AHL Milwaukee Admirals

Admirals continue homestand this week

March 1, 2006 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Milwaukee Admirals News Release


OVERALL...The Admirals enter today's action with a 36-16-5-2 record, good for 79 points and second place in the West Division. The Admirals sit six points behind the Aeros (85 pts), and Houston has a game in hand on the Ads. Milwaukee is 5-3-1-1 in their last ten games and in the midst of a five-game homestand. After a brief jaunt to Peoria this Saturday, the Ads will embark on another five-game homestand. However, after that stretch Milwaukee plays just three more homes games the rest of the year.

VS. IOWA...Milwaukee and Iowa begin a home-and-home series tonight at the Bradley Center before traveling to Des Moines for a 7 pm fray tomorrow night. The Ads are 4-1-0-1 versus the Stars thus far this year, including a 2-0 mark at the Bradley Center and a 2-1-0-1 record in Iowa. The last time these two teams hit the ice the Admirals came away with a wild 7-6 shoot-out win in Iowa. In that game the Ads set season highs for both goals (7) and points (19). Iowa's Head Coach, Dave Allison, was the Admirals bench boss for two seasons in 2000-01 and 2001-02. Milwaukee Coach Claude Noel was an assistant for Allison during those years.

VS. ROCHESTER... The Rochester Americans make their lone visit to the Bradley Center this Friday night for the first of two meetings between the two clubs. Last season the Admirals swept the Amerks, winning 5-4 at the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville, and 4-1 in Rochester. All-time versus Rochester in regular season play the Ads are 6-1-1, including a perfect 4-0 mark at home. The Admirals and Americans met two years in a row in the playoffs, back in 2003 and 2004. In 03 the Ads beat the Amerks 2-1 in a preliminary round of the playoffs and in 04 Milwaukee topped Rochester 4-1 in the Western Conference finals on their way to the Calder Cup Championship.

VS. PEORIA... The Admirals travel to Peoria this weekend to take on the Rivermen for the seventh time this year and the last at the Carver Arena. So far this season Milwaukee is 3-1-1-1 versus Peoria, with a 2-0-1 mark on home ice and a 1-1-0-1 record in Peoria. Most recently the Admirals dropped a pair of 4-3 decisions to the Rivermen on the February 18th and 19th. On Saturday the 18th, Mike Glumac netted the game-winning goal just 55 seconds into OT, and then on Sunday the 19th Peoria converted three of five shoot-out attempts to get by the Ads.

VS. CHICAGO... The Ads and Wolves do battle for the ninth time this season today at the Bradley Center on Sunday afternoon. The Admirals are 5-2-1 versus the Wolves this year, with a 2-1 mark on home ice. The Wolves topped the Ads 5-2 at the BC on February 12th, the last time these two teams faced off. In 120 lifetime meetings with the Wolves the Admirals own a 64-42-1-13 record, including a 37-20-0-5 mark at the BC. Of those 120 games, 87 of them have been decided by one or two goals with Milwaukee posting a 49-25-13 record in those contests.

LAST WEEK... Milwaukee got their only victory week with a 2-1 win over San Antonio on Thursday night at the Bradley Center. Simon Gamache notched two power play goals in the second period, with assists from Libor Pivko on both tallies, to pace the Admirals offense, while goaltender Brian Finley stopped 25 of 26 shots to earn his 12th win of the season. On Saturday night the Aeros posted a 3-0 win over Milwaukee. Aeros goaltender Josh Harding swatted aside all 40 Admirals shots while Roman Voloshenko gave Houston all the scoring they would need when he netted a power-play tally at the 9:45 mark of the second period. On Sunday, Houston completed a sweep of the Ads when they took a 5-2 decision. Milwaukee jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Chris Durno and Kevin Klein, but the Aeros scored five unanswered to push their lead in the division to six points.

SCORING IS GOOD...So far this year the Admirals have taken the old phrase "You have to score goals to win games" to a new level. Consider that when the Admirals score three or more goals they have posted a combined 35-2-4-1 record, but when they've found the back of the net two or less times they are just 1-14-1-1. Similarly, when the Admirals give up three or fewer goals they are 27-6-1-1. However Milwaukee has had some success even when they allow their opponent on the scoreboard, as evidenced by their 9-9-4-2 mark when giving up four or more tallies.

BEAUTY AND THE BEASTS WEEKEND... This weekend is a Beauty and the Beasts weekend at the Bradley Center. On Friday night WWE Diva and GoDaddy.com girl Candice Michelle makes a return appearance to the BC and will participate in a ceremonial puck drop. Also on Friday the Hanson Brothers from the movie Slap Shot will entertain fans and sign autographs. Then on Sunday afternoon five superstars from the AWA will be signing autographs, including Vern Gagne, Greg Gagne, Maurice "Mad Dog" Vachon, Paul "The Butcher" Vachon, and Baron Von Raschke.

EATING POTATOS...The Admirals have reassigned forward Jeremy Yablonski to the Idaho Steelheads of the ECHL. Yablonski has one assist and 82 penalty minutes in 30 games for the Admirals this season. In parts of three seasons with Milwaukee, the Meadow Lake, SASK native has six points (3g-3a) and 209 PIMs in 64 games. He was also a member of the Admirals 2004 Calder Cup Championship team. He played in 69 games for the Steelheads back in the 2001-02 season when the club was in the WCHL. That year he racked-up a team high 303 penalty minutes to go along with two goals and an assist.

GONE AGAIN...Forward Scottie Upshall must be getting to know the trip between Milwaukee and Nashville pretty well. The Fort McMurray, ALTA native will make that trip for the fourth time this season as he was recalled by the Predators on Monday morning. Upshall has posted 33 points (17g-16a) and a +11 rating in 23 games with Milwaukee this season. The 6-0, 197-pound winger, the Predators' first-round pick (sixth overall) in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft, has recorded 14 points (5g-9a) and a +7 rating in 34 NHL games with Nashville this season.

BIG CROWDS... Saturday's attendance of 15,758 was the biggest crowd thus far this season for Milwaukee and the largest to see the Ads play since they drew 17,623 on January 31, 1998 versus the Chicago Wolves. The crowd would have been the biggest in the AHL this year, but the Wolves had a crowd of 16,607 in their win over Cleveland last night. Coincidentally, the Admirals have played in four of the top 11 attended games in the AHL this season. In addition to last night's game, they played in front of 14,538 on November 19th and 11,124 on January 21st, both at the All-State Arena in Chicago, and faced the Aeros before a crowd of 11,152 on February 4th in Houston.

HOME COOKING... Milwaukee has certainly put their home-ice advantage to work this season, as the team has notched a 21-7-2 mark on Bradley Center Ice. The Admirals are one of just five teams in the league who have reached the 20-win plateau at home. Houston leads the league with 23 home wins, followed by Grand Rapids and Milwaukee at 21, and then Hershey and Hartford with 20. Of those four teams, the Admirals have played the fewest (29) home contests. The Ads will play eight of their next nine and ten of their next 12 contests at the BC.

OVER THE AIR AND ON THE WEB... The Admirals have a new flagship radio station this season in Milwaukee's ESPN Radio 1510 AM (days)/1290 AM (nights). Aaron Sims will call all of the hard-hitting end-to-end action. In addition, the team has a one-hour hockey magazine dubbed "Milwaukee Admirals Center Ice" that airs every Tuesday from 6-7 pm on ESPN Radio. Fans can watch all Admirals games, home and on the road, live on the internet via B2 Networks. Simply go to the Admirals Website at www.milwaukeeadmirals.com

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American Hockey League Stories from March 1, 2006


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