03/25/24 - Admirals Center Ice

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hello and welcome. It's Milwaukee AdmiralsCenter. Ice'm Aaron Simms. Well,
the Milwaukee Admirals are on the road. They'll in Des Moines. They'll play
at Iowa tomorrow night day seven o'clockface off. Pregame coverage we'll start at
six point thirty here on the Bignine twenty and on your iHeartRadio app.
The Admirals are trying to get healthyonce again. Of course, Kevin Gravell,
the Admirals captain, returned to actionthis past weekend. The Admirals are

(00:23):
still without Liam Foodie, Jordan Gross, Reed Schaefer, Igor Afanasiev and also
without feeders Fetchkoff, although it seemsthat a couple of players are pretty close
to returning to the lineup very verysoon. So perhaps we see these players
in the lineup tomorrow, A coupleone, I'm not sure, Maybe they

(00:43):
wait till the weekend. But theAdmirals are getting healthier, and that certainly
is a good sign because we knowthat the team struggled a bit. They've
lost six players to injury and twoplayers to recall the parent club Nashville.
When you think about it, theAdmirals went nineteen and oh obviously to start
the year one franchise record nineteen gamewinning streak, and then it hit some
bad times. It went two andnine for a stretch before winning a couple

(01:07):
of games this past weekend over Henderson. But that stretch of two and nine,
and it's funny when you think aboutit, and this is a little
bit of a spin on my part, I admit that, But when you
think about it, the team sincethe beginning of the year up until this
past weekend, and let's throw inthis weekend now, twenty three and nine
in its last thirty two games.And if you told anybody that this team

(01:30):
would be or any team would betwenty three and nine in a span of
thirty two games, you would signup for that right now. A winning
percentage better than seven hundred, likeabsolutely one hundred percent. I am all
in on going twenty three and nine, but it was so heavily weighted,
obviously, with nineteen games in arow, and then you go four and

(01:51):
nine and you're thinking, oh,the world is ending. It's it's completely
different, and that's understandable, right, but think of it as a whole
twenty three to nine in thirty twogames. That's I know this is a
very positive spin. I understand that, but it's really been a good stretch
now. Yes, the team hasbeen struggling lately. The team is struggling

(02:13):
to score some goals. The teamhas been struggling special teams wise. There
are players that are out of thelineup. We mentioned that a moment ago,
but eventually these players will start tocome back. And we started to
see some life from the team thisweekend as they beat Henderson at Panther Arena
in a pair of games, ashootout win on Saturday and then the three
nothing win yesterday, Yaroslava Skaroff pickingup his sixth shutout of the season and

(02:38):
his ninth in his AHL career.So a good weekend. The Admirals go
two and two this past week,and they've got another busy week coming up.
The win yesterday was a big one. It was the Admiral's fortieth win
of the season. They're the firstteam in the Western Conference to reach that
milestone. The Admirals getting back toback wins for the first time since February
twenty second through the twenty fourth.Those were wins number eight, eighteen,

(03:00):
and nineteen during the franchise record nineteengame winning streak, the second longest winning
streak in the history of the AmericanHockey League. The wins yesterday pushed the
Admirals lead to eight points in theCentral Division over second place Grand Rapids,
and the teams have played the sameamount of games sixty for Milwaukee sixty for
the Griffins. Rockford has played fiftynine. They have sixty five points.

(03:23):
The Admals have a sixteen point leadover third place Rockford, seventeen points over
fourth place Texas, and twenty threepoints over fifth place Manitoba. The top
five teams make the playoffs in theCentral Division, four versus five in the
first round, and then the winnerof that series will take on the top
seed in the second round, whileseeds two and three will play one another.

(03:43):
In the Pacific Division, the topseven teams make it so because there
are ten teams in that division.So the Admirals have positioned themselves pretty well.
Now. The Admirals are seventeen pointsaway from clinching the Central Division title.
That's points earned and points lost byGrand Rapids. The Admirals are again
fairly comfortable. They're sixteen points aheadof Rockford, so it's pretty much coming

(04:05):
down to the Admirals and the GrandRapids Griffins. The Griffins can get up
to ninety seven. The Admirals needto get ninety eight to certainly clinch.
There's tie breakers involved all of that, but seventeen points is the number.
The Admirals are thirty seven points awayfrom clinching the Western Conference, so that's

(04:26):
points earned by Milwaukee and points lostby Coachella Valley. Coachella Valley's needs thirty
three points. That's their magic number, and that's the second best number,
the best number the Admirals, thesecond best number, So Coachella Valley has
the best odds at the moment towin the Western Conference. Coachella Valley is
thirty eight thirteen to five and fouron the season, and it's going to

(04:50):
be a heck of a race comingdown to the end. The win yesterday
for Milwaukee head coach Carl Taylor washis one hundred and ninety seventh as the
head coach of the Milwaukee Admirals,so that's pretty special. The remaining schedule
for the Admirals, we'll get intothat a little bit later on in the
show. This is a show we'vetaped a lot of the segments already coming
up. We'll hear from former Badger'shockey assistant, men's hockey assistant and National

(05:15):
Champion player, player and as acoach, Marco Seki. He's now a
scout for the Pittsburgh Penguins. We'lltalk with Mark in a little bit.
Also from with Devin Cooley, whohas played two games now for his hometown
San Jose Sharks, the former Admiralsgoaltender. I spoke with him on Friday
before his game Saturday night. Helost in overtime five to four to Chicago
Saturday playing for the Sharks, butI spoke with Devon on Friday, so

(05:38):
you'll hear that conversation and you'll hearjust how joyful he is to be in
the National Hockey League. And inthis segment a lot of different comments from
a lot of different people. We'regoing to start things off with Admiral's head
coach Carl Taylor after yesterday's game andhow good the win was. We're also
going to hear from Admirals forward WadeAlice talking about his time his short time

(06:01):
so far with Milwaukee, and alsoa young man by the name of Nick
Staffcheck he played goaltender for MSOE MilwaukeeSchool of Engineering the last four years,
and yesterday, because of a callup for that, Vegas had to call
up a goaltender, Yuri Petera fromHenderson to Las Vegas. Vegas, Henderson,
excuse me, needed an emergency backup, and Nick Stoffcheck, who just

(06:26):
finished his career at MSOE, gotthe call. So we'll visit with Nick
Stoffcheck too, coming up, butwe're going to start things off right now.
With comments from Admirals head coach CarlTaylor after yesterday's game, Yaroslava Scaroff
was sharp to begin the game.That helped and then you guys kind of
took over and it was you justwent through and got a good win here
tonight. Yeah, we'll take towin and move on. I thought,

(06:46):
you know, the ice conditions again, it was a little rough bout there.
We've had a I don't know ifhaving the floor covered for ten days
was a little rough, but forboth teams, kind of a slow game,
but ask he was good early.He had to make a couple of
saves there that I'm blowing coverages byus, so gave us a chance get
our legs underneath us. And thenI thought we played pretty well. You

(07:06):
said slow and then the puck wasbouncing around and everything like that. But
one of the keys from last night'sgame was you wanted to play with more
pace, a quicker game. Didyou get that done today? Yeah,
I think somewhat. You know,it's the guys had lots of energy today.
I liked their mindset, a lotof talking on the bench, a
lot of rewards for the fellows,blocking shots, a lot of guys engaged.

(07:29):
And you know, it's great tosee Zach get rewarded. He's been
a little snake bitten with production,so I'm happy he's back on it.
But the group had good energy.They were prepared to get a win.
They're gonna find a way. Andthen obviously ask he gave us a chance
early and then I thought we dida pretty good job throughout the game.
Yeah, he managed it well.Roland McEwan said in the first intermission when
asked why the penalty kill has beendoing a good job the last couple of

(07:50):
days, and he said, becauseKevin Gravella is back. That's a big
piece back in your line up heretonight. Yeah, for sure. You
know what he's he's a leader,and he's obviously our captain and the guy
that runs the room him for us. There's other guys in there that are
big pieces, but he's definitely theguy that eats pucks. I've never seen
a guy eat bucks like him onthe flank regardless of who's shooting. He's
sacrificing his body and that's why hegot injured. So, you know,

(08:13):
huge piece coming back in tough onhim. He hasn't played for a while,
hasn't had a lot of skates.You know, people don't realize how
hard that is on someone coming backfrom that. You know, he's he's
battling ivs between periods, doing whateverhe's got to do to be ready.
And really proud of him and it'sawesome to have him back in the locker
room. Well, and you gotto do it on the I'm sorry,

(08:33):
you got to do it on theroad again here now with the IOWA on
Tuesday night. So back on thebus. You have to load up the
IV on the bus tomorrow. Yeah, they stuck this game in here on
us. So whatever it is,what it is. So we'll get on
the bus tomorrow and going prepared forthis opportunity to play Iowa. It's another
team who's gonna be fighting for theirlives, trying to climb back in and
catch Manitoba. Very desperate situations.So we've got to make sure we're prepared

(08:58):
for that. But we might takea rough here and just try to recover
from today. Absolutely, good weekend, coach, thanks for the time,
Thanks sir. So that's Admiral's headcoach, Carl Taylor, and now we'll
move on to Admirals forward Wade Allison. Well Addams forward Wade Allison. Good
weekend for the team. It's goodto get back in the winning track here.
Back to back wins something I mean, you weren't here, but it
hasn't happened for a while around here. It's been a month since the nineteen

(09:18):
game winning streak. Yeah, Imean we're getting back to the game that
we know we can play, andwe're starting to trust each other again and
be there for each other's support.And yeah, I mean we got the
result we're looking for this weekend.I want to talk about your success and
the shootouts and just curious, youdon't have to give away any trade secrets.
I'm not asking you to do that. But how many moves do you
have because you've had great success thisyear and in your career. Never run

(09:41):
out, never run out. Yeah, it's been Yeah, just put imagination
is the only thing limiting you.Yeah, just put the pucket on that.
It's pretty simple. So is itsomething you read the goalies? Do
you have scouting reports? What happens? Just put the puck in the net,
no matter what it takes. Youcan't give away any secrets. It's
fair enough, fair enough. Nowyou got the bus trip to Iowa.
Big game. Is every game likea playoff game at this point or is

(10:01):
it just fine tuning because you've clinchedthe spot. Yeah, I mean every
every game is the same, right, we prepare to win every game,
so it's uh, it doesn't matterif it's right now, if it's playoffs,
we're tightening up. We're figuring thingsout here so that when playoffs do
hit, we're playing the ads hockeythat we know we're capable of playing.
And uh, I mean we're stilltrying to win every game, right,

(10:22):
I mean, that's that's the objectiveof putting the equipment on, right,
I mean, we play to win, So that's uh, that's what we're
looking to do. You know.It's what's great is you've been eight games
here and you said we're playing adshockey. I love that you've embraced it
right away here. That's I mean, what else are you gonna do?
But you've embraced it right away.This is where you are, where your
feet are. Yeah, yeah,I mean I'm grateful to be here.
You know, everybody's been so sogood and welcoming and yeah, I mean
I already feel like I'm I'm partof the team. Right. It didn't

(10:45):
take very long for guys to Yeah, everybody comes up to me now.
It's it's great, man. Igot a lot of a lot of new
friends here, a lot of reallyreally really good people here, and I
can see why we win so often. Right. It's it's a team that
connects well, and it team thatconnects well off the ice, right,
So that translates translates on the ice. So it's something I'm really grateful to

(11:07):
be a part of. So that'sAdmirals forward Wade Allison. And now we
hear from yesterday's emergency backup from Msoeplayed for Henderson yesterday, dressed for Henderson
yesterday. Nick Stoffcheck joined by Henderson'semergency backup from Sunday Night, Nick Stoffcheck.
What was that experience, Like,you played four years at MSOE.
I mean, let's get into thatfirst. You play at MSOE, great

(11:30):
school, great hockey school. Well, choosing to come there and play there
was that? What was that decision? Like? Yeah, no, so
I was started my decision process duringCOVID, so I was pretty limited on
where I could go. I visitedsome schools out east when I played in
juniors, and then I came upto Milwaukee and I toured the campus a
little bit, obviously as much asyou can during that time, and Graham

(11:50):
Johnson, the head coach, justhad a fantastic attitude, really nice guy,
fantastic coach, and it just madean easy decision. It was close
to home, so my parentarents cancome, they can come for games all
the time, and it's a fantasticschool that leads a lot of opportunities for
after So it was kind of ano brainer. And yeah, I couldn't
be happier that I had the rightchoice. So real quick, before we

(12:11):
get into more hockey, is thecareer on the way or are you finishing
up. Where are you at inyour academic career? Yeah, so I'm
graduating in May, and I've gota job lined up right after that,
so I'm somewhat set. And Iwas obviously retired from competitive hockey for about
a short month or two and thenI got right back into it. But
it was it was absolutely awesome.So how does this happen? Hey,
let's get a backstory. Aid andHill gets injured Saturday night for Vegas in

(12:35):
the NHL, So Uri Peterra whostarted against Milwaukee is recalled Henderson. This
is their only game remaining on thetrip, so they need to get somebody
in. So how does it cometo you? Yeah, that's a good
question. I don't know too muchof the background. I just know that
they look usually in the area forany goalies. And I actually played with
Brandon tour who is Harris's Harris tourson, so that was kind of a

(12:56):
connection. They asked, Hey,can this kid, you know, actually
do it? Brandon works for Yes, he works for Vegas, so he's
very tight knit with them. Andyou know, I had my head coach
call me at eight am this morningand I was like, oh crap,
what did I do it's after theseason, like, there's no way.
But now he was just asking ifI would, you know, be the
emergency backup. And that's just kindof how it went. So what was
the experience like for you? Notone that I can really put into words.

(13:20):
You know, I played Fresh Office, by the way we're talking immediately
after all of this happened. No, you know, I played in some
bigger venues growing up, just randomplaces, and I played a couple I
played a couple of games, soI sent a couple of weekends at the
USHL, But there's really nothing likethis. And knowing you know, most
of these guys have or will playin the NHL is a cool experience to
have for the rest of my life. And I know my family and most
of my teammates were here getting excitedas well, So that's awesome. Yeah.

(13:43):
So I was going to say,did you have an eight? You
found out at eight am? ButI was wondering if, and like you
said, your your parents are nearby, so for everybody to get here,
that's pretty special. Yeah. No, they when I called him, they
thought I was joking, and alot of guys on the team were like,
are you being serious? And Iwas like, yes, I am.
They'll have to come and see foryourself. So now I have a
good support and the reason I'm hereis them, So I can't really,
you know, thank them enough.In the fact that they came up on

(14:05):
such short notice is awesome, andI know it's I think my mom said
she got about five hundred pictures,so that will be memorable. And yeah,
it's really an experience I can't evenput into words right now, you
get any souvenirs out of this otherthan the memories, what do you take
from you? Yeah? No,I got a couple of warm up shirts
and some shorts, so that's alwaysreally, I mean, just the opportunity
in itself is more than enough forme. And you know, I don't

(14:26):
need any any flashy things. Andyou know, it'll be interesting to look
back on and be like, yeah, I sat in an HL game and
surrounded by X player Y player.You know, it's awesome. Now you
got to kind of maybe switch allegiancesto wherever you had it before in the
NHL. Now it's like, hey, I know that guy, that guy.
Yeah no, I am a blackHawks fan, but and now I'll
definitely be rooting for Henderson and youknow Vegas as well. They're very successful

(14:50):
and they have a lot of guysin that locker room that are really good
hockey players. Yeah, there's nodoubt about that. And and the cool
thing now like elite prospects whatever,it'll always say Henderson, Silver Knights next
to your name out there, right. It's not a bad place to end
up if anybody looks me up tothe big how the there's no way a
D three and goes to ahild Butyou know what, sometimes it's better just
not ask questions and you just rollwith it. So place right time,

(15:11):
there's something to it, right Yep, absolutely, congratulations. I'm glad this
happened for you. I I'm gladyou enjoyed the experience. Yep, absolutely,
thank you so much. So that'sNick stopfcheck. Impressive young man.
Just finished his senior year at MSOEas a goaltender there. He was the
emergency backup for Henderson yesterday. We'regoing to take a break. When we
come back, we'll hear from formerAdmirals goalie now San Jose Sharks goaltender Devin

(15:31):
Cooley. You're listening to Milwaukee AdmiralCenter Ice welcome back. It's Milwaukee Admirals
Center ice. The last couple ofseasons, the Milwaukee Admirals have had success
that they haven't had in nearly twentyyears, and a big reason for that
was the play of our next guest, Devin Cooley. He recently made his
National Hockey League debut with his hometownbasically San Jose Sharks, and he joins

(15:54):
us now. Congratulations Devin, andthanks for doing this. I really appreciate
it. How's everything. Every thing'sgot to be just sunshine and roses right
now? Huh oh, yeah,thank you and yeah, things are going
pretty good. It's definitely a littlebit of a dream come true and it's
nice to be back home. Thishas been an interesting season for you.
You're a free agent after playing twofantastic years in Milwaukee. So you're a

(16:18):
free agent. You get to kindof decide where you want to go,
see who wants you, look foryour best opportunity, and then you get
traded and then you make your NHLdebut. Has it been kind of a
roller coaster up and down when youthink of all the things, or has
it been all positive? And Ivalue the experienced type of thing. Oh
my gosh. Yeah, it's beena complete roller coast service season. Like

(16:40):
leading up to the trade, Iwas like just not really happy with the
whole situation, Like I was havingnot the best year, you know.
I was actually like having a careerlow year, and I was like,
man, I was just getting frustrated, you know, I wasn't really sure
what to do. And then allof a sudden, I'm like over item
getting traded and you know, makingmy NHL debut. So it's crazy how

(17:03):
quickly things change, you know,in this career. But I tell you
what, being around you for thelast couple of years, nobody works harder
than you and your I mean youyou can hear the positivity in your voice
right now. Even you would neverknow. I don't think outsiders would ever
know that you're having a bad dayand what you just said, things can

(17:23):
change in a heartbeat, and Ithink you understand that do as well as
anybody I've ever encountered. Yeah,yeah, oh, thank you. And
yeah, that's kind of just likemy mindset because like there's so much stuff
that you can't control, and there'sa lot of things I wasn't happy with,
you know that I couldn't control andso the only thing that I would
just do every single day was justcontinue to work hard as I possibly can

(17:45):
and continue to do everything right,and you know, hopefully, like you
know, something would change or somepositive would start to come out of it.
And you know, it ended upa lot of positive came out of
it, you know. And luckily, like when I traded, and when
I got traded and then called up, you know, to the NHL,
I felt ready because I was eventhough I wasn't playing much, you know,

(18:07):
in Rochester, I was still grindingevery single day, you know,
hopefully to get an opportunity. Andnow I'm getting my opportunity. So that
getting that opportunity, that's what everybodywants, right, So now do you
have to reset the goals in yourlife and in your career? Yeah?
I mean like everybody talks about,you know, oh, you got to

(18:32):
have you got to have a dreamor a goal to like to reach after
and blah blah, and every everyhockey player growing up is like, oh,
I want to make the NHL.I want to make the NHL.
And you know, once you achievethat, it's kind of like okay,
well, like what what's next?And I think like my approach to it
has always been it's not about theend goal or the dream or whatever.

(18:55):
It's instead it's you've got to fallin love with the process and fall in
love with the work. And yourdream should be the best goalie that you
could like for me, being thebest goalie that I can possibly be,
and whatever comes out of that isjust a bonus, you know. And
so that's continued. That's that's beenmy dream, and that's been my goal,

(19:17):
you know, since I've gone pro, and I'm going to continue doing
that and just continue to be inlove with just the game of hockey and
being in love with you know,coming to the rank and working every single
day. And you know, ifyou know playing in the NHL, you
know, is a byproduct of that, then that's absolutely incredible. You know
that's you say that so well.San Jose Sharks goaltender Devin Cooley, it's

(19:41):
so cool to say that San JoseSharks goaltender Devin Cooley joining us at Milwaukee
Admirals Center ice H So, whendo you find out that the trade is
one thing, but when do youfind out that you're going to finally get
in the in the net for anNHL game. Yeah, So I uh,
it was like the same day thatI was traded. My agent then
called me and was like, hey, I just spoke to San Jose.

(20:04):
The plan is for you to gostraight to the NHL and be with the
big club and get a few taxesand then play your first game. And
it was like I got smacked withthe trade, and I'm already kind of
freaking out telling my family and mygirlfriend was freaking out. My mom was
crying on the phone. And thenuh, and then right after that,

(20:26):
it's like, Okay, not onlyare you going to go to your hometown
team, but you're gonna play yourfirst NHL game. And so like the
whole week leading up to I knewI was gonna play, but I wasn't
sure which game it was going tobe. So it's just like a whole
week of like nerves and like tryand prepare myself mentally and try to get
all my family out and ready togo, you know, whenever I figured
out exactly which game I was goingto play, and then uh, yeah,

(20:49):
so just a crazy whirldwin. Youknow what's neat and playing for your
hometown team. You the the twoguys who came up in the Junior Sharks
program. Who have played for theSan Ju Sharks? Are you and Matt
Tennyson who played for the Admirals acouple of seas. That's just wild to
me. Yeah, yeah, itwas super cool. And I actually remember,
like when I knew Tenny was goingto be, you know, playing

(21:11):
for Milwaukee. I remember texting mydad and like, all, you never
believe, like, who's gonna beon the on the Admirals because I had
watched Tenny like growing up, andI had watched him when he was in
San Jose, Like I knew allabout him and stuff, like he obviously
didn't know me, you know,yet, But my dad thought it was
super cool. That's it's it's justan incredible coincidence, Devin Coolly joining us.

(21:33):
So you get in and of allplaces, it's Chicago, which is
close to Milwaukee, but uh,Chicago, the United Center. All I
mean, it's you know, they'rethey're playing there. There's an excitement in
Chicago. Now once again you're makingyour NHL debut. It's pretty cool to
get out there. Yeah. Itwas like obviously an amazing organization and an

(21:56):
amazing building to get your first gamein and then what even made it more
special was that I had sixteen membersof my family and my girlfriend's family there
as well, and so it's justa really special light. Was it a
big rush to get them there?I mean, had you had mentioned you
were talking about all of this,But how soon it advanced? Did you
know that the March seventeenth was goingto be your day? Yeah? I

(22:17):
had. It was like a coupleof days it advance, and my agency
was working with my family to likeprepare flights for like basically every scenario,
like every game. So when Icome fully confirmed that it was going to
be at Chicago, they had stuff, you know, ready to go.
And luckily my family didn't bother metoo much with any of that. My

(22:38):
agency did a really great job ofwork with my family handling it so that
way I could just you know,buy them the tickets and then just focus
on playing and not have those crazydistractions. And then yeah, for it
for everyone to be able to getoff work and make it out on time
was amazing. What you say aboutyour agency, though, is that common
practice. That's the first time I'veever heard somebody credit their agency with setting

(23:02):
things up like that. That's Imean, you you got a heck of
a group there. If that's thecase. Oh, yeah, they've been
They've been incredible through this entire process, and they handle a lot of stuff,
you know, off the ice aswell. Basically anything that you know,
could be a big distraction off theice or whatever, like they're they're
gonna help you handle it. Sothat way you could just focus on being
the best you can be on theice, because everybody benefits, you know,

(23:26):
if I can perform really well onthe ice. Uh. And yeah,
they've they've been amazing that They're anawesome group. You know. It's
so funny when people get traded andthey you probably get the question what do
you know about the team? Butwhen you get traded to your hometown team,
you always kind of have an eyethat way because, like you say,
your family's there, your friends,people you grew up with, So

(23:48):
the conversation will come up and therewill always be something. I know what
happens with me with when I goback to Minnesota. All my friends are
Minnesota fans, so we talk aboutMinnesota. It's got to be kind of
the same for you, you know, what was happening out in San Jose
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Andthe second, I've had so many people
reach out from like high school,you know, or kids that I grew

(24:08):
up with, or guys that Iplayed with in the youth, like ten
fifteen years ago, Like so manypeople reaching out just saying like congrats,
like we watched the game, sohappy for you, and so many people
reach out to like my parents too, and like, uh, it's just
it's really really cool and it's justamazing to be able to be home having
met your folks. I can imaginehow awesome it is for them, and

(24:30):
how many people are, like yousaid, it's got to be just fantastic.
Yeah, they were. They've justbeen, you know, on cloud
nine. And like I said,when I when I got the news that
I called my mom and she justimmediately burst into teer. She was so
excited, and yeah, I'm livingat my dad's house right now, like
not even staying at a hotel oranything. So it's it's it's awesome.

(24:53):
Devin coolly joining us in Milwaukee AdmiralCenter ICE. So what is next?
Well, before to get to that, we talked about stepping out there,
but you had to do the rookielap, right, I mean, what
what is all that like? Andleading up to the game, you know,
March seventeenth is your day that thewaiting is the hardest part, right
Yeah, Oh my gosh, thebuild up was so hard for me.

(25:17):
I had to like every single mindtechnique that I've learned over years to like
calm nerves and calm anxiety and stufflike. I was pulling everything that I
could possibly do to get myself torelax. And like during the warm ups
and the rookie lab, like mylegs are shaken, like no, nonstopped.
It was like crazy. I wasdoing stuff in the warm ups that
I've never even done ever, andI'm like, why am I going this?

(25:41):
You know, just because I hadso much, like so many emotions
going on. And then as soonas the game started, I just like
locked in and it just felt likea normal game again, and I felt
like really comfortable. But yeah,the build up was was definitely really challenging.
That we talked so much about that, and we talked about that when
you were here in Milwaukee playoff gamewhatever. You just once you get that

(26:03):
first shot, everything just locks rightback in, right, yeah, exactly.
And I kept telling myself that waslike, just make the first save,
make the preada, you know,and luckily I made the first one
and then it was it was goodfrom there. It's a good time of
year in the fact that San Joseis working on a lot of things,
trying to find combinations that work.There's no twenty two to twenty three man

(26:27):
roster right now, so you're upprobably I'm assuming for the rest of the
season, right or is and nothing'sguaranteed. I guess, yeah, nothing's
guaranteed in pro hockey. But I'mgoing to get another opportunity to play again
tomorrow against the Blackhawks again actually soit's but at home. Yeah, but

(26:49):
at home, so that'll be reallyspecial. And you know, right now,
I think for the organization, it'sjust like, you know, they're
not playing for a playoff spot oranything, but everybody's everybody's playing for,
you know, their own careers,and uh, I like management and coaches,
they want to see guys and giveguys opportunities and see, you know,
how they're able to perform with thoseopportunities. And so right now I'm

(27:11):
just you know, coming to workor coming to the rink and or working
as hard as I can every singleday and trying to make the most of
this opportunity and hopefully things go welland then you know, just take it
one day at a time. Well, and so you talk about making your
debut, what's it going to belike to play at home? Yeah,
that's gonna be I think the coolestpart is going to be scanning out of

(27:33):
the shark's head. They have comedown for the overening ceremony. That's that's
gonna be the coolest thing for sure. And I think that should be a
good crowd tomorrow, and my family'sgoing to come to and uh, it's
going to be pretty special, justlike you know every day that I'm hearing
you know, and and just Imean, you can't let yourself fall into
this, I guess because it's ajob and all of that, but like

(27:56):
think of all the kids that yougrew up with that would love to be
in this spot, and like it'sjust really surreal, isn't it to play
to not only to not only bein the in the professional ranks is one,
but two to do it for yourhometown team. Yeah. And like
I've had like a gang guys Iplayed with in youth just being like he's

(28:18):
living all of our dreams right now, I can't in You're just like so
they've been so you know, happyand supportive of me, and it's just
I feel like every day I gotto pinch myself, you know, because
it still doesn't really feel real.It's I'm I'm just so grateful for for
every day that I have here.Well, I tell you what I'm gonna
I'll let you go here. Butlike I said before, there's a lot

(28:40):
of people here in Milwaukee that arerooting so hard for you. They're just
thrilled for you. You were sucha big part of this team. Nobody
worked harder. We all saw thatin practice and games, and we're just
we're just thrilled for you. I'mthrilled for you. It's it's so deserved
and so earned and and all thebest. I hope you. I hope
you win the rest of your gamesin your career. Oh, thank you

(29:02):
so much. I really appreciate yourtime. Devin, all the best.
We'll talk soon. Sounds good,All right, that's Devin Cooley. We'll
take a break, come back withmore. You're listening to Milwaukee Admiral Center
ICE. Welcome back to Milwaukee AdmiralCenter. Ice. I'm Aaron Sims joined
now by one of my favorite people. I've known him for a long time
at the University of Wisconsin. AndI hesitate to say this because you and

(29:22):
I are not that much different whenit comes to age. But I grew
up watching this guy in high schoolplaying at Burnsville in Minnesota. Mark Oseek
now a Scott with the Pittsburgh Penguins. First off, I want to ask
you. You've coached for so long, and I'm curious what it's like the
transition before we talk about casting forkids, the transition from coaching and the
day to day stuff there to whatit's like for you scouting. How do

(29:45):
you enjoy it? You know,it's been really interesting to take a step
back. Actually, Donny Gernado gaveme some advice this year is take a
step back and get into the rinksand see people that you've been able to
speak with for a long period oftime but haven't seen. That part's been
really enjoyable for me to walk intoa rink and be able to sit down
and chat with people that I haven'tseen in a long period of time.

(30:07):
And we're talking high ups like GM'sassistant GMS and people like that where you
end up talking on the phone ortext or emails, but never really get
to spend any time with. Soit's been fun to take a step back
that way and enjoy the game beingin the rank. I love being in
a rink. It's a lot differentnot having any touches with players, you
know. So I've been I coachedfor about twenty seven to twenty nine years,

(30:29):
and all of a sudden, I'vebeen asked this question a lot of
late and I met. What Ido miss is the direct contact with working
with defensemen. That's been a littlebaby of mine and I feel like I've
been very successful at that and Imiss that right now, Like I've got
to that point now where I missedthat personal touch with that player and the
development side of it. So we'llsee where it takes me. It's been

(30:52):
great, like I said, tobe in the rink and see people I
real quick. Before we move onto casting for kids, I want to
say one more thing. You hada goalie he won the championship in Green
Bay twenty five years ago, andyour goalie was drafted by Nashville, which
I didn't realize was a seventh roundpick. Of the Predators. You also
had John Eichelberger, I think,on that team, ended up playing at
the University of Wisconsin. Was adraft pick. They were both drafted in

(31:15):
the seventh round. Do you knowwhich Hall of Fame goaltender was selected between
the two of them? That's aloaded question. I have no idea.
And Rick Lundquist was selected between thetwo? How about that? That's a
piece of That's a great trivia question, that's for sure, and I'd like
to give that back to those twoguys. I was amazed when I saw
that casting for kids. You're whatyear six or year seven? We're on

(31:37):
seven, but year six have actuallybeen able to do the event because of
COVID, the one you were toshut down. So explain what it is
like, you said, year seven, How did it get started and what
is it all about? You know, it got started because my passion for
fishing, but also doing a radiointerview and talking hockey and outdoor fishing.
And I ended up staying on theline afterwards the one interview and just ask

(32:01):
the question what would it take tostart a tournament a charity event? We
talked about a little bit, didanother interview, probably late December, the
first year we started it, threeof us stayed on the line and we
said, let's just start it.These guys that I was talking with an
outdoor radio show and one is afull time guide, and he's like,

(32:21):
I'll be able to round out someguides. Let's just start it and see
what happened. So the first yearwe started, I think we ended up
having like thirty five or forty fiveboats. We targeted muskie only, but
then we smartened up real quick thatpeople didn't want to go out there and
pound it just for muskie. It'snot at times, it's not that much
fun to sit out there and castand not see anything. So we switched

(32:42):
that and opened up to all species. It's been awesome. All our proceeds,
all our net proceeds go to theChildren's American Family Children's Hospital and then
UW Carbone Cancer Center. It's allresearch for pediactric cancer. So it obviously
cancer. You bring that up,you talk children, it hit home.
It hits home for so many differentpeople. And that's the sad thing,

(33:02):
right, I mean, and it'sthe great thing that you're doing, but
it's you can't you don't know anybodythat hasn't been touched by this thing whatsoever.
No, And then all of asudden this year really hits home close
to home when Tony Grnando gets diagnosedwith non Hodgkins and you know he's battling
that right now, and he's beenhelpful in our event and drawing people there

(33:22):
and making big donations or finding away to obtain different items. So you
know, you can't mention that word, and it's going to hit home.
So when Mark Osek joining us,it's Milwaukee Admiral Center. ICE registration is
open right now? Correct? Andwhen is it and where is it?
Yes? May eighteenth. This yearit takes place on the Channel Lakes in

(33:45):
Madison. We do the dinner auctionat the Align Energy Center, the convention
part of it. It's turned outto be incredible. Last year we had
about seventy four boats and just shortof five hundred people there. So this
year we're we're going to target ateighty boats, cut it off at that
point and we'll probably have five hundredpeople at the event. And it's open

(34:06):
online. You can go casting forthe number four Kids dot org and all
the informations online. People bring theirown boats then or is it. Are
there rentals? What do you do? Great question? We do both.
So a lot of people will bringtheir own boats. I shouldn't say a
lot, there's quite a few peoplethat will bring their own boats. And
then we're really flexible how many peopleare going to be in that boat if
they're going to bring their own Ifthey do need a boat and a guide,

(34:30):
we provide that and typically we havetwo people that go fishing with that
guide, and that guide obviously prepareshis boat, has all the resources with
the fishing gear, rods, reels, all the gear. We provide a
little bit breakfast stuff and lunch andthen dinner afterwards with a fast moving,
fast paced live auction event where webring an auctioneer, actually Marty one Auctioneer

(34:54):
of the Year this year, soit's actually pretty pretty entertaining. You mentioned
this different species that you can fishfor. Is it per boat or can
I? If you and I arefishing, you can get musky, I'll
get walleye. Whatever it might be. We try to do a per boat.
It's not we don't really it's athe fishing part. Hopefully you catch
fish and put some smiles on faces, but it's really not about winning that

(35:15):
event. It's about raising the awarenessand raising the funds. We do give
unreal nice trophies that are hand craftedout of wood, carved out of wood.
So but what we do is tryto have one boat. You can
fish for multiple species, but thenregister one for one of the species when
you go and do you have tofish? Could you talked about the dinner

(35:36):
and all of that stuff. DoI need to be out in a boat
to get in part of that oris that kind of a separate thing.
I can come to the banquet ifI want to afterwards. You can come
to the banquet, dinner auction rightaway. Afterwards we do a happy hour
and I'm round numbers around two o'clockand we'll get people in, have a
happy hour, serve dinner right away, close that off, and then start
the event. And roughly it's seventyseventy five dollars for a dinner auction ticket

(36:00):
and it's definitely worth coming in withthe items like you guys provide a experience,
a fan experience where they can comeand watch a game, be a
part of the behind the scenes littletour. We have numerous NHL teams that
have done that, which has beenawesome. But the biggest one that we've
got going now is that we're startingto partner with the Lumacraft and we'll have
Last year we had a small likea resort boat that we gave away.

(36:22):
This year we're gonna raffle off probablya thirty six thousand dollars boat. So
but you get people have to cometo the event to be able to buy
a raffle ticket there for that,but it's pretty special. It's gonna be
pretty cool this year. Again,it's a May eighteenth in Madison. It's
awesome, and you mentioned raffle andstuff like that. There's also online stuff
too, so people again if they'relistening wherever they may be, they can

(36:45):
get online and bid on things wedo. We have this year. I
just finished uploading this past week aboutthirty different items up up online, which
is a process, and then wehave a gentleman that provides his time energy
to build the online auction. It'snot up and live yet. We'll probably
start that the first week in May. But again, if you go to

(37:07):
the website casting for the number fourkids dot org, all that information will
be on there and we usually runthat online auction through event. Groove is
the product that we use. It'slike with that is there like through your
phone like they can get text thingslike that. Everything. Yeah, everything
will be through your phone, throughthe email whatever, and you'll be updated.

(37:28):
So if you place a bid onthere, you'll automatically get updated if
your outbid. So very much likebeing you know, bidding on eBay or
for anything like that. Excellent,excellent casting. The number four kids dot
Org is where to go to signup. May eighteenth is the event.
I really appreciate. Am I missinganything by the way, No, the
biggest thing is just we want toget people and raise awareness for you know,
again, it's not about the fishingtournament. It's really about raising the

(37:51):
awareness for the cancer and the kidsand the families that are affected at the
children's hospital. This year, we'regoing to have Jeff Sanger and his son
Noah, who went through the hospital, former goaltender. They're going to come
and speak. They'll provide They're goingto do a video prepared beforehand, just
so it makes a little bit easierfor him them to speak. Then no
one will come up and speak atthe event, and obviously we'll probably have

(38:14):
Tony around there and he won't wantto speak, but I'll bring him up
on stage and have him speak aswell. Mark, thanks so much for
doing this. I appreciate the bestof luck. Yeah, thanks for having
me online, Mark Oseki. Again, Casting the Number four Kids dot Org
is where you can signed up.We'll come back in a moment. You're
listening to Milwaukee Admiral Center Ice onefinal time tonight, Milwaukee Admiral Center Ice.
I'm Aaron Sims. Want to thankour guests tonight and a reminder that

(38:36):
all of those were pre recorded eitheryesterday or the day before. I spoke
with Mark Oseki yesterday, and Iurge you to go check out Casting the
Number four Kids dot org and findout about the good work Mark is doing.
Help him raise money for cancer research, a really really cool thing,
and maybe you can get a boatin his event on May eighteenth. Again,

(38:57):
Casting the Number four Kids dot oris where you want to go for
that. Also thanks to Devin Cooley, the former Admirals goaltender played his first
two games in the National Hockey League. He's from the San Jose area.
He's just the second junior Shark tomake it to the NHL, the other
being for San Jose, I shouldsay the other being Matt Tennyson and coincidentally,

(39:20):
and as you heard in the conversationwith Devin, both of those two
played for the Milwaukee Admirals, Sopretty neat, and you can't help but
root for Devin Cooley. Devon isa guy who understood he was the backup
and behind Connor Ingram, and thenyou also have a scaroff. But I
tell you what, the Admirals don'tdo what they've done the last couple of
years if Devin Cooley isn't on theroster, Devon's work in practice, Devin

(39:44):
taking shots and helping guys warm upduring practice, and obviously winning games and
playing well when he was in.And think about it, until Devin Cooley
was a member of the Admirals,Milwaukee hadn't won a playoff series since twenty
eleven. Last couple of years.They have, of course last year,
making it all the way to theWestern Conference Final. So I'm not saying
that Devin is the reason for it, but he is a reason for it,

(40:06):
and he was a big part ofthis team and somebody that everybody around
here loved. I'm sure if youwere a fan, you love Devin Cooley
and rooted for him and you can'tagain, you can't help it root for
him. So we wish him allthe best with San Jose and hopefully he
has a long and prosperous National HockeyLeague career. We also heard in the
first segment a lot of comments Admiral'shead coach Carl Taylor after the game the

(40:30):
Admirals winning two straight for the firsttime in a month. Also heard from
Wade Allison, recently acquired he's playedjust a handful of games from Milwaukee,
but fitting in very nicely of course, had the shootout winner on Saturday in
the admirals two to one victory overthe Henderson Silver Knights. And also heard
from Nick Softcheck and Nick Stoffchek.Excuse me, Nick was a goaltender at

(40:52):
MSOE the last four years and yesterdaybecause of Vegas recalling Yeri Petera from Henderson,
the Silver Knights needed a backup goaltenderand Nick Staffzek, who played college
hockey with Harris Terror the Admiral's owner'sson, Brandon. Brandon is now a
member of the Hockey operation staff withthe Vegas Golden Knights, so that connection

(41:15):
and Nick still has his pads andI mean, you heard him tell the
story, but a really cool storyand somebody local you like to highlight that
kind of thing. A big weekfor the Milwaukee Admirals. They take on
Iowa tomorrow night. Iowa comes inwinners of three straight. They're in sixth
place. They want their playoff hopesto remain alive, so they'll know they'll

(41:35):
come out blazing, so the Admiralsin Iowa. It'll be the final meeting
between the Admirals and the Wild remaininggames, the Admirals have twelve remaining,
one with Iowa, one with Manitobathat'll be at Panther Arena, one with
Chicago that will also be at PantherArena. They have two with Texas those
will both be down in Cedar Park, and then coming up on Friday,
the Admirals play the first of theirfive remaining against Rockford. It'll be at

(41:59):
Panther As The Admirals host the IceHogs on the twenty ninth. It's an
Ian's Pizza Student Night, but it'salso a Sendix Dog Day number two.
You can bring your dog to thegame for five dollars. Three dollars will
be donated to Hawes of Walka Shawcourtesy of SENDICX. And so the Admirals
have five left with Rockford, twoat Panther Arena. Three in Rockford.
The Admirals have two remaining with GrandRappids. Grand Rapids will be in Milwaukee

(42:22):
on Saturday. You can get yourstate park pass, fishing license, and
much more as part of the AdmiralsDNR. You ready for summer plan promotion.
And also the first one thousand fanswill receive a license plate frame courtesy
of our friends at PCI. Sothat's the twenty ninth and thirtieth at Panther
Arena seven o'clock on Friday, sixo'clock on Saturday. I want to thank

(42:45):
you all for listening to Milwaukee AdmiralsCenter Ice tonight. We'll talk to you
tomorrow from Des Moines. Have agood evening.