Admirals Short Shifts

Admirals Hang On, Defeat Aeros 3-2

2009-11-21T05:16:00Z

The Admirals almost blew a 3 goal third period lead, but Chet Pickard and the Admirals withstood the pressure in a bizarre third period, and defeated the Aeros 3-2 in Houston on Friday night.

The Aeros, trailing 3-1 with 7:32 left in the game pulled goaltender Wade Dubielewicz, and proceeded to control the play for the remainder of the game. A by-product of that extra pressure was a boarding penatly to Dave Scatchard two-and-a-half minutes later. Dubielewicz went back to the net for the power play, and the Aeros needed just 19 seconds to cash in and make it a one goal game.

Houston continued to control the play, and Dubielewicz went back to the bench with abot 1:20 left to play, but the Admirals were able to keep the puck out of the net.

The Admirals opened the scoring just 6:53 into the game, as Robert Dietrich took a slap shot from the top of the right circle that made its way through a screen in front of Aeros starting goalie Anton Khudobin, and beat him over his glove. Hugh Jessiman and Ben Guite with the assists on Dietrich's first goal of the year.

Forty-seven seconds later, Mark "Pudding" Santorelli scored his 4th goal of the year, and his 4th on the power play. Falling down in front of Khudobin, Santorelli got just enough on the shot to beat Khudobin, and it was the last shot the Aeros goaltender would face. Dubielewicz entered at the 7:52 mark of the 1st period.

After a scoreless 2nd period, Ryan Jones scored the game winning goal from the part of the ice that he's always hanging around -- the goal crease. Nolan Yonkman centered the puck from the right point, and the puck was deflected right to Jones, who was camped by the left goalpost. Just 1:05 into the 3rd, the Admirals had what seemed like a pretty safe three goal lead.

An awful turnover in the defensive zone led to the Aeros first goal, and zapped all the momentum away from Milwaukee. Along the near boards, Yonkman played the puck up to Chris Mueller, who then made a perfect pass in the middle of the defensive zone......to Aeros forward Petr Kalus. Kalus beat Pickard one-on-one, and the Aeros had some new life.

The power-play goal that pulled the Aeros within one came off a Chet Pickard rebound. After a left pad save, both Chad Rau and Wacey Rabbit were fighting for control of the puck just in front of the crease. Both sticks got a piece of the puck, but Rau got the better whack at it, and beat Pickard.

Yes, those two shots beat Pickard, but there were a whole bunch of saves that he did make that would not be considered routine. He stopped 22 of 24 shots on the night, and certainly made the case that he should make the next start on Sunday. Pickard made the big save at the big time, and frankly, I don't remember the last time I said/wrote/thought that about Mark Dekanich.

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NOTES:

- Ian MacKenzie was a scratch, after hurting himself in practice earlier this week. Jon Blum had missed some practice time this week, so we weren't sure if Lane was going to roll with Reid Cashman and 7 defensemen to be on the safe side, or if Chris Mueller would get the nod. Blum looked fine on the ice, and Mueller, well, looked like a rookie.

- The Aeros had some roster issues of their own, as they dressed only 17 skaters. Defenseman Clayton Stoner was not a scratch, but he didn't play due to an upper-body injury. Defensemen were playing forward too.

- Three more fights -- two from Yonkman in the first period, and one from Ryan Jones in the second. Jones had elbowed/roughed Maxim Noreau into the boards, and Peter Zingoni came to his defense. Jones ended up with 4 for roughing and 5 for fighting, and Zingoni ended up with 2 for instigating, 5 for fighting, and a misconduct. Jones held his own pretty well in the bout.

- The Aeros almost tied the game up on a fluky play in the final minutes. The puck was dumped in the Admirals zone, and hit a seam in the glass that popped the puck straight up in the air. It almost went in the net off of Pickard's back, but fortunately just landed on the top of the net.

- Here are the forward lines for most of the game:

Olvecky - O'Reilly - Scatchard
Jones - Spaling - Santorelli
Jessiman - Guite - Grant
Mueller - Rabbit - Van Guilder

- It's really impressive to see how far Robert Dietrich has come. While it was nice to see him get on the scoreboard tonight, his overall play so far has really been top notch. When one-on-one defending against a faster forward, his positioning and stickwork breaks up the play. He's making great decisions when to pinch in and when not to pinch in, and he's not making mistakes with the puck when bringing it up the ice (cough Franson cough). Real solid game from him tonight.

- That Jessiman-Guite-Grant is a grinding line that continues to find itself on the ice for goals. Very impressed.

- The three stars of the game were announced this way:

3rd Star: Mark Santorelli (1g, 1a)
2nd Star: Ryan Jones (1g, 1a....and the game winning goal)
1st Star: Peter Kalus (unassisted first goal for the Aeros giftwrapped by Chris Mueller).

The gamesheet has them listed in the opposite order....maybe the PA Announcer read it wrong?

- I understand that the Toyota Center video crew is now showing replays during all Aeros games, which is great. But I think they should maybe consider waiting for stoppages in play to show the instant replays. More people might see them. Just a thought.

So what happens now? Who do you want to see in net on Sunday, and who do you think will actually be in the net on Sunday? Discuss!

Road Trip Gets Easier

2009-11-20T22:25:55Z

The Admirals get a little bit of good news today - courtesy of some off-ice happenings.

Milwaukee is set to play two games against San Antonio next week. The Rampage started out this season on...well...on a Rampage. They begain the season with a 6-1-1 mark

Sine then, the Rampage have plummeted in the standings. They currently possess a 9 game losing streak - and are tied with Milwaukee for last place in the division. To make matters even worse for the Rampage - they just lost some of their best players. The Third Intermission pointed out an article from Peoria that explains what happened. (Well, not really explains...more like they list what happened).

San Antonio is the primary AHL affiliate for the Phoenix Coyotes. However, they also had an agreement to develop players for the Anaheim Ducks (who do not have a primary affiliate). Apparently, the Ducks have decided to pull out of that agreement.

LW Matt Beleskey, LW, Ryan Donally, RW Troy Bodie and D Brett Festerling were all pulled from the Rampage roster and re-assigned through the minor leagues.

No reason was given for the sudden movement. It my be that the Ducks were unhappy about the playing time their players were given. Maybe they just weren't happy with the way San Antonio was playing in general. That's pure speculation, though.

Regardless, the team is in quite a bit of turmoil...and should be an easier target this week because of it.

Know Thy Enemy - Houston Aeros

2009-11-19T16:08:00Z

The Admirals begin their Thanksgiving Texas Trip tomorrow night in Houston, with their first rematch against the Houston Aeros after the disappointing playoff loss last May.

Now, I could scour the Interwebs and offer up some thoughts on how their season is going so far....but we elected to delegate to someone who has actually watched them play this year.

So please welcome guest columnist, aspiring goaltender, and Golden Globe Award nominee, Ms. Conduct. She writes for The Third Intermission blog, and has been nice enough to provide us with the following scouting report.

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You want the good news about the Aeros first, or the bad news? Let's get the bad news, at least for us (good for you) out of the way.

These are the problems:

Call ups of Danny Irmen and Robbie Earl, who had both been on hot streaks, to the Minnesota Wild.
Injuries to rookies JP Testwuide and Cody Almond, both of whom were impact players until their injuries, and to Andy Hilbert who brought NHL experience to the team.
As a result, two natural defensemen, Jamie Fraser and Brandon Rogers, have been playing forward and there are no healthy bodies in the stands.
Apart from a recent 3-game scorefest, the team just can't get the puck in the net. And it's not for lack of trying. The "quality chance"-to-"shots on goal" ratio is pretty darn good. But they whiff, they hit posts, they go just wide, they hit a hot goalie, there's a skate in the way, yada yada yada.

But there are good things:

Overall, the Aeros are deeper than they used to be so the absence of these top players isn't AS devastating. It's not like, other than that 3-game scoring blitz, they were running up the score before they lost those guys.
For the longest time, the Aeros couldn't score on the power play, and went something like 45 opportunities without a PP marker. Now, that seems almost like the ONLY way they can score.
The penalty kill is #1 in the league. It's a sight to behold and they make it look damn near effortless.
They're a mature team that doesn't rattle or fluster easily, and as such, have shown the ability to come back from a deficit AND hold a lead.
They've got plenty of grit and character and are tough to play against when they're on their game (and even when they're not quite on it, they'll still do a pretty good job thwarting whatever you're trying to do to them).

I would expect to see Anton Khudobin in goal as he's the clear #1 between he and Wade Dubielewicz and is #3 in the league after Wednesday night's shutout of Peoria.

(photo credit: Chris Jerina)

With a day between games, there's not a compelling reason I can see to rest Khudobin one of those games. If you do get to face Dubilewicz, your chances are better, as he's been stellar at times, and let in some really fluky goals at others. Inconsistent would be the word.

So safe travels to your Admirals as they head to Houston, and safe travels home, hopefully without the weight of any additional points in the standings dragging them down.

Admirals To Get Wilson

2009-11-17T16:58:00Z

Barry Trotz says he has decided to send Colin Wilson to the Mlwaukee Admirals on a conditioning assignment once he is healthy enough to be activated.

Wilson would only get 14 days on a conditioning assignment. Assuming that Wilson is ready to go this week, his 14 days would just about be up when the Admirals play their next home game on December 2nd.

As we discussed yesterday - this decision doesn't really do anything. It buys the Preds more time to make a decision, that's all. After 14 days, they could recall Wilson. They could recall Wilson and send down Santorelli or Thuresson (or anyone else, really). They could, also, decide to leave Wilson down in Milwaukee and simply re-assign him.

When all is said and done, though, it's a distinct possibility that Wilson comes to the Admirals and goes back to the Preds before we even get the chance to see him.

And that would make me a sad panda.

Goalie Controversy Brewing?

2009-11-16T19:35:00Z

It's become the hottest topic in our comments section - and it's something that really can't be ignored. Does the goaltending situation need to be re-evaluated?

The sample size continues to grow larger and more significant. It is getting to the point now where the questions about Mark Dekanich's play aren't "When will he revert to form?", but rather "Was last year a fluke?"

Last month we took a look at Dex' struggles. Since October 29th, when that last piece was written, Mark Dekanich has gone 2-2-1 with a 2.77 GAA and .892 save percentage. Instead of "righting the ship", he has actually been measurably worse in November than he was in October. And it's not the just the amount of goals...it's the type and the timing.

Dex has given up at least one 1st period goal in every game except one, and that usually translates to the Admirals playing from behind. Too often after games, we're talking about a goal that "he would like to have back." There's also a lot of "flopping" that is going on; Chris Jerina has snapped a number of pictures like the one to the right - where Dex is off his skates...or waving at the puck like he's playing whack-a-mole.

When you ask the players, they will say all the right things about supporting their goaltender. When you ask the coach he will tell you the skaters aren't clearing enough pucks from the crease area. That's great and all - but from a human psychology standpoint, it has to be deflating to see another stoppable shot find the back of the net 5 minutes into the game. It's also easy to say that Dekanich did not look like this last year.

So - enter Chet Pickard? At the time of our first article, there was no other viable option for the Admirals, as Pickard had played only one game and got shelled at Abbotsford. That may no longer be the case.

His season numbers still look awful; a 3.64 GAA and .871 save percentage. But take out that horrible professional debut in Abbotsford - and Pick's got a 1.98 GAA and .925 save percentage. The difficulty in evaluating Pickard is still the small sample size; he only has three starts under his belt. But watch him play and you see the poise and the positioning that makes him a top prospect in the Predators system. As uncomfortable as Dekanich looks, Pickard is beginning to look like he belongs.

The big question here is: Can you really trust a 19 year old to be your primary goalie? Grand Rapids is the only AHL team giving regular playing time to a goalie so young. Thomas McCollum is actually younger than Pickard - by a week - and has started most of the Griffins' games. However, he has also provided the types of peaks and valleys that can usually be expected with youth. He surrendered only 1 goal three times this year; but he also gave up six goals in a game...and 7 goals in another game.

I don't expect Lane Lambert to actually flip the goalie designations. I think Dekanich will remain the 'Number One Goalie". However, for the time being, I think the playing time may actually tell a different story.

The Admirals play six games in Texas before returning home. Would anyone be surprised if Pickard starts in three of them?

(Photos from Chris Jerina)