Admirals and IceHogs Square-Off Thursday
Apr 15, 2009
The Milwaukee Admirals are set to take on the Rockford IceHogs in the 1st round of the 2009 Calder Cup Playoffs. During the regular season Ads were 6-3-0-1 against the Hogs, who ended their year with a record of 40-34-0-6 for 86 points, putting them in 4th place in the West Division.
The Admirals were led in scoring this year by Mike Santorelli, who posted 70 points in 70 games, including a 14-game point streak earlier in the season. His point total was just one more than teammate Cal O’Reilly, who ended the season with 69 points. O’Reilly spent his first 11 games in Nashville at the end of this season, accumulating three goals and goals assists, and was reassigned to the Ads following the conclusion of the Pred’s season.
Cody Franson is also another name to watch for Milwaukee. The 6’4” defenseman has come up with 52 points this season, which was third among AHL defenseman, including an unbelievable 41 assists. Franson, along with Santorelli and O’Reilly, was chosen to skate in the 2008-2009 AHL All Star Classic in Worchester and was also named to the Second AHL All-Star Team.
The IceHogs are led in points by Tim Brent, who has accumulated eight points against the Admirals this season and 62 points overall. Second on the IceHogs roster was winger Pascal Pelletier, who has tallied a team high 29 goals and also added 26 assists.
Jack Skille is also a recognizable name for Admirals fans. The Verona, WI native, who skated with the Badgers for two seasons before taking the step up, has posted six points against Milwaukee this year. In 58 games with Rockford, Skille has posted 45 points with 56 penalty minutes. He has also skated with the Blackhawk for 24 games over the past two seasons.
The Admirals have six players with five or more points against Rockford this year, with O’Reilly and Franson leading the way with 10 points a piece, while Mike Santorelli tallied nine versus the Hogs
Milwaukee’s netminder Drew MacIntyre has skated in 7 of the 10 bouts between the two teams, accumulating a save percentage of .949, allowing an average of only 1.70 goals per game. For the IceHogs, Antti Niemi and Corey Crawford have split the action with 5 games a piece. Niemi has a slightly better save percentage of .912, just .06 higher than Crawford, allowing 2.4 goals per game on average.
