I’d like to thank everyone that attended the Stanley Cup Final party at Major Goolsby’s Wednesday night.

We (the Admirals) wanted to bring the hockey fans together once again. No, the Admirals parent club, Nashville, wasn’t in the game. There wasn’t an abundance of Wisconsin natives or former Admirals playing. We just thought it would be a great way to promote the game of hockey.

Hockey is a sport that needs to be celebrated. The Stanley Cup is the oldest team trophy in sports. Every person that was integral in that team’s success has his/her name engraved on the cup for eternity to see. The speed, power, grace and heart with which the game is played can’t be hyped enough and writing about it doesn’t do the sport justice.

If you’re reading this right now, you’re probably already a fan of the Admirals, the sport and/or a season ticket holder. Maybe you made it to Goolsby’s for the event. If that’s the case, I want to challenge you…

You obviously enjoy hockey. Get someone else to enjoy it with you…someone who hasn’t been out to a game before. How many times has someone told you, or have you said, “Hockey is so awesome in person!" Let’s get these people to show up “in person”.

The home opener has been set for Sat, Oct 9th. An opponent hasn’t been named, yet. Bring two friends to that game. Let’s fill the Bradley Center that night. You know these games are way more fun when the crowd is big.

You know and I know that the Admirals are a special entity in this town. Let’s turn some others onto that fact.

Moving on…

Gary Lawless does a great job covering hockey in Winnipeg. He has an interesting article about what the Moose may do for a coach since Scott Arniel was hired by the Columbus Blue Jackets.

A little birdie told me these are the teams that will participate in this year’s Holiday Hockey Tournament at the Bradley Center: Marquette, Cedarburg, University School of Milwaukee, Germantown, WNS Storm, Homestead, Arrowhead and Kenosha.

The USHL, America’s top junior league, held its draft May 21st. The draft lasted 21 rounds with 315 players selected. The players were all born between 1990-95. Thirteen kids from Wisconsin were selected with the state’s top pick being Green Bay Notre Dame center Max McCormick (fifth overall). Four players from the Junior Admirals were selected: Oconomowoc’s Noah Nelson, Milwaukee’s Peter Maric, Fredonia’s Jakob Batcha and Danny Sherer from Nashotah.

According to hockey-reference.com, the state of Wisconsin has produced 25 players that have played in the NHL, ranking sixth. I thought that number would be higher. The site lists 822 players born in the U.S.A. that played in the NHL. Minnesota has produced 200; Massachusetts 163 and Michigan 118. New York has 83 and Illinois produced 42. Fourteen states have never produced a NHL player.

In closing, I leave you with a goalie for the Milwaukee Falcons in the 1959-60 season, Marv Edwards. Check out the numbers this guy posted. How hard was it to crack the roster in a six-team league?