02/26/24 - Admirals Center Ice

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hello and welcome. It's Milwaukee AdmiralsCenter Ice with Michael Jahowski. I'm Aaron
Simms. Well, the Milwaukee Admiralsnineteen game winning streak came to an end
yesterday in a four to two lossat Grand Rapids, but it was obviously
a great, great time, somegreat The fifteen game home winning streak is
still intact. So many things goingon that are really going swimmingly. We're

(00:21):
joined now by the Admirals assistant coachGreg Ral to talk about that and much
more. Greg, is it disappointing? I mean, yes, you don't
want to lose, But I'm justcurious, is it more disappointing when you
lose in a long winning streak oris it just like a normal loss in
the regular season In February. That'sa tough question because we were kind of

(00:43):
in uncharted territories for myself, wellbasically everybody, right, like, yeah,
second ongest streak ever, right,it was. It's weird, like
we came in the room after thegame we had just lost, and the
emotion where obviously we didn't want tolose, but it was like we were
really happy with what our guys wereable to accomplish over the last couple of

(01:07):
months, and that's kind of whatwe try to focus on with them,
is just making them understand what theywere able to accomplish, what they did
as a team, and how theygrew as a team. So that's kind
of what was our focus after thegame, was the positives of what occurred.
And that's just it, right,And as I said to Scott Ford
in the post game yesterday, there'sno reason you can't start another nineteen or

(01:29):
something here on Friday night, butwhen you're back in action at home.
But yeah, it's there is alot to celebrate, and it isn't the
last game of the year. There'sstill twenty five games or so to go
here on the season, plus playoffs. Absolutely, that's I mean, that's
the ultimate goal. And winning thiswinning streak has set us up, you
know, to continue on and hopefullymove right into the playoffs. And that's

(01:51):
the goal, is to do wellin the playoffs. So, yes,
we were very happy with what wedid with this big streak that's going on,
and there is a lot the regularseason left to be played. But
I think there was so much learningthat occurred in adversity that went through this
run that's going to only help usdown the stretch. That's the thing too,
right, Like the I'm going tosay his name, Chris Mason said

(02:15):
something quite honestly, in my opinion, quite ridiculous about d they want to
lose, you know, to thebubble's going to burst and all of this
stuff, and it's like, no, you can go through advert you don't
have to lose a game to gothrough adversity. There could be a penalty
kill that goes wrong or there.You know, I mean, how many
times were you down in these games? Or it's tied out here the other

(02:37):
night against Chicago, now it's threeto three and they've seemed to see some
momentum and you got to come back. Yeah, that was when Obviously you
go in nineteen game winning streak,you're going to have games where it wasn't
smooth and it wasn't easy. Wegot down in some games, and just
the growth of our young team tobe able to come through that and continue

(02:57):
to play and build that confidence.It's something special when a team has the
confidence that these guys have been ableto grow over these last couple of games
and these last months or so,just when you're down a goal or down
two goals, the bench is calmand they just have confidence that they're gonna
be able to score. Even theother night in Grand Rapids were down four
to nothing, the whole bench wasstill excited. They're like, we're coming

(03:21):
back. They're yelling at the otherteam telling them we're coming back. We're
gonna win this game. It's justawesome. It's been really fun to be
a part of. And this teamcontinues to shock us. Yeah, Admiral's
assistant coach Greg Raalo joining us atMilwaukee Admirals Center ice at breakfast yesterday and
Grand Rapids we're all sitting there,you and me and Carl Taylor and Ryan

(03:43):
Costello and we were talking. Carl, You and Carl were having a conversation
in front of us about how doyou address the team. You've got some
injury issues. Certainly you had thebad travel the night before, and that's
part of the American Hockey League.Injuries are part of the America in Hockey
League. You guys had the conversationand I loved what you said that the

(04:04):
message needs to be no excuses,like we still expect to win this hockey
game no matter what's going on.Yeah, and honestly that our guys have
kind of lived by that, butevery now and then you need to reinforce
it. And it's great, likewe have call ups, we have injuries.
That's part of the American Hockey Leagueand we understand that. But the
way our group continues to handle thosechallenges ahead has been pretty impressive. And

(04:29):
we just want to win. Andthe guys in our room, which is
the best part, is they wantto win, which is it's been awesome.
Not that you say, like everybodywants to win, but like this
group, they're blocking shots, they'refighting for each other, they're scoring hard
to score goals by going to thenet. They're doing Everyone can say they
want to win, but these kidsand these guys on our team, they're

(04:49):
they're actually doing it. There's thething in the TV show Suresy and I
don't know if you've seen it,but they since it's been on the last
couple of years, and they different, they want to win and they hate
to lose even more than they wantto win. Have you found a distinction
between those two statements? There isfor sure. I mean jokingly, we

(05:13):
won nineteen, so we haven't dealtwith losing recently, which was a little
bit the other night was like,oh, we just lost a game and
we had a deal with some thingsthere. But our guys, they just
love the highs of winning. Justthe excitement on the bench and they're cheering
for each other and it's you can'tdo it justice trying to explain it.
I'm very fortunate to be on thebench and get to experience the energy that

(05:36):
these guys bring. GMS and coachestalk all the time about getting your players
in meaningful situations. It doesn't getany more meaningful than putting the game on
the line every single night when you'reyou know, some somewhere aft for probably
game five or game four, thewinning streak, it probably became important and
there you begin to be some pressuressomething. Yeah, yeah, there's some

(05:58):
pressure. So I'm I mean thatthe quality of meaningful games has to mean
a lot to this game, doesn'tit. No, it's great, and
it's going to continue to build aswe move forward. These that we talk
a lot about After Christmas, hockeyis a completely different animal than it is,
you know, in the beginning ofthe regular season. So moving forward,
some of these games that we've playedrecently where we were down a goal,

(06:20):
or even in Grand Rapids. Thefact that we rallied and started to
come back and that game is prettyimpressive that there's a no quit attitude in
our locker room. Can you haveyou think about last night in Grand Rapids,
it's four two, you get alate power play, you get four
more power plays in the third.Can you allow yourself or do you allow
yourself to say, oh boy,if if we can pump a couple of

(06:43):
land boy, oh boy, thatwe're still going. Or do you have
to just say, hey, wegave it our best shot. You had
thirty nine shots on goal. Asthe game wore on, you certainly got
in the Griffins cages a little bitmore. Did do you just have to
let it go? I don't know, Like that whole side, there wasn't
a doubt in my mind in thatthird period until the last horn went off

(07:05):
that we were going to win.Like it's weird. They just create that
energy and that buzz on the benchand in the game, and when we
started. We scored those two goalsin the second period, and I just
even in the third period, wecarried most of the play and we're all
over them credit to their goaltender.Their goaltender played really well, and we're
able to stop some key says andkey moments, and our power play was

(07:27):
generating chances, it just didn't getin the back of the net. So
the you know, nineteen game win, he streaks over it. You know,
it's time to continue on with theseason. What would you like to
shore up in the last twenty youknow, twenty four games heading into the
playoffs, what what would you liketo like, you know, kind of
like tweak a little bit here orthere. You're sometimes you know, you're

(07:50):
playing on pure inspiration recently, andand you know there's probably hasn't been as
many teaching moments as you guys mighthave liked. But at the end of
the day, what would you liketo show up? I think it just
continued to build on our foundation.Carl has done an excellent job of creating
our defensive foundation this year, andit's been clear and the way we play

(08:13):
for the most part, we don'tspend a ton of time in our defense
zone, and that is credit toour systems and our structure, and that's
our buying from our players. Andthe cliche is you have a good defense
that translates to your offense because you'renot spending time in your own end.
So just to continue to build onour defensive zone structure and our transition and
our pace. Just playing with alot of speed. Grand Rapids is a

(08:35):
team that plays with speed. Texasis a team that plays with speed.
Rockford. So a lot of theteams are going to see down the stretch
here moving forward, our fast teams, so we're going to play right with
them. Our team is a fastteam as well. But continue to do
those things in practice. Continue tomake them play fast, make them get
their legs moving, those types ofthings, just reinforcing those down the stretch.

(08:56):
Admiral's assistant coach Greg Ralo joining usin Milwaukee Admirals Center. Right now,
does it get real? I meannot that it hasn't been really serious,
but does it get really serious now? You got the trade deadline?
March first. I saw a quotefrom John Cooper here the other day saying
March first is kind of the that'swhen the sprint starts to happen. That's
the last five miles of the marathonor whatever. Yeah, for sure,

(09:18):
and this is the exciting part ofthe year. It's good that this run
has set us up nicely to youknow, to be in a situation where
we can push for top top seedsand top things and hole ice and all
those things, because that's where whatyou want moving into the playoffs, especially
being able to play in front ofour great crowds that we've had of recent
Hopefully that continues on down the stretchhere and into the playoffs. So just

(09:41):
it's going to be exciting to watchour young guys handle handle this new not
new I shouldn't they knew, butjust this playoff style atmosphere or hockey that's
coming up in front of us.I saw the video here on Saturday night
handing over the Is it a vestor a jacket that is handed out amongst
the players? Yeah, they had. I think it's like a biker jack
and nice leather, black biker jacket, and that's kind of the player of

(10:05):
the game sort of thing amongst theplayers. And Cal got it. First
off, I want to ask youabout because you played against Cal and now
you're coaching Calm. You talked earlierabout loving to win, and you don't
play this long in the American HockeyLeague. You don't coach this long in
the American Hockey League. If youdon't love the game and love competing and

(10:28):
love winning, and Cal o'iley iskind of he might be quiet, he
doesn't fight, but I don't knowthat there's anybody who loves to win and
compete more than Calo Riley. No, it's great, And you kind of
answered the question with your aunt andwith your question. There is just he.
He shows up every day to work. I can't say anything more words

(10:52):
kinder words about him. Everything Iknew get playing against him all those years,
and the way he competed and playedin his skill and talent. He's
even a better person he's at hisage and all the things he's accomplished.
He's still extremely coachable. He's youknow, he's receptive to us, our
conversations together. I think he respectsme as a peer and I respect him

(11:13):
as a peer. And a lotof really happy for him to be able
to come back here to Milwaukee andthen take over the scoring lead. It's
pretty special. Yeah, you know, as a as a coach and well
more a GM, but as acoach, you really got to you only
have so many veteran spots and somany mentors and the guys that you can
bring in as a as a veteraninfluence. I mean, you know,

(11:33):
do you guys discuss what type ofguys and what specific players in the offseason
that you'd like to add into theveteran mix to really help the team going
forward. Yeah, I think that'sone thing Scott Nickel and Carl with their
collaborations together, have have done agreat job of. You see our captain
like Kevin Garvell and we have McEwenand those two names that just pop into

(11:56):
my head and you put call intothat mix like that group of like just
good they're just good people. They'reguys that you would want to hang out
with after the game, and theyare guys that you know, you'd like
to go to dinner with. Theycare about the team, and at the
same time, they're extremely competitive andthey want to win as well. So
I think that kind of that recipeof finding a veteran leader that still wants

(12:18):
to win and wants to, youknow, hopefully win a championship, but
also understands their role that they're they'rekind of paving the way and teaching these
young guys what it takes to bea pro and what it's going to take
to push to make the nationale lineup. Have you guys noticed this much of
this nineteen game winning streak has beenon home ice. I mean, the
Admirals had nine of ten at homeafter the trip to Vegas, and I'm

(12:39):
just curious if you've noticed a differencein the fans and the stands. I
think Saturday night was as electric.I told somebody it was as electric as
I can remember since. And youweren't here, Greg, But when Robert
Dietrich scored a goal against Chicago inovertime a six to five win and drop
kick Murphy's were coming and there wasfourteen thousand at the Bradley Center, like

(13:00):
that was incredible. And the othernight, to me, it was the
same thing. No, it's beengreat, h You hit it right on
the head. The volume, thelevel of excitement in the building. When
when Cal scored that second goal theother night, it was awesome, Like
it was great. It was loud, energy's packed, and it does help.
There is there is truth to aloud, momentum shifting kind of building.

(13:22):
And we saw it a little bitlast year in the playoffs and Coachella,
how loud that building was and Ithink our fans is starting to rival
that it was excellent the other night. Yeah, no doubt about that.
So now you've got a couple ofdays off here there that hasn't been that
way really for a while for awhile, especially the last couple of weeks
here with the with the odd schedulewith Manitoba and everything. So what's this

(13:45):
week like heading into a Friday Sundayweekend at Panther Arena. I think we
we planned to have a couple ofgood practices this week and kind of let
our guys we have some injuries,and hopefully that'll give those guys some time
to do some rehab and get backhealthy as soon as they can. And
it's kind of just like a resetweek for us. Losing the other night

(14:05):
and then now having a couple ofdays in between. It's probably a good
thing because we can kind of recuperate, refocus, you know, and put
that kind of streak behind us nowand move forward and look to start our
new one. That's the question Ihad was would it have been better,
not necessarily to lose on Saturday,but to get right back in the game.
Let's you lose Sunday. Would itbe better to play tomorrow night,

(14:26):
for example, and try to jumpright back in or is it nice to
have those couple of days you preferthe latter, I would think. So.
I don't know if there's a rightor wrong answer, and so you
live it, but it's I thinkthis is okay. I think we're running
on such a high there, andthere is a probably a little bit of
a letdown after that game with theplayers and just the fact that now we

(14:48):
have these three four days of practiceto you know, kind of have some
energy and get going again and getour practices going again. And I think
it's going to be a good thing, and then we'll be ready to go
on Friday. Scott Ford went throughtwenty three games in South Carolina. He
was part of that team in thefourteen to fifteen season. What do you
think the longest was? Outside ofthis one and a couple of years ago

(15:11):
with the thirteen here, But asa player, what was the longest do
you think you've had? Do youremember? I don't know, to be
honest, Yeah, I don't knowwe had because you played on some good
teams, right, they were prettygood. I don't remember how long our
winning streaks, even the year Iplayed in Winnipeg. We had a pretty
good team that year, but obviouslynothing rivals what we were able to accomplish

(15:31):
here. No, it was prettyspecial, no doubt about that, and
not that we won't talk about itagain, but it's certainly a big part
of this season, and hopefully it'snot the high point. Hopefully it's second
or third best at the end ofthe year. Exactly. Very good.
Greg, can't thank you enough forthe time. We appreciate it. We'll
see you at the rink. Soundsgood, guys, Thank you, Admiral's

(15:54):
assistant coach Greg Ralo. The admiralsnineteen game winning streak snapped yesterday in a
loss at Grand Rapids. Was thefinal score when when they when it's four
nothing, and I'm watching the benchand we talk so much Wiljo about body
language and things like that, andI didn't see it. And then you
know, about a minute and ahalf after they took a four to nothing

(16:15):
lead, the Admirals get one.It's like, all right, fifteen seconds
later they get another one. It'slike, we're gonna win this hockey game.
I know we're gonna win this hockeyI think everybody back home with saying
the same thing. It's like,oh, yeah, here we go,
Yeah, here we go, becausewe have been known to score goals in
bunches exactly, and they I'm justyou know, yaroslove a scaroff, gave

(16:37):
up a couple of bad ones thathe probably want Bat would want back after
the game, and Cody Hodgson scoredagain. He has goals in three straight
games. I mean, right,there is an unbelievable story in a season.
We're two thirds of the way throughthe season. We've already had how
many phenomenal stories, human interest storiesgoing on around this team. Cody is

(16:59):
right up near the top, obviously. As happy as I was for the
garbage time for fourth goal against Chicagofor him, yeah was I was to
have him break the ice with thethe first goal Saturday night, Saturday night.
It was really really hard to notbe emotional. Yes, yeah,
absolutely, it was absolutely And youknow, he so he he hasn't played

(17:21):
a ton of minutes, but he'she's now he has goals in three straight,
Like we said, so he's aguy. He's played is I think
that was his fifth game since comingback. Fifth that was his fifth game
coming back after eight years that hehad to retire due to this genetic disorder
malignant hyperthermia that he was dealing withfor basically his whole life. And at

(17:45):
the end of the game, theteam has a meal at the rink in
Grand Rapids. As always, it'susually the case, whatever rink we're at,
we'll have a team a meal therereal quick and then get on the
bus. And Yaroslava scar Off isdown and pressed because he didn't feel his
best, didn't you know, didn'tfeel like he played his best. And

(18:06):
it was of all people, CodyHodgson who went over to him and said,
you're we wouldn't have done this withoutyou, Like all of this is
special because largely because of what you'vedone, right, And yeah, I
mean, here's the guy. He'she's you know, I don't know where
this is going. He's certainly nothere in Milwaukee to end up in Milwaukee,

(18:27):
right like the pie in the skydream is to be in the National
Hockey League for him, certainly asit is for everybody at this level,
but for him, who has perhapsthe least investment of time with this group,
for him to be the one thatgoes over and puts his arm around

(18:47):
him. That that says a lotabout the guy, right, And it's
it's awesome to have him around.It's awesome to have him around. I
agree, he's you know. Andand again there's so many things. And
by the way, the HL transactiontransactions page has Egor off anassi If listed

(19:07):
as being on his way back toMilwaukee. I'm told that that is the
case. It's not one of thesepaper transactions. It's not a paper when
I'm told so. So yeah,So Egors should be back barring anything unforeseen
in Nashville. Ego should be backin the lineup when the Admirals are back
home on Friday night to host theRockford Ice Hogs, who look a lot
different than the last time they Admiralssaw them. Rem Pittlick is there.

(19:30):
They sent Zach Sandford down there afterhe was claimed off of waivers, so
it's a it's a different looking crew, a familiar looking crew with those two
names. But Christian Reichel was sentdown here the other day, like they're
they're loading up the Rockford ice Hogshere to try to do something special and
bring that up to Chicago. Notunlike what what's going on here in Milwaukee.

(19:51):
Yeah, no question. So youknow, you know what, it's
funny because if you look at youknow, you look at the race.
I mean, yeah, it's great. We got a fifteen point lead.
Yeah, and that's whyful. Butyou know, you know, you gotta
you gotta get back on the winningon the winter exactly right. It's not
over. Got a lot of qualityhockey there are. And as much as
you say you want to win andyou're going to do things to win,

(20:11):
other teams are thinking the same thing. Right. Certainly management is no question
about it. And you know what, really and a lot's going to come
down next Friday. It's it's reallygonna it's going to be you know it.
You know, it depends a lotof what's going to happen, you
know, with with transactions. Youknow it's going to be. Uh.
I mean last year, you know, David Poyle was brilliant and and and

(20:33):
brought a boatload of draft picks inNashville, and you know what, and
again, you know, somebody said, do you think anybody you know,
do you think do you think themorning that Tennors you know, I's trated
that that David Poile said, yea, we're getting rid of Tenner do you
know today, I mean he gotthe proverbially ProAb offer he couldn't refuse,
and he said, okay, yeah, oh yeah, I'll take four draft
picks. Absolutely, there's no questionabout it. The phone is always on,

(20:55):
exactly, and so you just neverknow what's going to happen. And
then the job that that that's did, Yeah, we had to bring in
replacement parts when one we sent replacementsup to Nashville to phill the spots of
the guys that got traded. Yeah, in the incredible job he did by
bringing guys in that could play.Yeah, and it was unbelievable. And
then the points percentage was a littlebetter. Yeah, actually in those games.
So yeah, it really was remarkable. So yeah, you're right,

(21:18):
it's we sit here and we cankind of hold our breath a little bit
and see what's going on. Butwe can also take solace in the fact
that there is a nice cushion andwe can we can breathe a little bit
here, even though there is stilltwenty four games remaining. Sure, and
I tell you what, and thisis awful to say, and we need
to take a break here because CaloRiiley is going to join us. I

(21:41):
can't forget twenty fifteen, February twentyfifteen, We're flying high and Brendon Leipsick
got traded and then it all AndI'm not saying it was because of Brendon
Leipsick that you know, he wasa nice player, but not one player,
but it's everything collapsed after that.Yes, And I am a pessimist

(22:02):
with optimistic tendencies. I think,hey, there and uh so, yeah,
so like that's that's where my headgoes right away. You know,
there's no question. You look atyou seriously, look at you get burned.
You're gonna that's a nice team inGrand Rabbits. It is very good
to, very good to. That'sprobably as strong as they've been this year
and as strong as they've been inseveral years. Yes, yeah, that's
true. I mean that's you knowthey they've been. You know, you

(22:23):
don't ever we have this chance totalk to Bobby Kazor and you know,
and Bobby will say, you know, the play play voice of the Griffins
will say, we really you know, we kind of look at you guys,
and what a great model of ateam. And Greg Leopold said to
us on this very show. Imean, Milwaukee is a model for how
a lot of teams want to bein this league, right you know,
I mean the you know, theroad to whatever city goes through their affiliate.

(22:47):
It's been incredible. Yeah. No, they've done a really nice job.
And you're right they that Grand Rapidsteam is loaded. Right now.
We need to take a break.When we come back. The Admirals all
time a HL scoring leader Calo Rileyis going to join us. You're listening
to Milwaukee out Center Ice. Welcomeback to Milwaukee Admiral Center Ice Saturday night,
Will Joe. We got to seea lot of history here at Panther
Arena, and chief among it was. Amongst it was the goal scored,

(23:11):
the two goals and the assist scoredby our next guest, Cal O'Riley.
The second goal turned out to bethe game winner in front of eighty seven
hundred people at Panther Arena, nearfull house, and it was also his
two hundred and seventy seventh point asan Admiral, which makes him the AHL
leading scorer in Admiral's history. Outstanding. It was pretty awesome, It really
was. It was pretty awesome.Cal O'Riley joins us cal What was that

(23:33):
like for you, because we werejust talking with Greg Ralow about your competitive
spirit and your competitive drive and youjust scored what turned out to be the
game winning goal, well, thegoal ahead goal and the game winning goal
four and five not far apart.You're feeling pretty good, are you in
the moment of winning or did anddid you have the realization that that was

(23:57):
the record breaker? Yeah, guysare reminded me that, you know,
it was coming up, and Ithink guys made a joke actually before the
game, they said, hell,you know, three tonight, you could
do it, and you know,but I was thinking about that. It
just turned out that way. Ijust you know, it was a bit
of a tough game to two periodsfor us, and we had a good
third and found a way and Iwas the lucky guy to to be able

(24:18):
to pop the game winner. Thatkind of makes it worth all all the
bus rides and all the hard workyou've put in. And I tell you
what, as a guy that walksby, is your your stretching for games
every night? I don't think anybodyworks harder to get on the rink every
night than you do. Yeah,you know, I've always worked hard,
and especially as you get older,you really got to warm up well,

(24:38):
break out in that ice to preventinjury and to feel well. So try
to take a lot of pride inthat and keep doing what I can to
keep feeling good and be able tokeep playing and help help this team.
You you mentioned that some guys knewabout the about three points and stuff like
that. I guess I shouldn't besurprised, but I guess I have the
the thought in my head that youguys are worried about the opponent. You're

(25:02):
not worried about statistics, but youkind of make it seem like at least
certain guys are paying attention to allof this stuff. They're reading the books
that are in front of them orwhatever. Yeah, a lot of guys
are reading that stat packet, sothey you know, we always try and
find someone who it's a milestone,so you put some money on the board
for our fine fund. Guys areall over that stuff. But they kept

(25:22):
remind me just choking around and allfun. But it was a special night
and it was a great crowd,and it was a big win for us
to get to nineteen. So itit's just that all it just came together.
Hey, do me a favor andexplain the fine fund and money on
the board and what it and whatwhat it goes? Is it for the
rookie party? Where does this moneygo to? Game winning goal? Is

(25:44):
this? What is this that?Yeah? Basically at any game people can
put money up a lot of timesit's milestones or if you've got family in
town, or something good happens toyou, or you fall in warm up,
you got to put money on theboard and go to our fine fund
and that goes to like if wehave team dinners or team parties or like
a party, all that money goesinto a pot and we have a fine
master that kind of handles it allvery good. So do you have like

(26:07):
a kangaroo court then too? Orno, I haven't done that. I
think that's something that happened a littlemore back in the day than it does
now. Okay, okay, Soyou guys are kind of on your honor
or everybody as everybody's paying attention.I suppose, yes, yeah, exactly,
Callo Riley joins us. It's MilwaukeeAdmiral Center. Rice. So I

(26:30):
don't know if you were able tosee the message properly. The game paused
for a short time to acknowledge therecord Darren Haydar sent to video. Were
you able to process that in themoment because there was a lot going on
right there. Yeah, I meanit happened so quick, and it was
so loud on the build and Icouldn't really hear any of it. And
then we were getting ready for likebeing up two goals and six on five,

(26:56):
so the coaches were telling us whatthey want us to do. So
it kind of just happens quick.But I did get to watch. Someone
sent me the video over after Igot to watch this to it, it
was it was really nice, reallycool, and nice for Hades to a
message into me. It's it's justamazing. And I've told you this,
like, I'm so fortunate. Inmy first year in Milwaukee, I worked
with maybe the two smartest hockey playersthat I could come across. Yourself and

(27:18):
Darren Hadar. Darren was here allseason. You came in near the end
of the year and into the playoffs. I mean, my goodness, the
the hockey IQ between just the twoof you would be enough for any team,
and it was pretty awesome. Imean, you guys. You guys
didn't weren't teammates very long, butyou certainly had a long relationship playing against
one another. Yes, when hewent to Chicago and when I came up

(27:42):
and I could see him in theplayoffs and the call the Cup, like,
I really admire how he played andsolved the similarities in myself and I
learned a lot from him and thenand then have to play against him for
years and names Chicago and they hada strong team there winning Calders and he
was leading scoring. So I learneda lot from him, and always in
how smart he was and how heplayed. And he was a big,

(28:04):
big part of my career, especiallyearly on on learning how to play pro
and be a good pro and playa similar type of game using your head
more than your size or speed andstuff. And it really helped me the
other guy. And I know I'vetold you this somewhere along the way too,
where I remember asking when you showedup. I asked Clodeen no well
about you, and clode says thatyou reminded him so much of Tony Hurkis

(28:27):
and it was again the hockey IQand things like that, And like I
said, I know I said thatabout you. And it's funny because Hirk
joined the team kind of at theend of the year as a volunteer assistant
and traveled around during the playoffs andthings like that. So you got to
rub some elbows with him over theyears too, Yes, And I got
to know him a bit and hewas such a great guy. And I

(28:48):
got to play against him too whenhe came back right in there, and
when he was coaching that year,we'd always play against the coaches three on
three and he was still so good. When I came up from junior that
year. I like him too.He was such a smart player. He
was good for me, and whenI came up, he was working with
me on the side because I wasn'tplaying every night when I came up from
junior. So he was such anice guy. And I'm such a smart

(29:11):
hockey guy. And I really admiredhow you played the game. Yeah,
So we talked about the player,We talked about player developing your as you
were, you know, coming upthrough the ranks, and you know,
as as a leadership guy of thisteam, I think you've got to be
pretty impressed with the group of guysthat that you're mentoring these days that this
young team has come along nicely,hasn't it. Oh, just tremendously.

(29:32):
We've got such a good group andthe young guys came along so well,
and you know, second year guyshave turned into great players and having great
years, and you know the guysthat have been around a couple of years
here and we just got such agood group. And and you know,
the coolest thing for me about thatgame where I hit the milestone was how
happy our whole team was for me, and the smiles on their face and

(29:53):
the hugs I was getting, andI could just see and feel how happy
every but he was for me.And you know that that just shows how
how good of a team we are. It was the same thing you know,
hockey scored is for school in eightyears in Chicago. Like, our
whole team is just very close andit's such a good group and it shows

(30:14):
why we're having so much success thisyear. You know, when Cody Hodgson
did that, that was certainly aspecial moment. When he gets that goal.
Now he has goals in three straightand it's like enough already kidding,
Yeah, that's nice what you wishfor? No, I know, it's
pretty neat and like you said,like you know, it's a four he
scores a four to nothing goal andyou don't normally celebrate it. But my

(30:36):
goodness, what an achievement, notonly in hockey but in life that that
happened. Like to be on theice when that happened is unbelievable. That's
unbelievable. I'm just so happy forhim. And he's, like I said,
he's scoring like crazy, and it'sjust awesome to see it coming from
that long a break. Yeah,it really is well and for you too,

(30:57):
And then you mentioned everybody else onthe team. I I talked with
Zach LaRue yesterday when we were inGrand Rapids, and like, his backhand
passed to you on that fifth goal, like guys, guys, guys don't
use the backhand very well, andhe made as perfect a pass as could
be one hundred percent. Was agreat play by him. And he's such

(31:18):
a good player. I knew hewas going to try and get it over
to me, so I was justtrying to be ready to just put it
in the net. And it wasa great play and he was so happy
for me. I think when Iwhen I did my interviewing. They gave
me state on the ice with andwatched it and then gave me a big
hug. So he's, uh,he's a great kid and a great player.
I didn't notice that. That's awesome. That's awesome. But you know
what, it's funny that you saidthat you were getting ready for it,

(31:41):
because again, this is stuff we'vetalked about in the past. But the
story goes, when Hugh Jessaman camehere, you told him keep your stick
on the ice because I'm giving itto you. Yeah exactly. Yeah,
and you had to. You're onthe receiving end here. Now, that's
that's pretty good. Yeah, yeah, exactly. It's it's great that it's
coming the other way. Yeah,right, that's right. Well, the

(32:04):
feeling after losing yesterday and Grand Rapids, what's there's certainly disappointment, I suppose,
But is it is it disappointment thatthe streak is over or is it
disappointment that you lost? And Imean there's there is tomorrow, right,
This isn't the last game of theseason anything like that. But I'm just
curious where you guys are at headinginto Yeah, you got a couple of

(32:25):
days off before Friday's game. Yeah, it's nice that we have some time
before we play, because I thinkit was such an emotional ride and we're
giving so much to keep that thinggoing. For to lose it. I
think at first we're all like,oh, geez, like what a letdown.
But then you know, you thinkabout this pretty special thing. We
did not lose for two months andbecome the second team in history is really

(32:49):
special, and you know, wejust have to kind of regroup and forget
about it and just try and starta new one, you know, try
and get back to how you're playingand not and not get down or let
take our foot off the gas becausewe've lost one game. We got to
see why we have so much successand get back to that right away.

(33:10):
And so we don't go the oppositeway and get too down or just think
it's going to be easy now,because it's not. It's a tough league
and we want to we want tokeep winning, and so we just kind
of got to move on but learnfrom why we have so much success and
keep pushing. I think you know, you guys saw as a team how
tough the league is. You didn'tneed to lose to understand how tough this

(33:34):
league is you saw firsthand, andthe way you guys dealt with the adversity.
There's adversity in games. You don'thave to wait till sixty minutes are
up to know that there's adversity.There's there's things going on all the time.
The way you guys dealt with thatlike that, to me was maybe
the most amazing thing out of allof this that even if you wouldn't have

(33:57):
won, I think just just thatpart they're alone, the attitude like we're
not losing, We're not going tolose this game was was just incredible.
It's just incredible. Yeah, likewe how many times like we didn't have
our best or had a bad halfof the game. We were always think
we were coming back to win,and even yesterday are pushing the third period,

(34:21):
big down for nothing, getting twoand then are pushing the third period.
We could have came back and andthat just shows a resiliency of our
team and how we've learned with thestruggles, because that's like the playoffs is
going to be, you know,ups and downs and bad calls and hot
goalies like that's that's how it is. So it's great for our team to
have that now. Yeah, youknow what, the one the number one

(34:42):
thing that I heard the most duringthe concert and just after the concert was,
boy, I think we're peaking tooearly. I think we're I think
we're in trouble. And it waslike, you know, it's kind of
like, hey, you know,we've won you know, nineteen in a
row at this point. I mean, kay, we just enjoy the moment.
But I had more than a handfull of fans, probably more on
the dozens of fans bring up todo you think we're peaking too early?

(35:05):
Would you please assure everybody that there'sa lot of growth yet to be had
with this team. Oh, there'sa ton And that's that's the way it
goes. You know, there's alot of games left still, and I
think it's great that we're going Wehad us threet like that now and then
you know, we got whatever twentysomething games left to keep building and keep
getting better and and you know,we definitely don't think that we've peaked or
anything like that. So the fans, the fans don't worry about that.

(35:30):
We're going to be okay. Yeah, yeah, Well, I tell you
what I looking forward to this weekendvery much getting back in the winning column.
And yeah, I didn't have enoughhere at nineteen straight. I could
have I could have gone the restof the year. I'm sure you probably
could have as well. We knewwhat was going to end. But I
mean, what a time. Imean, I don't know what can be

(35:51):
equated to because it's the second longestwinning streak in the regular season in American
Hockey League history. So I mean, there's nothing really that equals what just
happened here. No, it's not. And I've never I've never been on
a streets like that in all myeighteen years. And uh, it was
just so fun and it's just sospecial. You know, you get that
feeling too. It's great because youjust want to you just want to win

(36:13):
more because of how fun it is. Yeah, and and that's it,
right, like that's you. Youget that. I'm curious what the distinction
for you, and this maybe thelast one here, the distinction for you
loving to win or hating to lose, which is stronger? M h.
I think they're pretty close, Butyou know, the hating to lose is

(36:34):
definitely. You know, you justgot you got you got to have that
as a team and we do,you know, and and then you know,
the winning part just comes with thatwhen you when you have that mindset
most nights I get you know,when you when you say it that way,
yeah, it makes sense that ithas to be a hand in hand
thing, right like yeah, yeah, you know, yeah, no that

(36:57):
that makes all the sense in theworld. Uh can congratulations Cal on the
milestone. There's certainly going to bemore to come. But the way this
team is going, it's it's justa blast to see. It's a blast
to watch you play out there.And we'll see you at the rink here
later this week. Thanks guys,appreciate it. Thanks Cal. That's Admiral
Center call O'Reilly. Cal two hundredand seventy seven career points passing Darren Hadar.

(37:22):
Darren's video was fantastic and that hethrew in I can't believe it took
you this long or something like that, or I thought you would have done
it by now was pretty good.Darren had two hundred and seventy six points
in two hundred ninety three games andfour seasons with the Admirals, and then
he went to in a Calder CupChampionship and a rookie of the Year at

(37:42):
like I mean he and he's inthe HL Hall of Fame, Like he
is truly one of the greatest players, and he's the all time leading scorer
in the postseason in the American HockeyLeague, Like he is one of the
greats. And in Cal, wehad Cole Schneider here for the last four
years. I think Cole is destinedfor the AHL Hall of Fame. And
I think Cal, there's no doubt, is destined for the AHL Hall of

(38:06):
Fame. I don't think there's anyquestion. Been lucky to have you talked
about leadership with Greg and and withCal too, Like I think about the
captains that have been brought in sincesince Carl Taylor's been the head coach and
Scott Nichol's been the GM. Imean, you're going to be hard pressed
to find a better leader than Jaredto Noordy, You're going to be hard

(38:28):
pressed to find a better leader thanKevin Gravell. Like it just top of
the line. People just you're notgonna get anything, you know, It's
incredible. I really I've been impressedwithout since we've been an affiliated with Nashville,
I've been it's been a long timeand I've been really impressed with the
quality of players we've gotten, notand I mean not just players, people.

(38:51):
Yeah, I mean it's incredible.I mean, you know, I
it's it's amazing, no doubt,it's you know, it's it's almost cookie
cutter because it's the same I mean, good guys. Yeah, yeah,
guys who love to play in veryfew issues. We only got a few
minutes left. We're going to takea break here. Now, I've got
something for you. This is aninteresting trivia thing coming up that Don Tanner
sent me and I'm going to sendand we have to talk beer to here.

(39:14):
Yes we will, Okay, Yeah, you're absolutely right. We need
to take a break. We'll comeback in a moment. You're listening to
Milwaukee Admiral Center Ice. Welcome backto Milwaukee Admirals Center Ice with Michael Jahowski.
I'm Aaron sims. So. Duringthis nineteen game winning streak, if
you're on social media or maybe you'rejust talking with your friends, one of
the big questions from fans has beenbecause a local restaurant gives out free burgers

(39:35):
for if the Milwaukee Brewers hit acertain winning streak, are they going to
do the same for the admirals,and that was a question going around all
the time. Well, no,but cors Light stepped up. Molson Coors
Beer Capital cors Light. Everybody oneverybody Friday can get on Friday March first,
Yep, Friday March first, geta free beer. We'll go to

(39:57):
Stenny's, Saz's or Major Well they'reopen and in get a in get a
free free course light. That's prettyawesome. That's pretty awesome to celebrate nineteen
straight when absolutely so. Way wayto toast that that effort there, that's
pretty great. It is and it'sit's it's it's great. I want out
great partner they've been and the guysat Per Capitolo and Miller Core is our

(40:19):
out standing. Yeah, yeah,everybody's fabulous. No, really really special
that they would have done that.So again, March first, thanks to
those folks that will you mentioned headto Stenny's, Sazz's or Major gouls Bee's
a free Corps light on Friday,March the first. We're going to take
a break. We'll come back andwrap things up. You're listening to Milwaukee
Admiral Center Ice one final time tonightMilwaukee Admiral Center Ice Okay. Don Tanner

(40:40):
worked for the Admirals off ice officialfor a long time. He's the Admiral's
historian. Don sent me this.Uh. The IHL winning streak, longest
winning streak in the IHL history waseighteen games by Peoria October through about Thanksgiving
of nineteen ninety. The Admirals werethe team that beat Peoria in Peoria the
day after Thanksgiving. That ended thewinning streak, and on Saturday the next

(41:05):
day at the Bradley Center, theAdmirals beat Peoria in overtime to win two
straight against the team that had justwon eighteen straight games. Wow, do
you recall that or no? Irecall that? Yes, yeah, yes
I did. Pretty cool. Huh. Yeah it is you know, only
Don Tanner. Yeah, but heyou know, he reminds me of a
lot of stuff that I probably shouldremember. But you know, after a
while, there's a lot of gameswe play, you know. Yeah,
there's no doubt. So this weekendwe mentioned courtesy of the folks at Beer

(41:29):
Capital, Stenny's, Saz's, andMajor Goolsby's, you can get a free
Corps light to commemorate the Admirals nineteento toast the Admirals nineteen game winning streak,
which unfortunately just ended on yesterday,but also this weekend, March third,
Sunday at three o'clock game against Iowa. It's the Admiral's annual charity game.
Tickets are are sparse. I meanyeah, we got some We get

(41:52):
some pairs, we got some singles, you know, and maybe even maybe
even one of the tickets. Peoplecan pull some magic and find you a
four pack. So just you know, call our call the office. I
would love to have you part ofit. Fill the building. And we've
got what Roscoe's birthday, We've gotthree dollars from every ticket goes to Children's

(42:12):
wiscons which is fantastic. A postcame on the ice skate. Oh okay,
so we got a skate and thekids jersey and a thousand kids fourteen
under get a kids jersey. That'sgreat. So yeah, you better hurry,
like we'll just said, tickets aresparse, grab those as soon as
possible. So a big weekend.The Admirals home on Friday and Sunday.
Those are the only two games forMilwaukee Friday Sunday and those Brewer oh yes

(42:37):
inspired jerseys are are those City connectjerseys go to the Admiral's website. Bidding
on those, by the way,begins tomorrow. The auction starts the twenty
seven, so get your bids inon that. We need to say good
night, thanks for listening to MilwaukeeAdmiral Center ICE