AHL Milwaukee Admirals

Milwaukee Admirals Game Day Information

Published on April 14, 2011 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Milwaukee Admirals News Release


Admirals vs. Texas Stars

West Division Semifinals, Game 1

7:00 pm at the Bradley Center

Aaron Sims broadcast on 1250 WSSP begins at 6:40

Game 1 - Thu., Apr. 14 - Texas at Milwaukee, 7:00

Game 2 - Sat., Apr. 16 - Texas at Milwaukee, 7:00

Game 3 - Tue., Apr. 19 - Milwaukee at Texas, 7:30

Game 4 - Wed., Apr. 20 - Milwaukee at Texas, 7:30

*Game 5 - Fri., Apr. 22 - Milwaukee at Texas, 7:30

*Game 6 - Mon., Apr. 25 - Texas at Milwaukee, 7:00

*Game 7 - Tue., Apr. 26 - Texas at Milwaukee, 7:00

OVERALL ‚¬Â¦

The Admirals and Texas Stars kick of the West Division Semifinals tonight with game one of the best-of-seven series. Milwaukee finished the regular season with 102 points and earned the first seed, while Texas captured the fourth seed with 92 points. This is the ninth consecutive season the Ads have qualified for the post-season and the 31st time in 34 years that Milwaukee has hit the ice in the playoffs. The team's all-time playoff record stands at 93-124 and since joining the AHL in 2001 the Admirals have tallied a 47-37 mark with a 27-17 record at the Bradley Center.

SCOUTING THE STARS ‚¬Â¦

The defending Western Conference Champions, Texas finished the 2010-11 season in fourth place in the West with a 41-29-4-6 record and 92 points. Similarly to the Admirals, the Stars do it with defense as they allowed just 210 goals on the season, the third fewest in the Western Conference. The defense starts with stellar goaltending from rookie netminder Richard Bachman, who finished the regular season with the fourth best goals against average in the league at 2.20, to go along with a 28-19-5 record, a .927 save percentage and six shutouts. On the offensive side of things forward Greg Rallo led the Stars in goals (26) and points (54), while center Travis Morin was second on the club in both categories with 21 goals and 45 points. Since parent-club Dallas did not make the playoffs team captain Brad Lukowich and winger Tomas Vincour were both reassigned to Texas. Former Admiral Brandon Segal, who is on the Stars clear-day roster, has not yet been reassigned from the NHL.

REGULAR SEASON ‚¬Â¦

While the Admirals finished first in the division and hold the home ice advantage in this opening round, it was the Stars who held the advantage during the regular season meetings between the two clubs. Milwaukee had just a 1-3-1-1 mark against Texas this season, their only opponent this season who they had a losing record against. However, five of the six games were decided by just one goal and the other was a two-goal game. The Ads struggled to find the back of the net against Texas, scoring just seven goals in the six contests and only three players (Jon Blum, Grant Lewis, and Roman Josi) finished the year with more than one point against the Stars.

GAME ONE ‚¬Â¦

Tonight's game one is the 44th opening game in a series in the team's history. The Admirals have posted a 20-23 overall mark in game one, with a 14-8 record at home. The Ads have lost their last two game ones, including a 6-5 decision in the first round last year against Chicago Game one is also the most likely playoff game to go into overtime, as ten previous contests have needed more than 60 minutes to decide a winner.

WEARING THE CROWN ‚¬Â¦

With a 44-22-6-8 record and 102 points the Admirals claimed both the West Division and Western Conference regular season title. This is the second division crown in the past three years and the team's fourth in the last eight seasons, but it's the first time they finished the season with the best record in the conference since the 2003-04 season. In addition, the Admirals point total marks the fifth time in the past eight years that Milwaukee has surpassed the century mark. Earlier this month the Admirals became the first team in AHL history to post eight consecutive seasons of 40 or more wins and 90 or more points.

BREAK-OUT YEAR ‚¬Â¦

Admirals forward Chris Mueller started the season with just one goal in his first 13 games, but by the end of the year he was the team's leading scorer and received the first NHL recall of his career. Things started to click for Mueller during a three-game stretch from November 12th through the 19th when he scored five goals and added an assist and he hasn't let up since. Since the first of March he has been a point-a-game player, totaling 22 points (7g-15a) in 21 games to finish the year with a team-best 50 points on 24 goals and 26 assists.

CLOSE CONTESTS ‚¬Â¦

A hallmark trait of the post-season are close games and the Admirals are certainly versed in this lesson. Milwaukee led the AHL in games that went to overtime or a shoot-out with 25 and over half of their games (46) were decided by just one goal, where they totaled a 23-9-6-8 record. Similarly, the Ads had impressive success when play was tied after two periods, losing just once in regulation all season (9-1-3-3).

ITS YOUR THANG ‚¬Â¦

Admirals forward Ryan Thang finished his rookie season on a strong note, scoring goals in the finals two games, including the game-winner with just 6.5 seconds to play last Saturday night against Peoria. The University of Notre Dame alum finished his rookie campaign as the team's third leading scoring with 41 points (14g-27a) and was tops on the squad with a +17 rating. In his final 15 games of the season Thang totaled 11 points on three goals and eight assists and was an impressive +9.

SPECIAL TEAMS ‚¬Â¦

Given the tight games that take place in the playoffs, special teams can often make the difference in the outcome. Thanks to a late-season surge, the Admirals power-play finished seventh in the league at 19.7%, while the Stars were 20th at 17.1%. Ironically, while both teams played low scoring games during the regular season, neither squad was very good on the penalty kill. Texas finished the year with the 23rd best PK in the league at 80.9%, while the Ads were just below them in 25th at 80.6%. Luckily, the Admirals and Stars were the two least penalized teams in the AHL as Texas finished with just 1026 penalty minutes, while the Admirals set a franchise record with only 1037 PIMs.

OVER THE AIR AND ON THE WEB ‚¬Â¦

For the fourth 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.

Check out the Milwaukee Admirals Statistics

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