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And everyone loves complaining. So everyone should, in theory, love voting.
Make time today to vote.
This public service message was brought to you by…..the memory of Pat Paulsen.
Swamped at work….sorry for the delay. I know….don’t let it ever happen again, right?
Linus Klasen is Milwaukee bound again, after making his NHL debut over the weekend.
We’ll see if we can get some quotes from him after the game on Wednesday, and find out some of the finer points of his long weekend in Nashville.
After losing the first three games of the season series, the Abbotsford Heat made sure there wasn’t going to be a sweep.
The Heat scored three times in the 3rd period, including two shorthanded goals, as Abbotsford embarassed the Admirals 4-2 Saturday night.
Actually, the Admirals embarassed themselves.
It was just a 1-0 lead for the Heat entering the 3rd period, but in a 2:58 span, they stretched it a four goal lead, capitalizing on Admiral turnovers.
Matt Keith scored unassisted after a Blum turnover right in front of Mark Dekanich. Then while Gord Baldwin was serving an interference penalty, the Heat got shorthanded markers from Carter Bancks and Gaelan Patterson, the latter a gift from Andreas Thuresson.
The Admirals did get on the board with a pair of late goals — Matt Halischuk was able to come up with the puck after a scramble in the slot, and his shot beat Heat goaltender JP Lamoureux over his shoulder. And then with Dekanich pulled for an extra attacker, Steve Begin was credited with his first of the year, after deflecting an Aaron Johnson shot from the point.
So who is this Lamoureux guy? He was just called up on Thursday as Leland Irving has been fighting an injury. He played for North Dakota for four years, played 31 games for the Portland Pirates last year, and started this season with the Utah Grizzlies of the ECHL. His stat line in four games in Utah: 2-1-1, 3.49 GAA, .880 S%. He played much better tonight.
His best save came on a Jamie Lundmark penalty shot. Lundmark was awarded the shot after a Heat defensemen played a broken stick towards Lundmark while the Admirals were on a power play towards the end of the first period. The goalie bit on Lundmark’s move, and Lundmark did a good job elevating the puck, but Lamoureux’s glove went back the opposite way of his body to rob Jamie, and preserve what was a 1-0 Heat lead.
The Ads were outshot 16-5 in the second period, but finally started to show some life in the last four minutes of the frame. An Andreas Thuresson shot hit metal. Chris Mueller quasi-breakaway chance was thwarted by Lamoureux.
And it all just fell apart in the first five minutes of the 3rd period.
Dekanich can’t be faulted really for any of the goals he allowed, as they were all either deflections, or plays where he was kind of hung out to dry. This was his first loss of the season.
Want something positive about the game? The Admirals killed off all 5 Heat power plays, including two stretches of 5×3 time.
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NOTES:
– Lines started the same as last night, but lines and defensive pairings all got shuffled as the game went on.
– Blum shoots a lot from the point…but it seems like the majority of them go wide of the net…especially on the power play.
– One guy who is sad to see the season series end is Matt Halischuk. All four of his goals have come against the Heat.
– Chet Pickard? Didn’t play tonight, and it’s just as well…Cincy loses 7-3 to Wheeling.
– And finally, we’ll end with a report on Linus Klasen’s debut with the Predators tonight. I’m going to phone in the discussion part of the recap, and turn it over to Seth Lake, who writes for ontheforecheck.com .
As expected after seeing quotes from Coach Trotz following the morning skate that indicated Klasen (and all other callups) would be viewed as a 20th skater, Linus saw limited ice time tonight, finishing with 6:22 TOI and a minus-1 rating.
After looking tenative in the opening period, Klasen saw just one shift in the second period as the Predators started to dominate even-strength play and Trotz rolled the 11 skaters he was more familiar with. Klasen saw more ice in the third period and showed off his skill on a rush up the left wing boards toe dragging around a defender to the middle of the ice and snapping off a shot that was deflected in front.
On the downside, Klasen overpersued on the backcheck and didn’t recover back to his point before Patrick Eaves fired a slap shot past Rinne from just above the left faceoff circle. But beyond that I thought Klasen showed improvement throughout the night learning on the fly.
Regardless of the status of Tootoo’s upper body injury, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Klasen stay with the Predators the next few days as they prepare for the start of their West Coast swing.
And that’s what’s important, right?
After Chris Mueller’s first goal of the season 4:16 into the second period gave the Admirals a 3-0 lead, the Heat controlled most of the play the rest of the way.
The Heat scored twice in the second period to make it a one goal game, but came up empty in the third, failing on three power plays in the final frame.
But the Admirals owned the first period, and they gained the lead just 42 seconds into the game. Aaron Johnson fired a shot from the point that was deflected by Matt Halischuk past Matt Keetley for Halischuk’s third goal of the year — all against Abbotsford.
Kelsey Wilson deflected a Blake Geoffrion shot on their second (and final) power play of the game. Blake also assisted on Mueller’s goal, and now has two assists in three of his last four games.
Mark Dekanich made 26 saves on 28 shots for his 4th win of the year. The two that got by him…a backhand off of a rebound after a good save. The other goal was a power play marker that came on a broken play after Greg Nemisz fanned on a shot. The puck slid towards the goal, and nobody is really sure who actually scored it. Officially they gave it to center Lance Bouma. But it was as good rush in transition, after Andreas Thuresson had a good shorthanded scoring chance.
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NOTES:
Here’s how the forward lines looked, sans Linus Klasen for the first time.
Bourque – Begin – Halischuk
Wilson – Lundmark – Santorelli
Thuresson – Geoffrion – Mueller
Thang – Van Guilder – Flynn
– Roman Josi made his season debut tonight after recovering from a hand injury suffered during training camp. I had a chance to talk to Aaron Sims after the game, and he gave Josi some high marks.
“It didn’t take him long to get accustumed to game speed here. He looked natural out there. Josi is a guy who’s going to rush the puck and he did that tonight. This was a pretty good jumping off point for him.”
He was paired with Scott Ford for this game, and I think we might get some good work out of that pairing. All three defensive pairings compliment each other pretty well with offensive and defensive minded skillsets….the other pairings were Blum & Laakso, and Johnson and Palin.
– I think we underappreciate how versitile Chris Mueller is. One game he’s playing on an energy line, the next on a checking line, and tonight back on a scoring line….and he scores the game winner.
– Ryan Flynn played his first game since October 10th (which was the team’s second game of the season)
– Jamie Koharski was tonight’s referee…. I’m interested to know what the relationship between Heat coach Jim Playfair and Koharski is like these days, after Playfair’s meltdown last season. Can they laugh about it? He’s a Koharski, so I’m guessing not.
– Chet Pickard lost in his Cincy debut tonight. Again, only two goals of offensive support, but he gave up 3 goals on 25 shots. So now, his streak is up to 14 straight decisions. Cincy plays again on Saturday night, so we’ll see if they go right back to him.
So for quick discussion before the rematch in Abbotsford Saturday night…
– Geoffrion had a delay of game penalty in the 3rd period…do you think we can get away with calling it two minutes for Yonking?
– The next Admirals 3-in-3 is November 19-21. With Dekanich playing extraordinarily well….do you think Jeremy Smith will see a minute of ice time while he’s here?
Time to announce the winner of the season’s first caption contest.
First, a couple of honorable mentions. And they seemed to have to do with the least prominent character in the photo….
Mark said: “Everyone in the crowd and on the ice reacts to hearing the news that Drew MacIntyre makes half a million bucks as a glorified doorman.” Nice callback to a recent Roundtable post!
I liked Admiralfreak’s “MacIntyre: “I hope that lady texting is starting up a #PasqualeIsSoPoor meme on twitter.” Poor Mac. Can’t get a break. But giving up 10 goals in two games doesn’t help either.
But the winner….tough to argue with a caption that includes every single character in the picture, and finds a tasteful way to tie it all together!
From Isis: “Shocking results from this weeks “Dancing with the Stars”. After a perfect waltz the night before, Matt Halischuk and Jaime Sifers stumbled horribly during their cha-cha in a hockey themed race for the puck. Judges Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli were visibly shocked by the performance. Audience members were pleased with Halischuk’s choice of pink, but were visibly put off by their dancing efforts and were too busy texting. Drew MacIntyre could not be reached for comment.”
Way to go Isis! Although I plead complete ignorance to the television show you referenced, this one actually made me laugh out loud. And your prize? In addition to the bragging rights in the Admirals Crew break room, you’re the first winner of the delicious media room cookies. Send an email to admiralsroundtable (at) g mail, and let me know the next home game you’ll be attending, and we’ll set up the delivery of your prize. But don’t expect any dancing with the delivery. It’s in everyone’s best interests that way.
Thanks to everyone who submitted an entry….we’ll have another contest in the near future.
There is one team in the AHL not like the others—the Abbotsford Heat.
Located just over an hour’s drive east of Vancouver, British Colombia, Abbotsford is most geographically isolated city in the AHL. The nearest league city to the Heat is Winnipeg, Manitoba, which is located three Canadian provinces further east, or over a day’s drive by bus. (Check out the Map of all the AHL team locations here)
Therefore when teams travel to Abbotsford, it is often for a two-game stint in order to reduce travel expenses. This weekend Milwaukee has unenviable task of making the western trek.
But what makes this year’s trip even more peculiar is that it represents the final meetings between Milwaukee and Abbotsford this season.
“There’s parts of our schedule I don’t like, and parts I like, and it’s going to be that way every year,” Admirals coach Lane Lambert said. “It’s bizarre that we play the same team four times in the first month of the season and then we don’t see them again.”
So far the Admirals have burned the Heat, winning both of their home games by a combined 9-3 count. Milwaukee has counted for half of Abbotsford’s losses so far this season.
“Obviously we’ll be very familiar with each other by the time the final buzzer goes next Saturday,” Lambert said.
Speaking of familiar, one player on the Heat Admirals fans should recognize is former Wisconsin Badgers defenseman Joe Piskula.
After playing five games in the NHL with the Los Angeles Kings in 2006-2007, Piskula’s career stagnated with the Manchester Monarchs. The Antigo, Wisconsin native is hoping a change of scenery to the Canadian Northwest may reinvigorate his once promising career.
So what do think Roundtable? Should the AHL balance the schedule out more? Or does the league’s special case of Abbotsford make the scheduling quirk ok?
Hat tip to Chris Jerina, for pointing me in the direction of this post on the HFboards this morning…
A Swedish hockey publication is reporting that Linus Klasen has been recalled by the Predators.
I don’t speak Swedish….but Google does. It goes a little something like this (thanks to OpenWheel on the HFboards for doing the dirty work)
Klasen get the chance in the NHL – is called up
After seven goals and three assists in his first seven games in the league are former farms Södertälje Forwarder Linus Klasen gained a great start to his career in North America. Klasen has made the most goals of all players in the AHL and he is eight points in the league. And now, a well-deserved chance in the NHL.
Named in the night
According to Linus Klasen HockeyExpressen.se has overnight been named to the Nashville Predators. There he becomes teammate of Swedish duo Anders Lindbäck and Patric Hörnqvist.
Injuries open
Nashville currently has both Marcel Goc and Matthew Lombardi on the injury list of forwards and zero based on hemmais when St. Louis Blues won 3-0 on Friday night.
I’m working to get confirmation from the team…but if this is true, he’ll certainly be missed in Abbotsford this weekend. But at the same time, it’ll give other guys the chance to step up and be the man. (that’s as good a positive spin I can muster right now.)
I can’t imagine that this would be a long term call-up with all the injuries the Preds are working through… But I’ll be interested to see what line Trotz skates Klasen on. Most callups don’t get top 6 minutes…and what top six winger would be sent to a lower line to accomodate him?
Stay tuned.
UPDATE 10:09 AM….. STILL UNCONFIRMED. Been in contact with the team, and it seems this is news to them as well. I believe them. The Swedish story could be very premature. We’ll see.
UPDATE 11:24 — Confirmed with the team. Klasen has been recalled.
It’s a numbers game sometimes. And this is the card that Mike Bartlett and Scott Lehman just drew.
Bartlett is playing on a minor league two-way deal, so he’s the odd forward out, despite the speed and effort he has consistently been displaying. The Steve Begin signing also contributed to the move. And Lehman becomes the 8th defender when Roman Josi is ready to play….which is expected to be this weekend in Abbotsford!
The rumors are true! The World Famous Short Shifts Admirals Roundtable Caption Contest is back!
For those that are new to our reindeer games, here’s how it works:
– We provide you a picture
– You write a funny caption (keep it clean, please)
– We pick a winner
– If local, winner gets media room cookies at a future home game.
Feel free to submit as many captions as you like! We’ll pick a winner by faceoff on Friday night.
So here is the first photo, courtesy of photographer Scott Paulus. Lots of material to work with in this one….Matt Halischuk, Jaime Sifers, Drew MacIntyre, intense guy and texty girls….
Good luck!
Anytime a player with an NHL pedigree such as Steve Begin’s gets assigned to an AHL club, the league’s fans get excited. These players offer the hardcore hockey fan a name they can recognize and not a prospect they have to do their homework on.
But for the Admirals supporters who don’t know much about Steve Begin, let me shine a little light on the subject. At 32-years old Begin is no rookie. His best offensive days (10 goals in 2003-2004 and 11 in 2005-2006) are behind him, yet Begin proved effective in his checking role with the Boston last year. This was especially true during the playoffs when Begin took advantage of expanded ice time as the Bruins lost key players to injuries. During the off-season Begin likely would have resigned in Boston if the Bruins weren’t so strapped by salary cap issues.
Despite his limited offensive game, Begin remains an effective two-way forward and a menace to play against. The Quebec-native is a constant competitor on the ice, who skates with a work ethic that makes him easy to coach.
Therefore Begin seems a natural fit in blue-collar organization like Nashville, a team that prides itself in playing a gritty style. Begin’s time in Milwaukee will involve conditioning to get his NHL legs back under him after he missed all of training camp as an unsigned free agent.
However, if an opportunity on the Predators third or fourth line appears, expect Begin to be one of the first players General Manager David Poile inquires about.
(Author’s Note: Steve Begin played his first game with the Milwaukee Admirals Sunday at Chicago, picking up an assist, while centering the team’s starting line with Chris Mueller and Gabriel Bourque. He also took a controversial penalty late in third period that effectively ended Milwaukee’s comeback hopes. To hear coach Lane Lambert thoughts on the call, check out Andy Grebe’s game recap Blog, Wolves Fend Off Ads 4-3: https://admiralsroundtable.com/2010/10/24/wolves-fend-of-ads-4-3/)
Admirals Roundtable 