AHL Milwaukee Admirals

Admirals Rest Before Schedule Picks Up

Published on December 22, 2008 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Milwaukee Admirals News Release


OVERALL...The Admirals enter this week's action with an 18-9-0-1 record and 37 points, which puts them tied for second with Peoria in an extremely tight West Division. First place through sixth place in the division is separated by five points, with Chicago topping the group with 38 and Rockford in sixth with 33. The Ads have played 28 games, which are the fewest of any team in the division. The Admirals have a pair of games this week that kick off an extremely busy stretch for the team, beginning when they host Quad City on Friday at 7:00 pm before traveling to Chicago on Saturday night.

VS. QUAD CITY... The Admirals will host the Quad City Flames on Friday at 7:00 pm. It is the first trip to the BC for the Flames this season and their second game against Milwaukee. The Ads won the first match-up this season between the two teams with a 5-2 victory on December 10th at the i Wireless Center. The Admirals and Flames will square off eight total times this season. Last year the Ads posted a 6-1-0-1 record against the Flames, including a 3-0-0-1 mark in Quad City.

VS. CHICAGO... The Admirals will make their first trip of the season the All-State Arena on Saturday night to battle the defending Calder Cup Champion Chicago Wolves. In the first game this year between the two rivals, the Wolves took a 5-3 decision on October 25th at the Bradley Center. The Ads compiled a 4-4-2 record against the Wolves last season with a 2-2-1 mark both at home and on the road. This is the 15th season that the two rivals will do battle and the Admirals have compiled a 75-50-1-17 record in 143 lifetime meetings. Out of those 143 contests, 105 of them have been decided by one or two goals.

LAST WEEK...Milwaukee began the week with a 2-1 shoot-out win over Houston on Wednesday night at the BC. Admirals netminder Drew MacIntyre stopped 17 shots in the game and denied four of five Houston shooters, while Stephen Werner and Andreas Thuresson each connected on their respective attempts to give the Ads the win. On Friday night the Admirals had their six game winning streak snapped at the hands of the Griffins, who beat the Ads 6-3. After Milwaukee jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first period, the Griffins scored five straight goals and established a lead that the Admirals could not overcome. Saturday night Grand Rapids goalie Jimmy Howard stopped all 28 Admiral shots in a 2-0 Griffins victory. Mark Dekanich was a hard-luck loser, as the Milwaukee netminder allowed just one goal but still suffered the loss. The Ads finished the week with a 4-1 win over Iowa at the BC. Jed Ortmeyer scored twice, including the game-winner, while Dekanich allowed just one goal for the second straight game to earn the win.

GETTING BUSY...Following a four-day lay-off for the Christmas break, the Admirals face a heavy work load as the team will play seven games in nine nights, starting this Friday versus Quad City. After hosting the Flames, the Ads will travel to Chicago on Saturday night. Following a day off on Sunday, Milwaukee will begin a three game in three night stretch when they host San Antonio on Monday and Iowa on Tuesday, before traveling to Peoria on New Year's Eve. The Admirals then head to Quad City on January 2nd before finishing the busy stretch on Saturday, January 3rd with a home game against Peoria.

ALL GOOD THINS MUST END...The Admirals loss to the Griffins on Friday night snapped a number of different streaks that the Ads had been riding, including a six-game winning streak that began at the beginning of the month. It was the team's longest since they won seven in a row last March and it was just two shy of the team's all-time franchise mark of eight, set in March of 1989. The loss also halted the Admirals road winning streak at four games, one shy of the franchise mark of five, and it ended an eight-game winning streak versus Grand Rapids. Before Friday, the last time that the Griffins had topped the Admirals was a 4-2 decision back on December 29, 2007 at the Van Andel Arena.

ALL GOOD THINGS COME TO AN END II...With the Admirals shutout Saturday night center Mike Santorelli saw his AHL season high 14-game point streak snapped. During the streak, which also included a six-game goal scoring stretch, the Vancouver, BC native had 26 points (9g-17a), including the team's only four-point game of the season. After posting just five points in his first 12 games this season, Santorelli is now tied for first on the Admirals roster with 32 points. While his scoring streak is impressive, he was still a ways off of the franchise mark of 33 games (31g-46a), set by Claude St. Sauveur during the 1979-80 campaign.

MR. JONES AND ME...Since being reassigned to the Admirals on November 20th, Ryan Jones has helped to give the team an offensive boost. The Chatham, ON native is averaging a point per game with Milwaukee, registering 14 points in 14 contests, including a three-point performance Friday night versus the Griffins. In addition, Jones' eight goals put him tied for second on the team. The Admirals have posted 52 goals in the 14 games that Jones has skated in, an average of almost four goals per game.

SOMEONE HAD TO SCORE...The Admirals and Chops both entered Sunday afternoon's game having been shutout on Saturday night by their respective opponents. The Admirals were blanked 2-0 in Grand Rapids yesterday, while Iowa suffered a 4-0 whitewashing at the hands of Peoria. The shutouts were the second of the season for both squads. The two teams went through the first period on Sunday without lighting the lamp, but before scoring a combined three goals in the second.

34 AND COUNTING...Ryan Jones posted a pair of goals Friday night and Jed Ortmeyer did the same on Sunday, marking the 12th and 13th times, respectively, this season that an Admiral has lit the lamp two times in one game. Jones and Nick Spaling have accomplished the feat twice, while Ortmeyer, Mike Santorelli, Alexander Sulzer, Antti Pihlstrom, Andreas Thuresson, Stephen Werner, Teemu Laakso, Kelsey Wilson and Cody Franson have also done the deed, but none of them have been able to make it a hat trick. Milwaukee has had 34 players score twice in one contest since the team's last hat trick, scored by Chris Durno against Chicago on March 10th, 2007.

OVER THE AIR AND ON THE WEB...For the second consecutive season Sportsradio 1250 WSSP will serve as the Admirals flagship station with Aaron Sims calling 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 Monday from 6-7 pm on WSSP. Fans can watch all Admirals games, home and on the road, live on the internet via NeuLion. Simply go the Admirals website at milwaukeeadmirals.com and click on the AHL Live banner.

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American Hockey League Stories from December 22, 2008


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