May 6th, 2008

Now that the Admirals are out, its time to take a look at the remaining teams in the playoff chase and figure out who to root for to win the illustrious Calder Cup. I based these preferences around connections to the Admirals as the primary grounds, and then weighed any ancillary reasons after that. After much (but not too much) thought here are the three potential teams in no specific order:

Syracuse: Karl Goehring is the whole case for rooting for the Crunch to win it all. After a disastrous start last season Karl almost singlehandedly kept the Admirals from falling out of play-off contention before Pekka came back. You didn’t hear a peep from either when he went from playing every game to playing none. He was truly one of the nicest people to ever put on an Admirals sweater, and he was even a normal guy which is unusual for a goalie. This season Karl bounced around before finding a back-up role in Syracuse where he had spent four seasons earlier in his career. After some injuries/call-ups/bad play by other Crunch goalies, Karl got the #1 gig and proceeded to post an 11-0-2 record to close the season and then in the playoffs he has gone 6-2 with a 1.72 GAA and phenomenal .943 save percentage. What is particularly ironic about the situation is that he has done it all without being on the Crunch’s clear day roster! My favorite part of the whole thing is that Karl is still using his Admirals mask, so at least some part of the Admirals is still alive.

The main reason for not rooting for the Crunch is that they are basically a bunch of goons on skates. With 2174 PIMs they not only led the league, but they had over 600 penalty minutes more than then next closest team in the North Division. Plus, its quite difficult to root for Zenon Konopka, a guy who caused us fits in the infamous 05 first round loss to Cincinnati

Chicago: We all know the Darren Haydar story. He played four seasons in Milwaukee before signing with Atlanta after the 05-06 season when the Thrashers offered him a two-year deal with a one-way contract in the second year. Little did he know (or maybe he did) that the Thrashers didn’t really intend on keeping him in Atlanta the second season and they just paid him NHL money to play in Chicago. He then proceeds to light us up in the first round in two-consecutive seasons, including the OT winner in a critical game 3 win this year, as the Wolves knocked us out in the first round each time. That being said he is still one of the most beloved Admirals of all-time and he led us to one Calder Cup Championship and to within a whisker of another. Plus, it is tough to hold it against the guy for signing with Atlanta when it was clear that he wasn’t in Nashville’s plans and the Thrashers gave him an opportunity that the Preds didn’t.

But to live in Milwaukee and root for a team from Chicago is borderline treason and the presence of one guy can’t overshadow years of antipathy towards the Wolves, especially when they are still coached by one of the greatest whiners in the league.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton: The final choice in the “Who should I root for now” Calder Cup sweepstakes are the WBS Penguins who are coached by former Admirals assistant coach Todd Richards. Todd is another example of the quality people who have been affiliated with the Admirals over the years. Generally thought of as Claude Noel’s assistant, Todd was actually hired by Peter Horacheck in the 02-03 season before Claude brought him back after Peter was promoted to Nashville. Todd was an assistant in Milwaukee for four years before being hired by former Predator assistant GM Ray Shero to lead the baby Pens.

Another reason to root for the Penguins is their fans. Probably the most loyal in the AHL, they have been subjected to not just one, but two losses in the Calder Cup Finals, including in 04 to the Admirals, in their nine year history. Certainly the “tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all” mantra has some validity, but after experiencing it in the 2006 season, I can’t imagine what it would be like to have that punch to the stomach two times in four years. Plus, when we won it there the Penguin fans were very classy with much of the arena staying for the awards ceremony even though I am sure that most of them just wanted to got to a bar for a stiff drink.

And the winner is: Wilkes-Barre. Chicago is out because, well, they are Chicago and Todd Richards tops Karl Goehring because his tenure here was substantially longer. So if you plan on caring who wins the Calder Cup I suggest you cheer for Todd and the streaking Baby Pens.

April 2nd, 2008

For those of you who didn’t watch it last night on Versus, our guy Rich Peverley had himself quite the game against St. Louis. Down 3-0 just over six minutes into the game, the Preds staged a stirring comeback and won 4-3 in overtime on Peverley’s game-winner at the 1:43 mark of OT.

You can see the goal here.

Here are two other noteworthy things about the game for Peverley: 1) He also had an assist and was +3, and 2) in overtime he was paired with Jan Hlavac during the overtime session, which certainly says a mouthful about the confidence that Barry Trotz has in him. To put it into more perspective, here is a list of some of the other forwards who didn’t see ice-time in the OT session: Alexander Radulov, Vern Fiddler, Jerred Smithson, Jordin Tootoo, and Scott Nichol.

Couple the Predators win with a loss by Vancouver against Colorado last night and the Preds are in the playoffs with wins in their final two games.

The only down side from the night: The overtime goal didn’t make SportsCenter’s Top Ten.

March 28th, 2008

Nearly six months and 70 games into the 2007-08 season not a whole lot has been decided from a playoff perspective in the wild West Division. At this point we can pin-point just a couple of things about the division’s post-season participants: 1) the Wolves are in, and 2) Iowa is out.

Thus you have Rockford (86 points), San Antonio (84), Houston (83), Milwaukee (81), Peoria (79) and Quad City (75) battling for what amounts to four playoff spots: three of them in the West and one in the North as the cross-over team since Hamilton (currently in fourth in the North), has been flailing since the trading deadline.

Rockford, San Antonio, and Peoria all have nine games to play, while Milwaukee and Quad City each have ten and Houston still has 11 to go. The Admirals, Houston, Rockford, and Peoria will each play three-in-three this weekend, while San Antonio and Quad City will play just twice.

From a strictly travel standpoint, Houston has the most difficult schedule, playing just three times at home with an eight-game, 14-day road trip mixed in. From an opponent perspective, the Admirals, Houston and San Antonio each have just one game against a team with a losing record, but Quad City still has four games left Iowa which is in last in the division.

The last weekend of the season will be particularly interesting as the Admirals and Aeros will play three consecutive games in three straight days. In what can only be described as a ridiculous scheduling quirk, following Saturday’s game with Quad City the Ads have nothing but games with San Antonio and Houston.

So for your viewing pleasure here is a list of the schedule for each of the team’s the Admirals are battling for a playoff spot with:

Date	Rockford	Quad City	Milwaukee
27-Mar
28-Mar	vs. Chicago	at Iowa	at Grand Rapids
29-Mar	at Iowa	vs. Milwaukee	at Quad City
30-Mar	vs. Iowa		vs. Houston
31-Mar
1-Apr		at Iowa
2-Apr			at San Antonio
3-Apr
4-Apr	at Quad City	vs. Rockford	at San Antonio
5-Apr	vs. San Antonio	vs. Iowa	vs. Houston
6-Apr		at Chicago	vs. San Antonio
7-Apr
8-Apr
9-Apr	vs. Peoria	vs. Houston
10-Apr
11-Apr	vs. Chicago	vs. Iowa	vs. Houston
12-Apr	at Chicago	at San Antonio	at Houston
13-Apr	vs. Iowa	at San Antonio	at Houston

Date	Houston	San Antonio	Peoria
27-Mar		vs. Peoria	at San Antonio
28-Mar	vs. Peoria		at Houston
29-Mar	at Chicago	vs. Peoria	at San Antonio
30-Mar	at Milwaukee
31-Mar
1-Apr
2-Apr	at Lake Erie	vs. Milwaukee
3-Apr
4-Apr	at Grand Rapids	vs. Milwaukee	at Iowa
5-Apr	at Milwaukee	at Rockford	vs. Chicago
6-Apr	at Peoria	at Milwaukee	vs. Houston
7-Apr
8-Apr		at Iowa
9-Apr	at Quad City		at Rockford
10-Apr
11-Apr	at Milwaukee	at Peoria	vs. San Antonio
12-Apr	vs. Milwaukee	vs. Quad City	vs. Iowa
13-Apr	vs. Milwaukee	vs. Quad City	at Chicago

February 21, 2008

Well, there are loses and then there are loses like the one our friendly rivals from the Windy City suffered last night. With the game tied at one in OT and a delayed penalty coming to Manitoba, Chicago netminder Ondrej Pavelec was pulled in favor of an extra attacker. Wolves forward Steve Martins then sent an errant pass from the Manitoba goal line that went the length of the ice and into the Chicago net to give the Moose a 2-1 OT win and snap the Wolves seven-game winning streak.

You can watch the video here at the Wolves website. Warning: the first 2/3 of the video is a rather repulsive doughnut eating contest.

The goal was credited to Manitoba goalie Drew MacIntyre, making him just the ninth netminder in AHL history to be credited with a goal. The last one to do it? None other than the Admirals Seamus Kotyk who actually shot the puck on his goal against San Antonio on April 17th of 2006.

Chris Mason was also credited with a goal when he was the last to touch the puck on a delayed penalty against Utah in the 00-01 season.

February 20th, 2008

I meant to post this yesterday, but my I guess my feelings of disdain for the Beech trade got the better of me.  Anyway, here is a link to what is probably the best place to track the NHL trades and transactions as the deadline looms.

February 19, 2007

Well, folks it has been a long time since I last wrote. So much for New Year’s Resolutions. Anyway, the Admirals got good news today when Rich Peverley was reassigned, although he might not find the news quite as good. In his absence a number of players on the team have really elevated their games, most notable Cal O’Reilly and Matt Ellison, and hopefully those guys continue their improved play.

O’Reilly has been hot lately, 20 points in his last ten games, that he has moved up to third place in the AHL scoring lead behind only a pair of divisional rivals in Jason Krog and Martin St. Pierre. As a matter of fact the top four scorers in the league (Krog, St. Pierre, O’Reilly and Quad City’s Grant Stevenson) all hail from the West Division. Always a guy who looks to pass first and shoot second for a while O’Reilly wasn’t looking to shoot at all and opposing goalies and defensemen new it. Now he takes what the opposition gives him and the results have been nothing short of staggering. A nine-game scoring streak, five points Saturday night, and a pair of game-winners have all come since Peverley was recalled.

It will certainly be interesting to see how the frenzy that is the NHL trading deadline turns out. For the first time in a couple of years it doesn’t look like the Predators will be making any big time moves. Of course they are looking for a scoring forward who can play on the second line, but so are 24 other teams. Because of the way hockey does the standings, i.e., points instead of winning percentage, the LA Kings are probably the only team in the league that doesn’t at least have an outside chance at making it. Thus, most teams won’t be looking to unload talent for prospects/picks unless the trade is equitable for both clubs.

For almost all of the trades that happen there are both direct and indirect impacts on the farm teams. Take last year’s Peter Forsberg trade for example. The trade didn’t have a direct impact on last year’s Admirals team because Scottie Upshall was on a one-way deal and wasn’t going to be back here. However it did affect this year’s squad because Ryan Parent, whom we saw in the 06 playoffs, would undoubtedly have been here. Not to mention the future draft picks that could have played.

The trading deadline deal that had the biggest affect on the Admirals in recent years has to be the trade that sent Kris Beech to Washington for Brendan Witt and a 1st round pick in the 2006 draft, which ended up being Semen Varlamov. Not only did the Admirals lose one of their top scorers in Beech, but he ended up going playing against the Ads, for Hershey, in the Finals and we all know how that went.

Is there another Calder Cup Championship banner hanging in the BC rafters without that trade? Maybe. Are there some sour grapes on my part? No question.

January 25th, 2008

Congratulations to Rich Peverley who scored his first NHL goal Thursday night in the Preds OT loss to Phoenix.  The goal tied the score at two at the 13:32 mark of the second period and was assisted by former Ad Vern Fiddler.  You can watch the goal by clicking here. 

It was also revealed that Peverely will miss the AHL All-Star game this Monday because he will still be with the Preds.  That means Pekka Rinne will be the lone Admirals representative in Binghamton. 

January 22nd, 2008

It certainly isn’t often that a Milwaukee Admirals player gets some pub on ESPN.com,  but that is exactly what happened to netminder Pekka Rinne. Click here to check out this article from ESPN.com fantasy hockey guy Sean Allen.

Also, I am sure than many of you have seen the video of Rick Nash’s spectacular GWG against Phoenix last week, but TSN put together this video showing  some of his other ridiculous scores. My personal favorite is the one about 1:45 into the video where the puck ricochets off the board and he grabs it and flips it top cheese for the goal. Unbelievable…

January 16th, 2008

This isn’t a link to an article, but rather a video that is posted on the website for the Minnesota Star Tribune. Former Admiral foes and current Wild teammates Kurtis Foster and Josh Harding give a tour of the Wild’s locker room. Many of you got to see the Admirals room first hand at the season ticket holder party on Monday night, and while the quality of the two is comparable, the size of the Wild’s is at least four to give times as big as the Admirals. But I guess it should be that way since one is an NHL team and one plays in the A.

Speaking of the Wild, I think that it is great the former Predators owner Craig Leipold has purchased the team. No matter what you might hear from some bitter folks in Nashville, Leipold is a fantastic owner with a great business sense whose passion for the game and for the fans is evident anytime you hear him speak. The NHL needs more owners like him, not so many of the eccentric, super-rich who haven’t driven a car in decades because they have someone to do it for them. Not that Mr. Leipold isn’t a super-rich; he just doesn’t act like it.

January 12th, 2008

Here is a great article by George Johnson about guys who the Admirals tangoed with on a number of occasions.

January 4th, 2008

Well here we are almost half way through the season and into the 08 part of the 2007-08 campaign. We are currently saddled with an 18-14-1-1 record and, after a pretty good start, have basically been a .500 team since the beginning of November. Since resolutions are always the trendy thing to do around the first of the year, I figured I would put forth a few for the Admirals to help them put the break-even point into the rear-view mirror.

1) Improve the power-play. The Admirals are currently tied for 18th in the league at 15.2 percent, which isn’t great, but after scoring 11 power-play goals in the first ten games this year the Admirals have managed just 16 in the last 24 contests. In only two of the last 24 games has the team been able to get more than one PPG goal, while they have put up a goose egg on ten occasions. Here is a simple say to break it down: when scoring two or more power-play goals the Admirals are 4-1, but then they are blanked they are just 6-8.

2) Finish on scoring chances (or at least hit the net). The Admirals have good team speed and they also have some good play makers, so a lack of opportunities has never really been an issue. But what we do with those opportunities is another thing altogether. How many times have we had pucks just dangling in front of an opposing goaltender only to get there just a split second too late or had a point-blank shot, only to fire it over the net? It goes without saying that you can’t convert all your scoring chances, but it is particularly frustrating when we don’t force the goalie to make a save. Finishing on the scoring opportunities also takes pressure of Pekka Rinne, who has played superb this year, but has to feel like he needs to be perfect nearly every game in order to give us a chance to win.

3) Play 60 minutes. Probably the most irritating/frustrating/depressing thing about the season so far are the five minute increments that we seem to go through that take a 2-1 lead and turn it into a 3-2 deficit. Penalties in the opponent’s zone, turnovers in our end, and lazy passes are just a few of the maladies that have befallen us at times and on many occasions they lead to pucks in our own net. Further grating the situation is that these lulls often happen in the third period and it is why have lost four games when leading after 40 minutes. Think Grand Rapids last Saturday or Manitoba on November 2nd.

4) Continue Penalty Kill Success. One of the things that the Admirals have been good at this season is killing penalties. This is certainly a trend that they would like to continue, but I just ask for one small thing: when you can ice the puck, then ice the puck. Especially against teams with potent power-plays, like Chicago and Rockford, it is vital to take advantage of getting the puck out of our own zone so the opponent has to regroup and we can get a line change if we need it. The odds of carrying the puck out and turning it into a shorthanded chance aren’t great, but the odds of getting a stick lifted and having a turnover a pretty good.

5) Blog more! I was doing great for a while, but I promise to get more posts up and do it on a more frequent basis. We all have areas to improve!

December 12th, 2007

There have been some big goings on with our rival to the south over the last few days. First the goaltender that they had been riding to start the season, Freddy Brathwaite, defected to Russia after probably being offered oodles of money to play there. I didn’t see how much he is going to make, but I would think that it was around the $500,000 mark; much more than he was making with the Wolves and not a dime of it is taken out for taxes.

The loss of Brathwaite would be a hard pill to swallow, he had been playing quite well up to this point, except for the fact that Atlanta reassigned their goaltender of the future, Ondrej Pavelec, to the Wolves.

The Wolves also recently received the services of first-round draft pick Bryan Little from the Thrashers after they picked up Mark Recchi from the waiver wire and need to move someone from their roster. Little was a bit of a victim of circumstance because he was Atlanta’s only player on a two-way deal. Plus, after a great start to the season he has slowed lately and playing just seven minutes a night could stunt his development. Hence, he was shuffled off to Chicago for an indefinite stay in the Windy City.

In addition Darren Haydar was put on, and cleared, waivers. Now, Atlanta basically has 30 days or ten games to figure out what they want to do with the former Admiral before having to re-expose him to the waiver wire. They could send him to Chicago, they could keep him on their roster, they could trade him, or a number of other things. Right now he isn’t going to the Wolves, but don’t be surprised to see him on the ice at the Bradley Center in the near future.

November 29, 2007

Here are a couple of notes that are a little old, but you may not have seen them…

This one comes as no surprise, but former Admiral TJ Reynolds was suspended for one game by the league after he was assessed an instigator penalty at Norfolk on Saturday night. It’s an automatic suspension and fine anytime the infraction occurs in the last five minutes of the game. The penalty will also hurt Springfield coach Kelly Buchberger, not because he will miss Reynolds skill, but because when a player does what Reynolds did the coach gets a fine as well.

Former Admiral nemesis Kari Lehtonen was sent to the Wolves on a conditioning assignment early this week to rehab his injured groin. In his first game back he came within 10 seconds of shutting out Quad City in a 4-1 win Tuesday night. Luckily for the Admirals he can only be down for two weeks before having to go back up.

Finally a couple of former Admirals on the move: Scott May was release by the Manitoba Moose and Mark Mowers, an Admirals from back in the IHL days, was waived by Anaheim after being a healthy scratch for six straight games. According to TSN.ca Mowers is thinking about playing in Europe or heading to Portland, the Ducks AHL team to skate for the Pirates

November 28th, 2007

Pardon the cliché, but two months into the season it appears that the only thing you can expect from this year’s Admirals squad is the unexpected. How else do you explain five games in the last month that have been lost (three of them by the Admirals) by the team leading after two periods or the team losing the first two games of their road trip by a 11-1 score and then staging two third-period comebacks to come out of Texas with a 2-2 record?

I think one of the reasons for this is that we have quite a bit of talent on the team this year and at times we make things look pretty easy. Thus we are never out of a game when trailing, i.e., last night’s three-goal third to pull out the win against San Antonio. However, the team certainly realizes that it has a lot of skill and thus the intensity isn’t always what it should be because they know they have the ability to come back. Unfortunately it is that kind of thinking that results in 7-0 loses or third-period leads surrendered.

Last year we had a team without a lot of talent whose whole was greater than the sum of its parts. Thus when we had the lead the team bore down, especially in the third period, because they couldn’t afford to take anything for granted. Conversely, since we didn’t have a lot of talent we weren’t able to muster many comebacks when we got down.

Cleary the inconsistency has to drive Lane Lambert nuts, but I am confidant in his ability to get everyone on the same page to produce a consistent effort night-in and night-out. And when that happens you are going to see a dominant team.

November 20th

Seeing that we are at the Holiday season here’s a nice article to put things in a little bit of perspective. It is about Glenn Olson, a member of the Worcestor Sharks last seaon, who survived a plane crash last summer.

So when it takes you 30 minutes to find a parking spot at the mall this year, don't forgot that things could be worse.

November 8th, 2007

Well it appears that Simon Gamache’s storybook journey this season with the Maple Leafs has hit a small bump in the road: he has been assigned to the Marlies. The former Ad had two goals and two assists in 13 games with the Leafs, but for the time being will ply his trade across town in the Ricoh Coliseum.

Shea Weber also looks to be close to getting back into action with Nashville. He has been out since dislocating his patella tendon the first game of the year. That will create a log jam on defense for the Preds as they will have eight healthy blueliners and seven of them are on one-way deals. The eighth, Kevin Klein, is on a two-way but has to clear waivers to get sent down and you can rest assured that Nashville doesn’t want to risk losing him. He’s been a healthy scratch since returning from a shoulder injury and his replacement, Ville Koistinen, has drawn the praise of Barry Trotz.

There has been talk of a trade since before training camp, but it hasn’t had to happen because of various injuries. With the salary cutting that has been going on, Marek Zidliky would be an obvious candidate for a trade given his $3.2 million contract is almost a mil more than the next highest paid d-man. But then you are getting rid of a staple on your power play, not to mention a guy who has some experience on a young, but talented corps.

It will certainly be interesting to see what happens…

November 5th, 2007

You never expect a team to go through an entire season without losing two games in a row. However, you also don’t expect a team’s first losing streak to come about like the Admirals did. Start it off with a 1-0 loss where you outplay your opponent for the first 30 minutes, but have nothing to show for it and then give up a single goal in the third that is the difference.

A tough loss for sure, but the team looked like they would rebound against Manitoba. After a dominating start the Admirals were up 3-0 and looked to be cruising to their fifth home win of the year. The Moose got one back to make it 3-1, but it still felt that the Ads had control of the game. That is until Manitoba scored with less than one second to go in the second and the wheels seemed to come off completely. It didn’t take long into the third for Manitoba to tie and then take the lead and to rub salt in the wound former Admiral Greg Classen scored the Moose’s sixth consecutive goal with an empty netter.

This weekend’s games are definitely not do-or-die situations and there will certainly be more difficult situation during the rest of the year, but the team is facing some real adversity for the first time this season and it will be interesting to see how they respond.

On to other things…

Brett Sterling was sent down to Chicago today by the Thrashers. Obviously from an Admirals perspective I’d rather see last year’s rookie of the year in Atlanta, but they still only play with one puck.

For those of you Simon Gamache fans, there is a big picture of him and Chicago rookie Patrick Kane in the table of contents of this week’s Hockey News. The former Admirals star now has a pair of goals and two assists in 11 games for The Leafs.

It was interesting to see the game last Friday with two refs. There was no official explanation as to why Dan O’Rourke joined the crew, but my guess is that he was rehabbing some sort of injury and need to get a game or two under his belt before boing back to the NHL. Yes the AHL is a developmental league for the refs/linesmen as well.

I for one think that we should be using a two referee system for all of our games anyway. To put the responsibility on one person to call all infractions committed in a game played with six world-class athletes to a side is ridiculous. The American League does everything else that the NHL does, so why don’t they add the second ref?

November 2nd, 2007

Congrats to former Admiral Scottie Upshall who picked up a goal in his first game back with the Flyers after suffering a broken wrist in the pre-season. Philly lost 5-2 to the Canadians, but they still reside on top of the Atlantic division standings. Click here to watch the goal.

Sheldon Brookbank has finally started to see some time for the New Jersey Devils. He was scratched for a number of games after being picked up on waivers at the beginning of the season. They sent him down to Lowell on conditioning and now they have brought him back up to the bigs. In three games he is -1 without any points and averaging a healthy 16 minutes of ice time per game. He also has 5 PIMs, the result of a Halloween night scrape with Tampa’s Nick Tarnasky.

On the home front, it looks as though the Admirals have been bitten by a small case of the injury bug. Richard Stehlik got hurt last Saturday so the team called up Bryan Schmidt from Cincinnati. It looks like Stehlik might be close to being ready, but Nolan Yonkman has suddenly found himself a little banged up and he didn’t make the trip to Iowa. It remains questionable for this evening’s game against Manitoba.

Greg Classen will play in the Bradley Center tonight for the first time as a member of a visiting team. Classen played parts of six seasons with the Ads over the course of eight years (he spent two years in Europe) and is the last player from the team’s IHL days to play for them in the A. To give you some perspective on how long he has been around, in 1999-00, the first season Classen played in Milwaukee, the Admirals goaltending included Chris Mason, Tomas Vokoun, and Mike Dunham. To see a roster from that season click here.

October 30th, 2007

Well, it has been a while since I lost wrote anything in here and a lot has happened over the last two weeks. So without further ado here are some observations from the beginning of the season…

Boy is it refreshing to see some team speed and skill for the good guys again. Newcomers like Matt Ellison, Josh Langfeld and Antti Pihlstrom make the game fun to watch because you know that something exciting might happen at any moment. You don’t realize how slow we were last year until watching us play this year.

I have also been impressed by the six European players that have come over this season. With the difference in styles from the North American game to the European game and the fact that many are moving across the ocean and away from their families you never know what you are going to get. Take Ville Koistinen and Daniel Widing last season. Widing was a second round pick, while Koistinen wasn’t even drafted, yet it was Koistinen who excelled and is now up in Nashville, while Widing left to go back to Europe after just a month. Let’s hope that the guys this year continue to find success both on and off the ice.

Congrats to Rich Peverley for being the first Admiral to be recalled by Nashville this season. Peverley’s has been an integral part of the team’s success so far this year and he deserve the shot in the bigs. Certainly his call-up was precipitated by injuries in Nashville, but don’t count out the fact that Barry Trotz is looking to send a message to some of his forwards that he hasn’t been pleased with their play lately.

The Admirals did something in the span of three days that they weren’t able to do all season last year: beat the Iowa Stars two times. Iowa returns quite a number of players from last year’s team that gave us fits. However, they certainly didn’t look like that team when we played them earlier this month. Part of that is because we are a better team this year and some of it is because Iowa was missing their top two goaltenders.

Former Admiral Greg Classen returns to the Bradley Center for the first time since game six of the 2006 Calder Cup Finals, this time as a member of the Manitoba Moose. Greg is one of the nicest players that we had come through Milwaukee and it will certainly be a strange site to see him in a different team’s uniform since he has never played for different IHL/AHL team until this year.

It will also be a family affair against the Moose since they just signed Mike Vigilante, older brother of Ads’ forward John. I guess we will find out if there is enough room for two vigilante’s in one building….

October 9th, 2007

When technology works it is a wonderful thing. But when it doesn’t it, it sure stinks. I happened to be on the later end of the technological grid this past Saturday night when I attempted to watch your favorite hockey team on the internet via the B2 Networks.

I got a bit of a late start, but was set to go by about 7:15. Unfortunately when I tried to activate the media all I got was a blank black screen. After letting it try to do something for a couple of minutes I finally got a beautiful B2 logo on the screen that just said: “Please Stand By” as if I had any other choice. After a couple of other attempts at refreshing I finally got the game on, but after about three minutes of herky-jerky action the screen froze and I was shut out for good.

In hindsight maybe it was a good thing that I couldn’t watch the game, but I would have much rather had the chance to shut the game off on my own, not because I was forced to because the technology didn’t work.

In other news, I would imagine that the a point of emphasis for referees would be to cut down on players leaving their feet on checks, especially after the whole Steve Downie hit on Dean McAmmond last month. Apparently Brian Pochmara didn’t get the memo. While listening to the game on the radio (which I did after throwing my computer against the wall in frustration), it sounded like there were multiply occasions when Peoria players were leaving their feet on checks, but no penalty was called, including a hit on Shane Willis that caused him not to return.

This is a penalty that occurs very frequently, but is rarely called because most of the time players don’t connect with their checks. But when they do the result is often an injured player, as was the case on Saturday. If the league is really serious about this, and I think they are given the suspension they gave to Downie, they need to get this across to all officials and make sure they don’t have a case of selective memory.

Coming later this week a list of former Admirals who started the season in NHL Camps…

October 2nd, 2007

Not that we would have seen him here this season since the Ads don’t play Syracuse, but Sheldon Brookbank will not be seen in a Crunch jersey any time soon.  Last year’s Eddie Shore winner was claimed by the Devils off of waivers today after the Blue Jackets tried to send him down yesterday.

Since he was a waiver claim New Jersey must keep him on their NHL roster, so it looks as though Sheldon will get his shot in the NHL, at least for now, which was his main reason for leaving the Nashville organization.

So what are Brookbank’s chances of sticking in The Show with New Jersey? At this point it appears to be as good as any other NHL club. Out of the current Devil’s seven d-men on their roster (not including Brookbank), one is on injured reserve (Colin White), while two others (Andy Greene and Mike Motteau) each have less than a year’s experience in the NHL. Motteau didn’t play in North America last season and hasn’t suited up for an NHL contest since the 2002-03 campaign. I’m sure it didn’t take long for Lou Lamoriello, Brent Sutter, et al to grab Brookbank after seeing his name on the waiver wire.

September 29, 2007

Final exhibition game of the year tonight at 7 at the Kern Center.

September 28th, 2007

Always wanting to look on the bright side of things, last night’s non-descript exhibition game made me thankful for a couple of things. First, I was thankful that we don’t have to play six or seven preseason games like some other teams in the league. Last night’s contest really gets you in the mood for hockey and the season in general, but when you realize that these games have little meaning for anyone except the players trying to make the team the enthusiasm dips after about one period. Three games is definitely enough for my liking.

Secondly, I am thankful that the Bradley Center’s temperature is about 30 degrees higher than it is in the Mullett Center. The facility is outstanding and the people who run it are even better, and the combination thereof is a main reason why Hartland produces so many good youth and high school hockey teams. But there is no denying that it is cold in there, especially when you are a) not in the stands with the heaters, 2) not moving around, and c) not used to being in meat lockers. I can’t believe that people are watching the game in shorts and/or short sleeved shirts, meanwhile I have to go home for a hot bath to bring my core temperature up in spite of wearing five layers.

Moving on…

Just as there are a number of players trying to make the Admirals squad, there are also quite a few former Admirals out there attempting to stick with NHL teams. Here is an update on a few of them:

Darren Haydar was reassigned by the Thrashers to Chicago yesterday after losing out to a pair of rookies for an Atlanta roster spot. The former Ad was in a battle with four others for two forward spots, but got sent down along with Jordan LaValle and Colin Stuart. Brett Sterling, Haydar’s teammate in Chi-town last year, earned a position and might even be playing on a line with Ilya Kovalchuk depending on how things go, as did Bryan Little, a 19-year old, first round pick of the Thrashers in 06. There is still a chance he could get recalled if Brad Larsen is put on IR because of his bad back.

Sheldon Brookbank and Kris Beech are both still alive in the competition for a roster spot with Columbus, although so is everyone else as the Blue Jackets still have 34 players in camp. Beech had an audition as the first line center last night in a 3-0 loss to Carolina, and apparently it didn’t go very well, at least according to this account from Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch.  However, Beech may still be able to avoid a trip to Syracuse since possess good skill, something the Blue Jackets are lacking.

Right from the start Brookbank new his shot to make it was going to be as a sixth or seventh d-man. Working in his favor is the fact that Claude Noel is an assistant with Columbus and will have some input in who comprises the roster. Plus, Brookbank has always been the type of player who works very hard during practice and games, a trait that head coach Ken Hitchcock is known to admire. Nevertheless, even if he does get sent down, he will most likely be the first blueliner called up when the need arises.

While probably considered a long shot to make the big-club, Simon Gamache is still around in the Toronto Maple Leafs training camp. Gamache signed a two-way deal with the Leafs this summer after leading the Swiss league in scoring last year. He does have a couple of things going for him right now: 1) he has scored goals at every level and that’s a skill always in need and 2) the Leafs have had a rash of injuries during training camp and forward Mark Bell has been suspended by the NHL and placed in their substance abuse program. Still, those Admiral fans looking to see Gamache’s return to the BC with the Marlies on January 10th are probably safe to by their tickets now. In any event, here’s a good article about Gamache from the Leafs website.

One more game before they count for real. As soon as I get my hands on a roster for tomorrow’s game I will be sure to post it here…

September 27th, 2007

Folks,  I apologize that this is so late, but here are the line-ups for this evenings fray...

September 25th, 2007

Take a read at this interesting piece from John Glennon.  This could certainly lead to an interesting situation with the Admirals, and I am sure that many fans would like to see Pekka play at least a few games with us.

Whenever there are battles for roster spots in Nashville, it usually has a good trickle down effect for the Admirals as we end up getting a player who is very talented. (That is opposite to the trickle down effect from an injury in Nashville, which causes us to lose a a very talented player). That is assuming that he wants to be here, which most do, but I am sure all of you can think of couple of guys who have mailed it in over the years.

The one downfall I see with the rotating the two between here and Nashville is it might make it difficult for the players in front of him to get used to one style of goaltending. Does he like to hold onto shots, how often does he come out of the crease to play the puck, and does he like to come out and challenge shooters are just a few of the many different questions the skaters must take into account for different goalies.

That small concern aside, anyone who has been watching the Admirals over the last couple of years knows that both Rinne and Ellis are outstanding goaltenders and both, or a combination thereof, would be an excellent number one for us. Throw in Maxime Daigneault and Dov Grumet-Morris and it looks as if our goaltending will certainly be a strength for us this year.

September 24th, 2007

One down, about 199 to go.

It is always a little tough to gage the first day of training camp for a couple of reasons. First, most of the guys are new to both the coaches and each other. Thus there is a little more down time for explaining drills and making sure everyone is on the same page. Second, since most of the Nashville players didn’t practice today there were only about 15 guys on the ice, which means that everyone is skating a lot so more breaks are necessary.

That being said, things looked pretty good today. After drills were explained they ran fairly smoothly without many restarts. Even more importantly, Lane didn’t blow his top during the 60 minute session, which is always a good thing.

Camp starts in earnest tomorrow with two practice sessions that sandwich an intra-squad scrimmage that runs from 10 until 11 at the Kern Center

September 19th, 2007

As promised here is your first look at the Admirals training camp roster. Probably not too many recognizable names, but that will change by Sunday.

Also, take a look at this video from TSN, Canada’s version of ESPN. It is about our old pal Jeremy Yablonski and his fighting ability and then show clips of his ultimate fighting match in Idaho early this summer. If you haven’t seen that, click here to view it.

September 17, 2007

Well, folks the time is almost here…training camp starts one week from today!  Camp is great because everything is fresh. Everyone is optimistic about their chances and there usually aren’t any serious injuries that cast a shadow over team. As soon as I get my hands on what exactly that roster will be when things kick off on Monday I will be sure to post it here.

Training camp at the AHL level is also a little weird because you usually start camp with a bunch of guys that don’t have much of a chance to make the team because many of the guys that will fill the roster are still at camp in the NHL. This is no different for the Admirals. Depending on when the Predators make cuts will determine when our roster will begin to take shape, but for the meantime you have players who are looking to make a good impression with Lane and Brad so that when there is a need, be it in Milwaukee or somewhere else, our coaches will look to them. With one or two exceptions, the team that will take the ice for the Ads on October 6^th will be here by October 1^st as the Preds trim their roster in anticipation of their regular season opener on Oct. 4^th. 

September 5th, 2007

It appears that this time the trickle-down effect of an injury in Nashville will have a positive impact on the Admirals. As we all know by now, Steve Sullivan, arguably the Preds most valuable player, will be out until December while recovering from a second back surgery. This will have a reverberating effect on the Ads, as the Predators look to someone slated for Milwaukee to fill Sullivan’s void. Prior to Tuesday Rich Peverley, Matt Ellison, and Shane Willis were the top choices to get the call.

But since this is still the off-season, the Preds were still able to go out and sign Josh Langfeld to compete with Peverely/Ellison/Willis to fill in for Sullivan during his absence. Langfeld is a guy with NHL experience (over 140 games with four clubs) who has established himself as a legitimate scoring threat at the AHL level. Last season his 32 points were good for fourth on Grand Rapids’ roster, even though he played in just 38 games. During the lockout season of 04-05 he potted 32 goals for the Binghamton Senators, the same number that NHL stud Jason Spezza scored for the same Sens squad.

Regardless of which of the four players (or someone else who makes a big impression at camp) makes the Nashville roster, it means that the Ads gain a borderline AHL/NHL for their line-up. That player, in turn, takes the spot of a guy who was on the lower end of the Milwaukee roster, a borderline AHL/ECHL player.

Assuming no one has a case of the pouts after being sent down, that is a trade I would make any day of the week.

August 28th, 2007

Just a couple of notes to chew on…

Word came out over the weekend that Predators forward Steve Sullivan had to have a second surgery on his back and it will keep him out of the Predators line-up until right around December. This is the same back injury that caused the swift skating winger to miss the last 20 games of the regular season last year as well as Nashville’s first-round playoff set with San Jose.

As we certainly know, any injury in Smashville doesn’t just affect the Preds; it has a trickle down effect to the Admirals. While there don’t appear to be any projected Admirals who would take his spot on the first line, don’t be surprised to see a guy like Rich Peverley, Matt Ellison, or Shane Willis filling in during Sullivan’s recuperation.

The Hockey News just released their 07-08 season preview and there were a couple of interesting Admiral related notes. For each team they give a grade for what the call the “Future Watch,” and the Preds received an A-, which certainly bodes well for the Ads in the near future. Included with that grade is a top ten list of organizational prospects and defenseman Cody Franson is number one. Seeing that the Predators currently have eight d-men on either one-way deals or who have to clear waivers, Franson will most likely be plying his trade with the Admirals this season.

Also included in the issue is a list of the nine of the top “under-the-radar” players in the league and three of them are former Admirals. Current Preds Martin Erat and Shea Weber join Scottie Upshall, now of the Philadelphia Flyers, as players that THN is looking to this year to “emerge out of the blue to become part of the game’s elite.”

And finally, congrats to former Admirals color guy Troy Ward on picking up the assistant job under Kevin Constantine in Houston this year. For parts of the last two seasons Troy helped, first Kyle Schultz and now Aaron Sims, dissect the action and give insightful tops from the broadcast booth. A former assistant with the Penguins, Troy is a class act and we certainly wish him the best of luck (at least when he isn’t facing the Ads).

August 21st, 2007

Last week, former Admiral and current Toronto Marlie Marc Moro announced his retirement from hockey. In an interview with AM640 in Toronto, Moro noted that nagging injuries and a “substantial off-ice opportunity” that he couldn’t pass up were his reasons for hanging up the skates. Unfortunately he didn’t indicate what the “substantial off-ice opportunity” was, but that is certainly his right to share the details as he sees fit. (Click here to take a listen to the interview The part with Marc is about 3/4 of the way though it.)

While not blessed with blazing speed or fantastic skill, Marc had a heck of a career because he did things the right way. He was the consummate professional who dug the pucks out of the corner, won the one-on-one battles, and always gave 110%, even when the score was 5-1. He was also a tremendous leader both on and office the ice which is a good reason why he wore the C for both the Ads and then more recently for the Marlies.

He never shied away from dropping the gloves when he needed to, but it wasn’t like he was a thug whose knuckles scrapped the ice when he skated. He fought for the right reasons, be it to protect a teammate or to fire the crew up when their play was lethargic.

He also possessed great character and he knew that there was more to being a pro hockey player than just playing the games. He always took the extra time to sign an autograph or talk to a fan because he knew that is who paid his salary.

One of my favorite media pieces that has been done on an Admiral was a bit that Marc and John Pearson, formerly of Fox 6 fame, where Marc was at various public places, like the grocery store, and when someone upset him, he “dropped the gloves” and mock-fought with them. What made it especially humorous was the large black eye that he had.

Even though he has played a game in an Admirals sweater in over five years, Marc was certainly a memorable player for us and we wish him the best in retirement and in his “substantial off-ice opportunity.”

August 16th, 2007

In my opinion, one of the greatest inventions in the technological age has been the advent of Youtube. The whole idea of being able to watch someone who you never knew and will never meet make a fool out of themselves at a family wedding by hitting on their own niece after having one too many is priceless.

It is also great for things that were on TV before TiVo came around and someone happened to record on video tape.

In addition to uncomfortable and embarrassing moments, Youtube is a great source for sports highlights, and, in particular, hockey highlights. I could sit here forever and give you clips to watch, but I don’t want to make anyone lose too much productivity. Although, I guess I don’t feel too bad since I am the one taking you there. But to ease my conscience just a smidge, if your boss is coming hit Alt-Tab and that will take you to a different program.

Anyway, here are ten clips from youtube that I really enjoy. Some have to do with hockey, some don’t. I tried to pick ones that not everyone has seen (like the Ovechkin goal versus Phoenix two years ago).

1. First on the list (since I am a shill for the organization I am writing for) is the Admirals Youtube site. It is new and only has stuff from last year on it (plus the last 12 seconds from Game 4 of the 04 Calder Cup Finals), but it is still pretty cool.

2. This one is from a wedding where the whole wedding party does the dance to Thriller. I am sure most of you have seen this one, but I think it is great anyway.


3. Here is an unbelievable save by Freddy Braithwaite of Chicago Wolves fame. It is from when he is playing for Calgary against Detroit.

4. One of the great things about hockey is the Canadian National Anthem. If this clip doesn’t get your heart racing, nothing will and I’m not even Canadian.

5. I love bloopers and this is a great clip of some classic ESPN bloopers, including Carl Lewis absolutely butchering the Star Spangled Banner.

6. This is like watching a car wreck: you know you shouldn’t look, but you can’t take your ones off of it. It is the Canadian Junior team versus the Russians in a bench clearing brawl back in 1987.

7. A tribute to Freddy Mercury/Queen. It’s Elton John and Axl Rose singing Boehimian Rapsody live.

8. Snoop being interviewed at a Ducks playoff game this season. Outstanding.

9. From last year’s AHL Skills competition is an unreal goal by Bruins prospect Matt Lashoff.

10. The last one is an amazing 360-goal by Maxim Afinogenov against Tampa. Like the video description says, “Ovechkin who?”

August 14th, 2007

One of the most frequent questions that I get is: “Where does ‘enter random player here’ play now?” Well, most of you know that Darren Haydar signed with Atlanta and played with the Woofs last year or that Sheldon Brookbank signed with Columbus this year.

So below I have compiled a list (in no particular order) of former Admirals from recent years who have changed teams this summer and where I think they will play this year if applicable.

I didn’t put the obvious ones in (like Brookbank) or guys who haven’t been in Milwaukee for a number of years (like Denis Arkipov). I also didn’t include guys who played just a few games with the Ads, unless their stay was memorable for one reason or another (like Jake Moreland).

If there is someone who you think should be on the list please email me and I will include them!

Greg Classen—Signed with Vancouver and will play with Manitoba

Rick Berry—Signed an AHL deal with Springfield

Jeremy Yablonski—Signed an AHL deal with Binghamton

Mathieu Darche—Signed with Tampa Bay. He will probably be an Admiral, although it will be in Norfolk

Kris Beech—Signed with Columbus and will most likely stay there

Simon Gamache—Signed with Toronto and might play in the bigs, but will certainly see some time in the A as well.

Wade Flaherty—Signed with the Blackhawks and will play in Rockford.

Mikko Lehtonen--Signed with Karpat Oulu in Finland

Brandon Segal—Signed with Anaheim and will play in Portland

TJ Reynolds—Signed with Edmonton and will play in Springfield

Ramzi Abid—Will play in Switzerland for SC Bern

Fredric Cloutier—Signed with AS Renon in Italy

Timo Helbling—Signed with HC Lugano in Switzerland

Bryan Lundbohm—Will play in Finland with KalPa Kuopio

Nathan Lutz—Signed with the Rodovre Mighty Bulls in Denmark

Jake Moreland—Selected in the dispersal draft by the Bloomington Prairie Thunder of the new IHL/old UHL

Curtis Murphy—Signed with the SCL Tigers in Switzerland

James Sanford—Signed to play in Germany for EV Duisburg Die Füchse

Kim Staal—Signed with Linkopings HC in Sweeden

August 5th, 2007

Aside from those directly involved in the sale, John Glennon is probably the person who is most familiar with the Predators and their all of the news that has been happening with their impending deal.

For those of you who don’t know, Glennon is the main beat writer for the Predators for the Nashville Tennessean, the main newspaper in the Nashville area. Here is a great article that he wrote regarding the involvement of Boots Del Biaggio and why it is necessary that he join the local ownership group.

Enjoy!

August 3rd, 2007

First of all let me start out by apologizing for the delay in getting this up. In my very first blog I promised to have more updates and what did I do? Waited over a week to get my second post up.

Anyway…the big news from the hockey world this week is the binding letter of intent that Craig Leopold has entered into with a group of Nashville business execs to sell the Predators. The group is led by David Freeman and California businessman and minority owner in the San Jose Sharks William “Boots” Del Biaggio to sell the Predators. Included in the deal is a $10 million nonrefundable payment that ensures exclusive negotiating rights and will also serve as a down payment on the $193 million purchase price.

This is the second letter of intent that Leipold has signed in an effort to sell the Preds in this long-running saga. The first was to Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie, but that letter didn’t include the deposit and Leipold basically stopped negotiating with him after it was made clear that he was going to move the team to southern Ontario.

This is certainly great news for Predators fans as it ensures that they will be playing at the Sommet Center for at least the foreseeable future. There are a number of overly pessimistic people out there who are concerned that the inclusion of Del Biaggio in the ownership group will mean that the Preds will end up in Kansas City in a couple of years because of his contract with Anschutz Entertainment Group to own an NHL team in KC and play in the brand new Sprint Center.

(By the way, has anyone seen a picture of Mr. Del Biaggio? He is young and looks quite normal. I figured that anyone with the nickname “Boots” was probably going to be at least 65 and have a JR Ewing-ish look to him, including a 10 gallon hat, cowboy boots, and probably a belt-buckle about the size of a Frisbee, yet I digress.)

The sky is falling crew claim that in two years when the Preds lose all kinds of money Del Biaggio will buy out the others in the group and it will be so long to hockey in the Music City. Unfortunately for these people there are a number of obvious reasons why this won’t happen.

The first of which is that the other seven investors in the group are Nashville people, and more importantly, very prominent members of the community. For these folks to sell out after just a couple of seasons after buying the team would cause their vilification in Nashville and would be a terrible move for their respective businesses. Right now they are the heroes and I am sure that they don’t want to lose that status in the near future.

Similarly, Freeman has been selected as the Governor which means that he has the ultimate say in all matters regarding the team. Even if the other owners wanted to sell to Boots to give him a majority of the ownership, it would all have to be approved by Freeman and if he thinks that Del Biaggio is going to up and move the team he will most likely be opposed to it since he spearheaded the local group’s bid to begin with.

For the team to move to KC would require the approval of the NHL Board of Governors, which NHL commish Gary Bettman heads up. While Bettman doesn’t have a vote in the move, he does have considerable clout with the BOG and could make it very difficult for Boots to up and move the Preds since it was Bettman who was sold on Nashville in the first place. For Del Biaggio to pull a bait-and-switch, so to speak, with the Predators would certainly catch Bettman’s ire and not be good for his move.

So if Boots isn’t going to eventually get ownership of the team and move them to Kansas City, why would he get in on the Preds ownership group when he already has a hand in the Sharks?

Simple, really. His stake in the Predators will be considerable higher than he has with San Jose. In addition, he will be the Alternative Governor in Nashville which means he will get to spend a lot of time with the NHL BOG and Monsignor Bettman and in the process get to know them better, and vice versa. That way when the NHL expands in a few years, which it is likely to do, he will be a front runner to land a team and then he can put them in KC.

Now this isn’t to say that they Preds are in Nashville for the rest of eternity. They very well might move in 10-plus years if the new owners decide that they are losing too much money and it won’t work. But be certain that this whole ownership exchange isn’t a front for a quick move to Kansas City as it is just too big of a potential black eye for all involved.

You can bet your boots on it.

July 26th, 2007

Welcome to the first edition of my blog as well as “In the Crease,” the newest section to our website. At this point you are probably wondering why in the world you would want to read this when you could be reading something written by someone with real insight, like Lane Lambert or Jon Greenberg, or even Roscoe for that matter. I believe that there are a couple answers to that question. First, this blog will run a little different than some of the others. Most of the blogs on our site update once or twice a week with longer entries. I plan on updating much more frequently, sometimes even a couple of times a day, with what will usually be shorter submissions that will may feature articles or websites that I find interesting.

Secondly, Jon and Lane generally have to be pretty nice in what they say, especially since they put their faces right on the front of their blogs. I, on the other hand, don’t have to be quite so PC. For instance, if your favorite hockey team (read: Admirals) doesn’t play well on a given night I won’t hesitate to say so. I also won’t hesitate to opine on any other number of topics ranging from the NHL to other sports, or even politics and current events. Some of the things I write might make you mad or they might make you laugh, but either way I hope you come back and check things out. It might still be July, but hockey season is right around the corner. There are just over 50 business days to the home opener!

I’ll finish my first blog by referring you to this recent column that was published on onmilwaukee.com by Bill Johnson, the program director of Milwaukee’s ESPN Radio. The article is about Warren Fansher, Auk to almost everyone. Auk was the guy who essentially started the Admirals on a shoestring budget back in the late 60’s to coincide with the opening of Wilson Park. He didn’t own the team for long, just a couple of seasons, and they weren’t even called the Admirals. However if it wasn’t for Auk, there is a good chance that you wouldn’t be reading anything about the Ads today.

Anyway, Auk was as passionate about the Admirals and hockey as anyone and he would come to every game, health permitting, and sit up on press row while offering his colorful commentary to anyone who would listen and often to those who didn’t want to. (Come to think of it, Auk would have made a great blogger) Bill’s column really captures the essence of who Auk was and what it was like to site next to him during a game.

Thanks again for reading and Go Admirals!