01/08/24 - Admirals Center Ice

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hello, and welcome to Milwaukee AdmiralsCenter Ice with Michael Jahowski. I'm Aaron
Sims. Pretty good weekend for theMilwaukee Admirals at Panther Arena, one nothing
win. Uh, it wasn't thebest game, but came away with two
points. And then the next nightof five nothing win and that was a
fantastic game and back to back shoutoutsfor the Admirals and Yaroslava scar offf fun,
fun weekend against Colorado. It reallywas. It was a it was

(00:20):
a really good time. The crowdswere great. Yeah, you know Friday,
you know it wasn't wasn't the greatestgame, but you know that the
ending was we sent him home happy. Exactly right, that's the key,
exactly right. And Yaroslavia star Off, by the way, earlier today was
named the AHL's Player of the Week. It's his third honor, which now
he passes Blake Jeffrey On for themost in Admirals AHL history. That's two

(00:43):
weeks, had two. That's twoweeks in a row. Third time that
we've had a Player of the Weektwo weeks in a row. The last
time was in twenty two January twentythird and January thirtieth, I haven't written
down here. I'll go. We'llget to that in just a second.
But a big part of we havedignitaries on the one exactly, a big
part of but the success that theadmirals have had over the last couple of
seasons, joins us. Now he'sthe team captain. Kevin Gravel joins us.

(01:06):
Kevin, thanks for the time.Nice weekend, fun weekend. How
do you how do you relax afterthat, because now you've got to go
home and be dad for a dayor two. Uh yeah, just by
doing exactly that, I guess.Yeah, No, Sunday, Your days
off are a little different now,you know. It's not as not as

(01:27):
much as kind of kicking your feetup anymore. Now it's kind of like
you said, being a dad.He just started kind of getting a little
mobile. He's he's army crawling aroundthe floor now, so you can take
your eyes off a whole lot.So life's about to change here once he
starts moving full time. So butit's been so much fun. You know,

(01:49):
he's at the age now, he'scoming up here on nine months,
so he's got, you know,getting to be that age where like he
can kind of interact with him andhang out with them, and you know,
he kind of perks up when youwalk in the room and knows who
dad, mom and dad are.So it's just been so much fun to
be able to kind of just havea little buddy to go home and hang
out with, and you know,just kind of go through this whole new

(02:13):
phase of life. What you saidthough about no more kicking, I mean
I remember going home before the kidswere born, and I would go down
and hide in the basement and Iwould turn on a football game and I
was probably sleeping within twenty five minutes, and then I'd wake up at six
o'clock in the afternoon and have dinnerand pretty much go to bed again.
And yeah, that doesn't happen anymore, not at all. No, certainly,

(02:36):
not especially to you know, aftersome of these travel days home where
we're flying out of you know,wherever we're flying out of at five six
in the morning. You know,you're just looking to kind of come home
and relax. But you know,my wife's here by herself, you know,
with with Maddox, so she's readyfor a break herself. So kind
of yeah, you know, changingof the guard when I get home,

(02:57):
so, you know, and sheobviously deserves I'm to herself as well,
and it's good for me to kindof catch up and spent spend some time
with him. So No, it'sbeen great. Like I said, it's
it's obviously a different different, uh, you know, change of pace and
what I'm used to during the season. But you know, there's there's nothing
more rewarding than than you know goingthrough this. Yeah, it wouldn't change
the thing. Speaking of rewarding,it's got to be for a for a

(03:20):
whilely Vet, like you and somebodythat's been around the black is Yeah,
it's still you know, still relativelyyoung and can step in in playing in
the NHL any time. You know, you've got to be proud of the
development. You know, it's thatthe younger players have have made here and
over the course of you know,the first you know, thirty some odd
games, you know early in theseason that you know, there were scoring

(03:43):
droughts and every don't worry. Thekids are young, They're gonna they're gonna
get there. You know, they'regoing to get their legs. Everything's going
to be fine. How do youfeel about the development everyone's showed so far.
Oh it's awesome, you know,And that's kind of one of the
things you try to stress to to, you know, the younger guys at
the beginning of the year, isis it a hard league no matter where
you're coming from, whether it becollege, junior, you know, it's

(04:04):
a big step and things aren't gonnacome as easy as as what you know
you're used to. Usually it's thebest you know, uh, you know,
best players from your previous team thatthat you were the best player in
your previous team and know, youknow, it's used to playing that role,
and sometimes that's not how it howit always is right away. It's
rare to see a guy you knowstep in and just kind of light it
up right away. Obviously those areyou know, the you see it you

(04:27):
know every now and then. Thoseguys don't last in this league very long.
But you know, the big messageat the beginning of the year is
just kind of stay of the courseand don't get frustrated. A big thing
for us was that we were gettingour chances, you know, when we
were struggling to score goals, butwe were getting our chances. They just
weren't going. And it's frustrating atthe time, and at the time it

(04:48):
seems like you're never going to score, but you just got to kind of
continue to show up and continue toput your work in and eventually you know
that they start to go in.And that's happened for us, and a
lot of that has bent because ofthe development of of our younger players,
especially upfront, you know, withLaRue and and Svetch Cobs, you know,
and and Shaper and guys like thatwho have really taken a step for

(05:09):
us. And and you can seeit on the ice just in terms of,
you know, how comfortable they arewith the puck now and you know,
not afraid to try to make aplay and just things like that.
You know, you can see itoff the ice. You know they're they're
more comfortable around the guys and andthat that plays a big part in it,
is you know, how comfortable youare off the ice. I think
that translates well. And it's beengood. It's it's been really it's been

(05:30):
uh, it's been really fun tosee and it's it's been going pretty well
for us here lately. So it'sgonna keep it going with the ebbs and
flows and the ups and downs andthe frustrations and all of that that can
happen from shift to shift, gameto game, period to period, whatever
it may be. How much pressuredo you feel, if any, to
be the guy that is the levelheaded one. I mean, how many
times Wojo and I have heard overthe years the coach needs to yell at

(05:54):
the guys and all of this stuff, or he needs to scream at the
raft or whatever, and it's like, if you start losing your cool,
you're gonna lose everything out there.So for you, being the captain and
kind of I guess the de facto, you have the letter, so you
have to be the leader. Howmuch pressure is that. I don't know
if pressure is the right word.I think there's definitely at responsibility, but

(06:16):
I think it's like, just speakingfor myself, I think I just kind
of try to be, you know, more of a sounding board for guys,
you know, try to stay positivefor him. I know how hard
it is, you know, likeI know how hard it is for me
when I first turned thro and playedmy first year in the American League.
You know, things don't always gosmooth. You know, there's there's dark
days and there's great days and youknow, sometimes it's you know, your

(06:39):
confidence isn't there, and that's kindof when you need someone to come,
come and pick you up and andkind of be by your side there,
and you know, maybe just bea venting board for you, whatever it
may be. I think, youknow, having a bench that that has
a lot of life and and anda lot of jump to it, you
know, translates to having life andenergy on the ice. So I just

(07:00):
try to kind of keep it up, you know, keep keep the mood
up beat as much as possible.Obviously there's times where you know the message
may need to be something a littlebit different. But but throughout the course
of the game, like you said, things happen so quick, you know,
the momentum shift so quickly that youkind of do need to just stay
the course and be even keel.And that's not to say you can't play
emotion with emotion, because I thinkthat's a big part of the game as

(07:24):
well, but it is important tokind of just kind of stay the course,
stay the process. You know,it's a long year, games are
long, a lot can happen,so we just try to stay as calm
as possible and and you know,just kind of be there for the guys
and and whatever whatever way they mayneed. Admiral's Captain Kevin Gravell joining us
at Milwaukee Admirals Center ice on theBig nine twenty and your iHeartRadio app with

(07:46):
Mike wil Jahause Gamer and Sims.Who was your guy that you just loved
watching when you were a kid.I guess for me growing up in Michigan,
it was it was kind of whenthe Red Wings were in their heyday
winning their Cups there. So Imean, I think it's an easy answer,
but I guess for me it wasprobably Nick Lickstrom, just because of

(08:07):
how good he was and you know, being the Red Wings who got those
games on TV every night, SoI really liked his game. A guy
I really appreciated throughout the years ofa little bit later on, was Nicholas
Jalmerson in Chicago. Just really hewas. He was in Rockford for such

(08:28):
a short time, but he wasso good. So yeah, nothing flashy
either. I just always seem tobe in the right position. Yeah,
awesome, he played his offside.You know, you could just tell he
really understood the game. And andI think if you you know, look
back on their run there, Chicago'srun there. He was, you know,
probably a very underappreciated part of thatrun, and I don't they probably

(08:52):
don't have, you know, thesuccess I had without him back there.
So I've always appreciated his game.He tried to watch guys that, you
know, you can pick something from, and I thought, you know,
he was a good guy for meto kind of watch and learn things from.
I bring this up because Carl Taylorand I had old guy references here.
The other died, right Carl,Carl in the in the overtime game,

(09:13):
Carl referred to Steve Smith when thepuck was in our crease and nearly
went into our own net, right, So that's an old guy reference,
oh boy. And then the nextnight I compared you to Rod Langway and
the fact you both wear number fivefor one thing, which is not really
the reason, but you just blockshots, you know. Rod Langway was

(09:33):
the best defensemen in the league fortwo years. He never had eighty points
in a season, He never hadforty points, I don't think in a
season. But just just knew whereto be and he was just the rock
out there. And I just Ican't tell you. And we're not done
with the interview yet here. ButI just how much I appreciate your game,
and that that's why I ask wherewhere you got all of this from,
because you're just you're just comfort it'scomforting to have you on the ice

(09:58):
if you're an Admirals fan. Iguess where I'm going with this. No,
I appreciate that. I think,uh, some of that or you
know, kind of the style thatplay now might be might have been decided
for me throughout the year, uhin terms of needed to kind of find
a way, find find a somethingto build on, you know, like
obviously watching my game, I don'tshow up on the score shoot a whole

(10:20):
lot. And if you're not scoringpoints or affecting the game that way,
you got to find somewhere else toto you know, have an impact on
the game. And and I thinkthere's still you know, uh, there's
still a role for like a defensiveyou know, defensive defenseman, you know
who doesn't really show up on thescore shoot or what have you. But
I think that's still an important partof the game, whether you know,

(10:41):
the PK is still so big andso important, you know, blocking shots
is trying to make a good breakoutpass or being you know, being a
tough guy to play against down lowand the your dson. You know,
I when I was my first coupleof years pro, I had more of
a look on the offensive side ofthings. I'm a power play and all
that. And then you wise,you know, as you kind of advance,
how you know how elite those powerplay guys really are. You're going

(11:03):
to be a power play guy likethat. You watch those guys you know
in the NHL and things like that, how you know how good they are
with the puck and and you knowjust their skill level and that doesn't come
as natural to me as step infront of a slap shot. So both
I think served their purpose, butyou know, it was more so just
kind of finding your role and findingyour your you know, what you can

(11:26):
bring to the team. And it'ssomething that I I had to work on
when I was younger, first firstcouple of years pro. I had to
get you know, a little bitfirmer down low and get get a little
bit harder to play against. Butit's something I take a lot of pride
in. It is playing good defenseand and and being hard to play against
on the PK and things like thatso maybe an unglorifying role, but I
think one that that's I think isstill very important. Well, and I

(11:48):
think that's contagious, right, Imean, we see the bench jump up
and I want to real quick withthis because I cut off wild just to
follow up with this, and Iapologize. But we talked about the responsibility
of being even keeled and all ofthat. How much responsibility is there for
you then to not be hurt orshow that you're hurt by a slap shot
that you took off an ankle oranything like that. Is there such a

(12:11):
thing out there? Yeah, Imean you don't. You don't want to
stay down unless you have to write. I think that's kind of a little
bit of the culture or mentality ofkind of what everyone has out there.
You know it it it does kindof translate like you see one guy do
it block a shot, you know, a big shot on the PK or
you know, a fourward steps infront of a d man with a big

(12:31):
block and when we're hamming our dZ owner what have you. And it's
contagious. You know, you don'twant to be the guy who who doesn't
do it when you saw your teammatejust go face first in front of a
puck. You know, it's soyeah, if you can if you can
that that you know early and havethat be the culture. You know,

(12:52):
it's very contagious, and I thinkit just grows from there. Obviously,
you know you're not going to beable to block every single one of them
or what things are going to happen, you know, but you know,
if the intent is there and theeffort is there, it is certainly contagious.
And and if you notice our benchtoo, when someone is blocking a
shot, you know, majority ofthe time guys are up angler shtick on
the wall, and that just grows, you know, it grows to you
know, next time someone's making agood backdoor pass or what happened you know,

(13:16):
so uh, you know, it'sall about being a good teammate and
and when you take care of thingslike that, usually success kind of follows
you. No, Kevin, Itell you what the uh. I can
understand you guys going down and divingat pucks and everything else and the nothing
nothing game in the third period.But when I see guys giving themselves up
in a with a with a witha four or five nothing lead and really

(13:37):
working to get that for that secondshutout. Was it my imagination or were
you guys just really going for thatsecond shutout? Because I tell you what,
guys were giving themselves up. Theywere the same game there was.
It was the same intensity defensively thatthe night before. They finished nothing,
nothing in regulation. Yeah, Ithink that just goes right back to you

(13:58):
know, you want to be agood teammate. You know ask He has
been our rock there for for goingon two years now, so you know
he's made up for countless of oneof our mistakes. So if we ever
have a chance to, you know, finish the job for him, and
and and and you know, sacrificeourselves for for him, I think the
whole room will give you the sameanswer that we're you know, no questions,

(14:20):
We're going to do it. Youknow, it's it's it's again.
I go back to it's kind oflike the you want to set that culture
early, and you see guys balkingshots throughout the game. He doesn't matter
how much time is left on theclock or what the score is. You
still don't want to be that guywho misses it. And and you know,
I feel like you let your teammatesdown a little bit especially when when
asked he, you know, thenight before, how well he wont us

(14:41):
the game the night before too,right with with how he played, and
we probably didn't really deserve to winthat game if not for him, So
we we definitely owed him one andand the you know, like I said,
anything and any time you have achance to kind of help his life
out back there, it's certainly somethingthat we take the opportunity and try to
do every time. I've probably askedyou this before, and if I apologize

(15:03):
if I did, but you know, you're coming up on a milestone.
You're seventeen games away from five hundredpro Again, if is there anything you've
learned along the way? One thing? Two things that you can impart to
the young players and say if Iwish I would have known this when in
my first year, second year.Is there anything that you can you know
that comes to mind that you couldthat you probably told the young one of

(15:24):
the youngsters about or something that youknow what you know what easily somewhere to
easily impart knowledge. Yeah, Imean there's a few things. I think
one is kind of we already touchedon. It is it's you know,
it's never really a straight line interms of you know, getting to where
you want to go and and howyou're going to get there. Like,

(15:46):
there's gonna be setbacks, there's goingto be things that happen, but you
just got to continue to show upand continue to to you know, put
in the effort and do your workand just continue to get better and work
on your development. You know you'regoing to you guys around you who maybe
get a look at maybe get alook first, not necessarily on your team,
but maybe around the league that you'veplayed with or against or whatever.

(16:07):
They get a look and you're stillwait for your call or what have you,
and that doesn't matter. You justgot to kind of stay the course,
stay with you. And you knowthat not a straight line, as
the best way I could put it. You just got to, you know,
continue to do what you do welland when you get that opportunity,
to jump on it and take advantageof it. And I think the other
one, the other thing I wouldsay, and I've heard this before and

(16:29):
it's kind of sounds a cliche,and it definitely a cloch raight, but
it goes by so quick. It'smind blowing to me that that you know,
this is my tenth year here,tenth full year playing professional hockey.
Like I still remember, you know, getting on the plane the first year,
flying out to Manchester after my collegeseason very vividly, so you know,
to say, to look back andsay that that was ten seasons ago,

(16:51):
is is pretty crazy and obviously veryfortunate. But it's just something that
you know, you can't take forgranted. You know, going to the
rink every day and showing up andhanging out with your teammates is so fun.
And to be able to do thatevery day for you know, as
long as they have, and tosee that it's been along already is crazy.
But it's also you know, veryfortunate, and it's been very a

(17:11):
very warning process the last you know, over many years here. Kevin.
We can't thank you know for allyour time. Good luck this week,
it's going to be fun. Threeon the road and we'll see you.
So we'll see you on the bus. I guess tomorrow sounds good. I
appreciate it. Admirals Captain Kevin Gravelljoining us. The Admirals visiting Grand Rapids
on Wednesday and then out in Henderson, Nevada on Friday and Saturday, we

(17:33):
mentioned you also have a scar Off, the first player in Admiral's history to
win three Player of the Week honors. Here are the others real quick before
we go to our next guest.Chris Mason was on January second of two
thousand and five. Brian Finley andO five November of five, Scotti Upshall
February of six. By the way, Pecarine never won one. Okay Alexander
radul Off October fifteenth, two thousandand six, call O Riley February of

(17:56):
eight, Lina's clawsan October of ten. Blake Jeffrey on one back to back
January thirtieth and February sixth, twentyeleven. You remember that stretch he had
like seven or eight goals in thosetwo weeks. Yes, it was I
think, I think not all ofthem, but I think four of five
games were at the Bradley Center orsomething. It was an unbelievable week two
weeks. Jeremy Smith in April oftwenty twelve, Magnus Helberg and April of

(18:18):
twenty thirteen, Scott here's a runon goalie. Scott Darling in December of
twenty thirteen, Mark Mazen. It'sApril of twenty fourteen, and then you
had to go until February of seventeenwhen Freddy Gudrou did it. February of
eighteen, Trevor Smith November of nineteen, Daniel Carr December first of nineteen,
Yakov trennin the last time the Admiralshead back to back January twenty third,
twenty twenty two, Rock Ogrimaldi Januarythirtieth, Connor Ingram and then yaroslavs scar

(18:42):
Off December eleventh of twenty two,February of twenty three a Scaroff last week,
Dennis Gurryanoff this week, Yaroslava Scarff. Wow, that's the whole list
right there. Nice, pretty impressive. The Admirals on January when they returned
back home. January nineteenth, thetwentieth, The Bad Your Band will be
here on the nineteenth. It's MotorsportsNight, and we are going to have

(19:03):
two of the biggest young superstars inthe sport coming in all of motorsports.
Tim Ajeski will be here and ournext guest is a huge star and he's
not even twenty years old yet andhe is a major star. Luke Fennhouse.
He's gonna join us. Next,you're listening to Milwaukee Admiral Center ICE.
Welcome back to Milwaukee Admiral Center ICEwith Mike wol Jahowski. I'm Aaron

(19:25):
Sims and we mentioned this a littlebit ago that January nineteenth, the Admirals
are having Motorsports Night and there isa special motorsports ticket package. By the
way, yep, so go toMilwaukee Admirals dot com to find out more
about this really cool ticket package puttogether. But it's also your chance to
meet two of the best and mostexciting young talents in all of motorsports.

(19:48):
It's pretty incredible. Time Ajeski willbe here and both of them, by
the way, Wisconsin natives, TimeAjeski and our next guest here is really
real. It seems like it's atop ten finish every time. Is Luke
Fenhouse, who joins us. Luke, thanks so much for the time.
How are you. I'm doing good? How are you guys doing? Things

(20:08):
are great? Things are great?Man. I tell you what, I
it's it's pretty amazing. You know. I'm sure you have to do a
lot of these interviews, right.You have to be Racing is a sport
where you have to be able totalk to people, right, Yeah.

(20:29):
I think any you know, bigsports, you know, whether it's baseball,
football, hockey, you know,racing, I think, you know,
you should be able to talk goodand talk to people and talk to
sponsors and your fans, and soI think that comes along with it.
I've been doing it now for alittle while. I've been kind of doing
around the Wisconsin circuit in the Midwestcircuit for now four or five years.

(20:52):
So it's come pretty natural through menow. But you know, as it
progresses, it it's just makes itmore fun and makes it more enjoyable when
fans come up to you and youget to do these things more often.
Why some guys are just getting theirtemps and you know, they're you know,
their temporary learners permitting you're you're goingaround the track at a large way
to speed. You know. Firstof all, winning the Slinger Nationals,

(21:17):
an event that I've been too manytimes. Yeah, but to win the
Slinger Nationals at the at at avery young age, that had to be
just you had to be out ofyour mind crazy with that, that whole
that achievement. Yeah, that's that. That was you know, our biggest
win of our really career in thein the Super eight Models, and you
know, to win that race,there was so much high tension and a

(21:41):
few NASCAR drivers there and it wasjust a big press to win that race,
and winning that race meant everything forme. It also that year in
twenty twenty one, that year thes RX Tony Stewart's Racing Series came to
Slinger and they ran their race acouple of days later, and in order

(22:02):
to be involved in their race,we had to win Flinger Nationals and so
we got to We got the goldenticket and ran with Tony and met Tony
and his guys, and you know, to be a part of something like
that that's so prestigious and and hadso much tension on it, you know,
means a lot. And it's justsomething I'll always remember for sure.

(22:23):
You mentioned Tony Stewart. I rememberyears ago I was doing a radio show
out in West Salem at the atthe track out there for with Chuck Deary
and in the mid nineties, anduh, you mentioned Tony Stewart, and
it's just amazing, like that guywas starting to really take off right around
then, and I just like,that's a dude, like racing was racing.

(22:45):
It didn't matter what he was driving. And it sounds like he still
is into it, But I doyou kind of have that same attitude,
like I don't care what it is, I just want to get behind the
wheel. Yeah, for sure.You know, we did a couple of
dirt events. I'm not a bigguy, but I was all for it.
And you know, when you geta chance of being in a race
car, whether it's on dirt orasphalt or a go cart or you know,

(23:10):
you always want to go out andperform your best and learn it and
you know, obviously go win.And so I think a lot of us
are like that. You know,we when we get opportunities, we want
to do our best and you know, try to learn that different vehicle and
then try and go and out performeverybody else. So, okay, at
fourteen, you're able to race acar where you can't even get a license.

(23:33):
I mean, it just amazes methat to read bios of a lot
of old race car drivers and peoplethat have researched in the past, because
I used to do a little alittle running and of motorsports for the Journal
Sentinel too. But at the endof the day. How does a fourteen
year old get to drive a carwhen they can't even drive on the highway.

(23:55):
Yeah, that was it was justa little bit different. Everybody else
at school was just surprised by itand entertained by it. And you know,
I've been around racing my whole entirelife. My dad was involved in
it, and I grew up init. I started on snow wheels up
here in Wisconsin at age four andthen just slowly progressed through go karts and

(24:21):
small vehicles, and then the agelimit you know, for a late model
a full sized race car was fourteen, and so you know, we had
great people to help us along thatway and help us get started and put
us in the right position. Andthen now, I mean we really almost
have the same people. And sothat's why I enjoyed it so much,
is because we have such a familyteam here. Our shop is you know,

(24:45):
literally fifty feet from my house here, and you know, it's nice
to have a good group around you. And that's what makes it fun is
the people you're you're with and thepeople that support you. And you know,
now we get to travel across thecountry and and go compete against everybody,
So it's it's a good time LukeFenthouse joining us. He's gonna be
at the Admirals game on January nineteenth, Motorsports Night. Visit Milwaukee Admirals dot

(25:10):
com for more information. The ArkhaMenards Series back there this season. Yeah,
I'm hoping to do a few races. I don't believe anything has been
said about my first race, butthat's kind of in discussions right now and
finalizing those things. Obviously, hada really good team behind me last year

(25:33):
with Pinnacle Racing Group. Just gaveme such a big opportunity that I've really
never had and a chance to goout and kind of prove myself. And
we went out and won two outof eight races and ran top five most
every race, and I just hada really good season. So super thankful
for all those guys down there,Mark and Jerry Webb that owned that team.

(25:56):
And yeah, looking forward to hopefullyfor and something together and being back
in that car. So where areyou based out of You mentioned you're from
Warsaw and you've got your shop upthere fifty feet from your house, But
I mean, are you in NorthCarolina practicing or learning things anything like that
and what what is going on?What is the next step in your career.

(26:18):
Yeah, so I have I havean apartment in North Carolina in Morrisville
there. It's about thirty minutes northof Charlotte. And last year I was
kind of involved in the Chevrolet JuniorJunior program, and you know, that
kind of got me down there.I worked out with you know, guys

(26:38):
like Larson, Kyle Larson, AlexBowman, all the Chevy truck guys,
all the Exfinity truck Exfinity Chevrolet guys, all the cups. You know,
Ross Schastain was there, and sothat's why I went down there, but
also to be a part of theARCA team. They were down there,

(27:00):
and just my stuff up here ismainly for the Midwest, Okay, where
we go down south a couple oftimes, but mainly, you know,
the NASCAR stuff is is that thatis their home is down in North Carolina,
and so you know, if youwant to make make something happen,
I feel like you kind of gotto be down there and and you know,

(27:21):
trying your best, making every connectionyou get and every opportunity count and
and so that's why you know,we moved down there. Right away and
and tried to make the best connectionswe could get really real quick, and
this will be I'm just curious theprogression then. Is it kind of like
the truck series is next, andthen you you make the two you got

(27:41):
to that's the next necessary step beforeyou get in the stock car or does
it necessarily have to be the truckseries? Uh? Yeah, So obviously
the ARCA Series kind of helped mewith that first step into it, right
you know, I think NASCAR there'sa big approval state on on whether you
can run you know, super speedwayswith NASCAR, and that's just kind of

(28:07):
running truck races, I would say, is is kind of I'm in that
position right now where it's hard toget approved for mile and a half and
super speedways because I haven't ran atruck on a mile and a quarter or
under. Okay, So that's kindof our next step, you know,
is try to get approved and youknow, hopefully get some truck races and
you know, some more opportunities comemy way. And it's a it's a

(28:30):
huge financial game. I mean,it's it's massively you know, different than
than what we've done so far ourpast years. So you go from really
six five figures up here with theMidwest stuff now to seven figures, right,
So that makes it a lot alot harder. And you know,

(28:51):
we're just trying to piece things togetherand get the right opportunities and the right
teams and put everything together so wecan make stuff happen. Well, I
tell you what, with the successyou've had at the age you you're at,
I can't imagine that these opportunities aren'tgoing to be there for you.
Continued success, stay well, andwe're looking forward to seeing you here on
the nineteenth. We can't wait tosee you in time of Jeski here,

(29:14):
Yes, sir, thank you guysagain, and I'm excited to be down
there. I'm excited to bring acouple of car loads down with me as
well. That sounds great, it'sgreat, sounds great. Thank you so
much. Luke, take care youtoo. That's Luke fanous. He'll be
here for Motorsports Night and again thereis a Motorsports Night ticket package at Milwaukee
Admirals dot com. But Mike,this young man is nineteen years old.

(29:34):
I know right. It's amazing,and we didn't just to and I wanted
to get to because we're because wegot to get to Carl Taylor real quick
here. But he's a graduate ofthe Kolwiki driving school that was started I
think in fifteen and how and howyou know? But that there, how
dare that Yankee can't come all downand win the win Winston Cup? You

(29:55):
know, I mean, I'll tellyou what you want to talk about an
entire sport that was put on itshere. It was like, you know,
how dare him come down and inwin that Winston Cup? Yeah?
You know that's it's incredible. Idon't know how that could happen, isn't
it. It's amazing to think he'sbeen going thirty years agow it is.
It's amazing, amazing, unreal.We need to take a break. Admiral's

(30:17):
head coach Carl Taylor will join usnext. You're listening to Milwaukee Admiral Center
Ice. Welcome back to Milwaukee AdmiralCenter Ice with Mike wil Jowski. I'm
Aaron Simms, and again a goodweekend for the Milwaukee Admirals, winning two
over the Colorado Avalanche Colorado Eagles.Excuse me, it's been good for a
while for the Admirals. If youthink about it right over game winning streak,
a stumble and then two after that, and you know, six and

(30:38):
six at one point in November andsince then thirteen four and one. Yes,
decent round. I like that alot. I'd like that a lot.
Admiral's head coach Carl Taylor joins us. Now, it's been, uh,
it's been interesting, and I don'tknow how how has this season differed
from the past, Carl, Andlike you had that, we had that
six and six start. It remindsme a little bit maybe of the eighteen

(30:59):
nineteen seas and when you first gothere and everybudy's trying to feel the situation
out. Would I be often sayingthat, well, I don't know if
you're off, But you know,the first year was whatever. Next year
we had a pret train, wehad no season. The third year we're
the worst team in the league thefirst twelve games. So we've gone through
it at different times. We're fineto start this year. We're just the

(31:22):
young teams, so we're probably wayahead of schedule based on our roster and
our forward group. It's the creditto the players and how they're listing.
You know, we expected this tobe a little rougher than it is right
now, so we don't feel likewe're ahead of the game winning more.
And you know, a little bitof that is we've had seven eight overtime
wins or wherever the heck it is, so we do have to win those

(31:45):
games. But those in play thestats a little bit. Back to back
shoutouts, and I pointed out toour Kevin Gravell, we we just got
off the phone with that. Ireally love the defensive intensity in the second
game, with a sizeable lead inthe last to eight to ten minutes and
guys still going down and blocking shotsand doing all the things that they that
they did the day perform was nothingnothing in the last seven minutes of the

(32:07):
game. I just thought the defensiveintensity was off the charts. What are
your what are your thoughts? Ohyeah, the guys wanted to help ask
you out. Obviously, we're alwaysit's a good room and a good group
of guys. Everyone wants to supporteach other. Everyone is supportive of each
individual's personal goals, but also theteam goals. The pride in having an

(32:30):
opportunity for back to back shoutouts is, as you guys know, a rare
thing. So the group was verydedicated and focused on trying to find a
way to make that happen. Fortunatelyenough, due to ask he's good play
in our team's commitments, we wereable to do that. It's a rare
thing, and obviously we're very proudthat we were able to accomplish that this
weekend against a good opponent. Yougot to win on Friday night, and

(32:52):
and you said that they kind ofI don't know, they didn't take you
by surprise necessarily, but they causedyou some issue and certainly you turned that
around the next night. What gotbetter for you on Saturday night? I
think our breakouts were very cleaner.We didn't get hemmed in as much.
It wasn't like they had a lotof opportunities on Friday. It's a bit

(33:15):
of a ping pong match, butthey just played in a very consistent manner,
laying pucks behind our d making itdifficult for them, being physical when
they were on top of them.They were able to create second chance opportunities
and met with some half pad opportunities. Just very consistent in how they played
Friday. I think Saturday they didthe same thing. Difference as being we

(33:37):
gave them left zone entries for freeand then defensively or I should say offensively
with our breakouts. Our exits wereclean, We're able to make some clean
plays, or d were getting backquicker on retrievals, not inviting the pressure.
We were able to exit with possessioninstead of just punt hunting the puck
in the Newsters end and no man'sland and just having it ram back down

(34:00):
our throats. So much better efforton Saturday, one of our better games
of the year. Top to bottom. We're one and two in three meetings
with Grand Rapids coming into the thiscoming one on Wednesday night and h and
they've won five in a row andthey've they've only given up six goals in
those five games, and only twoof them were were even strength goals.

(34:20):
Listen to listen to Woo's homework.So it's uh, it's uh, you
know, uh, it's a teamthat's given us a little bit of a
hard time earlier already, and nowthis seems like they've up their game a
bit. Uh uh Why did whydoes this team give you as much trouble
as it does? Well, Idon't think I'm gonna go now after listen
well and just mail it in wegot not. Oh no, no,

(34:44):
I have a feeling. I havea feeling you're gonna have a crafty answer
for this one. No, no, I just easy. I get it.
They've their team that we caught themon a on a losing streak in
Game one, and they were veryattentive in that game and outplayed this drastically
deserved to win. I think itwas a two one loss of closer than
it should have been. You know, they've given us fifth. They're a

(35:04):
good team in the Ozone. Theyreally bring their d down the backside,
they really stretch the ozone. They'rea fast team. So they're a team
that is better than the record.In our opinion. There's been a real
focus by Detroit to ramp up thesquad in gr and have it make strides
forward with some of the players theyhave and also with other approach in their

(35:27):
business. Tomorrow's gonna be a difficultgame for us. It's one of those
days, like we're after the game, we're going aheading back to Chicago,
We're playing to Vegas. You know, there's lots of things going on for
the players. Our job is tokeep them focused and keep them dialed in,
make sure we get our best footforward. We're not looking ahead for
us. We just got to makesure we're prepared for the speed, We're

(35:49):
prepared for the puck movement, andwe got to get physical. We're not
the most physical team in the world, so when we call on it,
we need everyone to dig it intoit, not just certain players. And
we have to be hard and hungryand physical against the team to sold him
down, but also played our assetswith his speed and reattack through the nutrism.
Yeah, and let's stress an Admiral'shead coach Carl Taylor joining us physical

(36:12):
doesn't mean you've got to drop thegloves or floor anybody or but just get
in there. And when you addZach Larubek in the lineup here after his
suspension, he comes in and wetalked about him after the game on Saturday
night. It's noticeable when he's inthe game with all the good things that
that kid can do. Yeah,Zach's a great player, and he's a
young man. You can really seehis personality, but he's a hockey player.

(36:35):
He does little things well. Youwatch his wall work on breakouts where
other guys turn fucked over or hudgetsto the neutral zone, he defends the
line of the puck to the defensemanon the pinch, he holds onto it,
he makes plays underneath. He giveshis other linemates time to adjust instead
of just getting rid of the biscuits. So yeah, he's done a really
good job. He's had a greatstart to his pro career here. He's

(36:59):
moving in the right direction in alot of areas, and he's also got
some offense that shows up once ina while, especially with that first goal.
He's pretty excited getting back in thelineup and scoring the first goal,
which always a big goal in anyleague with a seven hundred win percentage after
the first goal. So doctor areally good player. We missed him drastically.
We really enjoy coaching him. He'sa lot of fun to be around,

(37:22):
and he's a pretty good teammate,loves hockey and really cares about what
he's doing. So real bright fishingfuture for that. It's really amazing to
watch him. Three to four ofhis goals he's got seven this season,
three or four of them are onthe backhand, Like you, you do
not see that in pro hockey.I don't know that you've ever seen that
in pro hockey. Yeah, Iknow, he's slipped a couple's five hole.

(37:43):
He's scored last the other night outof the bout. I don't know
if it's a thing, or ifit's just trend, or if it's just
the way it's gone for him,but it's a real skill. And you
know, backhands can always be aless accurate, it's less controllable. If
so, maybe if the player doesn'tknow where the heck is going, I'm

(38:04):
pretty sure the goalie doesn't go.Yeah, no kidding. You know.
Aski's last goalie gave up, includinghis time in the NHL, was one
hundred and fifty minutes of game timeto some kid named Ovechkin. Does it
Did it seem like he came backfrom Nashville with a whole different confidence.
Well, you know what, ourteams played pretty good in front of him,
so I'll say this. He's obviouslytwo shutouts. That's a huge accomplishment

(38:28):
for for Raski. It's it's veryrare that that happens. He played very
solid. I thought he fought throughtraffic better. I also think our team
supported him to your word of competingto the end of the game and having
defensive intensity to support the goaltender.I think we did a lot of good
things to not give a lot ofsecond chances against Colorado. Uh, they're

(38:53):
also a team that doesn't score alot if you look at the stats.
So you know tomorrow it's going tobe excuse me, tomorrow, Wednesday,
it's going to be a bit ofa different game. Great Gr's got a
lot more scoring punch, a lotmore going forward in that area, a
lot more test. So we'll haveto be really on our toes to try
to extend and to support asking.But there's no question going up playing in

(39:16):
the National Hockey League and in Nashvilleand his home rink, getting to win,
getting the shootout against a couple ofhis fellow countrymen, which childhood heroes.
All that stuff definitely has helped hisconfidence for sure. Last one here,
and this is a bit of apreview of our Friday conversation when we're
in Henderson. But you would alludedto this a second ago with going to

(39:37):
Grand Rapids and then the trip andgoing out to Vegas. It's a business
trip and I don't know that younecessarily have to say anything, but you
kind of got to watch that rightas a coach. Yeah, I won't
be sitting in the lobby waiting forguys coming in, that's for sure.
But the group, the group policesitself. You know, it's a good
trip. We're gonna fly in Thursday, as you know, We're gonna have

(40:00):
a nice meal on Thursday evening.We play Friday Saturday, and Saturday is
an early game in the afternoon.So yeah, it's a business trip.
We're going there to win two games. We approach every single game like we're
gonna win it. That's the plan. That's how we always go about our
business as a coaching staff, andwe try to share that with the players.

(40:21):
We're going to be invading Las Vegasin a very positive manner, focused
on playing our best hockey, playinga new opponent, playing in a new
building, and exciting new community,just like we did last year in the
playoffs with bomb Spring. So forus as a group, the guys who
are looking at it as an opportunity, they just got to wait till Saturday
summer. There's all kinds of niceSaturday night. So have good time and

(40:44):
relax and enjoying a great city.And so hopefully the guys, I shouldn't
say hopefully, I know the guyswill make the right decisions. I'm not
concerned about it one day. Theplayers are pretty professional. The days of
the seventies and the eighties, whenyou be chasing players around, it's much
different these days. Aunt more moneyon the line, much more professionalism,

(41:07):
and so I just don't see thatoccurring. Not that our guys don't enjoy
themselves once in a while like theyshould. Real quick, I'm gonna end
with this here. Hall of Famepitcher Burt Blylivin said, he gets called
up Bill Rigner, the manager ofthe Twins, says, I want you
to do. He shows up atthe hotel about eleven o'clock at night from
wherever he was in the minors.Bill Rigney tells him go sit in the
lobby and meet your teammates when theycome in tonight and these Bert Bert says

(41:29):
okay. And in the next day, Bill Rigney says, well, who
did you meet? And Black Levansays, well, I met this guy
and this guy and this guy andall of those guys got fined for missing
curfew. Oh yeah, yeah,that's a bit of a sewer job on
that one. No kidding, coach, Thanks for the time. All right,
guys, Adpirl's head coach Carl Taylor, We're going to take a break.

(41:52):
We'll come back and wrap things up. You're listening to Milwaukee Admiral Center
Ice one final time Milwaukee Admiral CenterIce with Michael Jehowski. I'mer and sims
Uh. I'll tell you what.The Admirals hit the road for the next
three but are back on the nineteenthand the twentieth for Motorsports Night on the
nineteenth, the Badger Band on thetwentieth, Teddybird Toss, Teddy Bear Toss,
Wow, and then Pickleball Pickleball,and then Tesla Tesla on the twenty

(42:14):
and then Hockey's for Everyone on thethirtieth. So you look at you look
at the month January. It's jampacked with a lot of fun. That's
Greatwaukkeeadmirals dot com. Check it out. Yeah, if you can't find something
there, then exactly. And oh, I'm sorry, Landmark Credit Union ice
scrapers for the nineteenth and I guesswe're gonna need those by now. Yeah,
it seems that way, no doubtabout that. Thanks to all of

(42:35):
our guests. And again, don'tforget about the upcoming schedule at Milwaukee admirals
dot com. Thanks for listening toMilwaukee Admirals Center ICE