News

A little question and answer with Admirals Fans

At Saturday night’s home opener against Abbotsford, I caught up with a few Milwaukee fans, Ann Scholz of Waukesha, Nick Memmel of New Berlin and Matt Kotowicz of Milwaukee to hear some of their initial thoughts about the game and team.

Question 1:  Are you excited hockey season is back?

Scholz: “Absolutely, I have been waiting for the puck to drop since May.”

Memmel: “Hockey is my favorite sport, but hopefully we can win some more games this year.”

My two cents: Fall is an awesome season in the state of Wisconsin.  The slight chill in the air signals hockey season is back, and I cannot wait for that first game.  It never disappoints.

Question 2:  What are your first impressions of this year’s club?

Kotowicz: “There is a lot of speed out there, so I think this is going to be an exciting season.  With all of the younger talent I think we are going to be a lot better.”

Scholz: “I like a lot of the new guys, so I think we are going to do well.”

Memmel: “There is a couple old NHL players out there, some AHL All-Stars, and a bunch of good foreign players so I think we will be good.”

My two cents: From watching a little bit of training camp and then opening night, I couldn’t help but be impressed by Milwaukee’s team speed.  Even at practice coach Lane Lambert had players skating at a mesmerizing tempo.  I really think the Admirals will surprise this year, but with all of the youth on the roster there will be some growing pains along the way.

Question 3:  What is your favorite aspect about coming to AHL games in Milwaukee?

Memmel: “The experience, from the fans to the cowbells and the chants.”

Scholz: “I just so enjoy the game and all the people we’ve met during the 21 years we have been coming.  It is just great to be here and to enjoy the experience.”

My two cents: I really enjoy seeing the future prospects the league has to offer.  As a serious NHL fan, it is great to see the next generation of stars, but also some of your favorite players who are still playing in the AHL because they love hockey that much.

Question 4:  Who are some of your favorite former Admirals you have watched play at the Bradley Center?

Scholz: “Of course Gino (Cavallini), but we had a special relationship with Mike Tomlak.  There has been so many players we’ve enjoyed watching.”

Kotowicz: “Pekka (Rinne), Sheldon Brookbank, Nolan Yonkman, but there has just been so many of them.”

Memmel: “Mike Santorelli, Tristan Grant, and Hugh Jessiman.”

My two cents: Great choices here, but my three favorites got left out:  Tony Hrkac, Jordin Tootoo, and Dave Scatchard.

Hey Roundtable, let me know YOUR two cents on these questions in the comments section.

News

What Does Kelsey Wilson Need To Do?

So here are stat lines over the last three seasons for two players:

Player A:
07-08:  63 games, 11g, 7a, 100 PIM
08-09:  72 games, 4g, 12a, 124 PIM
09-10:  51 games, 6g, 10a, 40 PIM
Total:  186 games, 21g, 29a, 264 PIM

Player B:
07-08:  66 games, 8g, 11a, 179 PIM
08-09:  80 games, 15g. 17a, 160 PIM
09-10:  52 games, 18g, 22a, 231 PIM
Totals: 198 games, 41g, 50a, 570 PIM

One of them has played almost 300 games in the NHL.
One of them has played zero games in the NHL.

Player A is Jordin Tootoo.
Player B is Kelsey Wilson.

Of course, some of the difference in statistics is that Tootoo has been playing against the best hockey players in the world in the NHL, and Kelsey has been playing in Milwaukee and Europe.  But one could argue that the role of the two players is very similar.

The Predators are the ones that invited him back, so obviously they see value in him as a player.

For discussion:  What does Kelsey Wilson need to show us this year to have a realistic shot at cracking the Predators roster at some point?

(photo credit:  Scott Paulus)

News

Five Observations From Opening Night

1)  Milwaukee may not score a prettier goal all season than Linus Klasen’s first career AHL tally on the power-play.

The Admirals worked their 5-on-3 power-play to perfection on opening night, moving the puck around the perimeter, and spreading out the Abbotsford defense.  Milwaukee finished it off in style scoring a goal off of a gorgeous tick-tack-toe play as a pair of one touch cross-ice passes set up an empty net for Linus Klasen.  Klasen finish the play off with an exuberant celebration–a sweeping fist pump to stamp the exclamation point.

“It always nice to score a couple of goals,” Klasen said.  “Especially, getting those kinds of goals because I had open nets to shoot at, but it is nice to produce right away.”

2)  Milwaukee might not score an easier goal all season than Matt Halischuk’s first career Admirals tally.

The credit for this goal goes to Abbotsford goaltender Leland Irving, who decided to be forgiving to an Admirals player trying to make an impact with his new team.  After dropping his stick, Irving inadvertently coughed up the puck to Admirals forward Matt Halischuk, who tossed the puck into the empty net.  You have to wonder if Halischuk said something to Irving to force the turnover, because Irving never looked up to see who he was passing to.

3)  Linus Klausen is for real as a dangerous offensive player.

Though Klausen is unlikely to see the time and space all season like what he saw on opening night, the talented Swede will be a player to watch for during his time in Milwaukee.  Klausen is a gifted stick handler and play-maker, a wizard in the offensive zone.  The only thing holding him back being his diminutive size, but playing on a line with more physical forwards Nick Spaling and Andreas Thuresson, Klausen seems like a natural fit.

“I have to keep playing my style of game and not try to change too much,” Klasen said of the things he needs to do to be an effective player in the AHL.  “Maybe I will need to the shoot the puck more and work harder in the defensive zone, but I need to (focus on) what I do best out there.”

4)  The play of Blake Geoffrion and Ryan Flynn will steadily improve.

On opening night the two former WCHA rivals, Blake Geoffrion and Ryan Flynn, looked like rookies in the AHL, as both players still need time to bring their college games up to AHL speed.  But I thought Geoffrion, in particular, finished the game off with a strong third period, getting involved more in the fore-check and creating a few quality scoring chances.  Look for Geoffrion and Flynn to be improving players in the coming weeks as they adjust their level of play to professional of hockey.

5)  Playing back-to-back games on the road is a tough draw, especially the first weekend of the season.

I can’t help but feel for the Abbotsford Heat.  Playing back-to-back road games is hard enough.  Doing it the first weekend of season is a tall task.  The Heat were the better team in the first period, but then fatigue hit in the second period resulting in several bad penalties, and four Admirals goals.  However, it was up to Milwaukee to take advantage of a tired team.  The Admirals did so with a 6-2 win on opening night.

News

Dekanich Recall Imminent

Bryan Mullen from the Tennessean spoke with Barry Trotz today.

Bryan tweeted the information Barry said.

Barry said Dekanich is getting recalled today.

Still waiting for the official announcement, which will come when all parties are good and ready to make it.

That is all.

Game Recaps

Ads Start Slow Again; Lose 3-2 To Peoria

Opening night, it was a 2-0 hole after 20 minutes.

On Sunday afternoon, it was a 3-0 deficit, and the Admirals were not able to get even, as the Peoria Rivermen defeated the good guys 3-2.  Nuts and bolts are here and here.

After failing to convert on three early first period power plays, the Admirals gave up three goals to the Rivermen in a 2:58 span at the end of the first.  Five-hole was the problem for Chet Pickard, and Aaron Sims described the third goal (aka the game winning goal) like so:  “That’s a bad goal.”  Nathan Oystrick had a shot from the point on the power play that beat Chet five-hole somehow.

The Admirals were not low on chances, but Rivermen goalie Ben Bishop made 36 saves.  He let out a fair share of rebounds, but was able to cover a lot of them.  That’s one of the big differences between today’s game and last night’s game — the Ads could not finish their chances.

Depsite the early power play woes, the two goals they did score in the game did come on the power play.  Kelsey Wilson put one in as a Dean Arsene penalty was about to expire.  He tried to drop a pass to Ryan Thang in the slot, but the puck came right back to him, and he was able to beat Bishop.  And then with Mark Dekanich pulled for an extra attacker, Andreas Thuresson scored with 3:13 left in the game.

Speaking of Dekanich, he did his part.  He stopped all 17 shots he faced in the final two periods, and is probably right now patiently waiting for the notification that he’s been recalled to Nashville.  Pekka Rinne was hurt in the Preds game on Saturday night, and his status is currently “day-to-day”.  Paul Fenton said he was going to be in Peoria for this game when he spoke on the Admirals Center Ice Radio show last week, so he may just bring Dekanich back with him.

We’ll see how quickly we get an official announcement…

Game Recaps

Admirals Handle The Heat, Win 6-2

Call it opening night jitters.  And then call it cured.

After spotting the Abbotsford Heat to a 2-0 first period lead on two special teams goals, the Admirals exploded for 4 goals in the 2nd period, en route to a  6-2 opening night victory.  Nuts and bolts are here.

Maybe it was something Coach Lambert said in the first intermission?

Nick Spaling got the Admirals on the board with a nice shot from the high slot, but it was a great pass from Andreas Thuresson who found him.  Thuresson was skating down the left wing, and was being knocked over by one of the Heat defenders.

Linus Klasen had the second goal for the Ads, and finished a tic-tac-toe play on the power-play.  Teemu Laakso had an open look at the point, but instead of shooting, found Matt Halischuk on the left doorstep.  Rather than try to beat starting goaltender Leland Irving from there, he fed the puck across the street to Klasen who finished.  Klasen about 10 seconds early was being heckled for not shooting.  That’s one way to silence to fans….er…make them louder.  It’s great that the play worked, but if that last pass doesn’t get through to Klasen, we’re sitting here writing about how the Admirals were trying to get too cute on the power play.

3rd goal — Mark Van Guilder.  After going scoreless in his first 33 regular season games as an Admiral, he got the game winner tonight.  Kelsey Wilson fired a shot from the point that made it to the crease area, but not all the way through.  Van Guilder was just in front of the crease, played the rebound to his left, and fired a shot past Irving.  In this clip, he walks us through the goal.

Goal 4 – One part Matt Halischuk, four parts Leland Irving mental error.  The Admirals were killing a penalty, and a clear went right to Irving.  While trying to play the puck, he dropped his stick.   He recovered, and was able to play it…..right to Halischuk who was 2 feet away.  Empty net, easy goal.  Irving was pulled for the rest of the period.

5th goal – Klasen on the power play in the 3rd period, from very close to the same spot of his first goal.  Thuresson had a low percentage shot from the goal line on the far side that Irving deflected right to Klasen on the near side.  Klasen was all by himself, had the empty net, and didn’t miss.

6th goal — Halischuk breakaway.  Defensemen left in the dust; it looked like a penalty shot.  Irving got a piece of the shot, but it somehow dribbled through him into the net.

Welcome to Milwaukee Halischuk.  Welcome to Milwaukee Klasen.  While Coach Lambert isn’t surprised with their offense tonight, he does expect that the rest of the team will need to be chipping in on a regular basis.

—————

Notes:

Halischuk – Geoffrion – Mueller
Thuresson – Spaling – Klasen
Thang – Van Guilder – Wilson
Bourque – Bartlett – Flynn

Scratches – Mark Santorelli, Scott Lehman, and Roman Josi.

Dekanich looked like….Dekanich in goal.  Wasn’t really tested over the last half of the game.  But still made 22 saves on 24 shots.

Kelsey Wilson — hands down winner in a fight at the end of the 3rd period.  Got in the first shot, knocked Jon Armstrong’s helmet off, kept throwing punches, and then took him down.  Guilty of some showboating on his way to the penalty box, but the crowd didn’t have a problem with it.  Solid game from Kelsey all around.  I know some people were afraid he’d be a liability out there, but he wasn’t tonight at all.

Defenseman (and alternate camptain) Aaron Johnson did not look good.  Turnovers and bad positioning.  In the first period, he let a Heat player go around him and march down broadway to Dekanich.  He MUST be better.

Anyone miss Mark Santorelli at all?

Ok Roundtable — give us your thoughts on the opening game!  Who impressed you?  Who didn’t?  Which line do you think should be considered the #1 line — Spaling’s or Geoffrion’s?  After the 1st period, were you concerned?

Thanks for reading.

News

Taking Out The Trash – The Hockey News Edition

One of the things that we enjoyed doing back at the Short Shifts blog was calling out hockey writers who presented garbage to their readers. Frequent targets were the Iowa Chops media relations team, John Glennon from the Tennessean, and bloggers who give GOOD bloggers a bad name.

After reading this post from The Hockey News, I’m motivated to keep the tradition going, in a new feature we’re going to call “TAKING OUT THE TRASH”.

First off, I must give credit to Ms. Conduct at The Third Intermission (A Houston Aeros blog that has consistently been one of the best in the league), who posted a piece about this story on Thursday.

The Hockey News decided, hey, the season is about to start, so we’d better rank all the AHL teams.  That’s what everyone else does, right?  Make lists…and stuff.

This seems like the biggest waste of time in the world.  Content for the sake of content.  The AHL is a developmental league, and it’s doubtful that this Patrick Williams guy took the time to actually review the rosters of all 30 teams.  He didn’t take a look at prospects making their debuts, or 2nd year players looking to take the next step in their development.

I imagine the prep that went into his post included a list of off-season transactions and a copy of last year’s standings.  Nothing more.

So here are the rankings for the West Division, along with what fails the sniff test for “analysis”.

Chicago (5th overall):  Darren Haydar and Jason Krog are reunited once more, giving the Wolves perhaps the most dangerous 1-2 punch in the AHL.

Anyone could have written that in their sleep.  Ok, so that’s two guys on one line.  Anything notable about the rest of the team?

San Antonio (7th overall): Phoenix Coyotes affiliate added Garrett Stafford and Nolan Yonkman on defense to go with netminder Matt Climie.

He drops Yonkman’s name?  HA!  Was he the missing link this whole time for the Rampage?  They probably still will be improved, but it’ll be due to the development of some of their prospects (MacLean, Tikhonov) and some decent veteran talent added to compliment them (Stapleton, Kearns, Beaudoin)

Peoria (10th overall): The Rivermen have a shiny, new blueline with Dean Arsene, Ian Cole and Nathan Oystrick headlining it. Will rookie Jake Allen push Ben Bishop in net?

Ah, that shiny new blue line….which doesn’t have Jonas Junland on it anymore.  They did give up the most goals of all teams in the division last year, but is 30 year old Dean Arsene (-12 last year) really that much to get excited about?

Oklahoma City (11th overall): Picking up sniper Alexandre Giroux plus proven veterans Martin Gerber, Brad Moran, Ben Ondrus and Richard Petiot will provide a cushion for an organization rebuilding at every level.

Gerber split time with former Admiral Jan Lasak in the KHL last year and he’s 36.  It’ll be interesting to see if Giroux will have the same success outside of Hershey.  Production-wise, Ben Ondrus isn’t exactly a “proven veteran”.  But the team has a nice collection of 4A-type players.

  Milwaukee (18th overall): A strong net tandem and typically solid defensive group will keep this club in games.

Care to drop any names?  No?  Ok.  I guess that would have required some work.  I understand.

Rockford (23rd overall): Not unlike the parent Chicago Blackhawks, the hockey world picked over Rockford’s roster in the summer.

AHL vets deciding to play elsewhere doesn’t exactly equate to the hockey world picking over Rockford’s roster.  Yes, their top 7 scorers from last year are elsewhere, be it in the Blackhawks lineup or in another organization.  But Rockford will boast some of the proceeds from the Hawks fire sale.  They’ve got some former 60 point scorers on the team, and they’ll give their prospects the chance to shine right now.  But to say that the hockey world picked apart their roster is just silly.  Only one of the Admirals top seven scorers is returning (Blum), but we’re not blaming the hockey world…and we’re not panicking either!

Texas (24th overall): The Stars surprised many observers in giving Hershey a six-game fight in the Calder Cup final last season. But the off-season was not kind to the Stars.

The off-season was not kind to the Stars.  In what way?  Yeah, some guys signed with other teams.  But they’re returning 15 guys who played with the team last year!  And Brent Krahn will hopefully (for them) be healthy and ready to pick up right where he left off.  They may regress towards the median a bit, but how do they go from Calder Cup runners-up to 24th out of 30 teams in the rankings?

Houston (27th overall): Much will depend on two goalies: newcomer Josh Tordjman and rookie Matt Hackett.

That’s the big analysis that justifies your selection of them as 27th best in the league?  Goaltending didn’t seem to be the major problem last year, and Anton Khudobin should be back in the fold.  Scoring a division worst 206 goals was the problem.  If they can improve on that, they’ll likely finish higher than 27th overall.

Patrick Williams!  Congratulations on your horrible article!  (and you’re welcome for the web-traffic.)

News

Opening Night – Bring On The Heat

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to hockey season.

The Abbotsford Heat are first up for the Admirals — a team that they beat only once in four tries last season.  They’re also a team with 2 points in the standings already, after defeating the Grand Rapids Griffins in a shootout on Friday night.

The Heat is a young team — 8 of the 24 players on the roster were playing for their junior team last season.  And for four others, this is their second year.

That’s not to say that there won’t be some familiar names on their roster this year.  Both goalies currently on the roster played with the Heat last season — Leland Irving and Matt Keetley.  Cam Cunning and Chris Chucko are back, as is JD Watt, who was 5th in the league last year in penalty minutes.  Perhaps Watt and Kelsey Wilson will re-aquaint themselves.

But the Heat will also be boasting two of the top four prospects of the Calgary Flames system this year, according to Hockey Futures —  forward Greg Nemisz and center Mitch Wahl.  The latter made an immediate impact when he joined the Heat at the end of his junior season at the end of last year.  In four regular season games he had four points, and tallied six points in 12 playoff games.  He netted the game winning goal in the only game Abbotsford won in their playoff series against Hamilton.  And rookie center Brian Cameron lead the OHL in scoring last season.  Those are three guys to keep an eye on Saturday night.

As for the Admirals, they named their captain this week (thanks to CreedFeed for breaking the news after the season ticket holder event on Thursday), and it’s the former captain of the Abbotsford Heat, defenseman Brett Palin.  Fellow defensemen Scott Ford and Aaron Johnson are set to wear the “A” to start out.  While I’m sure a lot of fans were cheering for Ford to get the nod since he has had the seniority, Palin will be perfect for the job.  He’s done it before, he’ll be a great leader on and off the ice, and he’ll set a great example for some of the young talent on the team.

And finally, Aaron Sims had linked to this video on his blog, but it’s timely, so I’ll do it here too.  Here’s the youtube clip of Abbotsford head coach Jim Playfair losing his mind.  See you at the BC!

News

Inching Closer To Opening Night

About 48 hours until the new season.

Alexander Sulzer cleared waivers, but he hasn’t been assigned to Milwaukee yet.  In the grand scheme, it’s not the worst thing….It’s not like we have a shortage of defensemen on the roster at the moment.  Dirk at On The Forecheck sums the Sulzer situation up nicely.

“They now have a 30-day (or 10 game) window in which they can send him down to the Admirals before requiring another waiver, if they decide later on to do so. Presumably he’s still here to serve as a 7th defenseman, particularly since Shane O’Brien has to get paperwork in place to begin work in the U.S. as he transitions from Vancouver. You never know when bureaucratic delays can turn messy, so it wouldn’t make sense to send Sulzer down before (at the very least) O’Brien is on the ice in Nashville.”

Josh Cooper has a feature piece on Cal O’Reilly at the Tennessean website.

Aaron Sims has a new blog entry on the Admirals website.  He breaks down the defensemen on the roster, makes a Steve DeBerg reference, and gives an update on Roman Josi’s injury.

And finally this morning, don’t know if you had the chance to check out Jon Greenberg’s chat JSOnline….but if you didn’t, this link will take you there!