This is Travis Morin of the Texas Stars. For what it is worth, boy am I glad the Admirals dealt with him earlier in the season. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
The next set of awards from the AHL has been announced. Today it is the AHL’s first and second All-Star teams. Yet again, there aren’t any representatives of the Milwaukee Admirals but there are some players out of our Midwest Division rivals.
You can read a snippet on all the selections on the AHL’s website right now. Tomorrow’s AHL award will be the Fred T. Hunt Award for sportsmanship, determination, and dedication.
What are your thoughts on the AHL’s selections for first and second team All-Star teams?
The past few weeks I have been working on categorizing every single story ever published here on the Roundtable for easier archive access.
When you see the bottom of a story you’ll see News, Game Recaps, Chatterbox, etc etc. Now, whenever you click on something such as Game Recaps, you can fully access our game recaps dated all the way back to when Ryan Miller brought the Short Shifts blog over to the Roundtable! I mean, whenever you can read something that mentions Wacey Rabbit you’re having a good day right?
Anyways, part of the fun of all that archive work was seeing plenty of great photos that we’ve had posted on this website over the years. In honor of Throwback Thursday – here are some of the gems that I came across.
Teemu Pulkkinen was one of two members of the Grand Rapids Griffins to make this season’s All-Rookie Team. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
This afternoon the AHL announced its 2013-14 AHL All-Rookie Team. Despite great rookie campaigns from the likes of Colton Sissons and Miikka Salomaki – there were no representatives of the Milwaukee Admirals on the selected team.
Other players that missed out on this list, that have had great rookie seasons, include: Alexander Khokhlachev (Providence Bruins), Lucas Lessio (Portland Pirates), Brett Ritchie (Texas Stars), and Ty Rattie (Chicago Wolves).
This is the first of many awards set to be announced by the AHL in the coming days:
Apr. 9 – 2013-14 AHL All-Rookie Team
Apr. 10 – 2013-14 AHL First and Second All-Star Teams
Apr. 11 – Fred T. Hunt Award (sportsmanship, determination, dedication)
Apr. 14 – Dudley “Red” Garrett Award (outstanding rookie)
Apr. 15 – Louis A.R. Pieri Award (outstanding coach)
Apr. 16 – Eddie Shore Award (outstanding defenseman)
Apr. 17 – Yanick Dupré Memorial Award (AHL Man of the Year)
Apr. 17 – Aldege “Baz” Bastien Award (outstanding goaltender)
Apr. 18 – Les Cunningham Award (most valuable player)
Do you agree with the AHL’s selection for the All-Rookie Team? Did our top two rookies deserve a mention? Which award, if any, will the Admirals have a chance at winning?
Colton Sissons returned to the Milwaukee Admirals last night after a thirteen game spell with the Nashville Predators. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
The Admirals won 3-1 over the Rockford IceHogs last night. It was the Ads seventh win over the IceHogs in eleven games this season. The finale in the season series will be played this Friday in Rockford.
For those who have listened in on previous installments of the Chatterbox, where Tousignant talks about players around him during his interview (Vol. 21 and Vol. 22), we had a few gems tonight with cameos from Charles-Olivier Roussel and Anthony Bitetto.
Let’s dive into last night’s post-game interviews!
Mathieu Tousignant celebrates scoring the opening goal of the Milwaukee Admirals 3-1 win over the Rockford IceHogs on Tuesday night. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
The Admirals won 3-1 against the Rockford IceHogs Tuesday night. The Ads moved one step closer to punching their ticket into the 2014 Calder Cup playoffs on the strength of a penalty kill unit that was a perfect six for six tonight. Colton Sissons also made his mark in his return from Nashville with a power-play goal that finished off the scoring in tonight’s game.
“I felt like we were kind of hanging on there for a long time,” said Sissons. “We obviously had some calls that we didn’t exactly like but we also took some silly penalties. It’s tough. It wears you down – mentally and physically. We were hanging on there and we needed a goal to separate ourselves a little bit. I was fortunate enough to find the back door and [Taylor Beck] found me.”
It took just eleven seconds in this game before we saw Milwaukee Admirals history. Mike Liambas took a slashing penalty shortly after the opening draw. This gave him an Admirals AHL record for most penalty minutes in a single season with 267. The previous record was 266 penalty minutes by Jordin Tootoo during the 2004-05 season.
Unfortunately for Liambas he did not return to the game following his penalty. He appeared to awkwardly finish off a check as the delayed penalty was on at the start of the game. It was unclear as to what he may have injured – but the Admirals played a forward short for effectively the entire game.
The Ads picked up the opening goal with under two minutes remaining in the first period. Francis Wathier was skating down the right wing and dropped a puck off behind him for Mathieu Tousignant. With Wathier still up ice – it gave Tousignant the space to fake a shot, move towards the slot, and slide the puck underneath Jason LaBarbera for his seventh goal of the season.
“I don’t know what else you can say about that guy,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason of Tousignant. “He’s a hockey player. That’s what you have to say about him. Yes, he gets under people’s skin but he kills penalties for us, scores goals for us, scores shootouts. He just plays the game. He doesn’t care where he plays – he just wants to play hockey. That’s pretty refreshing.”
In the second period Bryan Rodney scored an outstanding goal for his fifth of the season. The veteran puck moving d-man faked out two IceHogs with two fake wind ups on a slap shot, moved in on goal, and finally let that slapper loose to beat LaBarbera to make it 2-0 Admirals. The primary assist on the play went to Jonathan Diaby – who was making his professional hockey debut tonight.
Marek Mazanec lost his shutout bid in the third period following a goal from Mark McNeill. Pat Mullane made a wrap-around move, left wing to right wing, and passed out in front to Stephen Johns. The blueliner fired to the net and the luck was redirected by McNeill for his eighteenth goal of the season.
With the IceHogs continuing to buzz around the Admirals defensive zone – Brad Mills was given an interference minor that the Ads quickly turned into a power-play goal. Colton Sissons, fresh from his one month stay with the Nashville Predators, scored his twenty-fifth goal of the season after a great pass by Taylor Beck picked him out in the low left wing circle. It was a tight shooting angle but, with the pass from Beck, Sissons had the time to catch, measure, and beat LaBarbera to re-establish the Ads two-goal lead.
The game would end by the scoreline of 3-1. It is only the second time this season that Mazanec has accomplished that feat in net. He stopped twenty-six of twenty-seven shots on goal and was quite possibly the team’s best penalty killer tonight. The Admirals kill unit was a perfect six-for-six in tonight’s victory.
“We thought we held our composure,” said Evason. “Some of the penalties are our responsibility. It was a tough game for the penalty kill and they came through.”
Ramblings: Jonathan Diaby made his professional debut tonight. He recently finished up his junior career with the Victoriaville Tigres of the QMJHL. Tonight’s unhealthy scratches included: Mark Van Guilder, Simon Moser, Scott Ford, and Scott Valentine. The healthy scratches consisted of: Joe Pendenza, Mikko Vainonen, and Kirill Gotovets. Celebrity Corbin Bernsen took a massive airborne spill during the second intermission. He was attempting to throw a puck into the net baseball style and lost his footing. He appeared on the jumbotron, bandage on the back of his head, near the end of the game. Still not sure what he was thinking – but he seemed to still be having fun regardless.
Thoughts on tonight’s win? What impressed you the most from tonight’s game? What was Corbin Bernsen thinking?
It’s an old photo – but boy does it some up the recent run for the Rockford IceHogs. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
The Rockford IceHogs enter tonight’s game with an overall record of 33-28-5-4 (75 points). They trail the Milwaukee Admirals by six points for third place in the Midwest Division. With their recent run of 3-6-0-1 (7 points) in their last ten games – the IceHogs have fallen to ninth in the Western Conference. They are on the outside of the playoffs looking in.
When you think back to where this downward trend begins for the IceHogs you can look back to exactly ten games ago: 3/7/14, in Milwaukee, losing 8-3. The very next night: 3/8/14, in Rockford against Milwaukee, losing 6-2. They then had six full days to rest up and prepare for another clash against the Admirals. The result: 3/14/14, in Milwaukee, losing 6-5 in a shootout.
In the last ten games the IceHogs have a goal differential of -19 (29 GF, 48 GA) from open play. They have also allowed 16 goals purely from the power-play – out of 43 kill opportunities.
So… an IceHogs team that is in a rut, angry, and desperate. What’s the worse that could happen?
Yeah…
Coming into tonight’s contest the IceHogs leading scorer is defenseman Adam Clendening. The 21-year old New York native has the second most points scored by a d-man in the AHL this season: 56 points (12 goals, 44 assists). The top scoring defenseman in the AHL remains to be T.J. Brennan of the Toronto Marlies with 66 points (22 goals, 44 assists).
Clendening is tied for the team lead in points when it comes to the head-to-head against the Admirals. He has 8 points (1 goal, 7 assists) in nine games. The bloke he is tied with is Jeremy Morin who has 8 points (5 goals, 3 assists) in nine games.
That name provides a crucial point when it comes to tonight’s game: Morin is currently up with the Chicago Blackhawks. To me, he has been the most lethal player in the season match up. He just seemed to generate confidence and downhill skating for the IceHogs whenever he was on the ice. With him out, Mark McNeill (3 goals, 4 assists) and Garret Ross (1 goal, 6 assists) are the top forward scorers against the Admirals this season.
The other forwards to keep watch of in tonight’s game are Alex Broadhurst and Pierre-Marc Bouchard. Both bring great pace and creativity to the IceHogs roster. The two have a combined 56 assists this season. Without Morin – they could be the real spark plugs to lookout for.
The goalies for the IceHogs are Kent Simpson and Jason LaBarbera. Both are having rough stretches since the month of March – especially Simpson.
In the month of March: Simpson played four games, allowed 20 goals, won one game, had a 5.71 GAA, and a 0.841 SV%. In April he has played in two games (one in relief, one getting yanked from a start), no decisions, a 6.09 GAA, and a ludicrous 0.556 SV% (4 goals from 9 shots).
LaBarbera, as hinted by getting pulled in his last start, isn’t having it that easy either. I would say though – it’s still better than the stretch for Simpson. LaBarbera played seven games in March, won three and lost four, had a 3.49 GAA, and a 0.889 SV%. In April he has played twice, lost both games (extending his current run to three-straight defeats), has a 3.90 GAA, and a 0.815 SV%.
The Milwaukee Admirals enter this game with a record of 34-23-6-7 (81 points). They are third in the Midwest Division and sixth in the Western Conference.
While the Amtrak Rivalry against the Chicago Wolves has been a bit of a mess this season for the Admirals, 3-4-2-1 (9 points from ten games), the series against the IceHogs has looked much much better.
Nov. 1 vs. Rockford: W, 4-2
Nov. 27 @ Rockford: L, 2-1 (OT)
Dec. 21 @ Rockford: W, 3-1
Jan. 24 vs. Rockford: W, 3-2
Jan. 25 @ Rockford: L, 2-1
Jan. 26 vs. Rockford: L, 4-3 (OT)
Feb. 22 @ Rockford: L, 4-1
Mar. 7 vs. Rockford: W, 8-3
Mar. 8 @ Rockford: W, 6-2
Mar. 14 vs. Rockford: W, 6-5 (SO)
The Admirals are 6-2-2-0 (14 points) against the IceHogs in ten games this season. These next two games for them, tonight at home and Friday in Rockford, are the final meetings between the two this season.
The big news that followed all of the fun at practice came in the return of Colton Sissons to the Admirals following a month long stay in Nashville. In his latest stint he recorded his first career NHL goal and played thirteen games. He may have been a healthy scratch in the Predators last game – but I expect him to hit the ground running tonight.
Though Sissons has missed out on AHL playing time, and therefore the team lead in scoring, it is worth pointing out his points per game is tied for the team best in that respect: 0.73 Pt/G. The man he is tied with, Taylor Beck, has played in four more games than him. In fifty-six games, the 20-year old first year pro has 41 points (24 goals, 17 assists) – including 8 points (5 goals, 3 assists) in nine games against the IceHogs.
Scott Darling has started in net for the Admirals in their last three games. In those games he has won twice, has a 0.98 GAA, 0.964 SV%, and a shutout. The last time Darling made three consecutive starts for the Admirals: 12/29/13, @ Iowa: W, 4-0… 1/3/13, @ Lake Erie: L, 4-2… 1/4/14, Jan. 4 @ Lake Erie: L, 6-1.
Should we see Marek Mazanec – it will be his first game played since a 3-1 defeat to the Grand Rapids Griffins in the Ads final game of March. In the month he played in eight games, won five, had a 2.87 GAA, and a less than ideal 0.886 SV%. However, he did break his run of allowing 2 goals or more on 3/26/14 @ Rochester when the Admirals won 3-1.
What shall we expect tonight for the Admirals? What sort of IceHogs team will the Ads be playing against tonight? How do you think Colton Sissons will fair in his return to the Ads lineup? Should Scott Darling make his fourth consecutive start or should Marek Mazanec get a game ahead of this weekend’s three-in-three?
Let the Hog roast begin! Colton Sissons returns to the Milwaukee Admirals after a month up in the NHL. (Photo Credit: Jeff Hanisch)
This afternoon the Nashville Predators officially reassigned Colton Sissons to the Milwaukee Admirals. The move comes after the 20-year-old played in thirteen games since being recalled on March 10. In that time Sissons scored his first career NHL goal along with two assists.
Sissons upped his total to seventeen NHL games in his first professional playing season putting up a total of four points (one goal, three assists). As far ice time goes, Sissons set a personal best last weekend, 15:13 TOI, in the Predators 4-3 shootout win over the Washington Capitals. He followed that up with the second lowest total of the season: 7:13 TOI in a 5-2 road win against the Anaheim Ducks. With the return of Paul Gaustad in yesterday’s 3-0 shutout – Sissons was a healthy scratch.
He returns to the Admirals as the team’s fourth highest scorer 41 points (24 goals, 17 assists). Mind you, he has done that in far less games than those in front of him. He is tied on the team with Taylor Beck in points per game with 0.73 Pt/G – despite Sissons playing four less games than Beck.
With the Rockford IceHogs coming in tomorrow night it should be an added bonus for Sissons. He has scored 8 points (5 goals, 3 assists) in nine games against Rockford this season including 2 goals in the game prior to his last recall to Nashville.
So Roundtable… How would like to welcome Colton Sissons back to Milwaukee? Do you think his latest stint in the NHL games will make him an even more effective player with the Admirals?
The newest member of the Milwaukee Admirals, Mikko Vainonen, chills out with fellow Finn Joonas Jarvinen during today’s practice.
This morning’s practice at the BMO Harris Bradley Center provided a pretty good look into tomorrow night. There was a new addition to the Admirals today at practice along with a few absentees. Let’s dive into the ins and outs of today’s practice.
The first thing that took me awhile to figure out was – who is the guy wearing the #12 helmet? As it turns out, Mikko Vainonen has officially joined the Admirals following the Kingston Frontenacs elimination from the OHL playoffs. Kingston lost in overtime of game seven against Peterborough last week.
Vainonen was drafted by the Nashville Predators in the fourth round (118th overall) of the 2012 NHL Draft. The 19-year old from Helsinki, Finland played two seasons of junior hockey with Kingston: 112 games, 40 points (8 goals, 32 assists), and 115 penalty minutes. In the recent seven game playoff series against Peterborough he scored 4 points (1 goal, 3 assists) and had 8 penalty minutes. Prior to playing junior hockey in North America he played 8 games with HIFK Helsinki of the Finnish Elite League.
Ford took a nasty hit in Saturday’s game in Chicago. First impressions suggested he had an issue with his right leg. As the Sheriff pointed out on Twitter he also received some pretty good patch work done to his face.
Van Guilder is still resting up from a lower-body injury and is considered day-to-day according to head coach Dean Evason. As for Valentine, I kind of sort of forgot to ask about his status and availability so I made my own conclusion.
Young was released from his ATO today and may well be joining a new team in the AHL this week. He played his first career game as a professional hockey player when the Admirals played in Toronto. Unfortunately he was injured in that exact same game. His release, and injuries to Ford and Valentine, does mean defensemen such as Jonathan Diaby, Kirill Gotovets, and the newbie Vainonen all have a shot at playing their first professional game tomorrow night.
These are how the forward lines looked this morning:
After practice was all finished up I chatted with Dean Evason, Joe Piskula, Mikko Vainonen, and Francis Wathier. Here is what everyone had to say ahead of tomorrow night’s game against the Rockford IceHogs.
Jake Allen has owned the Milwaukee Admirals this season. Would you want to face him and the Amtrak Rivals in the opening round of the playoffs? (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
Hello Roundtable. I’m hoping to have a relaxing Sunday today -but- want to ask you all a question that I’ve had in mind a lot in recent weeks.
Should the Admirals avoid gaining the fifth overall playoff seed in the Western Conference with the threat of a first round match up against the Chicago Wolves?
It seems like the Admirals have been planted in the Midwest Division (third place) and Western Conference (sixth place) for a solid month now. With the teams in front of them hardly changing up much – it seems as if those potential opening round opponents become fairly clear.
If the season ended today, the Admirals would play against the Toronto Marlies in a three versus six match up. In the past five years the Ads have dominated that head-to-head: 8-2-1-1 (18 points from twelve games). This season they swept the Marlies: Jan. 21 vs. Toronto: W, 3-2… Mar. 22 @ Toronto: W, 5-1.
While the Marlies have seven more wins and points than the Admirals – they also have a full 292 more penalty minutes too. Only one team in the entire league has been shorthanded more often, Bridgeport Sound Tigers (388), than the Marlies (349). With that in mind they have the tenth ranked penalty kill in the AHL with a 83.7 PK% and the Admirals have four power-play goals against them in just two games this season.
Now, let’s think about that other option should the Admirals jump the Abbotsford Heat for fifth place in the Western Conference: the Wolves.
With the exception of last night, which ended 4-1 in the Wolves favor, every game has been a white knuckle ride to the finish. The Amtrak Rivalry has seen nine of its ten games be decided by one-goal. Not to mention, the Wolves are 7-0-1-2 (17 points) against the Admirals this season. They have yet to be defeated in regulation by the Admirals this season. You would have to go back to the final game of last season when the Ads won 3-0 over the Peoria Rivermen (who effectively became the current iteration of these Wolves) behind Magnus Hellberg‘s 20-save shutout.
Jake Allen will be a massive hurdle for anyone to really face come playoff season – but he would hit the Admirals hard should they meet again in the playoffs. He has played in eight of the ten games against Milwaukee this season and won six of them. He has a 1.69 GAA, 0.933 SV%, and a shutout.
The Admirals best netminder in this meeting? You guessed it, Scott Darling: two games, one win, 0.97 GAA, 0.967 SV%, and one shutout. Marek Mazanec, another candidate for the net in the playoffs, has faced the Wolves twice and lost both times: 3.22 GAA and a 0.889 SV%.
When it comes to the skaters and the eye-twitchy state known as plus/minus – the Admirals have twelve players with either a positive or even rating versus the Wolves who have twenty-eight. As for the negatives, the Ads have fourteen players with minus ratings against only three for the Wolves. Taylor Beck and Bryan Rodney are a combined -19 against the Wolves this season.
While the playoff reinforcements would certainly help… Colton Sissons 4 points (2 goals, 2 assists), Calle Jarnkrok 4 points (3 goals, 1 assist) against the Wolves… it is still a four-five match up that I think would go against the Admirals as opposed to the current playoff rankings.
Pro: you know what you’re getting against the Wolves having played them so much this month and the entire season. Con: you know what you’re getting against the Wolves having played them so much this month and the entire season.
Interesting thought. Something that is still rather out of the Admirals control as far as how other teams shape out the playoff seeds as the season creeps to a halt. If I could simply pick and choose opponents as to where the Admirals are hovering – I like exactly where we are right now.
What do you think about the potential opening playoff match up? Should the Admirals be playing for the sixth seed or pushing for the fifth seed? How would the Amtrak Rivalry pan out in an opening round series?
This is Jake Allen. He’s pretty good. And tonight he picked up his league leading thirtieth win of the season. (Photo Credit: Ross Bonander)
The Admirals lost 4-1 against the Chicago Wolves Saturday night in Rosemont. This game was level after two periods of play – but the Wolves with a power-play goal and two empty netters finished off the Ads in the third period.
This was the first game in the Amtrak Rivalry this season that didn’t finish as a one goal game. It did however continue the Wolves run of not dropping a point against the Admirals. The Wolves are now 7-0-1-2 (17 points) this season against the Ads. The win also clinched a playoff spot for the Wolves.
The last time these two met a puck didn’t cross the goal line until the bottom of round one in the shootout. Tonight it took only 2:06 of ice time. Pat Cannone was stationed on the left wing faceoff circle and saw Jani Hakanpaa racing in from the point. He teed him up perfectly and Hakanpaa beat Scott Darling for his fourth goal of the season.
In the second period the Admirals were able to equalize thanks to the pace of Joonas Rask. The play all starts with e Scott Valentine clearance attempt from the Ads defensive zone. It chipped down the ice and towards Jake Allen. Rask hustled all the way through neutral ice, around Hakanpaa, and took the puck forehand to backhand past Allen for his fourth goal of the season.
Then a major missed opportunity. While throwing the puck out of the Ads zone, Scott Ford was leveled into the boards by Eric Selleck. Ford remained down after the hit and favored his right leg. Selleck was given a major penalty for boarding and a game misconduct.
With a full five minutes worth of nonstop “score at will” power-play in the bank – the Admirals hardly sustained any pressure in attack. If anything, it was the Wolves penalty kill that forced Darling into making multiple saves from quality scoring chances. It was a power-play that looked as sloppy as sloppy gets without getting burned for poor passes. The Ads were fortunate to not concede a shorthanded goal – something they had done three times to the Wolves prior to this game.
After a too many men on the ice penalty from the Admirals – the Wolves scored their second power-play goal against the Ads from their forty-first chance this season. Derek Nesbitt’s slap shot from the right wing evaded a screen by Adam Cracknell and trickled through the legs of Darling and past the goal line. It was Nesbitt’s first goal as a member of the Wolves since joining from San Antonio Rampage – he has twelve goes overall this season.
Thoughts from tonight’s game? What was the issue tonight with the Admirals power-play? Was the lack of a power-play goal from the five minute major for boarding the difference maker tonight?
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