Admirals pack their bags
November 16, 2004 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Milwaukee Admirals News Release
OVERALL... The Admirals (8-1-1-1) enter this week's action tied with the Houston Aeros (8-6-1-1) for first place in the AHL's West Division. The Ads (.818) picked up one of a possible four points last week and entering this week's action sporting the AHL's third best winning percentage behind Manchester (.917) and Philadelphia (.833).
THE WEEK AHEAD...
VS. CINCINNATI...This is a rematch of last season's thrilling seven-game West Division Semifinals series won by the Admirals, four games to three. The Admirals were 4-2-2 in eight regular season meetings during 2003-04, including 3-1 on Bradley Center ice. The Ads are 6-6-7-1 lifetime vs. the Ducks, including 5-2-2-1 at the BC. @ UTAH...The Admirals are 2-0 vs. Utah this season, including a 1-0 victory in Salt Lake City on October 29th. Milwaukee is 3-0 in the last three, 5-2 in the last seven and 8-3 in the last 11 games in Utah.
ROAD WARRIORS...During Claude Noel's coaching tenure his team has mustered an impressive 26-11-3-5 mark on foreign ice, including 3-0-1-1 this season. The Ads finished the 2003-04 season with a better road winning percentage at .650 (23-11-3-3) than on home ice at .625 (23-13-4-0). Following Thursday's game the Admirals hit the road for a six straight contests and play 10 of 11 away from the Bradley Center. Thus far this season the Ads have accumulated a 3-0-1-1 mark on the road.
LEADERS AT A GLANCE...Simon Gamache leads Admirals scorers with eleven points and six goals. Veteran Tony Hrkac tops Milwaukee playmakers with seven assists. Timofei Shishkanov ranks second among Admirals scorers with 10 points (5g-5a) and shares the AHL lead with three game-winning goals. Hamhuis leads the Admirals in plus/minus with a +7. The Admirals rank fifth in the AHL both offensively averaging 3.18 goals and defensively allowing 2.27 goals per contest.
PENALTY KILLERS...The Admirals haven't allowed a power play goal in 31 opponents' chances on foreign ice and enter this week's action leading the AHL with a 94.7% (72 of 76) penalty killing ratio through 11 games. On home ice, the Ads rank seventh dispensing of 41 of 45 (91.1%) opponents' chances.
FAST STARTS...The 8-1-1-1 mark after 11 games is the second best record in team history. They opened 1982-83 with a 7-0 mark and were 5-0 during the 1988-89 season. On two other occasions they were unbeaten after five home games, including a 3-0-2-0 mark in 2002-03 and were 4-0-1-0 in 1981-82. The 8-0-1-1 mark after ten games equals the best start in team history, which was a 9-1-0 record during 1988-89. Milwaukee started the 2003-04 season with a 5-1-3-1 mark.
FAST STARTS II...Part of the Admirals successful start to the season can be attributed to their success in the first period. The Ads have posted 12 first-period goals on 137 shots this year while allowing their opponents just four red lighters on 94 attempts. In addition, Milwaukee has been the first team on the board in seven of their 11 contests.
MORE PIPE TALK...Brian Finley enters this week's action with a 7-2-1 record, a 1.97 goals against average and a .931 save percentage. Those seven victories are tied for tops in the AHL. Already this season Finley has notched a five game winning streak and on two separate occasions has posted over 90 straight minutes of shutout hockey. Last season, the 23-year old Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario native won 10 straight games beginning with a 2-1 victory over San Antonio on January 24 and ending with a 3-0 defeat in Manitoba on March 2nd. Seamus Kotyk was victorious in his only outing this season, defeating his former team in Cleveland 4-3. During 2003-04 the London, Ontario native had a 13-10-5 record, a 2.48 goals against average, a .925 save percentage and one shutout.
SUPER SOPH...Second-year pro Timofei Shishkanov is off to a quick start again this season, posting five goals and five assists to rank second on the team with 10 points. Of those five goals three of them have been of the game winning variety, including back-to-back game winners in overtime on Oct. 16 versus Rochester and Oct. 20 at Cleveland. The Moscow, Russia native was selected to the AHL's All-Rookie Team last year after scoring 43 points (23g-20a) and notching an impressive +23 rating.
OVER THE AIR AND ON THE WEB...All Admirals' games home and away can be heard live on Joy1340 and SportsJuice.com. Web listeners can listen to the games from anywhere in the world through a link on the Admirals website www.milwaukeeadmirals.com. Kyle Schultz will call all the exciting action.
THE WEEK AHEAD
HOME
Thursday November 18th vs. Cincinnati Mighty Ducks 7:00 p.m.
AWAY
Friday November 19th @Utah Grizzlies 8:05 p.m.
Saturday November 20th @Utah Grizzlies 8:05 p.m.
****Hear all of the Admirals' games on Joy1340 (1340 am) and on the Internet at www.sportsjuice.com****
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