01/03/24 - Admirals Center Ice

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hello, and welcome to a specialWednesday edition of Milwaukee Admirals Center Ice with
Michael Jahowski. I'm Aaron Simms.We'll be back to our normal schedule next
week, but on tonight happy.I hope everybody had a happy, safe,
New Year. The Admirals have beenplaying extremely well, one four straight
heading into the New Year's Eve gameat Rockford, losing that one four to
three. But things have been goingswimmingly for the Admirals in the last well

(00:25):
six weeks. In the games havebeen so much fun. Let me tell
you, the excitement at the PantherArena last weekend was incredible. Yeah,
there's no doubt about that. Hereto talk about that and more is Admiral's
assistant coach Greg Roalo. Greg,do you find them fun or do you?
How do you find them here?When you know the crowd's into it
and all of that, But thenyou look and it's like, okay,
we're up four to one and nowwe have to fight because it's for four

(00:48):
How do you guys view it asa coaching staff? Yeah, I guess
I can go both ways. Ideally, when you get up to a game
where you have a three old leadand then you let a team back into
it. That's not great on thecoaching side of thing, but it's entertaining
and it teaches our guys different thingsgoing through the season, so how to
play with leads and different types ofthings. We talk about about playing the

(01:10):
right way, and it's the skillto be able to play with the leads.
So there are lessons that our guyslearn in those games. And I
guess you can say we're in theentertainment business, so it's pretty entertaining.
I'm wondering you just said that afew people in the past. Michael Lileambis
notably has told me we're in theentertainment business. And if anybody knows that,
it's Michael Leamba, as you probablyknow. But I'm curious, like,

(01:32):
what's the line you walk because Imean, a few years ago,
remember Michael McCarron spinning his helmet,and you've got guys firing up the crowd
after a fight or a goalie fightor whatever, or celebrations on a goal.
I mean, like, how muchof it do you guys? You
know, you got a goaltender anda scar off who certainly understands that,
Like how much what's the line here. Yeah, And that's difficult, honestly

(01:57):
to answer. I think the linehas changed from when I played to a
it is now these that's a shorttime in the game, and that's a
short it's not that long ago.And I try to you know, I
often talk with my wife about thesethings. It's like, it wasn't that
long ago that we were playing andin this league less than ten years I
mean six years ago, and Ifeel like it's changed and it just kind

(02:17):
of have to adapt with the timesa little bit. Our players are a
little bit younger, they have morepersonalities, They've grown up with social media,
they've grown up with, you know, trying to create a brand for
themselves on social media. So it'sall things that we're kind of working through
and adapting. I think there isa line, and we don't want to
cross that. Where that line is, it's tough to say. Do you

(02:38):
have to be agnostic about it?Do you know what I'm saying, Like
you have to whatever happens happens,I'm not going to have a feeling one
way or another, or at leastmaybe you don't let it be known to
anybody. I'm just curious, howcause, like you said, it wasn't
that long ago. I remember,you know, with last year when we're
in Springfield and Hartford and we're jokingthat we wouldn't be at the hotel after

(02:59):
the game. We'd still be fightingon the rink after what happened there.
I mean, do you have tojust bite your lip and say, okay,
I have no feeling either way?Yeah? Little. I mean,
it's it's it is a little bittouch and go because they're trying to express
themselves or they're in their brain orin their mind they're they're just having fun

(03:21):
and they're a win's a win,and they celebrate it a little bit different,
and I don't know, it's tough, but like I said, it's
it is entertaining for our fans.It's entertaining on that side of things.
But the old school mentality in mesays, you know, there is a
respect thing that comes with that sometimesfor the opponent, and you want to
leave it all on the ice,and then that's where it should stay at

(03:43):
times as well. So managing thatfine line and allowing them to be themselves
and then at the same time kindof instilling some of those old schools,
if you will, tendencies into ourguys. I think a good healthy balance
of both is what we're shooting foras a staff. Is there an open
saying the team is playing really welland it's got to be difficult for you
guys as a coaching staff to keepeverybody focused. It's with all the distractions

(04:05):
during the holiday season and everything goingon, it's got to be difficult to
keep the team focused on. Howdo you go about doing that? I
mean, because you know, yougot everybody's got some family responsibilities, everybody's
got would rather would rather be somewhereelse for the holidays, I mean all
kinds of other things that are goingon there. For sure, there's a
lot going on, especially this timeof year, and then this year a

(04:26):
Christmas break being so short and guysgetting very limited time to go home with
their families. I think Carl asa head coach, does a great job
kind of managing those things and keepingpractice light, getting what we need,
focusing on the details that we reallyneed to hone in on versus dragging a
practice out really long this time ofyear is a key. So you know,

(04:47):
for instance, today we wanted todo some dezone work and defensive zone
coverage work. So it was reallyto the point and it was exact,
and we got in and worked onwhat we needed to work on and kind
of keep things light and fresh.So they say energized, and then mixing
in some you know, competitive gamesalways gets the you know, the guys
going and they have a lot offun with that. So I think it's

(05:08):
just kind of managing you know,the dog days of the year because they're
they're coming right now where the weatherstarts to really turn and you're in that
middle of the season road and thekind of playoffs are starting to get talked
about a little bit, not quiteyet, so you've got to battle through
these times of the season for sure. Is this a Greg Raalo, the
admals assistant coach, joining us.Are we in the dog days now before

(05:29):
the All Star breaker? Does ithappen after the All Star break? When
do that? When do you thinktraditionally the dog days are? Because I
we do recognize that there are thosedays. Indeed, yeah, it's coming,
I would say, come fresh offbreak, guys are pretty energized and
excited to be back and playing rightaround that All Star break though, for
sure, when you start playing threeor four games a week and then practices,

(05:54):
and then you know, you're kindof depending on where you're at in
the playoff race. You know,for us, thanks in the last several
years, we've been right in thehunt, so it's a little bit easier
to keep guys engaged. And Ifeel I feel for those coaches where,
you know, if you're quite abit out of those playoff races, that's
got to be pretty difficult going throughthese next couple of months. You know,

(06:14):
I think back to you know,our show was in October and even
early November where we were talking aboutthe lack of production offensively and our and
our people from Wendy's were, youknow, thought that we like, you
know, we weren't they weren't sponsoringus anymore because we weren't getting Frosty fours.
And all of a sudden, youknow, we're we're putting Frosty fors
together like crazy, and now we'rescoring and and our overall game looks much
better. And you know what whatthe essentially, gregor what essentially are the

(06:39):
difference is between the Milwaukee Adnimals onJanuary two versus the Mayrons or third and
Milwaukee Animals back on November. First, well, I can start with I
know my kids are a lot happierbecause they let me know every time we
get the goals. So we gotto go to Wendy's and get our Frosty's.
But for sure, I think earlyon in the season it wasn't for
a lack of opportunity. We're gettinga lot of our scoring chances. We've

(07:01):
breaked down our games and there wasno glaring things like we need to do
this better, we need to dothat better, because we were getting scoring
chances. They just I think itis a combination of our older guys weren't
scoring, and then our young guyswere just kind of getting their feet wet
and and as of recent and hopefullyknock on wood, those things continue.
But our guys have really found away and they work on it. They

(07:24):
work on scoring in practice. Afterpractice, we do some work with shooting
and key scoring situations. It's justtraining yourself to put yourself in those situations
to score, and then when youget in them, you know you've got
to make sure you bear down andshoot it to score, and then also
shoot it as hard as you canbecause you know in a practice you'll get
twenty to thirty shots throughout a practice, but in a game you only might

(07:46):
get two. So those are thethings that you can really focus on in
practice, that every shot matters andevery shelf counts, because come game time,
you might only get one. Admiral'sassistant coach Greg Raalo joining us at
Milwaukee Admirals Center Ice. I waslistening to a quote from Wayne Gretzky and
he was talking about grand Fear andGrant. He said, grand Feur used
to always say, you got theother team may get four, but they're

(08:07):
not going to get five. AndI think about Jack Morris in Major League
Baseball, all that matters is thewin. Well, Troy Grossnick has won
eight straight, and I just wheneverI see things, it's just that's kind
of how it's been here lately withthe with you know, seven to four
win, five to four win ina shootout, things like that. Like
I just have this picture of Troybeing the veteran. He's like, Okay,

(08:30):
they make it four, but theyain't getting five, boys, so
you go out there and get it. It's just it's just that veteran type
of thing. That is one thingyou gotta love about Troy especially is as
long as I've known him, hedoesn't show or talk about his personal stats.
All he cares about is the win. So if we win ninety eight,
he is as happy as if wewon one and nothing. Then he

(08:50):
got to shut out. And goodon him for having that mindset. He
is a team first kind of guy, and you know that's good. That's
good for asking to have him andkind of learn from him because he does
set the example that you know,winning isn't always pretty and it doesn't matter
how it happens, but the ultracompetitive and get the job done and that'll
go a long way in your careerwill be nice and long. Just continue

(09:13):
with the goalies here. Gustav DaviasGregalls, he's just and I don't know
if you knew this or not,maybe you saw it because I tweeted it,
but he's just the seventh goaltender toplay for the Admirals since you guys
took over as coaches. That is, that is a remarkable stretch of luck
for you guys that you haven't hadto play so many goaltenders. But I
mean, it speaks a lot aboutthe quality guys that you've had here,

(09:37):
that you haven't had to ship guysout, or guys haven't been recalled all
of these things. It's but let'stalk about Gregalls, because he got he
finally got a look, and Imean, unfortunately he got the loss,
but it was it was nice tosee him get out there. No,
I think he did good. Beinga kid playing your first American League game
sometimes that's really difficult. Then Ican't speak because I'd never played goalie,

(09:58):
but I can we imagine like you'rethe last line of defense in a lot
of areas, so uh, andthen in a building that is generally in
the history where it's really small andthings happen fast and it's loud, and
Rockford is the offensive team. SoI think he handled it well all things
considered. He would have liked toget to win, but good for a
showing for him. And it's justa good step for him to get in

(10:20):
his first game and kind of geta pay get to see what the pace
is like at this level and theshots and how much traffic there is,
and it's just really good for himto get his first game and kind of
get a taste of it. Yeah, every year there seems to be a
team that we just we just battlewith like crazy. And you know,
we've played in that what I thinkfive games against Rockford. For the first
four we're overtime or shootouts, andthen in the last one on Sunday was

(10:43):
a one goal game. Is itjust? Is it just them and us?
Is that gonna be That's gonna besomething that's gonna go on all season?
Yeah? I think so. Theway they play and the way we
play, we match up to havethose type of games. They they work
extremely hard and they have skill pairedwith that, and I think we have
the capability of playing that way too. We have a ton of skill with

(11:05):
our youth and then our youth atthe same time, they're willing to play
hard and play fast. So whenyou match those two teams up against each
other, it's going to be sometimesthose high scoring affairs because there is so
much talent in the other room andvice versa for us. So they're exciting
games and highly competitive and look forwardto the battle down the road with them,
for sure. Dennis Kuriyanov was namedthe Player of the Week in the

(11:28):
American Hockey League this past week.You've known him for a long time since
he's come to North America. I'mcurious your take on him and how far
he is away from maybe going toNashville or going somewhere else and playing in
the National Hockey League here. Yeah, I mean Gary On He's doing everything
that we can ask of him.He's made it a focus since he's been

(11:50):
here to work on those defensive zonethings are probably the reason why he hasn't
stuck full time in the NHL asof But his offensive abilities, everyone gets
to see those every night, andthose things are naturally gifted to him.
The way he skates and the wayhe can score. He doesn't need many
chances. He finds a way toput it in the back of the net.

(12:11):
That goes back to, you know, just being a natural goalscorer.
He gets one chance in a game, most of the time it's in the
net recently, so for him,it's just continued to work on those other
aspects of his game, because whenyou go to the NHL, it's a
whole new different level. It's reallydifficult to score your way into the NHL.
By meaning even if you lead theleague in the American League in scoring

(12:33):
and you go to the NHL andyou can't play defensive hockey. It's going
to be a hard time sticking becauseof how much pressure there is at that
level to win every night. Buthe's been working on it. He's been
great. He's been really receptive tocoaching, especially a guy coming who's played
his last however many games in theNHL. Is his first time back in

(12:54):
the American league in a while,So good on him for understanding what he
needs to work on and then goingto work and trying to better himself.
You guys have a stretch, andthis will be it here a stretch coming
up. You know we mentioned Rockford. You see them again at the end
of January, and then you don'tsee them again until March, and then
you see them four times in April. So points matter no matter when they

(13:15):
take place, I guess, ismy point. But you've got a stretch
coming up where you've got Colorado,You've got Henderson, You've got teams that
you don't normally see. Let's startwith Colorado this weekend. It's a it's
interesting to be at this point ofthe season and see a new team,
isn't it. For sure? Itcould be a blessing because, like we
talked about earlier, those dog days. You know, when you're playing Rockford

(13:39):
in Chicago and Grand Rapids every otherweekend and you kind of get to know
them and you kind of just startgoing through like okay, it's Chicago again.
But now we get a little bitof a fresh taste of some new
teams. And with that we we'lltalk about is just kind of preparing ourselves
to play a new team. Andit's very similar to playoffs because once you
get in there, you get pastthose first round or two. Like us

(14:01):
last year, you play a teamlike Coachella who we didn't see all season
long, we never played them,and you got to get amped up and
make adjustments in games. So coachingstaff, that'll be good for us to
play some new teams, get somefresh looks on different systems and what other
teams might do. And then forour players, you know, same thing,
new challenges, new players, hopefullysome new aggression, some new goalscorers

(14:22):
and all those good things. Sowe're excited for the next couple of weeks
getting the opportunity to play some teamsthat we don't typically play. Very good.
Greg, thanks so much for thetime here today. We appreciate it.
We'll see you soon. Thanks coachsounds good guys, thank you.
Admiral's assistant coach Greg Rallow. TheAdmirals hosting Henderson Friday at seven pm Saturday
at six Friday, Colorado. That'swhat I did. I say, Henderson,

(14:43):
I'm sorry hosting Colorado. Going toHenderson next weekend, but hosting Colorado
this weekend Friday at seven Saturday atsix the games against Colorado, the Friday
game, there's a chance for afan, a lucky fan, to get
some tickets for the Packers Bears game. I won a couple of tickets for
the Packers Bears game, the greenBay game. I'm sorry. Yeah,
so there we go. So thefootball game going on in green Way.

(15:05):
Did you want to watch the WinterClassic? I did? Okay, I
did. Did you get a badcase at Deja Vous with Joey Joey Joey?
I mean I was literally, youknow, I I was literally came
close to kicking my TV. Yes, the way too much Joey Joey,

(15:26):
Joey Decur Golie who got the shutoutfor for Seattle. He was the goalie
and Coachella Valley last season. Andit was so funny because you were watching
it you didn't go to the gamesin the desert, and like there would
be a shot from the point withnobody in like we're just getting a face
off, right, and he'd makethe catch like standing up like it like
a can of corn pop up tothe shortstop, right and he's just standing

(15:48):
underneath it and he makes the catch, and the place would go nuts.
We saw that, right, Wesaw it at the parties, yes,
exactly, and everybody and everybody holdingup joeys, losing their minds. So
when Darren Pang, which is kindof beautiful, exactly when when our good
friend Darren Pang interviewing after the gameand he's had to start with the joey
joey and I was like, okay, that's great, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, no that therewas that, and and then there was

(16:11):
Elie Tolvin and getting the first goal. Yes, so yeah, it was
uh, you know, Sean Shapirohas a sub stack and he covered the
NHL for the Athletic and he's he'swritten for the Dallas Stars website and all
of that, and Sean Shapiro wroteabout that it's not a bad thing,
but the NHL has kind of setthat up to be their national game there,
you know, the January first game, the outdoor game is their national

(16:34):
game. But it's hard to do. What we started our conversation with Greg
Roalo, the NHL is still runby a bunch of people that you don't
show your personality. And so hispoint was, you know, you don't
know really you know many of theseguys. Then the average person could not

(16:55):
name more than three players that wereplaying in that game. Absolutely, and
he says, so it's not necessarilya bad thing. It shows off Seattle
very nicely in Vegas, and it'sa nice game and all of that,
but the conditions normally stink with theice being choppy and all of that,
and and it's a game that youknow, it's it's still two points on

(17:17):
the line, and so you youwalk that line of show. But who's
the show for? Well, theshow is for it's basically, the show
is for the people in Seattle andthe people in Vegas. It's not you
know, it's the regional Major LeagueBaseball broadcast kind of the regional hockey and
all of that. And they didn'tnormally put football National Championship semi finals during
there. I mean, it prettymuch had a free ride right right exactly

(17:41):
through the afternoon viewing. Yeah,cycle and now you have a National Championship
semi final football. Can I tellyou what the best thing about that game
was to me though, introducing mytwo girls to heart. When Ann and
Nancy Wilson got up and my girlswere all into they were all for it

(18:02):
both. I said, the girlslead the band, and my girls were
like, do they really? Theywere so excited that the girls were playing
rock and roll music yet it waspretty cool. We're gonna take a break.
Our friend Jeremy Gover will join us. We'll talk about the Admirals Parent
Club, the Nashville Predators when wecome back. You're listening to Milwaukee Admiral
Center Ice. Welcome back to MilwaukeeAdmiral Center Ice with Michael Jahause gameron SIMS.
It's been a while since we've spokento This guy is one of our

(18:22):
really great friends and really great contributorshere on this show from Nashville, our
friend Jeremy Gover. Jeremy, thanksso much for the time. I took
my girls to see Wish and Ithought it was really boring and I fell
asleep and I just thought the songswere okay, but the show itself wasn't
very good. So now that youhave this movie podcast that's doing extremely well

(18:45):
where you guys review movies, tellme what you thought of Wish, Well,
Wish was enjoyable for what it was, just kind of a vanilla movie.
But the end credits, Uh,the payoff at the end of the
credits makes the entire hour and ahalf worth it. Well, were you

(19:08):
still checking out the inside of yourOh yeah, I have a seven and
a four year old and we gotout of their way before the end of
the credits, so I gotta goback. Oh boy, yeah, I
see. You don't need to goback because way for you have to go
back. It's way forward for streamingand forward to the end. It'll be
all soon enough. Yeah, it'llbe out soon enough. Since we mentioned

(19:30):
that, real quick, tell usabout that podcast real quick. So the
Untitled Film Project podcast. You cansubscribe to us on YouTube. You know,
we got Instagram, TikTok, allthose wonderful things. But the Untitled
Film Project podcast is the name ofit. I do the show with two
of my best friends. Justin Bradford. As some of you might know,
he was formerly a penalty box Radiocovered the Preds with me for about ten

(19:51):
years. And then of course JimChandler, who was on the one of
seven five the River here in Nashville, one of two five one seven five
The Rivers and Jim show for Imean probably close to two decades, kept
people busy and entertained during their commutehours here in Nashville. So morning show
hosts, so yeah, we wejust love talking movies and sports together.

(20:11):
And when those two things mesh,it's it's a wonderful day. There you
go. How about that? Yeah, all right down, we get back
to talking hockey. There we go. Absolutely, Yeah, Jeremy, what's
the essential difference between David Poyle's Predatorsand Barry Trotz's Predators. That's a great
question. I think Barry Trotz seemsto have had a plan, like a

(20:34):
blueprint in his mind from the beginning, like from the moment he came on
board, you know, kind oflearning the ropes, you know whatever.
But then kind of in June Julyhe started to see, okay, Ryan
Johansson was Jennison's Matt Duchane was boughtout, and you're thinking, well,
where are they gonna get their scoring? From I mean, Okay, Johnson

(20:55):
wasn't a great regular season performed,but he's a tremendous playoff performer. Of
course, you gotta get the playoffsto be a tremendous playoff before. But
I digress. They still that Mattde Shane was the leading scorer points wise,
and I think he maybe even goalsbut definitely points wise twenty twenty two
and twenty twenty two twenty three forthe Predators. So to just jennison him
buy him out to your leading scoreon forwards is pretty ballsy, if you

(21:22):
will. I think he said hehad a plan in place. We're gonna
we're gonna build the defense around Yosiand McDonough. We're going to, you
know, bring in some as hecalled them, serial winners like Righty.
They're gonna bring in guys like thatand really solidify the youth and let the
use kind of flourish. And forthe most part, they've done that.

(21:42):
I wouldn't say eventually says flourished firstday as an example, and Thomas Kito
definitely has it. But at thesame time as they they're they're giving they're
giving them breathing room. Guys,they're giving them this space to go,
Okay, we're gonna learn on thefly here, and I think that's that's
proven, you know, an extremelygreat plan. The issue, though,

(22:03):
is in a good way, isthat this team is holding down the first
wild card spot. So you're gettingscoring from Forberg with a more better than
a point for game player, you'rebasically getting a career year so far from
Ryan O'Reilly production wise, you're gettinga career year again production wise from us
Off Niquist, a guy that everyonethought would be like, you know,
second line winger, next us tohave. He's he's proving invaluable. And

(22:25):
Carlton Citizens is having a career year. He's got twenty points and thirty eight
games in his career high is likethirty eight. So it's just, you
know, it's one of those thingswhere you're like, okay, like these
guys are, they're jelling. Thetop of the lineup is jelling, which
allows space because nobody's in a rush, right. The playoffs or the playoffs
are a nice to have. We'dlove to obviously all everybody would love to
have that, but it wasn't theexpectation coming in. Well, now you've

(22:48):
got time for Luke and Alista,Sol Thomasino, even Keith for Sherwood really
to that degree, Parson and anotherguy to kind of figure it out and
learn on the fly. And they'redoing that. So if those guys can
come along for the ride, let'ssaying mature in February, March, and
April, I mean, look out. So it's the plan though, is

(23:11):
we were not There's all these thingsabout who's going to get Tarasenko and all
of this stuff, like there's we'renot adding. We're I mean, the
Nashville Predators are not adding right thereunless it's a young player under contract for
another three four years, that kindof stuff, who can help them down
the line. There's not going tobe the playoff push to get the seventh

(23:32):
or sixth seed and see what happens. I wouldn't think so. But again,
I mean, you know, allof a sudden that they're third place
in the Central and it's trade deadlinetime, you might want to add a
piece. I don't know. Tome, guys, honestly, the team
is we lost the signal there.See if we can get that back here,
we lost the signal. To Jeremy, we'll try to get back He's

(23:56):
calling us right back, so we'llget him back on. So we were
talking about yea, we can youknow, to talk about Nashville and and
uh the trade with you know,is there a trade partner out there for
the Predators or do they want todo that? And and they have they
have built Jeremy, Sorry we lostyou there. They have built up obviously
some nice young prospects, a lotof first rounders playing in Milwaukee right now.

(24:18):
So where we lost you there,please just pick up where you were.
I'm sorry, no, no,no problem. I don't know if
I was on my ind or not. If it was, I apologize.
But the bottom line, though,is just that they are. It's just
I don't know. It's a it'sa very interesting, it's a very hit
two times to be National Predators fan, because on one hand, you'd be

(24:40):
like, well, hey, ifthere are one or two pieces away,
right, I mean, let's takeone piece, there's score forward away really
solidifying miss line up. And let'sface it, the defense other than the
Tyson Barry question mark, you know, where he kind of kind of wanted
to trade out and all those thingslike. Other than that, the is
settled. It seems like okay,they've got everybody in place, and everyone's

(25:00):
healthy for the most part. Notgonna work for your your goaltending. Okay,
sorrow's lankan and a scar off comesup, it plays well, right,
you've got that lot. Okay,now you're forward to the only really
is the question mark and you're forwardto sell the group not a question mark,
it's where's the goal scoring going tocome from? Can it be sustained
over eighty two games in the playoffs, and if it can, and then

(25:22):
one scoring winner away for example ofa maybe not still got contender, but
certainly like okay, well they canmake some noise. Well then I think
you might have to make a movethere. But yes, all of them
looks like they're just gonna I wouldimagine anyway, the Predators are gonna stand
pat see what they have figure itout, because again there's no expectations here
coming into the season anyway, andso they're definitely overachieving. Not in a

(25:45):
bad way, you know, tosay that about you know, like you
know, hey, they're overachieving ifthey think their garbage, but really there,
but this in a different way,this is a good okay falling into
place. Now, what do youdo how much. And let's not downplay
the importance of playoffs for a team'sledger, right like it matters to get

(26:07):
those two three extra dates to getpeople in the building there. No,
Yeah, for sure, that's abig deal your ticket sales, that's obviously
gonna be a boon for sure.But what you've also done is you proved
the guys like Ryan Luke Schin,these guys that probably could have taken a
year less on their deal and downsomewhere with a chance the Cup. Now

(26:29):
you've proven to them, hey,this is a work in progress and we're
we're progressing. And so now you'veproven to those that they're not just here
spinning their wheels, so to speak. Sure, sure, Jeremy Gover joining
us from Nashville, the Admirals parentclub Nashville Predators. As Jeremy mentioned,
they have the first wild card spothere. What is is there? You
mentioned Evangelista and Thomasino. Is therefear of getting into this part of the

(26:56):
season. We just talked with GregRallo a bit ago about the dog days
of a hockey sea and right aroundthe All Star break, is there fear
that maybe they stumble a bit?Maybe maybe not so much Thomasino because he's
been through the grind at the nationalleague level, but Evangelista maybe a little
bit more. That's a that's agreat question concern. That's one of those

(27:17):
things where the tape line kind ofcomes into play right where you can maybe
acquire a guy who is maybe notscoring winner per se, but can pressure
right that way, pressure off ofAlista Thomasino, Guys like that who are
maybe there's six two times because they'reexhausted, because they're They're stamina is not

(27:37):
built out for the NHL level foreighty two plus games, right. So
that's definitely a great point to ventVentalisa's credit. He played if I'm doing
the mast and the hockey games lastyear regular season basically a we got Jared

(28:00):
me breaking up here. Sorry aboutthat, We've got we'll try to get
that straightened out here again. Idon't know if we've lost him again or
not, but anyway, Yeah,the Nashville Predators in right now currently in
a playoff spot. You also havea scar off went up. He won
the shootout here the other night.It's been uh, they haven't called many
guys up this year and that that'sthat's kind of surprise. That's really surprised

(28:22):
me. That's the guy. Youknow, one of those things where you
sit there and you go wow,you know, I mean you know there's
maybe a couple options. Yeah,there might be an option or two here
that could you know, help downthere, But I know he's keeping everything
the status quaal Yeah. Yeah,it really is. And and and one
guy who's interesting. And we talkabout Tyson Barry, and we talk about
Nashville's future, Jeremy, it's gotto be Spencer Stassney, because I think

(28:44):
down here people don't think he's gonnabe in Milwaukee very long. I think
I would agree with you people inthat Shll thinks the same thing. So
sydness dassy. Every time he's upwith the big club. I don't think
he stands out, but he standsout compared to expectations. Right. You
think, oh, they got thisguy from Milwaukee. If you're a general
fan, I'm saying, we gotthis guy from Milwaukee. He's gonna come
up, he's gonna play a coupleof games while someone's hurt. He'll do

(29:06):
you know, as long as he'snot a liability. Fine. But instead
he makes a great play on McDavidin his first game, right, he
takes a goal away from him,and then you've got he just plays steady
all the time. Every time he'sup here, whether it's he's playing nine
minutes or fifteen, he looks likehe belongs. And so that's again,
he can go down in Milwaukee,he can play full minutes there, you

(29:29):
know, and get all that.But it's the NHL level, I think
he belongs, and I think thatallows the Predators to kind of see what
they have. Is there an offerthey can get for Fabrook and they flip
him for a second second round pickat the deadline? Carrie, same thing,
right, Tyson Barry, where's hegonna go? It definitely takes the
handcuffs off. If you know you'vegot a guy like Spencer Stadney waiting.
Yeah, the other guy that Imean normally the guys when on the minor

(29:55):
league side, when you watch aguy, you see you look for guys
that have nothing more to prove withthis line, and I look at Ego
right now you go rof and Asievand I say, you know, I
mean it really is he's ripe foranother opportunity up up top. And in
my opinion. But I'm not ahockey coach, nor do I you know,
play one on television. But atthe end of the day, I
think he's a you know, Ithink he's a talent that has really gone

(30:17):
on come a long way. Iagree, I think he's uh, well,
here's the deal, right, I'mpersonally rooting for him because he's so
fun to cover, right, Sothere's that, but also because I think
he does deserve a shot now againwhen he gets that right, the Pritters
have been pretty healthy for the mostpart this season at the forward level,

(30:38):
and so it's like, okay,well, when's he gonna get that shot?
Where's he Where can he slip into the lineup and make an impact,
you know, not be asked toomuch, but also not have himself
underserved either, Right, There's allthose things come into play when you're dealing
with that. So again, thedeadline comes and all of a sudden they're
kind of falling out of it andthey're like, Okay, it wasn't fool's

(30:59):
goal, but it's like they're notready yet right to make the next step,
you know, come the trade deadlinetime. Then I think you go,
okay, well, maybe let's selloff some veteran pieces, right,
Like, I mean, that's abad example. But let's say Ryan O'Reilly,
Okay, he can catch, hecan catch a first round pick to
Toronto. I'm making that up rightto Edmonton because of the situation they're in
and the situation the Predators are in, and you're looking for a first round

(31:21):
pick. Well, now you've gota place that you can put off an
afield, right, You've got youcan kind of make room in your lineup,
So all those things come into play. But yeah, he's definitely one
guy that I'm rooting for. Isn'tit funny? And this will be the
last one here? Isn't it funny? How? I mean, it wasn't
that long ago, Jeremy, whenNashville would call up Milwaukee's leading scorer,
and then Nashville was they weren't exclusiveevery team in the National Hockey League.
They call up the team's leading scorerat the American Hockey League and then they

(31:45):
have come out and play three minuteswith you know, Chris Mueller talks about
his first shift in the NHL.He's playing with Wade Bleck and Nick s
Pauling and Wade Bleck gets into afight, Wade Bleck gets into a fight,
and Spawling looks over to on thebench and says, well, we're
done for the pier and that wasit. That was it, right,
I mean that it wasn't that longago that that stuff happened. No,

(32:07):
No, not at all. Andlike I said, that's that's one of
those things where you know, Ithink the game is changing for the better
in that regard, and I thinkthat you want to put people in the
position to succeed. I mean,that's the bottom line. The coach wants
to do that, the players wantto do that. You have a responsibility
to spell at of fans, butreally the guys inside that dressing room,
right, you can't look at theveterans in the eye and punt on a

(32:29):
game or a season. And ifyou do that, you lose a lot
of credibility. So that's when thoseguys from Milwaukee coming into the younger guys
usually can come up right and theycan play a game or two, but
they know that they're dependent on They'renot just a warm body to enter the
lineup, for example. They actuallydo like, Okay, here's your chance
to have some experience. Don't screwup, have a good game, get

(32:50):
some fun out there, enjoy yourselfplaying ANTIONL sweater. That's really what it
can do. That whereas before,like you mentioned, it could be sometimes
it was like that, but couldbe the opposite. It could be like,
look, we need a guy whocan play three minutes on the fourth
line because it's just you know,we just need a guy. And luckily
hopefully those those days are over.Yes, Jeremy, we can't thank you

(33:12):
enough for doing this. Happy NewYear, All the best to you and
your family, and we'll hopefully dothis a lot sooner than we have this
last time. Well, thank you, guys, I appreciate it. Have
a wonderful twenty twenty four. Ivery much hope for a long Calder Cup
run for you guys. We'll beup there for it if that's the case.
And I apologize for my phone.This has no worries. We got
through it here. Thank you,Jeremy. Take care, Thanks Jeremy,

(33:34):
Thanks Thanks Jeremy. Gover from Nashvillewill take a break. Our friend Ken
Saburn will join us next. You'relistening to Milwaukee Admiral Center ICE. Welcome
back to Milwaukee Admiral Center ice withMichael Jehowski Ammer and sim's always great to
talk to this guy, one ofthe all time great Milwaukee admirals and does
broadcast for the Washington Capitals on theradio. He's at Ken Sabrin Ken.
Thanks for the time. You gotsome Well it's not jet lag, I

(33:55):
guess, but you got some planelegs coming into tonight's game. Here going.
You played in Pittsburgh last night andnow you're at home tonight against New
Jersey. Yeah, it's always it'sa short trip obviously for us, but
still you get in late and youplay and exert a lot of energy.
The guys obviously played in the PittsburghPang was the big robbery, and there's

(34:16):
always fun games and physical and theygo at each other pretty hard. It's
it's it's a lot of fun,but it takes a lot out of you
too. And then you have ateam New Jersey sitting at in your hometown
waiting for you to come back.So and they're pretty quick teams, so
it's going to be a challenge forthe Caps tonight, but they find they've
been finding a way lately, sowe'll see if they can do it again

(34:37):
tonight. I look at your division, and you've got one. You know,
you got the Rangers sitting on top. You know, I've got a
got a massive lead of six points, and then you've got you get everybody
else. So then you've got seventeams separated by six points. It's incredible.
Yeah, it's it's tight. Imean it's uh, you know,
you got the Rangers have been playingthe way they should be playing. Everybody

(35:00):
with them. Obviously, New Jersey'scoming on now. They had a little
slow start, seem with the Carolinathey're coming on too. So it's gonna
be a tough way to it's gonnabe tough to make the playoffs. I
mean, you're looking at a thirdor four seed or a wild card,
and there's only so many, somuch prom you know, you look,
you probably lump us, the Caps, Pittsburgh and the Islanders and together similar

(35:25):
clubs, and not everybody's gonna makeit. So we'll see if Philadelphia has
been outstanding too. So it's notgonna be an easy task right now.
But the good thing on it,you look at it, as you guys
said, only a couple of pointsout from moving up to a second or
a third or whatever. It maybe to get yourself in the playoffs.
So it's it's every divisional game isis big. Your coach, Spencer Carberry

(35:49):
played his college hockey in Green Bayfor Saint Norbert. I'm curious what he
has brought to the team this yearin his first season as the head coach
in Washington. He's been outstanding.I mean as a person, great guy.
I've met him a few years agoa couple of times when he's with
hershey committed, we go to aballgame or something like that. But he's
a student of the game. Heloves the game. He loves going after

(36:12):
you know, looking at Phil andbreaking it down. A good standing job
with the team he's had so farthis year. I mean, when you
look at it, the offense hasn'tbeen there. There's no secret. You
know, Vetchkin hasn't scored. BECsnext oh she, you go down the
line. We just haven't scored.We scored just over two point one goals
a game. Two point two goalsa game that doesn't. That's not going

(36:35):
to cut it, but they finda way. He next to the matches.
Defensively, they're pretty solid most ofthe night, and we've had great
goals that he Charlie Lingern' is withoutstanding. Yeah, he's hurt now,
and Darcy Kemper seems like he's gota game back. He played great last
night. So, uh, youknow, you got to give you the
coaching staff, besides Spencer, everybodyelse out in there a lot of kudos

(36:58):
because the power play has been onawful too. And uh, they figure
this out and they find a wayto win and stay in the hunt.
You got a chance to see thePredators the other night. What were what
were you? What were your impressionsof the young Predator team. I like
him, you know, I'm talkingto Barry Trots for a while. We
were in the Nashville a couple ofweeks, the week and a half or

(37:20):
whatever it was. We sat downwith Barry and talking to him, and
you know, he's they got agood young team. They got some talent
on that team. They get theSorrows going to play the way he can
defensively, they can do some damageobviously. I like the way they play.
They play, uh, you knowwhat, game in your face game.

(37:42):
I think they're a good teams.I think they're a lot better than
what people thought. And I thinkthey've surprised that even their management. I
would think that where they are isjust great. Their head of their schedule,
and I'm sure he's not done yetbringing some whoever in whatever from you
know, the American League, orwhether they're going to go out and get
some people. But I know,very troutch, you want to put a

(38:05):
stamp on that this year, KenSabaran joining us, it's Milwaukee Admirals Center
ice. You mentioned the Pittsburgh Washingtonrivalry, and it's Ovechkin and Crosby.
And in a sport where there's nota lot of hype about individuals. You
had the game last night, Ithink within and Crosby. How many more
do you think there's going to bebetween these guys? You don't know,

(38:28):
I mean, unfortunately you know whatever. I mean, father time catches up
to everybody. But right I don'tsee Crosby slowing down right now. And
it seems like, you know,the wonder about Ovechkin for a while,
but the last couple of weeks he'sgetting starting to hit his stride. So
we're hoping he gets on a littleheather here and gets himself pot in maybe

(38:49):
you know, close to thirty goals, this year. That'd be a great
second half. I don't know,a couple more years, a couple more
years at least, depending on thatrecord. It all depends on if and
when he gets it, and togo play a year in Russia in long
country, so we'll find out.I guess. Yeah, that's a lot

(39:12):
of things. Yes, hit thatrecord, that was gonna be. My
question is he's about roughly sixty goalsbehind the record if I got if I
got that right here, of themost goals in the history of the National
Hockey League. That's clearly important tohim, right. Oh yeah, there's
no doubt. I mean, obviouslyhe wants to win eas he's he's excited
when they win, no matter ifhe scores or hot. But you know,

(39:37):
when you think about it, youcould be the all time leader and
goals. I mean, you gottabe realistic. You gotta be a little
selfish out there. So he lovesthe score, still loves it every time
he scores. It's like, youknow, do you think he get old
after a while, But it doesn't. So I think it means a lot
to him. I think it meansa lot to his family, and you

(39:58):
know, maybe a closer and closerhopefully doesn't feel the heat as much as
he know a normal person would.But to me, I think he's he's
looking forward to it, and Ithink he's trying to get there too.
It's not like he's like, ohwell, I don't have anymore. He
wants it, wants the bet youmentioned. The Devils is starting to climb
back. There has been issues withgoaltending for so many teams, so many

(40:22):
of these top teams out East.This year, you met Carolina the Devils
like the boy, you start shakingyour head like a boy. If they
could figure that out, look outright, then all of a sudden,
you know, the Rangers have itgoing. But a lot of other teams
are right in the middle there becausethey just don't have that goalie. Well
that's that's you know, they've beenall over that the goaltender there. I

(40:44):
mean, Lindia Rupper is a greatcoachman run a lot of time they're picking
it up. But yeah, Ithink you know, you throw Toronto into
that not in our division, right, throw Toronto into that conversation too.
But to me, it's I don'tknow what they're going to do. It's
tough to can move right, Iknow Chiefs want to, but can they

(41:05):
They have a player, you know, somebody to play with them too,
So I don't know. It's Ithink you have to just work with what
you have right now. Obviously thecoach, that's what they do. They
coach what they have. But yeah, I think the Devil is very very
exciting hockey. We're talking, uh, I just I'm looking forward to game.
I mean, there's just to watchthem because they're fast. They got

(41:27):
some superstars, young superstars to be. They're not already there. They're gonna
be good for a while. Andif they can settle that goal taking down,
whether it's in house or go getsomebody, I think there'll be a
team that's gonna be uh you know, up the top of the EXCE log
for a while. Yeah, Iagree. I agree. Ken. We
got to let you go here.We're short on time. Thank you so
much for doing this. Happy NewYear, have a great call tonight.

(41:51):
All right, thanks guys so much. That's the great Ken SAVERGN We'll take
a break, we'll come back andwrap things up. You're listening to Milwaukee
Admirals Center ice one final time.I'm tonight Milwaukee Admirals Center Ice with Michael
Jahowski. I'm Aaron sim So especialWednesday this week. Next week we will
be on the air on Monday aswe normally are at five pm in the
following Monday, and so on andso on. The Admirals hosting Colorado this

(42:14):
weekend at Panther Arena Friday night atseven pm Saturday at six Friday. One
lucky fan, well, we'll geta couple of tickets to see the football
game in Green Bay between the hometeam and the team from Chicago. Absolutely
so yeah, So visit Milwaukee Admiralsdot com find out more about that.
The Admirals again hosting Colorado. It'sthe first time they've seen them in a

(42:35):
couple of seasons, so it'll beinteresting to see the farm team of the
Colorado Avalanche. Thanks to all ourguests and thanks to you for listening to
Milwaukee Admiral Center Ice