AHL Milwaukee Admirals

Admirals Fall to Iowa in Overtime

Published on February 14, 2007 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Milwaukee Admirals News Release


Milwaukee, WI-Valentine's Day or not, the Milwaukee Admirals have no love for the Iowa Stars as the team has defeated them in all six of their previous meetings this season. Despite desperately seeking their first win against the Stars since knocking them out of last year's Calder Cup playoffs, the Stars played heartbreaker to the Ads again-this time with a 2-1 win over the black and ice blue in overtime.

"We'll take the point at this particular junction," explained Coach Claude Noel. "We'll take the point against them."

Hobey Baker winner and Iowa Star Marty Sertich was the difference in overtime as his play along the boards against Admirals' defenseman Ville Koistinen opened up the front of the net and created the opportunity for the game-winning goal.

"Sertich is a good player," said a frustrated Noel on the game's final goal. "I think he should have got a penalty on the play against Koistinen. No call [and we] get beat back to the net because Koistinen goes down."

After Sertich tripped Koistinen he made a quick pass across the ice to defenseman Mark Fistric who ripped a shot that was easily saved by Pekka Rinne. Unfortunately, the rebound got away from Rinne, and, with Koistinen still trying to get back into place, Mark Ardelan was able to skate in and score on a wide open net just under two minutes into the extra session.

But it was a long road to overtime. Both teams seemed to take a period off before playing to a literal draw in third period, forcing OT.

It was clear by the end of the first period Iowa had left the cards and candies at home. They had no plans of giving the Admirals any gifts in this Valentine's Day contest.

The Ads took three penalties in the opening period and their backs against the boards, the Stars out shot Milwaukee 17-8.

"We do have trouble handling their skill and speed," note Noel. "We were chasing them around like flies."

The Stars were able to sink one of their seventeen shots when John Lammers skated to the top of slot and received a pass from the wing. Rinne got in front of it enough to slow it down, but the puck trickled in for the goal at 4:58.

But the Ads came out of the locker room for the second period with some intensity and evened the shot totals, power play chances, and more importantly the game score by the end of the second stanza.

At 10:59 into the second period Rich Peverley scored his 25th of season, but it was Jason Guerriero's fine play that made the goal possible.

Guerriero skated across the net drawing two defensemen and the attention of goalie Dan Ellis before flipping it to Peverley who was face to face with an open shot at an empty net.

Neither team was able to put the game away in the third as much of it was played in the neutral zone. Both teams had only a combined three shots in the first ten minutes of the final period.

"I thought we were average," said Noel of his team's play. "We're going to have to be better than average to win against them. As a group, I don't think we played our best game."

Now with seven losses on the season to the Stars, Noel was not about to use the team's rash of injuries as an excuse.

"Anytime you time you lose guys like the guys we've got out of the line-up, it doesn't help you," Noel explained after the game. "But they've got guys out of the lineup too. It's not like they're a powerhouse."

He continued, "They make plays in small areas. They are a dangerous team. They are certainly a good team against us."

The Admirals will take Thursday off before hosting the Peoria Rivermen on Friday night at 7:00 pm at the Bradley Center. The first 5,000 fans will receive an autographed pennant, courtesy of Patrick Cudahy and national recording artist Joe Nichols will perform in after the game in FM106/Miller Lite Country Music Night.. For tickets fans can call Ticketmaster at (414) 276-4545 or log on to www.ticketmaster.com. Groups of ten or more can get at least $2 off each ticket by calling the Admirals office at (414) 227-0550.

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American Hockey League Stories from February 14, 2007


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