April 2009 Archives
milwaukeehockey.com
28 April
2009

The first round of the playoffs is over. After sweeping Rockford in four games, the Admirals waited six days to determine their next opponent. Houston and Peoria battled for seven games before the Aeros came out on top.

I had an animated graphic I wanted to share that I used on this site way back in 1998. It was a battleship firing a missile at the Houston logo, with it exploding in a big fireball (aerokiller.gif). I searched and searched, but could not find it. I think I lost it when a hard drive crashed on me several years ago. If any of my long-time readers happened to save it, I'd love to get a copy of it. I know I could whip up another version of it, but that one was lucky, as Milwaukee cruised to a 3-1 series win over the Aeros.

In other news today...
The league confirmed three new or relocating franchises for next season.

** As anticipated, Calgary is moving their franchise from Quad City (Moline, IL) to Abbotsford, British Columbia (near Vancouver). Abbotsford just built a brand new 7000 seat arena. It will be the first Pacific time zone team in the history of the league. Milwaukee faced California teams in the old IHL (LA-Long Beach, San Diego, and San Francisco). The AHL's only previous true western teams were the Utah Grizzlies and Edmonton Road Runners.

** The Philadelphia Phantoms will move to Glens Falls, New York. With the demolition of the Spectrum, the team was sold to a Pittsburgh area group. I've read they want to eventually put the team in Allentown, PA... IF an arena is built for the team. In the meantime, they will play in Glens Falls, which was the home of the Adirondack Red Wings from 1979-99. Two UHL teams called Glens Falls home from 1999-2006. Since 2006, the Albany River Rats played select home games in Glens Falls. I'm most happy in the fact the Phantoms were swept in the first round. Philadelphia hockey fans are a classless bunch - similar to the Chicago Wolves faithful.

** The league granted the new Texas Stars team a one year membership to the league on the condition they buy an existing franchise within the next year. The team will play in a new arena near Austin (Cedar Park). They will be the 30th team in the league, meeting the league's goal of having one AHL team for each NHL team. The Edmonton Oilers own the only unused AHL franchise, but they have future plans for it. The Stars will need to come up with a plan to buy a currently used franchise to stay in the league.


In personal news, I've learned that I'll basically be out of a job within a few months. The recession is forcing my post office to trim the number of mail routes. My route is getting divided up and given to other routes. I'll be cut from six days a week down to one (subbing for a guy on Saturday).

I've barely touched the site in the last week as I've been seriously down in the dumps. If anyone reading this has the power to pull strings to hire a guy in need, drop me a line on my contact page. I'm not sure how long I'll keep this site up... if it someday disappears, figure I'll get it back up once (if?) I get my life back in order.
21 April
2009

Hats off to Mike Santorelli. His three goals pushed the Admirals past the Rockford Icehogs in a 4-1 win at the MetroCentre. The Admirals advance to the Divisional Finals of the Calder Cup Playoffs after sweeping the Hogs in four games.

Santorelli figured in on all four goals. His shot late in the first period was rebounded by Antti Niemi to Jed Ortmeyer, who poked the puck into the net.

Rockford tied the game with a power play goal late in the second period, but Santorelli answered with the eventual game winner a few minutes later.

Santorelli added a pair in the third period, as his line combination of Ryan Jones and Jed Ortmeyer came out of their shell and dominated this game. Ortmeyer assisted on all of Santorelli's goals for a four point night. Jones had two assists.

Drew MacIntyre kept his playoff GAA at 1.00 with 25 saves.

Milwaukee awaits the winner of Peoria and Houston's first round matchup. That series is currently tied at two games apiece. Game five is Wednesday. Game six is Saturday. If it goes seven games, we'll have to wait until Monday night.
19 April
2009

The Admirals took a commanding 3-0 lead in their first round playoff series against the Rockford IceHogs after a 3-1 win at the MetroCentre Sunday evening.

Milwaukee stuck with goaltender Drew MacIntyre, while Rockford switched things up by using Antti Niemi instead of Corey Crawford. The Admirals were 3-2 against Niemi in the regular season.

After a scoreless first period, Milwaukee benefited from a power play early in the second period. Andreas Thuresson recorded his first goal of the postseason by knocking in a rebound from Rob Klinkhammer's skate.

Minutes later, Triston Grant made it 2-0. He took a shot which was stopped by Niemi, who did not realize he left a soft rebound. Grant followed through on the play and knocked in the loose puck.

Ryan Jones gave the Admirals some breathing room with a power play goal early in the third period.

With a 6-on-4 power play in the final minutes of the game, Rockford made it 3-1 on a goal by Tyler Mosienko.

In other good news, Toronto took a 2-1 lead over the Manitoba Moose - the only other team in the playoffs who would have home ice advantage over Milwaukee.
19 April
2009

Better late than never... here are my photos from the final regular season game from last weekend.

In the ninth photo, Reggy the Purple Party Dude, is seen teabagging a fan in section 214.
18 April
2009

I heard the Admirals were handing out cheer sticks at the playoff games, so I decided to stay home and watch them on ahllive.com instead.

Well, that might not be the honest reason, but I am glad I'm missing out on the pingpingpingpingpinging.

The main story behind my absence was a combination of things... my boss goofed up my paycheck, leaving me short on spending cash. I could have scraped up money to go, but I'm clamping down on spending in general until I know my job is safe. I could use a bailout!!

Unfortunately for me, the AHL increased the already-overpriced cost of viewing the games online. The price was six bucks per game all season, but I had to shell out eight dollars for each playoff game. The video quality is crummy, and it's not worth that much when I can listen to the audio feed for free.

With that said, it was sure sweet to watch the Admirals play perhaps their best effort in the last month in beating Rockford 3-1 tonight. Goals were scored by Cody Franson, Hugh Jessiman, and Patric Hornqvist. Drew MacIntyre made 24 saves for the win.

Franson's goal came late in the first period after he pinched in on the side boards in the offensive zone and came away with the puck. He skated out to the point and sent a big blast at the net which beat Rockford netminder Corey Crawford.

The Admirals did a good job controlling the puck in the first period and held a 15-5 shot advantage at the first intermission.

I didn't get a good look at Jessiman's goal late in the second period. The ref had to chat with the goal judge to confirm that it went in after a big scramble in front of the IceHogs net. According to Aaron, a key part of the play was a check by Jessiman to keep the play alive in the Rockford zone. Hornqvist came away with the puck and got it back to Hugh for the goal.

Hornqvist's goal with about seven minutes left in the game was a beauty. He skated all alone across the top of the slot and fired a wrist shot into the upper right corner of the net. Crawford had no chance.

Rockford pulled their goalie for an extra attacker in the final minutes, but they might not have gotten a single shot on net.

Referee Jeff Smith only called one power play in the game. Tempers flared early in the second period, and Smith was forced to send guys to the box. Last night, Smith only dished out two power plays in the Peoria-Houston game.

These two teams meet up at the MetroCentre for Game 3 at 5pm on Sunday. If I could make the trip, I'd go early and see some stock car racing at Rockford Speedway before the game. &#@%ing recession...
13 April
2009

The AHL playoff brackets are set, with the first postseason games scheduled for Wednesday. In the meantime, this is a good time to look at the just completed regular season.

Did the best teams make the playoffs? If you look at the Win column of the standings, then the answer is no.

** Toronto (39 wins) edged Syracuse (40) for the final spot in the North Division bracket on the strength of four more points in losing games.

** Binghamton found themselves as the only team with a winning record (41 wins) to miss out on the postseason. Three teams with losing records (Houston, Toronto, and Portland) are in the playoffs. Rockford got in after winning half of their games.

** If the AHL used the NHL playoff format (conference standings instead of divisional), then Syracuse and Binghamton would be in, and Rockford and Worcester would be out.

** In the NHL, every team with a winning record made the playoffs, along with three of five teams finishing at .500 advancing.

I could write a book about things I would do differently if I were the league's commissioner. As for the topic on hand, I would use conference standings to determine playoff spots, and I would stop rewarding teams for losing. Two points for a win and zero for a loss... whether it's in regulation, overtime, or a shootout. I hate the false illusion of a team having a good record (example: 36-31-6-7) because the first column is larger than the second column.

Notable Admiral league rankings:
1st in goaltender wins - Drew MacIntyre
1st in penalty killing
Tied for 1st in overall points standings (Manitoba wins tie breaker)
2nd in goals against average - Mark Dekanich
2nd in assists - Cal O'Reilly
2nd in fewest goals allowed
3rd in road wins
3rd in defensemen scoring - Cody Franson
5th in goals against average - Drew MacIntyre
5th in save percentage - Mark Dekanich
5th in home wins
6th in save percentage - Drew MacIntyre
6th in power play assists - Cal O'Reilly
Tied for 7th in shutouts - Drew MacIntyre
Tied for 8th in insurance goals - Jed Ortmeyer
9th in power play
14th in league scoring - Mike Santorelli
14th in shootout save percentage - Drew MacIntyre
15th in game winning goals - Hugh Jessiman
16th in league scoring - Cal O'Reilly
19th in power play goals - Mike Santorelli
20th in assists - Mike Santorelli
20th in power play assists - Cody Franson
11 April
2009

How sweet was that win over Chicago last night? Sweeter than a giant Easter basket full of jelly beans and chocolate rabbits.

Big credit to the league's best penalty killing squad for making the Wolves power play unit look pathetic on an extended 5-on-3 disadvantage in the third period.

The next best moment came on the awesome game-winning goal by Hugh Jessiman. It was like one of those thousands of goals I've scored in the early versions of EA's NHL hockey video games. A streaking winger dekes a defenseman, cuts in front of the net, and pokes it just inside of the far post as the goalie is slow to react. That was the recipe for an 80-0 score.

As I write this, the Admirals are still waiting to see who they will face in the first round of the playoffs. If Houston wins tomorrow, Milwaukee will play Rockford. If Houston loses, then the Admirals will focus on beating the Aeros next week.

Milwaukee's hopes of finishing with the top record in the conference vanished as Manitoba made easy work of Cleveland today. Both teams finished with 107 points, but Manitoba wins the tie-breaker by having one more victory. The Moose will claim the best record in the league if Hershey does not win on Sunday.
9 April
2009

Here are my photos from Sunday's game against the Chicago Wolves.

Because of the special firefighter-police jersey, I took more photos than usual, so I have more decent shots to share with you.
8 April
2009

The Admirals upped their modest winning streak to three games with a 2-1 shootout victory in Peoria Wednesday night. With the win, they have the most points in the AHL. Manitoba and Hershey are one point back. Manitoba has one game in hand, while Hershey has two.

Peoria sat out goaltender Manny Legace, who was injured in their last game. Chris Holt took his place. The Admirals used Drew MacIntyre.

Early in the second period, Ian McKenzie scored his third goal of the season... all of them coming in the last six games. Peoria's Nicholas Drazenovic tied it up later in the period.

In the shootout, Milwaukee wrapped it up in 3 1/2 rounds, with goals by Mike Santorelli, Nick Spaling, and Andreas Thuresson.

MacIntyre saved 37 of 38 shots and all three shootout attempts, but for the second time this season, an Admiral was not named the #1 star of the game in a winning effort. Drazenovic got the nod from the Peoria media. Peoria's Ryan Reaves (0 points) was named the third star. The box score lists backup goaltender Mark Dekanich as the #2 star. What game were they watching? (Update - fixed - Drew is the #2 Star).

The Admirals close out the regular season with a home contest against the Chicago Wolves on Friday night.
6 April
2009

Last night, the Admirals hung on to defeat Chicago 3-2. They held a 3-0 lead going into the final few minutes of the game. Ryan Maki started things off with a sweet play on a penalty kill. He forced a turnover in front of the Chicago net and beat Wolves netminder Brent Krahn. Andreas Thuresson added a pair of goals before the first intermission.

The two teams meet again on Friday. Chicago's playoff hopes ended last night, but they still have a little something to play for. Last place San Antonio is riding a six game winning streak and is three points behind Chicago with three games remaining for each team.

Here are my photos from Friday's game against Cleveland. Yeah, I said Cleveland. The name "Lake Erie Monsters" does nothing but confuse casual fans. Would the name "Lake Michigan Admirals" make sense? How 'bout "Gulf of Mexico Aeros"? "Mississippi River Flames"? "O'Hare Wolves"? No.

I'll have my shots from the Chicago game up later this week.
5 April
2009

Some news and notes as I get pumped up for today's game against the 7th place Chicago Wolves. The Admirals can eliminate the Wolves' postseason possibilities with a regulation win. Chicago's hopes are already flatlining, as they need to win their final four games, along with needing Rockford and Houston to lose from here on out.

** The Admirals will beat last season's attendance totals today, and will eclipse the recent high-level mark set in 2006-07 with 8836 tickets sold between today and the final game of the season on Friday. This will be the highest season attendance total since 2001-02.

** Mike Santorelli was sent back from Nashville. He was scratched from the last two Predators games and was inaffective in the one game he did participate in.

** After last night, the cross-over for a 5th place West Division team for a playoff spot in the North Division will not happen this season. Because the West has one extra team, the 5th place team is allowed to displace the 4th place North team if they have a better record. Toronto and Syracuse are battling for the final playoff spot in the North.

** Saturday night, Milwaukee wins 4-1 at Rockford in a potential playoff preview. Newcomer Justin Taylor had two goals and an assist. Cody Franson and James Sixsmith also scored. Mark Dekanich made 31 saves for his 15th win of the season. The game featured fights by Triston Grant, Kelsey Wilson, and Scott Ford.

** Friday night, the Admirals played one period of hockey in a 3-2 loss to Cleveland at the Bradley Center. Down 3-0 after two periods, they woke up and made a game of it. With so many players injured or in the NHL, the Admirals resorted to using defenseman Tim Ramholt as a winger. Andreas Thuresson and Cody Franson scored for Milwaukee. Drew MacIntyre stopped 24 shots.

** The Fan Photos section has a batch awesome shots from Paul from Friday night. He also gave me a big batch of pics from earlier in the season. I'll get those up in the coming days.
2 April
2009

Here are my photos from last Saturday's game against Iowa.

Not my greatest batch, as I was sitting in 216 with a poor view of either goal.
1 April
2009

I'm alive... on the outside. I feel a little dead on the inside though. The flu is just about out of my system, and my tooth has quit screaming in pain... just a dull soreness.

Some good news - bad news to share. Before I get to that, I ought to give you some background of what I do for a living. I'm a rural postal carrier in Pleasant Prairie. I'll pause for a second here and let you sing "Please Mr. Postman".

I've worked there for four years... slowly working my way up the seniority ladder. I started as a one-day-a-week substitute carrier, and eventually picked up extra hours by learning other routes. In September 2007, I got my own route... the smallest route in the office. Only four hours a day, six days a week. I also do a second full-size route on Saturday to get about 33 hours per week on my paycheck. Enough to pay the bills while having some extra free time to spend on the web site.

Now, for the good news - bad news...

I've gotten the opportunity for more hours over the next two months. A co-worker is out on medical leave, and I've been tabbed to work her route. More money for me! (good news) Less free time for working on the site for awhile. (bad news)

This site will remain online, but it is not going to be updated as often for the rest of this season. I should be at all of the games, assuming they do not schedule a Saturday afternoon game in the playoffs. I probably will not write game recaps after home games, but I will post photos and occasional random posts as time permits.

In the meantime, I highly recommend making a daily visit to Admirals Short Shifts. It's become a must-read, as those guys whip up a few entertaining posts a day.

A few bullet points before I sign off for the night...
** Milwaukee loses 3-1 in Quad City tonight. The last one was an empty netter. Ian McKenzie scored a third period goal to keep the Admirals in the game. I listened to some of the Admirals game, but I was sucked into watching Pittsburgh's 6-1 whoopin' of Marty Brodeur and the Devils instead.
** I posted photos from Jay of last Saturday's game in the Fan Photos section of the site. I should have more fan photos to share after this weekend.
** With the division title wrapped up, the Admirals announced the first two dates of the playoffs. April 16 and 18 (Thursday and Saturday). The rest of the first round dates will not be known until the season is over.
** Jed Ortmeyer will report to Nashville tomorrow if he is not claimed off waivers. He will join recent callups Cal O'Reilly and Mike Santorelli, as the Predators have suffered several injuries over the last few weeks.
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