Milwaukeehockey.com

The Boys Are Back In Town

September 23, 2007

Guess who just got back today?
Those wild-eyed boys that had been away
Haven't changed, haven't much to say
But man, I still think those cats are great
~ Thin Lizzy

The Admirals training camp starts tomorrow. The first preseason game is Wednesday in Chicago (Vernon Hills). Yesterday, Nashville assigns 19 players to Milwaukee.

Yep, hockey season is here.

In a matter of days, we'll be experiencing the sights and sounds that most of us haven't enjoyed since April. The hum of the Zamboni. Skates cutting up the ice. The crash of the boards. The ring of the pipes. Canadian and European accents. The slam of the penalty box door. Chicago goalies with a red reflection glowing off the back of their helmet. Aahhh... ya gotta love it.

The Admirals training camp is being held at the Kern Center, just a few blocks east of the Bradley Center at Broadway and Knapp. All of the practices are open to the public (see the team's web site for times).

I doubt I will make it to a practice session due to my work schedule, but I should be at all of the preseason games. And if all goes well, I will have some great photos to share of the newest Admirals.

The camera I've been using for the last 21 months started acting up last week. Last week, it began locking up... only responding if I turn it off and restart it. So, thanks to a bunch of Amazon.com gift certificates I've saved up, I was able to get a newer version of that camera for dirt cheap.

I'm upgrading from the Kodak Z740 (10x zoom, 5 mega pixel) to the Z712 (12x zoom, 7.1 mega pixel). I promised myself my next camera would be an expensive one capable of incredible shots, but a lack of cash led me to this decision.

The new model brags about several improvements over my old camera, so I'm optimistic that my picture quality will improve. It left a postal facility in a Chicago suburb earlier today, so I'll probably get it tomorrow or Tuesday, in time for Wednesday's game. If not, I'll bring my old camera and hope it doesn't completely crap out on me.

Drop the puck! Drop the gloves! Let's go!

posted by Todd # 7:04 PM 0 Comments

More questions than answers

September 16, 2007

Just a short gripe session today. (Okay, maybe not so short.)

After a busy week, I found time to read up on the Predators training camp. The team released their training camp roster last week (spreadsheet link), and I decided to update some of the information (height, weight, etc.) on my Players page with what was shown on the camp roster.

Upon doing that, I noticed several differences listed under "Place of Birth". Every year, I find player bios with minor contradictions on where a player was born. Usually, it's a matter of one listing a small town, with another listing a nearby larger city.

This year, I've now found some big differences. Ryan Maki born in Michigan and New Jersey. Dan Ellis born in Saskatchewan and Ontario. And the worst... Robert Dietrich born in Kazakhstan and West Germany.

Part of me believes the fault of these differences can be pinned on players who do not fill out questionnaires properly at some point... recently or years ago. Once a player's bio is publicized, those details will follow the player around in their career.

Another part of me believes many of the errors are caused by the person handling the information provided by the player. For instance, if the questionnaire reads "Hometown", and that answer is later cataloged as "Place of Birth".

Many of you probably don't give a rat's ass, but I want my site to be accurate, and I hate having glaring mistakes on a player's bio.

On a lighter note, I cheered for the Chicago Wolves last night... sort of. I endured a sloooooooow trip through Chicago yesterday on my way to Shererville, Indiana's Illiana Speedway. Former AHL and IHL linesman Stephen (Stevie) Campbell races late model stock cars and is sponsored by the Wolves. You can see photos of the car on Wolfkeeper's site. He races weekly at the Grundy County Speedway in Morris, Illinois, and makes occasional visits to other tracks in the area.

Stevie started 6th in the 46th annual 100 lap Tony Bettenhausen Memorial. He stayed near the front early, but eventually faded to a 15th place finish.

I also noticed the new Wolves billboard campaign along the expressway. It had an election theme. "Choose Wolves in 08" with a red, white, and blue backdrop in an attempt to lure Blackhawk fans to AHL games.

And the whereabouts of Karl Goehring were learned after I read he was invited to Buffalo's training camp. He hasn't signed with anyone yet, but he may be trying to land a job with Rochester, which may be hard to do since the Amerks have a split affiliation with Buffalo and Florida.

That leaves just Chris Durno and Victor Uchevatov as the only players from April's Admirals roster that are nowhere to be found.

posted by Todd # 10:49 AM 2 Comments

I love the internet!

September 14, 2007

Chance, an Admirals fan now living in New York tipped me off to the new look of the Milwaukee Admirals RBK sweaters for the upcoming season, as seen on the EA Sports NHL 08 video game.

The game found it's way to store shelves this week, and fresh out of the box, you'll find the new jersey designs are not available. EA plans to release a code to unlock all of the new designs after they are all unveiled in real life. Of course, the code has been leaked and is on the internet if you search for it.

The first thing I noticed is the change in the road look. The darker gray is now replaced by a lighter hue, which should make the numbers and names more visible, a problem last season that led to much confusion, by fans and official scorers alike.

I haven't bought the game yet to see how it looks on my PS2, but I will give my thoughts when that time comes.

posted by Todd # 11:54 AM 1 Comments

Clean shirt, new shoes...

September 5, 2007

And I don't know where I'm goin' to
Silk suit, black tie
I don't need a reason why
They come runnin' just as fast as they can
Coz every girl's crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man
~ ZZ Top

I've got to start this entry with an open apology of sorts.

About 8 or 9 months ago it was announced that the NHL and AHL would use newly designed uniforms made by Reebok. They are a sleeker design that brags about being more aerodynamic, more moisture resistant, more durable, and keeps the players drier. On a few occasions since then, I warned people who may be 'on the fence' about buying their favorite team's jersey to do so before the conventional designed jerseys were sold out. I assumed the price of this new ultra-technical advancement in the world of sports fabric design would cost the jersey-buying hockey fan a whole lot more money.

Well, it appears that I'm probably wrong. The NHL and AHL reminded everyone this week about the new design, showing off a few team's new sleek looks. Just for shits and giggles, I wandered into ahlstore.com and found the price of a replica new jersey to be $115. Shop.nhl.com also had a price of $115 ($170 personlized). I don't have reference of what the price of a jersey was a year ago, but I'm guessing the price went up only slightly. Honestly, I was expecting a new replica to cost at least $150.

So, I'm sorry for scaring everyone. There I said it.

Time will tell what an authentic jersey will run, but if the replica wasn't much more expensive than before, then the authentic will probably follow suit.

Over the past few days, I've looked into the background of some of the potential new Milwaukee Admiral players, and reworked the 'Players' page on this site while I was at it.

As I still do not know Nashville's plans for the recently signed prospects, my roster list probably has a few players who will not actually appear here, but I read into all of their backgrounds to some degree, just in case.

A few things stood out. Goaltenders Dan Ellis and Dov Grumet-Morris both have worn #30 for most of their career. Assuming Ellis doesn't win the #2 spot in Nashville for the entire season, it will appear that one of those two will have to pick another number for their Admirals jersey. Most likely the younger Grumet-Morris will have to switch. With the Predators, both would be out of luck, as Chris Mason owns #30.

I also noticed both Robert Dietrich and Alexander Sulzer were born in the same German city - Kaufbeuren. (Correction - the Predators training camp roster lists Dietrich's birthplace as Ordzhonikidze, Kazakhstan) Because Sulzer is about two years older, they played in different leagues until recently. I have no idea if they knew each other as kids, but they were both were on the German national team earlier this season, and they were teammates last season with Düsseldorfer EG. They are both under contract with Nashville, but it's not known if they are both planning to play in North America this season.

Yesterday, Pat Leahy signed to play this season in Austria. That leaves just four players from Milwaukee's season ending roster that I have no idea of their future plans (Durno, Goehring, Kearns, Uchevatov). I imagine I'll see some or all of those names on training camp rosters somewhere in the next week or so. If anyone knows for certain where any of those guys are headed, drop me a line.

posted by Todd # 4:16 PM 0 Comments

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