AHL Milwaukee Admirals

Admirals and Heat Start Playoffs Friday

Published on April 19, 2012 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Milwaukee Admirals News Release


Milwaukee, WI-Starting Friday at the Bradley Center, the Milwaukee Admirals (40-29-2-5-82 points, 2nd place Midwest Division, 10th place AHL), seeded fifth in the AHL's Western Conference, return to the Calder Cup playoffs for the tenth straight season. The Admirals' first round opponent will be the fourth-seeded Abbotsford Heat (42-26-3-5-92 points, 2nd place West Division, 6th best record AHL).

Despite finishing five points behind Abbotsford, Milwaukee will play host to the first two games of the series as the Heat elected to host games three, four and five at the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre. In their four-game regular season series, Milwaukee earned seven out of a possible eight points against Abbotsford, posting a 3-0-0-1 record. At the Bradley Center the Admirals defeated the Heat by scores of 8-3 and 4-1 on Nov. 29 and Feb. 24 respectively. In the teams' most recent matchup, the second power play goal of the first period by Milwaukee forward Juuso Puustinen (Kuopio, Finland) stood up as the eventual game winner, while goaltender Jeremy Smith (Dearborn, Michigan) made 36 saves to earn the victory. Leland Irving stopped 25 of 28 Admirals' shots to take the loss for Abbotsford. Milwaukee's first victory against the Heat at the represented the first ever AHL win for Admirals coach Ian Herbers, who was making his AHL head coaching debut.

At Abbotsford Milwaukee split a pair of games with the Heat on back-to-back nights, falling 2-1 in shootout on Oct. 21, then taking a 3-1 decision on Oct. 22. In the Admirals' victory, defenseman Victor Bartley (Ottawa, Ontario) scored a power play goal at 8:52 of the third period, which stood up as the eventual game winner. Admirals goaltender Atte Engren (Rauma, Finland) earned his first victory of the season with a 24-save effort, while Irving stopped 25 shots to take the loss. Abbotsford's lone win in the season series came after Ben Walter and Greg Nemisz each beat Smith in the shootout, while the Admirals countered with a lone shootout goal by Puustinen against Irving.

Over the past five years Milwaukee owns a 7-4-0-1 record against Abbotsford and a 5-1-0-0 record against the Heat at the Bradley Center. Abbotsford is 5-7-0-0 against Milwaukee over the past five years, but the Heat own a 4-2-0-0 record against the Admirals at Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre. The Admirals and Heat have never met in the AHL playoffs. As a franchise Abbotsford is making only its second postseason appearance, and its first in two years. The Heat's previous playoff trip in 2009-2010 resulted in a 4-3 series victory over Rochester, followed by a 4-2 series loss to Hamilton. Last spring Milwaukee defeated Texas in six games to reach the West Division finals before falling to eventual Calder Cup finalist Houston in seven games.

Key Statistics:

MILWAUKEE's Home Record: (6th best AHL) 38 GP, 22-12-2-2-48 points; Road Record: (16th best AHL) 38 Games Played, 18-17-0-3-39 points; Last 10 Games: 6-2-0-2-14 points.

Abbotsford's Road Record: (4th) 38 GP, 24-11-0-3-51 points; Home Record: (23rd) 38 GP, 18-15-3-2-41 points; Last 10 Games: 8-1-0-1-17 points.

Active Leading Scorers:

MILWAUKEE: Chris Mueller (32 goals & 28 assists, 60 points); Kyle Wilson (22 goals & 32 assists, 54 points); Taylor Beck (16 goals & 24 assists, 40 points).

Abbotsford: Krys Kolanos (30 goals & 31 assists, 61 points); Ben Walter (19 goals & 39 assists, 58 points); Brian Connelly (6 goals & 46 assists, 52 points).

Active Goaltending Leaders:

Milwaukee: Jeremy Smith (31-19-2, 5 shut outs, 2.17 goals against average, .922 save percentage); Atte Engren (8-11-3, 0 shut outs, 2.45 G.A.A., .911 S.P.).

Abbotsford: Danny Taylor (22-13-3, 5 S.O., 2.29 G.A.A., .924 S.P.); Leland Irving (22-13-2, 3 S.O., 2.67 G.A.A., .902 S.P.).

Milwaukee vs. Abbotsford Offensive Leaders:

Chris Mueller (3 goals & 2 assists, 5 points); Juuso Puustinen (3 goals & 2 assists, 5 points); Michael Latta (2 goals & 2 assists, 4 points); Ryan Thang (2 goals & 2 assists, 4 points).

Abbotsford vs. Milwaukee Offensive Leaders:

Brian Connelly (0 goals & 5 assists, 5 points); Paul Byron (1 goal & 2 assists, 3 points); Greg Nemisz (1 goal & 2 assists, 3 points).

Milwaukee vs. Abbotsford Goaltending:

Jeremy Smith (2-0-1, 5 goals against, 1.62 G.A.A., .953 S.P.); Atte Engren (1-0-0, 1 goal against, 1.00 G.A.A., .960 S.P.).

Abbotsford vs. Milwaukee Goaltending:

Leeland Irving (1-2-0, 12 goals against, 3.43 G.A.A., .860 S.P.).

Power play:

MILWAUKEE: (5th best AHL) 57 goals scored in 293 chances, 19.5% success rate, 5 shorthanded goals allowed.

Abbotsford: (19th) 50 goals scored in 296 chances, 16.9% success rate, 12 shorthanded goals allowed.

Penalty killing:

MILWAUKEE: (17th best AHL) 57 goals allowed in 319 times shorthanded, 82.1% success rate, 6 shorthanded goals scored.

Abbotsford: (10th) 53 goals allowed in 322 times shorthanded, 83.5% success rate, 4 shorthanded goals scored.

National Hockey League Affiliates:

MILWAUKEE: Nashville Predators

Abbotsford: Calgary Flames

Check out the Milwaukee Admirals Statistics

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American Hockey League Stories from April 19, 2012


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