The Admirals have announced today that Wheeling Head Coach Stan Drulia has accepted the open assistant coach position for the Milwaukee Admirals.
This was Drulia’s second year at the helm of the Nailers, and so far had led the team to an 11-6 record, good for second place in the Atlantic Division. Last season, he took the team to the 3rd round of the Kelly Cup playoffs.
Drulia brings 126 games of NHL experience to the table, and actually played with Ian Herbers when they were both in the Tampa Bay Lightning system. During the 96-98 seasons, Drulia was third on the Detrot Vipers in points, and then led the team in points in the 98-99 season. Both Drulia and Herbers made the NHL squad the following year.
Here’s an impressive note from the Admirals’ press release that’s worth sharing:
Before turning pro Drulia cranked out an OHL record 479 points with three different teams, a record that still stands today.
As a coach, Drulia had four straight seasons of winning records, going 181-110-26 during that time coaching Port Huron of the IHL, and Wheeling in the ECHL. (totals include his record so far this season).
So congrats to Stan, congrats to Ian, and congrats to Marty Gelinas, who can now retire from coaching with an undefeated record.
Gabriel Bourque scored the game winner with 4:21 left in the 3rd period to break the tie, and the Admirals swept the home and home series with Peoria, winning tonight 3-2.
Atte Engren rebounded from his poor outing in Charlotte and was sharp in net for the Ads tonight. His save of the game came in the last minute, stopping Admiral nemesis Brett Sterling with a right pad save after a Scott Valentine turnover.
Mark Van Guilder opened the scoring for the Admirals 9:28 into the game, being in the right place at the right time. The right place was by the left goal post. The right time was when the puck arrived there after a shot from Teemu Laakso went off of Joel Champagne in the slot, and went right to MVG.
The details of the second period are inconsquential. But it was the second straight game with a wild third period.
1:39 into the period, Mark Cundari had a big hit on Taylor Beck. Michael Latta took exception, and the two dropped the gloves. Cundari got five for the fight and two for interference, and Latta got five for the fight and a game misconduct. Here’s the rule mentioned in the box score. (46.12)
A player who engages in fisticuffs and whose elbow pad(s) are removed other than through the actions of his opponent in the altercation or through the actions of the Linesman, shall be assessed a game misconduct penalty.
So that ended Latta’s night.
A little over six minute later, Bourque was called for Yonking, and the Rivermen were able to tie the game. After Laakso fanned on a clearing attempt, the puck came to Jonathan Cheechoo at the bottom of the near circle, and he beat Engren to tie it up.
Bourque began to atone for the Yonking penalty by drawing a roughing penalty on Tyler Shattock at 13:39. The Admirals regained the lead with a Zack Stortini goal on that power play. He was the big man cleaning up in front of the crease after a Laakso shot from the point was saved by Jake Allen
That goal was the first of three to come in a span of 49 seconds.
Shortly after the goal, Laakso went to the box for interference, and it took the Rivermen just seven seconds of that power play to re-tie the game. TJ Hensick had a shot went over Engren’s shoulder — A shot he probably never saw due to a great screen from Cheechoo.
But again, the Admirals got right back at it, and Bourque scored the game winner, with assists from Ryan Thang, and Jani Lajunen.
The best part of that goal was listening to the public address announcer wrestle with the second assist….
“Assisted by #8 Ryan Thang, and #24….” Pause. Pause. Pause. “Jani” Pause Pause. “Lah-yoon-en”.
Yikes.
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NOTES:
– With Mueller playing in Nashville, Lajunen got promoted to the Thang-Bourque line. Slaney moved to center, and played with Cahill and Stortini.
– The Admirals are now 4-0 VS Peoria this season, and have given up just 5 goals over those games. All five have been on the power play. The Admirals have owned 5×5 play.
– Mixed bag for Laakso tonight. Got some points, took a bad penalty, and fanned on the clearing attempt that led to the first Peoria goal. Still, it’s good to have him back.
– 3 stars of the game….1. Hensick, 2. Bourque, 3. Cheechoo. Sure. Okay. If you say so.
– So what next for Milwaukee? Their next home game is Friday against Grand Rapids, kicking off a 3-in-3 next weekend. Jordin Tootoo probably will be having a conversation with Shanahan this week, and depending on the verdict, there may be a call-up before the next Preds game. We’ll see.
I haven’t seen an official press release yet, but Josh Cooper and Kevin Wilson are tweetinig that Chris Mueller has been called up, and will play against his hometown Buffalo team in his 2011-12 Predators debut tonight. He’s apparently leading the stretching at the morning skate.
I guess things like this happen when the team scores 13 goals in two games, with Preds Assistant GM Paul Fenton watching in the stands. Good time to turn it on, although the Mueller – Thang – Bourque line was kind of quiet last night.
Mueller leads the team with 17 points, on 9 goals and 8 assists.
No word yet on who replaces him on the Ads roster for tonight’s game in Peoria. Chris Cahill maybe, although he didn’t play in Cincy’s last game on Tuesday…perhaps due to injury? Maybe we’ll get a wild card guy on a PTO? And no, we won’t get James Sixsmith. Thanks.
According to the AHL transactions page, Chris Cahill has been recalled from Cincy.
And it’ll be interesting to see what Coach Herbers does with the lines without Mueller. We are short one of our regular centers now. Latta’s line was great last night, so I don’t think they’d want to break that up. And I can’t imagine that he’d want to break up the Van Flynder combo on that line. Does Lajunen slide up to play with Bourque and Thang? Don’t think his play has merited such a move. Stortini and Slaney are listed as centers on the Admirals website too. We’ll see.
After a tight first 40 minutes, the Admirals exploded for four goals in the 3rd period, leaving the Peoria Rivermen behind by a 5-1 final score.
Michael Latta had a pair of goals and an assist, Taylor Beck had one of each, and Ryan Ellis had a pair of assists. Meanwhile, Jeremy Smith was sharp, stopping every shot except for a Derek Nesbitt rebound on a 2nd period Peoria power play.
That’s 13 goals in 2 games of the Ian Herbers era. Here’s the Coach talking about the offense.
Michael Latta tied the game 1:20 after Nesbitt’s goal. He was the 3rd man in on the rush, and had a perfect shot in the upper left corner of the net to beat Ben Bishop.
Victor Bartley opened the floodgates with a goal that Bishop probably wants to have back. His shot from just inside the blue line somehow beat Bishop. We’ll let Bartley describe the play.
About two and a half minutes later, Latta intercepted a clearing attempt at the offensive blueline, and tried to feed Taylor Beck down low. Rivermen D-man Mark Cundari was in position to at least block the pass, but pass got by him and went through to Beck just in front of Bishop. His backhander beat Bishop to make it a 3-1 lead.
Coach Herbers gave high marks to those two former Guelph Storm teammates after the game.
Mark Van Guilder and Joel Champagne completed a 2-on-1 rush. Van Guilder waited for the d-man to commit to a slide, then passed through the slot to Champagne for his first AHL goal.
Latta scored his second of the game by getting behind the defense and taking a long pass from Ryan Ellis along the near side. He went in all alone and his goal with 3:15 remaining in the game was the cherry on top.
And let’s not forget about Smitty. He gets his 10th win of the season, and was sharp throughout. Will he get the start tomorrow? I think he should.
– Puustinen had a penalty shot attempt after Danny Syvret give Juuso a hefty slash on the hands. Puustinen made one move too many and then pushed his try wide right.
– Who didn’t miss Brett Sterling out on the ice? This guy. (I’m pointing to myself)
– Bourque got called for a hockey-stop snow-job into the goalie. Terrible. That’s unsportsmanlike conduct? Never mind the whack that Bishop took at Bourque with his stick immediately afterward. That’s okay. And then we had another one of those interference and diving on the same play calls later in the 2nd period. Where do you stand on that debate? Can it be both interference and a dive, or does it need to be one or the other?
– I thought the Admirals did a really nice job dictating their style of play for most of the game. There were extended periods in the offensive zone, while the Rivermen were just one rush and done a lot of the time. Definitely not the game they’d like to play with their offensive talent. And the Rivermen started taking some extra chances in the 3rd, the Admirals were able to capitalize on their mistakes.
– I thought that this was one of Ryan Ellis’ best games of the season, especially as the game went on. I also liked Joel Champagne on that line with Van Flynder.
– While it’s great to have Marty Gelinas on the bench right now, they are still searching for the permanent assistant coach. Here’s what Herbie is looking for in his #2.
Just one question for discussion (but feel free to comment on whatever you want): What do you expect in the rematch tomorrow night in Peoria? It’s their first home game since November 11th, after 9 games straight on the road. (although, the last four have been in the region).
The Admirals turned the Bradley Center into the O.K. Corral scoring 8 goals in a lopsided victory, taking down the Abbotsford Heat 8-3 in Ian Herbers’ debut as Admiral sheriff.
Here’s the sheriff on his first win, and what went well tonight.
The Ads started things off at 5:23 while on the Mountain Fury Power Play when Juuso “I’d like to buy a vowel” Puustinen fired a centering attempt on net from the near side boards. Michael Latta was the man Puustinen was attempting to reach when it instead found the skate of the Heat D-Man Chris Breen. The puck went in to give the Ads the 1-0 lead.
Just over 2 minutes later the Ads went back on the Fury Power Play and had the same success as the first. Puustinen fired a shot on net from the slot that was initially stopped but not covered up by Heat starting (and later relief) net minder Leland Irving. Taylor Beck was there right in front of the goalie to pick up the rebound and get it past the committed Irving. The tally gave the Ads the 2-0 lead and ended the night period for Irving who, faced 3 shots and only stoping one. (Sound familiar, Atte?)
The back-up goaltender Joni Ortio barely had time to take his skate guards off before the lamp was lit and the horn made noise. Just two minutes after the change, Ortio let in the first puck sent his way. To his defense, it was a 2-on-1 break out and I dont know that any goalie would have gotten the save. Mueller and Bourque had the odd-man rush with just the Heat’s Brendan Mikkelson on defense. The Ads duo had a great tic, tac, GOAL with Mueller being the one to seal the deal.
The Heat took a time out to gather themselves. It worked. Just :17 seconds after the Ads third goal and the timeout, the Heat scored off a rebound that came from a shot at the point. Jon Rheault was the man in front that got the rebound past Jeremy Smith.
The Ads answered right back at 15:15 when Zack Stortini grinded out a goal in front of Ortio. Mark Van Guilder put a shot on net resulting in the initial stop. Stortini gathered the puck and just started swating at it, finaly beating the goalie.
Again keeping with the two minute intervals, the Heat got a goal back on a delayed penalty. With Ortio on the bench to give the Heat the extra man, Dustin “Yo Adrian” Sylvester sent a pass from the far side point to the near side crease where Paul Byron was un-defended and uncontested for the redirect goal. I guess someone forgot that there was an extra attacker. Whoops.
After all the smoke cleared on the first period, the score was 4-2 in favor of the Admirals. For those that did not pass advanced addition that is six goals. For comparison, that is as many Mountain Fury bottles as a six pack.
The Admirals wasted no time adding to the lead in the second period. The Heat decided that Irving had a long enough time out and put him back in the blue paint. He started right where he left off, letting in a goal and watching the red light flicker a sad shadow, as he grabbed a drink of some hardly earned water. With Bourque attacking the net from behind the goal line he attempted a wrap around. He fanned, and it turned into a great across-the-crease feed where Mueller finished off another goal from his linemate.
The Heat, refusing to go away quietly, tallied another goal off of a lazy backside defense taking the score to 5-3. On the power play, Byron sent a cross ice pass that was deflected by a d-man but not enough to keep it off of the stick of Sylvester who fired a shot past Smith. It was great reconigition by the Heat to find the open man down low…. Again.
The Admirals continued to make the goal judge earn his free meal and score two more in :31 seconds. Ryan Thang gets a goal off a face off win by Bourque and feed from Mueller. Then Michael Latta scored the second off a redirect that went in off his lower body. Scott Valentine had the original shot and earned his first pro point with the assist.
That is a 7-3 score after two periods, for those keeping track on your abacus.
Mueller got his hat trick goal in the 3rd period. He skated the puck in on the right wing and beat Ortio (yes there was another goalie change). Mueller scored a goal in each period, that has to be worth a bottle of Mountain Fury for sure!!!!!
Mueller talks about his line getting some good momentum.
NOTES:
– It wasn’t all peaches and cream tonight. It wasn’t all beer and pretzels. It wasn’t all frosties and oil changes. Coach says that there are definitely some things he’d like the team to improve on from this game.
– The Admirals were outshot 35-19. 8 goals on 19 shots? Won’t happen every night like that.
– Great win for Hebrie. Obviously, based on this small sample size, Kirk Muller was holding the team back this whole time.
– With Kyle Wilson called up, and Robert Slaney unable to make it to Milwaukee in time, the team skated with 17 skaters. And ten of them skated away with at least a point.
– Mueller’s hat trick was the first since Dave Scatchard scored three in the third period of an 8-1 win over the Chicago Wolves on April 9th, 2010. And the last time the Admirals scored 8 goals was last season, January 28th, 2011 against the Peoria Rivermen. I think Blake Geoffrion had like, 12 points in that game.
– The Bourque – Mueller – Thang line is back. They’re like McRibb that way. They’re playing like they did in the playoffs last year. Hope they can keep that up.
– Oh, and we asked Herbie if he’s keeping the stache since the result ended so well tonight.
OK Roundtable — Give your best mazel tov’s to Coach Herbers’ first “Dubya” as head coach of the Admirals. And I guess talk about whatever else you want to talk about with this game. I won’t give you any more direction. Just make it happen in the comments section.
I’m not going to lie. To see Kirk Muller taking questions from the Carolina media made me a little sick to my stomach.
And from other Admirals fans I’ve talked to today, it sounds like that was a common feeling.
But life goes on, and it’s now Herbie’s time to shine.
More on Herbie in a moment…but here’s how this chain of events got started, courtesy of Canes GM Jim Rutherford.
I appreciate that the first thing he did was recognize the generosity of the Nashville Predators organization for even allowing Kirk to talk to them. High marks for that.
Rutherford explains why they went outside the organization for this job.
Sounds an awful lot like some of the reasons that Preds assistant GM Paul Fenton selected Kirk in the first place this summer.
Both Fenton and Darren Pang were guests on the Admirals Center Ice Radio show tonight, and both had some great insights to share on the day’s news. Panger explains why Coach Muller is the right man for the Carolina job.
Fenton explained how they weren’t going to hold Kirk back, and how he knew immediately that Ian Herbers was going to be the next head coach of your Milwaukee Admirals.
I’m curious as to what specifically Ian was told to work on.
I also find it very interesting that Fenton is so high on Herbie now, after a dark-horse candidate “trumped” him the last time around. This past summer broke the pattern. Peter Horachek got promoted, assistant coach Claude Noel took the reigns. Claude Noel took an NHL job, assistant coach Lane Lambert took the reigns. Lane Lambert got promoted… and they weren’t comfortable giving the keys to Herbie yet.
But here he is now. And he’s ready to get back to work.
Ian found out after the Sunday afternoon drubbing in Charlotte.
At the press conference this afternoon, he explained that aside from giving press conferences, he’s got a lot of work to do to prepare for Abbotsford tomorrow night, especailly now that he’s responsible for everything — offense, defense, power play, penalty kill. But he wore all those hats when he was the head coach in Johnstown prior to being hired by Lane. So he’s been here before.
The last time an Admiral coaching change had been made mid-season, Darren Pang was an Admiral. And he recalls what it was like at the time as a player.
So this will be a test for the senior leadership on this team, to make the transition as smooth as possible and to get a sense of normalcy back as soon as possible.
This state of normalcy will have a new assistant coach. Fenton says that the search for that candidate will take….as long as it takes.
In the end? I’m happy that Ian will be calling the shots. I don’t expect a lot to change. Our post-game press conferences will be different though…and that’s not necesarily a bad thing. Kirk would give lengthy answers, but often times they didn’t directly address the question you had asked. For example….here’s a bit from his press conference today. He kind of answers it, but then goes through some old talking points we’ve heard already…
I’m not mad at Kirk…what else was he supposed to do? Say no? To everyone else in the hockey world, this is a great opportunity for Kirk and a great opportunity for the Canes. Puck Daddy lauded it. They seem to be excited in Raleigh too. Yeah, it stings for us right now, but in the big picture, this is a case of good things happening to good people, and we’ve got a lot of good things to look forward to from Kirk AND Ian.
Kirk, best of luck with your new team, and please feel free to call up all the star players from the Checkers right before the next time we play them. Thanks in advance.
We’ll have more coverage on this later, but the Admirals confirmed some things at an afternoon press conference.
1. Ian Herbers is the new head coach. There isn’t an “interim” status — he’s the man. And at this stage of the season, there really is no better candidate for the job.
2. Marty Gelinas will act as a temporary assistant coach, which I think is a GREAT idea. I think he’ll be great in this role…He is, of course, the Director of Player Development for the Predators. So there’s already a strong relationship there between this young team and a mentor.
Again, I’ll write some more stuff later, but be sure to tune into the Admirals Center Ice Radio Show on Sportsradio 1250 tonight. Listen online at sportsradio1250.com . Coach Herbers will be on the show, as will Asst GM Paul Fenton, Captain Scott Ford, and analyst Darren Pang, who should have some good insight on what has been quite the day for HR offices in the NHL.
Coming as little surprise, Ian Herbers was named Milwaukee’s new head coach Monday afternoon, replacing the departed Kirk Muller, who left to take over the head coaching duties of the Carolina Hurricanes of the NHL.
Herbers becomes Milwaukee’s sixth coach in the franchise’s American Hockey League history. His debut as the Admirals bench boss will take place Tuesday night against Abbotsford.
The promotion for Herbers comes after two-plus seasons as an assistant coach with the Admirals. On an interim basis Nashville’s Director of Player Development Martin Gelinas will serve as Herbers assistant coach.
So Roundtable . . . What do think of today’s monumental events? Is Ian Herbers ready to take over as Milwaukee’s head coach after being passed over during the offseason in favor of Kirk Muller? Are you happy for Muller, or dissappointed that he left the Admirals after just 17 games?
Amid the pile of coaching changes announced Monday around the world of sports, it appears that Admirals coach Kirk Muller has been promoted to the head coaching job for the Carolina Hurricanes.
ESPN.com’s Pierre LeBrun reported through a confirmed source that Muller will replace Hurricanes bench boss Paul Maurice, who was in his second stint in Raleigh. Tsn.ca, which also employs LeBrun, also has the report on their website, but is vague at this point on specifics.
NHL.com originally reported that Muller was only rumored for the position, but has since confirmed that Muller will be Carolina’s new coach.
Muller leaves the Admirals after compiling a 10-6-0-1 record in just 17 games coached. Milwaukee is coming off of Muller’s worst weekend of guiding the Admirals as Milwaukee was swept in a pair of games at first place Charlotte (Carolina’s top affiliate), dropping a 3-2 decision Saturday night to the Checkers followed up with 5-1 drubbing on Sunday.
Certainly, there is some irony that these games will stand as Muller’s final contests with the Admirals prior to taking over as coach of the Hurricanes. Carolina was 8-13-4 and in last place in NHL’s Southeast Division prior to their midseason coaching change.
Ian Herbers will likely take over as Milwaukee’s head coach after two-plus seasons as the Admirals’ assistant coach. Milwaukee went 41-30-2-7 and 44-22-6-8 in Herbers’ two full seasons as Lane Lambert’s right-hand man, helping the Admirals reach the second round of the AHL playoffs in 2010-2011.
In other somewhat unrelated news, in the midst of a 5-9-1 slump the Washington Capitals have fired coach Bruce Boudreau and replaced him with former captain Dale Hunter. Hunter is the father of former Admiral Dylan Hunter, who retired from playing in the off season to pursue his own coaching career.
In Saturday’s game, the Admirals came up just short against a great goaltending performance and a solid Charlotte Checkers team.
In the rematch on Sunday afternoon, the Admirals played arguably their flattest game of the season, losing to the Checkers 5-1.
This is going to be a choose-your-own-adventure recap.
For the glass-is-half-empty-sky-is-falling details, flip to page 22. For the don’t-panic details, flip to page 46.
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-Atte Engren started the game in net. He faced two shots and allowed two goals, before being replaced by Jeremy Smith. Engren’s night was done after 3:23.
– Smitty fared marginally better, but was still tagged for three goals of his own.
– Admirals were outshot 17-6 in the first period, and outscored 3-0.
– Admirals 0-4 on the power play in the game.
– Admirals didn’t score until the last minute of the game and had no fire for most of the contest.
– Chet Pickard is 4-6 in Cincy, with a 2.80 GAA and .895 save percentage, in case you want to start a Chet watch.
– The Admirals were by far the slower team. The Checkers were ready to play and the Admirals weren’t.
– The Admirals will slip to 3rd place in the Midwest Division, regardless of how the Chicago/Peoria game ends this evening.
– You can read the Checkers recap if you need to know the details of how they scored.
– The team is now 0-3 this season wearing the blue jerseys.
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– The Admirals played better after the 1st intermission, outshooting the Checkers 26-12 the rest of the way.
– Gabriel Bourque scored his first of the year, finishing a nice tic-tac-toe play with 56 seconds left in the contest.
– Sometimes you go up against a hot goaltender. Yesterday it was Mike Murphy, today it was Justin Peters. It happens.
– The Checkers are a good team. They’re in first place for a reason. They’re fast, they’ve got great depth, and a two-headed goaltender monster.
– Here’s what I imagine Kirk Muller would have said after the game to the media. “We need to be better, and we’ve got stuff to work on and we’ll work on it. It’s a young team, but really, it’s just one game. We’ll learn from it, and we’ll be better on Tuesday.”
For an update on how the Mo-vember mustaches are going, flip to page 77. For the Belfast Giants “All I Want For Christmas Is You” video, flip to page 83. For discussion questions, flip to page 96.
The Admirals have announced today that Wheeling Head Coach Stan Drulia has accepted the open assistant coach position for the Milwaukee Admirals.
Admirals Roundtable 