win. The second game was far more impressive that saw the Checkers rally for three unanswered goals in the third period to force overtime where they’d go on to win it in a shootout.

In both games former Admirals goaltender Drew MacIntyre started in net for the Checkers. Opening night he went 22/23 on save opportunities while picking up the win. His second night out against the Wild he stopped 12/16 before getting pulled in favor of Rasmus Tirronen. The Finnish netminder stopped all seven shots he faced in relief and both shootout chances en route to picking up the win in relief of MacIntyre. Will the Admirals get the familiar veteran tonight or the young product of Merrimack College? It’s not as sure a bet as you’d think. I’d be interested to see if they rolled out Tirronen over MacIntyre.

~The Perennials~

Zach Boychuk.. Kyle Hagel.. Justin Shugg.. we meet again. Of these three I think I feel for Boychuk the most. He is an 0.86 points per game player in the AHL but that has never really manifested itself in his 127 career NHL games. Hagel on the other hand is the oldest player on the Checkers roster who isn’t named MacIntyre. Hagel has yet to play an NHL game in his seven-year professional career and is now entering his eighth season. That probably has to do with his most eye-popping numbers in the stat sheet coming under the penalty minute column. Shugg has a really great shot. Much like Boychuk he has great AHL numbers, as well: 118 points (50 goals, 68 assists) in 214 AHL games – 0.55 points per game. Shugg is coming off of a career year that saw him reach new bests in AHL scoring numbers and even earned some games at the NHL level. If there are big time threats on the ice tonight, be it scoring or a scrap, it’s these three.

Expectations on tonight’s home opener? Will the Admirals be able to rebound from a disappointing effort in Chicago?

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Welcome back, Milwaukee. The long off-season done. The pre-season camps are all over. It is the start of the regular season. The Milwaukee Admirals open up the 2015-16 calendar with a road game tonight against the Chicago Wolves. Let’s check in on what’s new with the Amtrak Rivals to set the stage for tonight’s season opener.

~Recapping the Wolves~

Last season the Wolves finished the regular season with a record of 40-29-6-1 (87 points). They were third in the Midwest Division behind the Grand Rapids Griffins and Rockford IceHogs and were 6 points clear of the Admirals.

There is no escaping how painful last season was for the Admirals and the Amtrak Rivalry really reflects that. The Wolves went 8-2-2-0 head-to-head with the Admirals and outscored them 42-30 (sans shootout). This hasn’t been the kindest of series in general for the Admirals. The last five seasons the Wolves lead the Amtrak Rivalry with an overall record of 30-18-4-6.

The Wolves bowed out of the playoffs in the dreaded eight seed versus first seed match up against the Utica Comets but went down swinging hard. The best of five series went the distance with three of the five games needing overtime – including game four in which the Wolves won to force game five. It might have been a tough exit to lose the very next night -but- the Wolves pushed the Comets big time before Utica would go all the way to represent the Western Conference in the 2015 Calder Cup Finals.

~Who What Now?~

Who returns from that tough 2014-15 Wolves roster then? Plenty of highly skilled and successful players: Jordan Binnington, Ty Rattie, Magnus Pääjärvi, Pat Cannone, Yannick Veilleux, Jeremy Welsh, Cody Beach, and Petteri Lindbohm. There are of course several new names and -of them- I look immediately at proven veteran experience that will be stationed on the Wolves defense: Peter Harrold and André Benoît. Who could be some of the younger names that step up big for the Wolves this season? Pheonix Copley, Ivan Barbashyov, Thomas Vannelli, and Jordan Schmaltz all come to mind. Plus, additions such as Zach O’Brien and Danny Kristo, both of whom had strong seasons in the AHL last year, will strengthen the scoring attack at forward.

The biggest name to me on the Wolves roster is Binnington. The 22-year old goaltender is a stud and he proved as much in his first full-season at the AHL level last season. In 45 appearances in 2014-15 he had a record of 25-15-4-1, 3 shutouts, 2.35 goals against average, and a 0.916 save percentage. If the added year under his belt isn’t enough to make him better than the competition in net he’ll face from Copley should be. Copley was part of the package back to the Blues in the T.J. Oshie to the Washington Capitals trade. Copley made his AHL debut last season with the Hershey Bears and was just as -if not better- than Binnington: 26 appearances, 17-4-3-1 record, 3 shutouts, 2.17 goals against average, and a 0.925 save percentage. If these two push each other to a higher level it means bad things for all who face the Wolves this season.

When it comes to the forward to watch out for tonight you’re safe bet might be Rattie. Why not? He has 90 points (52 goals, 38 assists) in 131 games for the Wolves. That’s your safe bet. The smarter bet would be Welsh. He terrorized the Admirals last season with the most points produced by anyone in the match-up by a comfortable margin, 13 points (8 goals, 5 assists) in 11 games. What’s scarier than that might actually be that of those 8 goals that Welsh scored against the Admirals last season is that 3 goals were scored shorthanded. Heck, basically one-fourth of his points production in 75 AHL games last season came from his work against the Admirals. He’s the sneaky threat to watch out for tonight just as he was all of last season.

~Yesterday’s AHL Scoreboard~

Toronto win 5-3 vs. Manitoba… Wilkes-Barre/Scranton win 2-1 (OT) @ Providence… Rochester win 6-3 vs. Lake Erie… Bakersfield win 1-0 vs. Grand Rapids… Rockford win 4-2 @ San Jose…

Expectations for tonight’s regular season opener? Is it important for the Admirals to get off to a fast start this season like last? What do you think will be the key to the Admirals having success against the Wolves this season?

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Welcome back, hockey season. We all missed you dearly. I know that tonight is only an exhibition game but there should be plenty of talent on display for the Milwaukee Admirals and Rockford IceHogs when the two take the ice tonight at the MSOE Kern Center. Everyone is still competing for those final roster spots and coaching staffs are also looking into line combinations that have great chemistry. The result of the exhibition game might not mean much as far as a win or loss goes. But who performs well and doesn’t can have big implications before the regular season begins.

~IceHogs~

We’ve talked plenty of the Admirals since their training camp started this week so let’s shift to the divisional rival that enters tonight. Right off the bat there are a few familiar names on the roster: Mike Liambas, Kirill Gotovets, Mark Visentin, Jeremy Morin, Mark McNeill, Daniel Paille, and Jake Dowell.

Liambas hardly needs to explained. Anyone that gets endeared by an organization and fan base to the point a bobblehead gets made actually says a lot from an AHL team. His time with the Admirals was tremendous in terms of his development away from out-and-out enforcer to a solid checking forward that can play smart on the ice. He went from playing defenseman in juniors to left wing when he joined the Admirals and his work on the wing will continue as he shifts into the next chapter in his career as a member of the Chicago Blackhawks organization this season.

Remember Gotovets? Of course you do! How can you not? He made his professional playing debut with the Admirals back at the end of the 2013-14 season. The 24-year old defenseman from Belarus spent the majority of last season with the Indy Fuel in the ECHL but did make it up to play 12 games for the IceHogs and now looks set for an extended run in the AHL.

If you’re familiar with Admirals goaltending you probably know the name Ben Vanderklok. He was an assistant goaltending coach who went on to succeed Mitch Korn as the goaltending coach of the Nashville Predators. Why is all that important information? Visentin. The 23-year old played in net for the Niagara IceDogs in junior hockey while Vanderklok was his goaltending coach. He was a prized student of his, had a great junior playing career, and worked his way into an NHL debut two season ago. Unfortunately for him, he suffered an ankle injury that required surgery which sidelined him for all of last season. The Arizona Coyotes opted not to submit a qualifying offer on him which made him a free agent this summer. He lands in the Blackhawks organization where goaltending success stories are starting to build up. Visentin has the potential to be the next one. How does he look and perform after missing a season due to injury? That’ll be a story to watch this season.

With Morin and McNeill you get two very “oh, them again” IceHogs. Morin is the organization’s all-time leading goal scorer and a man who I wonder if he will ever get a long run in the NHL. McNeill, on the other hand, would just like a game or two at the NHL level. This will be his third full professional playing season and the past two campaigns, all with the IceHogs, have equated to 81 points (41 goals, 40 assists) in 139 games. These are two key scorers who will be looking to do even more damage in an effort to push for an NHL call up.

Paille and Dowell are the real solid veteran skaters that the IceHogs will have this season. Paille was a Stanley Cup winner with the 2010-11 Boston Bruins and was signed to a PTO contract with the IceHogs this week. Dowell’s solid pro career continues with his second stint with the IceHogs. He was a fifth round draft pick of the Blackhawks in 2004 as a product of the Wisconsin Badgers. He is a solid locker room and on-ice leader who is coming off of a season with the Hamilton Bulldogs that saw him play every single game.

~Already Warmed Up~

Tonight might be the first exhibition game for the Admirals but they’ll be facing a team in the IceHogs who played last night. The IceHogs lost 2-2 in a shootout to the Chicago Wolves – a team that the Admirals get to play in their second exhibition game, a road game, on Saturday night.

In last night’s contest the IceHogs managed to claw out of a 2-0 deficit in the third period to force overtime and eventually a shootout. Casey Thrush scored a rebounder to get Rockford on the board and then Morin picked up the equalizer. The goaltending duel was Jordan Binnington for the Wolves against Visentin and it was the man in net for the Wolves that won this one: 35 saves and 2/4 in the shootout.

~Big Mouth Billy Bass Reference Here~

Lost in the news shuffle yesterday afternoon was that the Admirals now have Cody Bass. The former IceHogs forward cleared waivers yesterday from the Predators to reach the Admirals and should provide that little bit of balance in regards to Liambas crossing the divide to the visiting bench.

What are your expectations for tonight’s exhibition game? Should the Admirals start Brandon Whitney for tonight’s game or should Juuse Saros attempt to start and play all of tonight and tomorrow’s game in preparation for the regular season?

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It has come down to this. Tonight is the Milwaukee Admirals 2014-15 season finale. Sad, but I don’t think the mentality of the team is down in the dumps about it. If anything, there should be a big fat chip on everyone’s shoulders in regards to how the season faded away and how last night’s game summed it all up.

The Amtrak Rivalry has already been decided. The Chicago Wolves won the Amtrak Trophy with a 7-2-2-0 record against the Admirals this season. That doesn’t mean there isn’t something to play for though. These two teams have exchanged plenty of barbs from start to finish and I don’t anticipate this contest to be any different. The Wolves want to enter the playoffs on a high note. The Admirals want to end the season with a win to take some of the bitterness away from how things have spiraled. There shouldn’t be any easing up from either of these two teams.

~Short & Sweet~

The Wolves enter tonight’s game with a record of 39-28-6-1 (85 points). They currently have the exact same record as the Toronto Marlies but hold the seventh seed over the Canadian side courtesy of regulation/overtime wins. That all goes away should the Wolves drop points with the surging Marlies bagging more though.

Speaking of dropping points, last night the Wolves lost on the road to the Rockford IceHogs by the final score of 4-3. You know how in Chatterbox I mentioned how nice it would be to have that two-goal cushion? That is precisely what the IceHogs had last night, twice in fact, to help them get past the Wolves.

Should the current standings in the Western Conference hold the Wolves would be in an opening round match-up with the Grand Rapids Griffins. Those Griffins are currently on a run of 8-2-0-0 in their last ten games. Though, I can’t say the alternative as the eighth seed is any better. In the Utica Comets last ten games they’ve gone 7-1-1-1.

~Jake Allen 2.0~

There was a guy named Jake Allen who it felt like could do no wrong against the Milwaukee Admirals last season. Remember him? He went  7-0-0-2 against the Admirals in 2013-14 with a  1.51 goals against average, 0.939 save percentage, and 2 shutouts. There’s probably a reason why he won last year’s Aldege “Baz” Bastien Memorial Award and is starting in this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs for the St. Louis Blues. I just can’t quite put my finger on it though.

This season there has been this kid named Jordan Binnington who has stepped up to fill that Allen void and all he has done in the Amtrak Rivalry is win every single one of his six starts in net while sporting a 1.81 goals against average and 0.931 save percentage. Interestingly enough, despite how dominant he has been, he hasn’t managed to shutout the Admirals. He has held the Admirals to a lone goal three times this season including the last time he squared off while stopping 39/40 shots on goal.

If last night’s game and this season’s head-to-head are anything to go on I feel as if Binnington is a lock to start in net tonight. Not only does he have the Admirals number but Matt Climie, who was yanked from net after stopping 16/19 shots on goal last night in Rockford, has never done all that well against the Admirals historically. For the Admirals to solve Binnington they’ll need to do just about exactly the same as they did last time they faced him. Get pucks to the net and make him work. He could be brilliant as he was that night but you’d never know if you don’t test him and try for rebounds.

~Moving Pieces~

There are some shake-ups to the Wolves since the Admirals last saw them. Ty Rattie is currently up with the Blues during their playoff run and that has brought in not so like-minded replacement Cody Beach from the Alaska Aces of the ECHL. Rattie is third on the Wolves in scoring and second in goals: 42 points (21 goals, 21 assists). Beach, on the other hand, has 9 points (2 goals, 7 assists) and a whopping 203 penalty minutes. Think that sounds like a lot of penalty minutes? Amusingly enough, Beach isn’t even in the league’s top five for penalty minutes this season.

The Blues first round selection of the 2014 NHL Draft, Robby Fabbri, has also recently joined the Wolves. He had just finished up his junior playing season with the Guelph Storm of the OHL. This past season he tallied 51 points (25 goals, 26 assists) in 30 games. He was fourth on the team in scoring but, with less games on his ledger, had the best points per game on the entire team with a 1.70. The next closest in points per game on Guelph’s team this season was team scoring leader Tyler Bertuzzi with 1.44 points per game.

Expectations for the Milwaukee Admirals season finale? Are there certain players who you feel need to put one last stamp down before the season ends? Who could be playing their last game as a member of the Admirals tonight?

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