Peoria to get another shot at the AHL?
(October 27) - Reports from Peoria's newspaper tell of the strong possibility of the Peoria Rivermen hockey team to leave the ECHL and join the AHL at the conclusion of this season.

The Rivermen were a rival of the Milwaukee Admirals for many years in the IHL. They joined the ECHL in 1996 after 14 seasons in the International league.

The article reports that the St. Louis Blues will be the NHL affiliate, moving the franchise that they own in Worcester, Massachusetts. Worcester has had AHL hockey for the past 11 seasons. Peoria is only 170 miles away from St. Louis, which would provide the Blues with a geographical advantage to get quick access to their prospects during the season.

An emergency meeting of the ECHL owners was called yesterday, and the team was granted permission to leave the league by paying $500,000 and surrendering their ECHL franchise to the league.

Peoria tried to make a move to the AHL over the summer via a deal with the Norfolk Admirals and Chicago Blackhawks, but that didn't materialize after Norfolk was able to come to terms with a new owner which was able to keep that club in the AHL.

Along with a new team coming next year in Des Moines, Iowa, this would give Milwaukee two more midwestern rivals next season if it happens (assuming the Admirals are back next year).

Hrkac closing in on a milestone
(October 27) - Admirals center Tony Hrkac will soon reach a remarkable number. He is 3 points shy of 1000 points in his professional career (regular season and playoffs).

He has 925 points in the regular season and 72 playoff points over the course of his 18+ year career in the NHL, IHL, and AHL. His greatest season came in 1992-93, when he had 132 points in the regular season with the Indianapolis Ice. Tony has 320 of his career points (32%) with the Admirals.

The Admirals play Friday in Utah before having the next three games at home. Let's hope Tony can achieve this mark for the home crowd.
Milwaukee fans may lose another game
(October 25) - Nashville's newspaper had a story today about possibility of another Admirals game to be played on the Predators ice this season. Due to the NHL lockout, Nashville fans are starving to see more hockey.

Earlier this season, the Admirals were bumped out of their home rink due to a Barry Manilow concert announced days after the AHL schedule was released. The result - the game was moved to Nashville a week earlier. The Nashville arena was roughly 60% full for the Admirals game on October 16.

As the days roll along without any talks between the NHLPA and the NHL, the Predators are trying to do what they can to keep their core of season ticket holders happy by trying to get a second Admirals game to their rink before the season is over.

In the article, it was mentioned that they would ideally like to take a weekday game from Milwaukee and play that game on a weekend in Nashville, but the odds of that working out are very slim due to the weekend-heavy AHL schedule. So, if another game is moved to Nashville, it will likely be a weekend game.

Milwaukee GM Phil Wittliff is quoted in the article to be in support of another game in Nashville, but wants to limit it to just one more game.

In my opinion, I am split. If Predators owner Craig Leipold is still interested in buying the Admirals, then moving a few games to Tennessee this season to keep him happy is probably a good thing. However, if this proves to be the last season of Admirals hockey in Milwaukee because nobody comes forward to buy the team, then it will really sting... losing a few of our last precious home games would really tick me off.

One more note - Nashville is not the only NHL team trying to keep their fans happy by exposing them to the AHL game.
- Rochester moved one home game an hour or so west to Buffalo, adding to another one that was already scheduled for Buffalo.
- Edmonton is keeping their fans happy after moving their AHL team to Edmonton after they had lease problems in Toronto.
- Last weekend, Los Angeles Kings fans saw their prospects on Manchester roll all over the hapless Utah Grizzlies.
Week 1 notes
(October 20) - things to know from the first week:

The teams of the AHL voted on changing the maximum number of players to be allowed to play in a game. Over the summer the league and the PHPA players union wrote in their latest agreement that the roster size for each game would be limited to 19 (17 skaters and 2 goalies). However, with the NHL lockout providing the league with more NHL prospects than ever before, the extra player sitting out was often not an entry level tryout player, but instead an NHL prospect. So, several teams lobbied to vote to return the maximum to 20, and it narrowly passed. Once the lockout ends, the limit will return to 19 (and 18 next season). Note - in the first two Admirals games, Brandon Segal was a healthy scratch.

The league is keeping it's standings in the following manner: W-L-OTL-SOL
There were three shootouts in the first week of play and two games decided in the five minute overtime period. There are 8 undefeated teams, including Milwaukee. Seven of the teams are 2-0-0-0 and Hartford is 1-0-0-0.

There were four games in excess of 10,000 people in attendance. Milwaukee's game in Nashville, Grand Rapids hosting Cleveland, Chicago hosting Grand Rapids in front of over 14,000 fans, and the granddaddy of them all with over 16,000 fans was on opening night in Edmonton when the Road Runners beat Hamilton in overtime.


On the Eve of the new season
(October 14) - The AHL season kicked off elsewhere in the league yesterday, while the Admirals wait patiently for tomorrow's season opener at the Bradley Center against the Chicago Wolves.

The highlight of yesterday came from the scene of Milwaukee's last victory in Wilkes Barre, PA. The Manitoba Moose made a goaltending change early in the second period after starting netminder Alex Auld gave up three goals in just four shots. Much to the horror of the Penguins fans in attendance, the Moose put in Wade Flaherty, who earned playoff MVP honors after Milwaukee swept Wilkes Barre in the Finals in June. Wade stopped every shot he faced, giving Manitoba the 6-3 victory.

I caught Admirals newcomer Jordin Tootoo being interviewed on Bob and Brian's morning show on Lazer 103 today. They touched on several topics, including how unfortunate the NHL lockout is to the sport, living on the shores of the Hudson Bay in northern Canada (1375 miles north of Milwaukee), his transition from playing with his friends on a frozen pond to playing organized hockey indoors, and generally how enthused he was about playing in Milwaukee. Some highlights:
- He was suspended for 7 games after his first game of organized hockey, when he was invited to play in a summer league in Edmonton when he was 14.
- Primary transportation in his hometown of Rankin Inlet is snowmobile in the winter and quads in the summer. Temps range from -40ºF in the winter to 50ºF in the summer. He couldn't explain how the people there cope with the frigid temperatures other than that they are used to it.
- His father is a plumber employed by the government.
- They brought up the rivalry with Chicago and Jordin said he's ready to knock some bodies around tomorrow.

Gregg Hoffmann wrote an article found on onmilwaukee.com - "Milwaukee sports fans can trust absentee owners". He mentions that the reason Bill Stewart hasn't purchased the team is because he is waiting for the Bradley Center to provide a lease in writing. Gregg also mentions hearing good things from Colorado residents about Bill Stewart. Personally, I've heard some negative opinions from a few Colorado residents, so I guess it depends on who you ask. My mind hasn't been made up, but I'm hopeful that he can come through for the fans in Milwaukee.

Disgruntled Packer fans, please read:
Packers Bandwagon (October 12) - After seeing the Green Bay Packers start off their season 1-4, I can imagine there are several unhappy football fans amongst us.

Let me take this time to extend a red carpet invitation for those downtrodden souls to hop onto a different bandwagon.

You see, hockey season is just about ready to begin, and the Milwaukee Admirals could sure use some support by the local sports fans in order to stay in business. And you'll not be invited to see just any hockey team... no siree... these are the defending champs of the 28 team American Hockey League, and most of the team is returning to recapture the title.

For roughly the price of three Lambeau beers, you'll be able to afford a ticket to the game! Sounds unbelievable, right?!?

And as if I need to say more to lure you in, you'll be seeing a better brand of hockey than ever before in Milwaukee due to the NHL lockout keeping some very talented players in the AHL instead of the NHL.

Even if you're going to stick with the Pack in hopes that they can turn their season around to finish 12-4 (let's be real), I still would hope that you can bring the family (or your drinkin' buddies) down to the Bradley Center a few times this winter.

Mukhachev proves to be г-н испуганный (Mr. Afraid)
(October 11) - Well, it took an article from the Nashville paper written AFTER the Admirals week and a half training camp wrapped up before this news had hit the wires (good job Milwaukee media!!).

Predators Russian defensive prospect Andrei Mukhachev (from now on to be called г-н испуганный) decided he couldn't leave mommy to do what was in his contract with Nashville.

That leaves Milwaukee with six defensemen under contract (Hamhuis, Hutchinson, Klein, Suter, Tiley, Zanon), so they may sign one more, perhaps Mike Matteucci who played in all three Admirals preseason games and has enough experience at this level to fill in.
Preseason update
(October 7) - Training camp is winding down to it's last few days before we will know the roster for the team that will defend the Calder Cup title. This year's camp may truly be as good as it ever gets. Because of the NHL lockout, not only do the Admirals have their entire team here for the entire camp, but they also have the support of the Nashville Predators coaching and training staff.

In other years, the Admirals wait until the eleventh hour before knowing the final roster cuts at the NHL camp, and Milwaukee's camp is filled mostly with tryout players that we rarely get a second look at. This season, tryout positions were limited to about 15 guys. Because of this year's camp, I'd expect to see much less rusty play that we normally see the team try to shake off in October.

One thing I try to do each year is to follow the direction of the players who left the team this summer. With one exception, I have seen news on all of their whereabouts. The one that eludes me is Mike Farrell. If anyone can clue me in about what he is doing this year, I'd appreciate it. On the Players page, I have a chart telling you where the rest of the guys are playing.

Also, I've made one other change to the site that you may have already seen. On the Calendar page, I will link to my game summaries for each game - home and away. Some summaries will be detailed, but some will be not much more than a box score. It all will come down to how much time I have at that moment.

In addition, I will have a spreadsheet again that will track each player for the season. The spreadsheet will be linked on the Almanac page, which will also be updated after each game.
Summer is officially over
(September 30) - Training camp opened today. 36 players are in attendance, including a dozen or so prospects hoping to impress the AHL coaches for future employment. Here is the schedule of events:

Thur., Sept. 30 Practice              2-4pm        Wilson Park  
Fri., Oct. 1    Closed Practice       9:30-12:30   Kern Center 
Sat., Oct. 2    Practice              9:30-12:30   Kern Center 
Sun., Oct. 3    Practice              9:30-12:30   Kern Center 
Mon., Oct. 4    Practice              9:30-12:30   Kern Center 
Tues., Oct. 5   Practice              10-11:30     Kern Center 
Tues., Oct. 5   Game vs. Chicago      7pm          Fond du Lac
Wed., Oct. 6    Practice              10:30-12:30  Kern Center 
Thurs., Oct. 7  Practice              10:30-12:30  Bradley Center 
Fri., Oct. 8    Practice              10-12        Bradley Center 
Fri., Oct. 8    Game vs. Gr. Rapids   7pm          Wilson Park
Sat., Oct. 9    Practice              10:30-12:30  Kern Center 
Sun., Oct. 10   Practice              9:30-10:15   Bradley Center
Sun., Oct. 10   Game vs. Chicago      2pm          Bensenville, IL
The Kern Center is a new facility located at the corner of Knapp and Broadway (northeast of the Bradley Center, a few blocks east of the river). In the past, the team spent it's training camp primarily at Wilson Park.