Admirals ready for playoffs
Published on April 13, 2004 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Milwaukee Admirals News Release
OVERALL...The Milwaukee Admirals finished the American Hockey League season with 102 points and won the West Division Championship (Chick Trophy), the Western Conference Regular Season Championship (Poile Trophy) and the AHL's Regular Season Championship (Kilpatrick Trophy). As the West Division Champs, Milwaukee receives a bye in the preliminary round and plays the winner of the Houston-Cincinnati miniseries in the first round and by claiming the Kilpatrick Trophy, the Ads will have home ice advantage throughout the Calder Cup playoffs.
UPCOMING GAMES...Playoff game dates are not currently scheduled because of the uncertainty of the Bucks playoff seed for the upcoming NBA playoffs. Admirals' first round playoff dates should be announced on Thursday following the conclusion of the NBA season.
SEASON SERIES VS. POSSIBLE FIRST ROUND RIVALS...
VS. HOUSTON...Milwaukee is 8-1-1 in ten games vs. the defending Calder Cup Champions, including 5-0 in Houston outscoring the Aeros 22-9. The Admirals are 32-20-2-6 lifetime vs. the Aeros with a 16-10-1-4 in Texas. VS. CINCINNATI...Milwaukee is 4-2-2 vs. the Mighty Ducks this season, including 3-1 on Bradley Center ice. Lifetime vs. Cincy Milwaukee is 6-6-7-1, including a 5-2-2-1 mark at the BC. Nine of the 20 games between the teams have gone to overtime with the Admirals sporting a 1-1-7 record in those contests.
2003-04 AHL COACH OF THE YEAR...Admirals' Coach Claude Noel was named the winner of the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award as the AHL's outstanding head coach for the 2003-04 season. In his first season as an AHL head coach, Noel guided the Admirals to a 46-24-7-3 record. The 48-year-old native of Kirkland Lake, Ont. played for the Ads (1987-88) and was an assistant coach (1998-2002) in Milwaukee before returning this season. He coached Nashville's ECHL affiliate in Toledo to that league's best regular-season record in 2002-03 and was named ECHL Coach of the Year.
EDDIE SHORE WINNER...Admirals' defenseman Curtis Murphy is the recipient of the 2004 Eddie Shore Award as the AHL's Outstanding Defenseman. Murphy, who also captured the award in 2003, led all AHL defensemen with 53 points and ranked second with 17 goals and third with 35 assists. A 2003-04 First Team AHL All-Star and a participant in the last three AHL All-Star Classics, Murphy also led the entire AHL with a plus-40 rating. The sixth-year pro from Kerrobert, Sask. was a member of championship teams in the NCAA (North Dakota, 1997), IHL (Orlando, 2001) and AHL (Houston, 2003).
2003-04 ALL-ROOKIE HONORS...Timofei Shishkanov was named to the AHL's 2003-04 All-Rookie Team. Shishkanov was second among rookies with 23 goals and 42 points before being sidelined on March 9th with an injury. He finished tenth among rookie scorers with 43 points and fourth among first year goal scorers with 23. He returned to action in the final two regular season games after missing the previous 15 contests.
BITS AND PIECES...The Admirals led the AHL with 269 goals, 428 assists and 697 total points. They featured the league's most explosive offense at 3.36 goals per game and ranked 12th defensively allowing 2.39 goals per contest. At +77, the Admirals boasted the largest goal differential in the AHL. Twenty-four different Admirals scored at least one goal during the 2003-04 season.
TEAM LEADERS... Mathieu Darche (28g-31a), Darren Haydar (22g-37a) and Tony Hrkac (20g-39a) all finished with 59 points to lead the Admirals and finish 18th among AHL scorers. Darche led the team with six game winners and shared the team lead in power play goals with defenseman Brad Tiley at ten each. Hrkac dished off 39 assists to lead Milwaukee playmakers and led the team with three shorthanders. The Admirals' attack featured five, twenty-goal scorers including Darche (28), Timofei Shishkanov and Simon Gamache (23), Haydar (22) and Hrkac (20).
BEST SECOND HALF...The Admirals tied the club record for wins in the second half of the season. The 26-11-2-1 mark equals the number of victories 26-13-0-2 (.659) over the final 41 games of the 1985-86 campaign. The .688 winning percentage bested the .671 second half mark (25-11-0-5) which was set during the 2000-2001 season.
ROAD ICE ADVANTAGE...Milwaukee's 23 victories on foreign ice established a new team record surpassing the old mark of 22, which had been reached three times. The Admirals were 22-13-5 (49 points) during 1994-95, 22-13-6 (50 points) during 1992-93 and 22-16-3 (47 points) during the 1988-89 season. The Admirals finished with 52 points in 40 road games for a .650 road winning percentage, while amassing 50 points in 40 home games for a .625 home winning percentage.
100-PLUS...The Admirals reached the 100-point plateau for the fifth time in team history finishing with 102 points. The Admirals' team record is 113 (54-23-5), which was established during the 1988-89 season. The Ads were 49-23-10 (108 points) during the 1992-93, 48-28-5-1 (102) during 1985-86 and 46-27-3-6 (101) during the 1983-84 campaign.
TWO PERIOD GAMES...The Admirals finished the season 37-1-3-0 (.939) when leading after two periods. Conversely, the Admirals were 0-17-3-1 (.095) when trailing after two periods, joining Portland and Houston as the only three teams without a third period comeback. The Admirals were 9-6-1-2 (.583) when the game is tied after two periods of play.
20/20...The goaltending tandem of Wade Flaherty and Brian Finley became the third goaltending duo in Admirals' history to win 20 games each during a single season. Finley and Flaherty finished the season with 23 and 21 wins, respectively. Mikhail Shtalenkov and Larry Dyck won 26 and 23 games during 1992-93 and Frank Caprice (24) and Troy Gamble (23) each topped the twenty win mark during in 1988-89.
American Hockey League Stories from April 13, 2004
- Canucks Recall Robert McVicar - Manitoba Moose
- Rampage weekly - San Antonio Rampage
- Admirals ready for playoffs - Milwaukee Admirals
- Sound Tigers Finish Regular Season On Eight Game Unbeaten Streak - Bridgeport Islanders
- Langfeld Assigned To Binghamton - Binghamton Senators
- Aeros, Stars ink secondary affiliation deal - Houston Aeros
- Crunch Challenge Central New York Residents to Grow Playoff Beards - Syracuse Crunch
- Bears raise over $62,000 for central PA charities in 2003-04 - Hershey Bears
- G Harding assigned to Aeros - Houston Aeros
- Round One: Syracuse Crunch vs. Rochester Americans - Syracuse Crunch
- Craig Assigned from Hershey & Cruikshank Placed on IR - Hershey Bears
- Phantoms Weekly - Adirondack Phantoms
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