August 2009 - Posts

• Coming Soon To An Office Cubicle Near You

  Posted Aug 31 2009, 01:27 PM by Ryan Miller

  Now that everyone has had a few weeks to digest the new Milwaukee Admirals website, hopefully we can all agree that it's pretty easy to navigate.  And they've also done a fantastic job putting new content on the page almost every day -- not the easiest thing in the world to do in the dog days of August.

  They recently had a poll up on the website for fans to vote for who was going to be a bobblehead selection for the upcoming season.  Fans were given the choices of Chris Mason, Scottie Upshall, Greg Zanon, Vern Fiddler, and Dan Hamhuis.

  NBC News is projecting that your winner is Chris Mason.

  And this news article confirms it. 

  Apparently, it was a nailbiter between Mason and Upshall, and it was the late polling that put him over the top.

  I voted for the third-party candidate, Greg Zanon.  I figured the poses of him blocking shots might have made for an interesting bobblehead....but Zanon just didn't have the campaign funds to be able to seriously compete with the big two party candidates.  Maybe he'll run again in the next election?

  But here is today's question about goalie bobbleheads -- would you prefer that Mason have his mask on or off?

  With 16 comment(s)

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• Just for Frustrated in Canada

  Posted Aug 29 2009, 05:33 PM by Eric W. Kent

  The Santorelli brothers have taken some shots on this blog over the past 54 weeks - much to the chagrin of the reader named "Frustrated in Canada". (It probably irks others, too...but FiC get the mention because of the comment frequency).

  Anyway - it's in FiC's honor that I point out a little Dap for Mike Santorelli.

  Daniel Sallows, who writes for a site called the Bleacher Report, identifies the older Santorelli as one of five NHL players you better get to know.

  Of course, one of his lines is this:

  "Santorelli has all the makings of a legitimate point-producing center."

  That will be difficult, since the organization seems intent on moving him to wing.

  Still, it's nice to see Santorelli get a little lovin'.

  With 4 comment(s)

  Filed under: Mike Santorelli, Frustrated in Canada

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• You Just Have To Laugh

  Posted Aug 28 2009, 01:02 PM by Eric W. Kent

  John Glennon over at the Tennessean has a blog post up today, talking about all the centers Nashville has that can also play wing.

  Fine. Good point to make.

  The problem comes when Glennon inlcudes a quote from Barry Trotz regarding Nick Spaling's chances of making the team out of camp:

  ``If (Spaling) doesn’t play for us, he’s definitely going to be probably be one of those call-up guys,’’

  Please - go back and read that again.

  Definately going to probably be one of those guys?

  Come on, Barry! We don't want to make fun of you...but you make it so hard not to! And Glennon, don't run that quote as-is. Help a guy out, will you?

  That's all.

  I laughed out loud when I read it and thought I would share.

  With 2 comment(s)

  Filed under: Nick Spaling, Barry Trotz

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• Around the Division

  Posted Aug 28 2009, 09:52 AM by Eric W. Kent

  As training camps get closer, we're keeping an eye on the Admirals - and also their division foes. As camps break at the end of next month, we'll have previews of each of the teams.

  In the meantime - here are a few tidbits that have caught our eye lately regarding the West division.

  ROCKFORD ICE HOGS: There is an interesting battle for the starting goaltender job in Rockford this season. Blackhawks Confidential has a brief look at the candidates.  Well, to be more precise, the battle is for the right to back up Cristobal Huet in Chicago. Corey Crawford and Antti Niemi will be duking it in the Blakhawks training camp. The loser gets the right to start for the Ice Hogs.  

  SAN ANTONIO RAMPAGE: This team was horrible last year - finishing last in the division. But what do you expect from the farm team for the equally woeful Phoenix Coyotes? According to Curtis Zupke over at the Orange County Register, the Rampage could benefit a great deal by the absence of the Iowa Chops.

  MULTIPLE: The Detroit Red Wings are once again hosting an NHL Prospects camp as part of their training camp in Traverse City, MI. Several teams are invited to take part in the round-robin style tounament. Most of the talent is very young (think Canadien Junior Leagues), but there are some AHL-level guys there. The Atlanta Thrashers will send defenseman Arturs Kulda from the Chicago Wolves; The St. Louis Blues will send Peoria defensemen TJ Fast; the Minnesota Wild will send center Morten Madsen and defenseman Justin Falk from the Houston Aeros. There are other players on these prospect rosters that may be ready to make the jump to the AHL, as well.

  With no comments

  Filed under: Chicago Wolves, Houston Aeros, Rockford Ice Hogs, San Antonio Rampage

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• Happy Belated Birthday To Us

  Posted Aug 27 2009, 11:43 AM by Ryan Miller

  

  From Ryan: 

  Geez, you'd think in the slow off-season we would have had the date circled on a calendar, a self-congratulating post all set to publish, a parade planned, and Furthermore Beer toasts all around.

  Our little blog celebrated its first birthday earlier this month.  Admirals Short Shifts was born on August 18th, 2008, with this AWFUL introductory post.

  586 posts later, we want to remind you how thankful we are for you.  Thank you for continuing to come back.  Thank you for telling your fellow fans.  And thank you for being part of the conversations. 

  We hope you are as excited for next season as we are, and we can't wait to get back to work.

  From Eric: 

  By now you know we're pretty much smug jerks that are a bit too full of ourselves. The past year has done nothing to diminish that attitude, as I believe we have established ourselves as the leading source for Milwaukee Admirals analysis and breaking news. Forgive me for being  - well, smug and full of myself - but Ryan and I don't get paid for this so I am quite pleased and impressed with ourselves.

  What I did not anticipate was that a lot of our tips and scoops would come from YOU - our readers. Where would we be without all the great info? We broke the Hugh Jessiman contract TWO WEEKS before John Glennon had it...all because of a comment left on our site.

  We love the arguments. We love the scoops. We love hockey. If you didn't keep coming by - we would have been kicked off the Internet a long time ago.

  As smug as we are, we hope you know that we are sincere as well...and we're having a ton of fun. We hope that continues to come through in our posts, and we hope you have fun reading them.

  Let's start year two out with a bang....

  Sixsmith! 

  With 12 comment(s)

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