When last we met it was the Calder Cup Playoffs and these guys were white hot. The Toronto Marlies swept the Milwaukee Admirals out of the playoffs and it was all rather deflating. This could be viewed as a quasi-revenge game but I feel as if that match up was played out on opening night when the Admirals put five goals past Drew MacIntyre – who was really the monster that stopped anything and everything the Ads threw his way.

~Struggling~

The Marlies are having a hard go of things this season. They have a record of 10-15-3-0 (23 points) which has them a leg up on the Rochester Americans in the North Standings and twelfth in the Western Conference.

While the record isn’t great it certainly is something that can be turned around. That said, it is going to take some serious work. The Marlies goal differential this season is alarmingly bad: -25 goals (57 goals forced, 82 goals allowed). When they lose they seem to lose big time. Example. Last night the Marlies lost a road game to the Grand Rapids Griffins by a final score of 7-1.

~What’s What~

With such a wide goal differential you might think the goaltending is a major talking point. The truth is that things in net are fine. Christopher Gibson and Antoine Bibeau have been grinding away and doing quite well. Gibson has a 2.63 goals against average and a 0.911 save percentage. Bibeau has a 2.73 goals against average and a 0.915 save percentage.

The struggle lies with the Marlies offense. The Admirals have played one less game this season than the Marlies but have managed to score 17 goals more than Toronto.

Connor Brown is the go-to guy for the Marlies on offense and leads the team, as a rookie, with 22 points (8 goals, 14 assists) in 28 games. The next closest on the team is Spencer Abbott with 14 points (5 goals, 9 assists) in 24 games.

The Marlies are twenty-seventh in the AHL with a 12.4 conversion rate on the power-play. They also have the twenty-seventh rated penalty kill with a 79.1 success rate.

On paper, this match up is pretty close to what happened with yesterday’s game. Two teams with some hit and miss form looking to find a groove and get on a roll. The Admirals win vaulted them from fourth place to second place last night in the Midwest Divisonal standings with all teams not named the Rockford IceHogs tied at 31 points. It’s getting a bit wild ahead of the Christmas break. Both the Admirals and Marlies want to end on a high note.

Expectations for this afternoon’s game? Should the Admirals rotate in Magnus Hellberg on the back half of a two-in-two? What, if any, would you change to the Admirals lineup right now?

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Tonight the Admirals are looking for a bounce back performance with a road game against the Rochester Americans. If there is any other team in the AHL who could sympathize with recent struggles it’d be the Amerks who have gone 3-7-0-0 (6 points) in their last 10 games. They are currently seated last in the North Division and are second to last in the Western Conference. Something should give for someone tonight, right?

~Battle Between the Pipes~

 When looking at the Amerks issues this season you end up looking at the amount of goals they have allowed. They have scored 81 goals, not too shabby, but allowed 91 goals… only the St. John’s IceCaps (101 goals) and Norfolk Admirals (95 goals) have allowed more this season.

In net, they have had a tandem of just two goaltenders all season: Andrey Makarov and Nathan Lieuwen. The split between the two for games played is a difference of just one game with the rookie Makarov leading the way. The Russian has a record of 7-8-1-0 from 17 appearances this season with a 2.81 goals against average and a 0.912 save percentage. Meanwhile, Lieuwen appears to be having a regression style season (at least by the numbers): 4-9-0-0 record, 3.29 goals against average, 0.883 save percentage.

~The ‘Merican Offense~

There are four players really pacing the Amerks on offense: Phil Varone, Johan Larsson, Mikhail Grigorenko, and Tim Schaller. All have had good offensive seasons to date and, with the trade that was made sending their go-to offensive guy Luke Adam in a deal to the Columbus Blue Jackets, it’s nice to see for a Rochester perspective.

Varone was great last season. He is doing great again: 24 points (7 goals, 17 assists). That’s the player I wouldn’t want to see single-handedly taking it to the Admirals tonight.

Thoughts on tonight’s game? How important is it that the Admirals win these next two games against, on paper, lesser opponents? Will Marek Mazanec make his fourth consecutive start in net for the Admirals tonight? Scoreline prediction?

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There are a few ways you can look at this match-up. The last time the Admirals played two-games in Lake Erie they lost 4-2 and 6-1. But, hey, that was last season. This season the Admirals won their lone contest against the Monsters in a 2-1 shootout. I prefer to hope for the latter. We are on a seven game losing streak after all. Not sure any of us could handle results similar to those of last season.

~Monsters Rewind~

It has been a long time since we’ve seen these divisional foes. With an extra game played, and the current losing streak plaguing the Admirals, the Lake Erie Monsters moved ahead of the Ads in the Midwest Standings on the weekend: 12-9-2-2 (28 points), 3rd in the Midwest, 8th in the Western Conference.

The current run of form that the Monsters are in has seen them go  7-2-1-0 (15 points) in their last 10 games. They lost 5-2 on home ice to the Rockford IceHogs in their last game. Prior to that they were on a six-game winning streak in which they outscored opponents 20-11.

~Who What Now?~

The Monsters are currently being lead in scoring by Colin Smith and Stefan Elliott with 17 points. Smith leads the team with 7 goals but there are 5 other players that have 6 goals for the Monsters this season: Kenny Ryan, Joey Hishon, Paul Carey, Maxim Noreau, and the aforementioned Elliott.

In net, the Monsters are currently rolling Sami Aittokallio and Roman Will since Calvin Pickard was called up to the Colorado Avalanche a week ago. Aittokallio lost his last outing but and has a 2.65 goals against average with a 0.918 save percentage in December. The last time Will started was on 11/30/14 when he picked up a win in Toronto by stopping 28/29 shots on goal.

~Random Stat~

As a team the Monsters have scored 10 more goals than the Admirals have this season. While that sounds great. They have a goal differential of -11 on the season: 73 goals forced, 82 goals allowed.

~Admirals Rumor Mill~

Patrick Cehlin was assigned to the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL on Sunday. Where does the roster move come from? Does it come from within? Perhaps not. Daren Millard of Sportsnet tweeted out last night that the Admirals have signed Ian White to a professional try-out contract.

If true, it is quite the interesting move for the Admirals when you consider that we saw the exodus of Scott Ford, Scott Valentine, Joonas Järvinen, Charles-Olivier Roussel, and Bryan Rodney after last season. Different situation from the off-season to today, sure. Still curious if the veteran defenseman White is brought on-board.

Thoughts on tonight’s game? Can the Admirals snap the losing streak tonight? What would the addition of a veteran defenseman change for this team?

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The last time we saw these guys they were called the Abbotsford Heat and the Admirals lost 4-2 at home despite hammering twenty shots on goal in the first period. It was during that span when the Admirals were in the middle of a five-game winless stretch.

With the summer move away from Abbotsford, the Calgary Flames AHL affiliate was branded the Adirondack Flames after shipping out to Glens Falls, New York. They presented a firefighter killing mascot named Scorch who was shortly after murdered by the team themselves.

As for the actual team this season. They are doing far better than the PR team that cooked up the mascot fiasco. They are currently seated second in the North Division with a record of 15-10-1-0 (31 points) which has them fourth in the Western Conference standings. They have gone 6-4-0-0 (12 points) in their last 10 games including consecutive wins entering tonight’s contest.

~Odd Stat~

Despite a really successful start to the season the Flames have actually allowed more goals than they have scored… 75 goals forced, 79 goals allowed for a goal differential of -4. They’ve played in a game where either they or their opponent has scored five or more goals eight times this season. That includes a game that saw them come out on the better end of a 7-6 goal fest against the San Antonio Rampage.

~Returning Faces~

In tonight’s game we have two former Admirals and a Badgers product. Nolan Yonkman was the Ads captain from 2007-10. He played a career 283 games, produced 39 points (8 goals, 31 assists), and recorded 466 penalty minutes over his Admirals tenure. Mathieu Tousignant will be a familiar sight to those on the squad last season. He played 76 games, posted 21 points (8 goals, 13 assists), and had 158 penalty minutes. John Ramage played for the Badgers from 2009-13. Ramage was their captain for the final two years of his collegiate career which saw him play 157 games, score 53 points (14 goals, 39 assists), and tally 237 penalty minutes.

Yonkman is the Flames team captain and has 4 assists as well as 2 fights this season. Tousignant has 8 points (3 goals, 5 assists) for the Flames this season and has 6 fights already. Ramage is in his second full season of professional hockey and has 4 assists.

Thoughts for this game? Can the Admirals return to the win column tonight? What needs to happen to ignite the Admirals offense?

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Rather than dig back into the IceHogs, a team we’ve seen four times in our last eleven games, I am going to look back specifically at our last meeting. That game was our worst performance all season and summed up the worst of the Milwaukee Admirals during this current five-game losing streak. When the Admirals were shutout 4-0 by the IceHogs last Thursday they had nothing to offer from the opening puck drop until the game mercifully came to an end.

Anthony Bitetto chucked a puck over the glass seventeen-seconds into the game. That would signal the start of a period where they only posted four shots on goal. The IceHogs scored off of a goal that ricocheted off the goaltending stick and glove of Magnus Hellberg, who was trying to push the puck to his left corner, before finding its way behind him and the goal line to make it 1-0.

The second goal scored by the IceHogs was another howler all-round. A real story from that game for the Admirals defense was the amount of times they were burned by watching the puck and not being as active as they typically are. Rather than applying pressure, they seemed to all focus on the puck carrier and lost sight of T.J. Brennan skating from the left point all the way into the left wing faceoff circle. All five Admirals skaters are balled up to the right side of the ice and, in panic to the puck carrier Brennan, concede the backdoor to Hellberg’s net for Matt Carey. While his finish on the one-timer was whiffed. He had forever and a day to secure any rebounds if there was one. Fortunately for him, Brennan’s pass was so firm that it banked off of his skate and managed to beat Hellberg’s post-to-post save.

With the third goal came another mistake from the Admirals. This go-round they won a faceoff in neutral and Garrett Noonan, a bit too eager to start up a long feed for Viktor Arvidsson, turned the puck right over to start a two-on-one breakaway. Noonan was the last man back after the poor turnover because Johan Alm flew up center ice to get in attack. Why? I’m not even sure he knows. The net result, similar to Carey’s goal, was so much time and space for the IceHogs to score that they could jam a rebound in without pressure if need be. It wasn’t needed for Carey’s goal. It was for Drew LeBlanc‘s goal however and three trailing Admirals couldn’t fend him off of Hellberg before he made it 3-0 just over a minute into the third period to kill any real hope of a third period comeback.

The fourth and final goal was really the only one where I feel the Admirals did just about everything they could have to prevented it from happening. Brennan was in acres of space on the left wing, again, but his shot was simply unstoppable to the high blocker side roof.

Simply put. It was a stinker and it was so due to repeated mistakes. The Admirals passing was a mess. The defense was caught napping or being overly aggressive. When you make mistakes as bad as they made them against a team as hot as the IceHogs, who still lead the Midwest Division, you’re going to get a game like last Thursday.

What happened in the following two games for the Admirals did feel like minor improvements with teams game. I still feel that Hellberg and the Ads are very unlucky to not have secured a shutout on Sunday to put down the Grand Rapids Griffins. Yet, even that ended with the uninspiring feeling of “here we go again” as soon as the Griffins scored in the final minute of regulation.

A win tonight is a must for the Admirals. The losing streak is at five games including three straight on home ice. They’ll need to play desperate because I guarantee that the IceHogs, who lost their last two games, will come out strong looking for a rebound of their own.

Rather than get into the traps that cost them last time out. The Admirals need to be smart and keep things simple. That philosophy should have earned them a shutout last game. And it could get them back to winning ways tonight.

Thoughts for tonight’s game? Can the Admirals get some revenge from last week’s loss to Rockford? Is it ironic that the Admirals have lost every single game since Rich Clune called the Chicago Wolves “soft” or is it just me worried about us annoying the hockey gods?

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Ah-hah! You thought this would be a full throttle edition of Scouting the Enemy. Well, it is. But, with the Grand Rapids Griffins rolling in with one of the better prospects in hockey coming to town, I feel it necessary to do a spotlight.

Anthony Mantha was selected by the Detroit Red Wings with the twentieth overall selection in the 2013 NHL Draft. At the age of 20-years old this is his first season of professional hockey after a junior playing career that saw him record 260 points (129 goals, 131 assists) in 189 games with Val-d’Or Foreurs of the QMJHL. He missed the start to this season after fracturing a tibia in mid-September.

It was on 11/14/14 that Mantha made his pro-debut in a game that finished in a 3-2 home win for the Griffins over the Texas Stars. He has now played in 8 games with the Griffins this season and has 5 points (3 goals, 2 assists) – including a goal and an assist in last night’s Griffins 4-0 road shutout of the Rockford IceHogs.

If Teemu Pulkkinen wasn’t scary enough to deal with on the ice the addition of Mantha should be. They both possess similar high powered offensive qualities: deep shots, speed, strength, and a willingness to play contributor as well as sniper. To link those two up would mean rough times are in-store for the Midwest Division.

Since the debut of Mantha the Grand Rapids Griffins have gone 6-3-1-0 (13 points) in 10 games. Their overall record is  10-9-2-0 (22 points) and they sit behind the Admirals in the Midwest Division in fourth place. In Grand Rapids terms, their start to the season has been pretty lackluster. They’ve been playing some of their best hockey since the debut of Mantha and I don’t think that’s a coincidence. The better he gets as he acclimatizes to the pro-game – the better the Griffins will be in the AHL this season.

I think of him as the Red Wings version of Filip Forsberg a season ago. Mantha will probably spend the majority of his first pro-season at the AHL level as he gets over the speed bumps and gets a firm grasp of all elements, penalty kill included, that the AHL can provide him that wouldn’t otherwise be available to him in Detroit. We’re seeing him fresh this afternoon. He’ll be a whole different animal when we see them for the last time in the regular season on 4/8/15.

What will happen in today’s game? Which Admirals team will we be getting today: the early season winning streak version or the up-down-and-around losing streak version? Scoreline prediction?

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Get that last game dusted off of you yet? Great, because the Milwaukee Admirals are back at it for the first of a two-in-two this weekend. Tonight we get to see an Oklahoma City Barons team that tops the West Division with a record of 13-4-2-2 (30 points). From one division leader to the next, right?

~OKC Rewind~

As mentioned, the Barons are leading the West Division. What should come as big a scare as the last Admirals game is just how hot they are rolling into Milwaukee tonight. The Barons have 9-game point streak currently and are 8-0-0-1 during that time including a 7-game winning streak.

During this point streak they have endured 5 games that have gone to overtime or a shootout including a stretch that saw them win 4-straight games in OT. That run of OT games finally came to an end last night with a 4-1 road win against the Grand Rapids Griffins.

With their 72 goals scored on the season, which ties them with their divisional foes the San Antonio Rampage, they only trail the Springfield Falcons (79) and Rockford IceHogs (74) for best offensive output in the AHL. The Barons have the second best power-play in the league: 24.7 % success rate… only the Bridgeport Sound Tigers ridiculous 29% rate is better.

~The Who & What~

Leading the team in scoring is veteran forward Jason Williams with 23 points (8 goals, 15 assists) in 19 games. He spent his last two seasons playing pro-hockey in Switzerland with HC Ambrì-Piotta. Prior to his stint overseas he was a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins organization where he played the bulk of his 2011-12 season with Wilkes-Barre Scranton. He currently has 267 games of AHL playing experience.

Other men leading the way in scoring for the Barons are Brad Hunt, Anton Lander, Ryan Hamilton, and Iiro Pakarinen. Both Hunt and Lander are tallying up the assists this season with a combined 25 assists between them. As for Hamilton and Pakarinen, those two have each been tearing things up in the goal department. Hamilton has a team best 9 goals this season while Pakarinen’s 8 goals ties him with Williams.

The man shouldering the load in net for the Barons this season, just like last season, is Richard Bachman. He is currently putting together his best season since his 2009-10 as a member of the Texas Stars and Idaho Steelheads. He has played in 11 games this season, won 7 games, and has a 2.27 goals against average with a 0.921 save percentage.

As far as any rough stuff goes. The man you’ll want to keep your eyes peeled for is #22, Kale Kessy. This season he has 61 penalty minutes on the strength of 5 fighting majors – including a game misconduct for fighting Charlotte Checkers defenseman Keegan Lowe twice in a game on 11/21/14.

~Milwaukee Admirals Make A Roster Move~

Let’s talk about us for a moment because there was a move made last night that saw Joe Pendenza getting recalled from the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL before their game against the Fort Wayne Komets. Pendenza only played one game after his loan move down on Tuesday. This move is made as a direct result of the injury picked up by Rich Clune on Thursday night that, according to Dean Evason, should sideline Clune for the weekend.

BREAKING: That other lad involved in the roster move on Tuesday, Jonathan Diaby, has also been reassigned to the Admirals.

What are your expectations for tonight’s game after the horror show Thursday night? Should the Admirals be aggressive right out of the gate to show some fight or do they need to remain conservative with such an attacking force in the Oklahoma City Barons on the ice?

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After putting the wild wild weekend in Charlotte in the rear-view mirror – it’s time to put just another wild wild night with the Rockford IceHogs into perspective. They still lead the Midwest Division with a 15-5-1-1 (32 points) record. With a win tonight the IceHogs would be sitting all alone on top of the Western Conference standings with the highest points total in the entire AHL.

~Since Last We Met~

The IceHogs have played four games since the last time we met up. They shutout the Chicago Wolves on the road, 3-0… they clubbed the Iowa Wild merciless at home, 6-1… they lose in overtime at home against the Wolves, 4-3 (OT)… and then lost to the Wolves in regulation in Chicago, 2-1.

~Goaltending Silliness~

The last time we actually saw the IceHogs they had three goalies in camp: Scott Darling, Michael Leighton, and Mac Carruth. Leighton had a day-to-day injury at the time so Carruth was brought up from the Indy Fuel of the ECHL. Tonight’s tandem will include those two named because Darling was recalled to the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday. Why? Well, isn’t that the fun story.

Corey Crawford, the Blackhawks starting netminder, reportedly missed a step and fell down at a Rise Against concert at Chicago’s House of Blues on Monday night. Put that down for one of the more bizarre sports injuries to come out of hockey in recent years. Crawford was in a walking boot yesterday and is expected to miss two-to-three weeks.

That will impact the IceHogs who will be without Darling during that span. But, it must be said, Leighton is a veteran and Carruth recorded a shutout in his lone AHL appearance this season.

Minor Rambling: Considering this is a small goaltending segment… with Martin Brodeur officially signing with the St. Louis Blues… and Brian Elliott out indefinitely with a knee injury… it makes me wonder what ends up happening to former Admiral killer Jake Allen should Brodeur be serviceable and Elliott comes back good as gold. The Wolves already have seen the return of Jordan Binnington. Could the Wolves see a tandem of Allen and Binnington? …I hope not.

~Scoring, Lots of Scoring~

T.J. Brennan, last season’s Eddie Shore winner, currently leads the IceHogs in scoring with 17 points (4 goals, 13 assists) in 22 games. In a full 7 games less work, Mark McNeill has scored only one less point: 16 points (9 goals, 7 assists) in 15 games. McNeill missed time this season due to a lower-body injury. He hasn’t played a game since the last time the IceHogs came to Milwaukee, 11/15/14.

The rookie of interest in Rockford for me from the start of the season, Teuvo Teräväinen, has impressed. He has scored 13 points (3 goals, 10 assists) in 20 games this season. Compare that with Brendan Leipsic‘s rookie output of 17 points (1 goal, 16 assists) from 19 games. Both have hit the ground running for the 2014-15 season.

UPDATE: The Chicago Blackhawks have recalled defenseman Klas Dahlbeck and reassigned defenseman Adam Clendening. Dahlbeck had 6 points (2 goals, 4 points) in 22 games for Rockford including 25 penalty minutes – including a fight with Colton Sissons last time the two played in Milwaukee. Clendening scored a goal and an assist from his first 4 games of NHL duty. His production in the AHL this season includes 4 points (1 goal, 3 assists) and 10 penalty minutes in 16 games.

Thoughts on tonight’s game? What are your expectations from yet another clash between the Admirals and IceHogs? Will there be more fights than goals? Who starts in net for the Admirals? Scoreline prediction?

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When we last saw these Charlotte Checkers it was opening night. That seems like ages ago already, doesn’t it? The Admirals offense rocked them 6-3 in that game and gave us a glimpse into just what our young forwards can do. Especially one Pontus Åberg. I still feel that first game of the season gave us our best goal to date.

You can still watch that goal again-and-again and still make the same facial reaction that Brendan Leipsic had in the corner. Egad!

 ~Checkers Recap~

Considering the whole season has transpired so far since we last saw these guys there is plenty to look at. The Charlotte Checkers currently have a record of 5-11-1-0 (11 points) and are seated at the bottom of the West Division with the Iowa Wild (11 points). Charlotte is currently on a three-game losing streak – during which they were outscored 13-5.

The Checkers join the Milwaukee Admirals, Grand Rapids Griffins, and Lake Erie Monsters for the least amount of games played in the AHL this season at 17 games. For those curious, the St. John’s IceCaps and Springfield Falcons have logged the most games in the league this season with 22 games played.

If you like goal scoring… I’m afraid I’ve got some BAD NEWS. The Checkers have scored 37 goals as a team this season. That makes them second lowest in the Western Conference in scoring. Only Toronto Marlies have been worse in that department with only 29 goals scored from 18 games.

~Who, What, Who~

As you would now expect. Scoring has been few and far between for the Checkers. Their leading scorer is right winger Greg Nemisz with 13 points (8 goals, 5 assists) in 17 games. He is trailed be veteran forward Chad LaRose who has 9 points (2 goals, 7 assists) in an equal amount of games played.

In goal, things have been way more consistent for the Checkers from this season as opposed to last. They had used nine goaltenders during the 2013-14 season. We’re nearly at December now and, breathe Checkers fans, they’ve utilized the same battery that they started the season off with: Drew MacIntyre and John Muse.

Both goaltenders have had a hard go of it to start the season. MacIntyre has played the bulk to date, 13 games, and has lost 8 games while sporting a 2.87 goals against average and a 0.906 save percentage. Muse hasn’t faired much better in his 5 appearances, either. He has only 1 win on the season with a 2.72 goals against average and a 0.904 save percentage.

What are your expectations for the Admirals weekend set in Charlotte? Can the Admirals take all four-points? Scoreline predictions?

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Welp, it’s a rematch of the Amtrak Rivalry game held in Milwaukee this past Friday. The Admirals were able to get the better of the Wolves 3-2 (OT). Considering how close we are to that game. It’s worth rewinding some material to get a refresher course for this head-to-head:

• 11/21/14, Wolves: Scouting the Enemy
• 11/21/14, Game Recap
• 11/21/14, The Chatterbox, Vol. 46

This game comes after two-successive defeats for the Admirals. It’s only the second time this season that they have lost two-in-a-row. And their current record finds them exactly where they were prior to the losses: third in the Midwest Division and fifth in the Western Conference. In fact, they still have a better winning percentage (0.719) than the Wolves do (0.658).

~Huddle Up~

When reflecting back on the two losses for the Admirals this past weekend… 3-2 in Rockford… 2-1 (SO) in Iowa… you have to say that they didn’t really play all that bad.

The Admirals played speed for speed with the IceHogs and generated a season-high 40 shots on goal. The problem in that game was that Scott Darling was in net and made 38 saves.

Then, for the third straight time, the Iowa Wild took down the Admirals. The two played like you may expect from a pair of squads finishing three-in-three weekends. The play was sluggish. Passes weren’t connecting. And the finishing touch wasn’t there… until the final such and such minutes of the game, anyways.

If you’re thinking these two defeats should be concerning for the Ads. Don’t worry. Even in these losses there were positives. I don’t expect some sort of shake-up in lines or who is playing. It’s all a matter of taking it in stride and finding the back of the net.

~Since We Last Met~

The Wolves, like the Admirals, endured a three-in-three weekend. They followed up the OT defeat in Milwaukee with a 3-2 win against the Wild. The Sunday clash saw them go up against the IceHogs and get blanked by Mac Carruth in a 3-0 loss.

That Saturday game with Iowa, as is the case now-a-days, wasn’t easy. The Wolves overcame a 2-0 first period deficit to win that one. As for that top two of the Midwest battle… it would be a game like –that– that would frustrate me a whole lot more than what the Admirals went through. So many things were done right for the Wolves until… that final third of the ice. The goals for the IceHogs were very opportunistic. And the Wolves fell flat in a game they could have just as easily won.

Which team is going to get the rebound win tonight? Do you feel the Admirals should shuffle the forward or defensive lines? How about goaltending… Should Marek Mazanec be given the chance to play tonight’s game in light of Magnus Hellberg‘s first defeat of the season?

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