04/01/24 - 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
Sims and the Admirals take four ofsix points last week magic number ten points
to clinch the Central Division. Certainly, it's not a nineteen game winning streak,
but it's a team that's gone througha lot of shifts and changes here
much like last season at this time, and is fighting away and fighting its

(00:21):
way and finding a way to getsome jobs done. I'll tell you what
I for one nothing hockey game.For a majority of that game, I
thought it was a great Yeah,I agree with you, And I mean
when he tired, it was likeall right, you know, But I
still had the same confidence I hadduring the streak that oh, we're gonna
we're gonna make it happen. Wedid. Yeah, exactly right here to
talk about that much more, Admiral'sassistant coach Scott Ford. Maybe maybe it

(00:42):
was that Iowa game, you guysdown three to one, and you and
I talked after the game. Itseems like that swagger was there, like
there's no way we're gonna lose thisboys, that kind of thing. Yeah,
I know, our guys have youknow, went through some up and
down here obviously with some injuries anddifferent call ups, with guys getting opportunity
you know, at the NHL level, and just an unfortunate time of year

(01:03):
for for after being on such agood streak, you know, to have
all of a sudden a lot ofthings occur kind of out out of your
control. So to have guys stepin and new faces in the lineup,
and and then maturation of some ofour younger guys learning to uh thrive and
in some of those tight games andsome of those kind of tough atmospheres,

(01:25):
it's been nice to nice to seeand it's i mean winning and getting those
results is always nice as well.Thought some of those games we played,
you know, extremely hard and hada lot of uh, you know,
positive things happen, and and forwhatever reason, we were on the losing
end where when we're when we hadthat good run, you know, we
found a way to come back.In games we did a lot of you

(01:47):
know, sometimes things got masked youknow by good goaltending. You know,
maybe we had a night of goodspecial teams, et cetera. So it's
it's been good to kind of getback on track and to have some success
because I know the guys have youknow, I've been pushing real hard for
it. It's always great to getguys back after their college get guys here
for the first time after their collegeand junior seasons, but you don't expect

(02:07):
to thrust them right into the lineupand they get them more right after they
get here. I mean, butin a in a couple of cases with
Campbell and Nansel, yeah, no, both of them. You know,
are I guess Hansel coming over fromColorado's organization, you know, third round
draft pick. He's he's got alot of moxie. I'm really impressed just

(02:27):
with you know, how he looksas a player on the ice. He's
he's quiet, in control and handleshimself well, he's got a little bit
of weight on him, and he's, uh, he's done a good job
in some kind of physical situations endingplays down low and and he does possess
some skill to to make a goodfirst pass and to to break down his
opponents. So I think, uh, you know, we'll see how it

(02:50):
goes with with him, but fromwhat I see, he did a real,
real good job. And then Campbelljust provides a little bit of a
little bit of speed and some shiftinessup front, with a decent skill set
as well, so he was ableto kind of jump right in and provide
us with a little more kind oftop six scale, I guess, up
front, with some power play touchesand some things of that nature. Carl

(03:15):
scott Ford joining us, I wantto you mentioned Jeremy Hansel here. This
is from the Elite Prospects twenty twentythree NHL Draft Guide, which I'm sure
you just comb over all the time. When Hansel has the puck, good
luck figuring out what's coming next.He fakes passes to shoot, fakes shots
to pass, and constantly throws outdifferent handling, different handling feints to confuse

(03:36):
defenders. Even as pressure leans onhim, he keeps up the deceptive act
to escape with the puck. Thenhe uses the inside, sets up entries
with two line passes through opponents andconstantly activates. Yeah, I mean he'll
take that. Yeah, no,I'll take that. And I mean I
think in the first couple of gamesI've seen some of that. I mean,
just some of its touches up topon the power play, like he

(03:57):
does, look off guys very well. He used this kind of head deception
and and his stick played as well, where he you know, basically,
like you said, fakes one wayand puts pucks in others. So he's
able to he's good. I mean, he's uh, he did some some
really good things for his first coupleof games out, so you know,
he's uh, he's definitely somebody towatch. Yeah, as as we go

(04:20):
forward, you know, we've we'vehad some been banged up. There's no
no, that's no sake. We'vebeen a little banged up. You've used
other guys. How how close doyou have to be to the playoffs to
be able to like make sure thatyou feel really good about what you have
as far as pairings and groups ofpeople in lines. I mean, I

(04:40):
guess as it goes here, we'llwe'll kind of figure that out. I
mean, this next stretch of tengames is gonna basically determine some guy's fates,
you know, whether they're on thatopening day roster for for the playoffs,
and and you know what kind ofcombinations and stuff we can have.
I mean, I hope, Ihope we can get a little bit healthier,
you know, up front, especiallyyou know, I think some of

(05:02):
our guys are close, but it'sit'd be nice to have some continuity here
for a few games, just toyou know, kind of solidify some some
kind of line up things like youalluded to. I mean, I think
having one or two guys in kindof to tests are basically to kind of

(05:24):
try as far as college free agentsor draft picks or things like that are
okay. But to have you know, five or six with our injury problem
and stuff like that, it's it'snot ideal, but I mean it's something
that we've been dealing with. Sothere we're hoping that guys will be healthy
that we can have you know,are solid, you know, basically one

(05:45):
through you know, first maybe throughthird lines, and then kind of piece
it together from there. But we'llsee what happens. I mean, it's
kind of out of our control,but it definitely would be nice. I
think our goaltending and our back endhave been probably as good as it's been
you know, for a while now, so hopefully we can kind of hold
strong and lug the mail in thatdepartment, and then as we get healthier

(06:08):
up front, well we'll kind ofsee where it goes from there. During
this stretch and you and I touchedbase on this, actually passing each other
in the hallway. One day SpencerStad's name Marked del Guiser were recalled injuries.
So on Adam Willsby is a guythat he's the forgotten man here in
Milwaukee. Maybe Marked del Guisa wasthat before, but Adam Willsby is kind

(06:30):
of forgotten about and and it's toobad, and we're getting to see him
at his best. I think rightnow he's he's taken over a lot that
he can rush the puck, hecan enter the zone, he can break
plays up. Like we're seeing AdamWillsby really blossom here, not that we
didn't see it before, but nowhe's starting to shine because of the absence
of the other two over the lastcouple of weeks. Yeah. No,

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I think he hit the nail onthe head. I mean he's very dynamic
player, just the way he movesand skates and his ability to kind of
break pucks out and using his legs, and and big thing is is defending.
I think, you know, youlook at a lot of the speed
and and moving kind of on theoffensive blue line and through the neutral zone,

(07:13):
but his ability to defend and killplays at the blue line and defend
one on one with with speed andand with you know, physicality, Like
he's not Nicholas cronwalling people. I'mat the line by any means. But
his movement patterns and the way he'sable to ride his edges, and how
explosive and how good of a skateris he's able to really get good body

(07:34):
positioning. Us utilizes a stick,you know, puts himself between the net
and his defender a lot, andand then from that he's able to you
know, break pucks out and pickpick pucks up off off breakouts with those
legs and and that positioning, andthen he just skates away from defenders with
that in mind. You know,you talk to goal with goaltending coaches,

(07:57):
and years ago it used to beyou're gonna play my goal. If there
was a goalie coach, it wasyou're gonna play my way, and that's
going to be it. So theybroke them down and they'd all they'd be
rebuilt. But in the mold ofthe of the goalie coach. The same
maybe for defenseman, right, itused to be, you know, crosscheck
a guy in front and hack himand whack them and all of this stuff
in front of the net. Foryou, then coaching is it kind of

(08:18):
the same thing as a goalie coach? Okay, this is what this guy
does well, So I'm gonna maybelet him or allow him to play it
this way because I know he getsthe job done this way. Or do
you want to try to mold themall sort of the same? Did you
watch me play? Yes? Wedid. I think it's like quite a

(08:39):
bit those who can't do teach.So I think every one of our guys
actually, you know, possesses someability to be able to skate and to
be able to you know, defendwith their legs. And and it's it's
not a kind of one size fifty. Don't need to lean on everybody all
the time. No, And it'snot a it's not you know, every
everybody has different attributes. Everybody has, you know, different things that they're

(09:01):
deficient at. And I mean,I think a big thing for me is
too you know, they all gothere because of you know X. They
were you know, either a verygood defender or a skater or a puck
mover. I think that that's importantand we don't forget that. We've focused
so hard on the deficiencies. Oh, he can't do this, You can't
do that. Where I want,I want to enhance what they're really good

(09:24):
at because that comes naturally. Yes, we'll work on the deficiencies, or
you insulate them with a partner orsomebody that that helps with that. And
it's I think it's for me.It's a been a good development model,
and it's helped our guys, youknow, feel comfortable and to be put
in situations that they already feel comfortablein and then they can allow their natural

(09:45):
skill level and their and their naturalability to take over and within you know,
working on some of the stuff thatmaybe they have to have to work
on and get better at. Youknow, I think what you just said
and you joked about have we watchedyou play, but think about the guy
that you sort of groomed here,the Victor Bartley, Roman, Yosi,
Ryan Ellis, guys who played withyou that were maybe I mean, they

(10:09):
weren't the biggest guys, right,but they had certainly a heck of a
lot of skill and were able tofigure things out as they matured as as
people and as players. And Iguess maybe that certainly that experience, we're
all a some of our experiences,right, but that experience is invaluable right
there. What you take from that'sone of those things you translate from playing

(10:30):
to coaching. Yeah, for sure. I mean it's uh, I've been
very fortunate. We've had, youknow a number of good defensemen come through
here that I got to learn fromas a player, and then now as
a coach. It's been fun toyou know, take that kind of kind
of next level of coaching, Iguess, you know, from from from
where I started and having basically comingon as a first time third assistant here

(10:52):
and working a lot, you know, on that forward side of it.
To be able to do this nowand to you know, really enjoy and
have fun kind of molding some ofthese guys and just kind of moving them
along, it's been it was awesomeas a as a player to you know,
have your d partner, have somebodyon the back end get their first
call up and you know have maybea little bit of a part in that.

(11:15):
And then now as a coach tosee these guys start to mature and
develop kind of under your guidance andhelp, and to see them get to
play their first NHL games and guysget to go up, or maybe guys
that have came here from other organizationsand you kind of give them a second
second, you know, revitalization intheir career and get them believing again and

(11:35):
get their game back to kind ofwhere it was where someone believed in them
again. And it's just it's somethingthat I kind of pride myself on and
it's something that we everybody in ouron our staff really enjoys that is coming
here and basically trying to guide andtrying to really push these guys to reach

(11:56):
their maximum potential. And I meanthat's kind of the icing on the cake.
You know when you get that thatcall from from Nashville from our GM
and you know they tell you forthe first time that you know player X,
Y or Z or whatever is isgoing up. I mean, there's
nothing more special than that. Andto be able to make that phone call

(12:16):
to that player and you know,it's it's really special. During our nineteen
game winning s week, we alwaysfound it seemed to find a different way
to win every night and it wasentertaining in fun and different and even the
ones we've picked up recently, Iwill say I have not seen as play
as physical as we did on Saturdaynight in a really long time on home

(12:37):
ice. In the fact that thereare a lot of highlight reel hits,
I mean there, I mean therewere there were some, there were plenty
of hits, but there are somesignificant highlight reel hits. Is that something
you guys have stressed more going aswe go on or is it? I
think so? I think we've we'vestressed the fact that we have to play,
you know, a certain way nightlywhere you know, compete has to

(12:58):
be a at the forefront. Wehave to you know, compete on loose
pucks, try to win fifty tofifty battles and get involved and engaged in
the game. And if that meansyou know, you're you're playing on a
line that you need to get pucksdeep and manage, manage you know,
the puck two hundred feet from ournet, and and be physical, then

(13:18):
so be it. If And butwhat I mean, what I've liked is,
you know, you have guys like, you know, a little Azzi
wisblat, even Cami has been good. Like the guys guys that are maybe
undersized players, they've they've bought inas well. I mean they're going to
the net better, they're being youknow, more physical that it's just it

(13:39):
becomes contagious. I mean if youhave guys doing it throughout the lineup and
are kind of paying the price withthose little things, whether it's finishing checks,
blocking shots, I don't know,just doing doing those kind of things
that go unnoticed maybe to the casualfan. I mean it's big. You
can guys get up on the benchthat you can hear their communication. Guys

(14:01):
are excited, they're they're cheering,they're cheering one another on and I mean
it's not Yeah, you get excitedfor highlight real goals and for you know,
tic tac toe passing plays and thingslike that. But the little stuff
that goes unnoticed sometimes is the mostimportant things that you know, really bring
a team together in the locker room. And we we've had that a lot

(14:22):
this year, and unfortunately, youknow, we went through a stretch where
maybe it was it was tougher tocompete in some of those situations. I
think a huge piece of the puzzleis having Kevin Grabell back in the lineup.
I mean, our record with himout of it obviously, you know,
spoke for itself not very good.And just to have that leadership.

(14:45):
He's you know, he's not he'snot the most overly physical guy, but
the amount of space he takes upand what he provides at a defending level,
and how he can kill plays andclose on defenders, the blocking on
the penalty kill things of that nature. I mean, he's he's, you
know, a huge part of ourteam, and I mean he's having him

(15:07):
back just I think it really putssome energy in our in our group and
he and he's been leading by example. Admiral's assistant coach Scott Ford joining us
in Milwaukee Admirals Center ice. Whatyou said about the forwards and what Wojo
said about the big hits and allof that this last game, has there
been and I hesitate to say,but has the Are you going through an

(15:30):
identity shift now from what you werefifteen games ago to what you are now
because of the personnel that that ishere currently? Do you have to go
through a shift or is it justagain players playing to their strengths and and
doing what they do. I mean, we when Ozzie came over here,
we everybody said, Ozzie's a guythat's gonna he'll hit guys into the wall

(15:52):
like he's he's a little spark plugout there. No, you've seen it.
I mean, I agree there.We have had to adapt, but
it's it's tough. I don't wantto say it's a lineup or a personnel
thing. I think it's a it'sjust guys have kind of realized now that
it's ramping up before playoffs, everyteam we play is battling for position.

(16:15):
You know, we've been fortunate withthe cushion we we gave ourselves that.
You know, it was it waslike, all right, we're we're going
to make the playoffs, that's noquestion. Now we're scratching, inclined to
hold on to home ice in thefirst place. But like it now,
when it's ramped up and the intensityand increases, other teams they're they're fighting

(16:38):
for their lives. So we're gettingteams best. So this is just part
of this is the evolution of aseason. Yeah, I think this is
just it's getting hard. It's gettinghard to get to the inside, it's
getting hard to get to the frontof the net. It's getting it's just
getting tough to win hockey games.And you've seen the scoring go down.
You've seen I mean other that's gettingthump the other night five line or but

(16:59):
that was you know, circumstantially,Yeah, that's a two to one at
worst, right right, So wehad the rest of the games have been
just they've been they've been gritty,you know, tough to score playoff style
games, and I mean, we'rewe're trying to push our guys to understand
that isn't going to get any easier. And when we have nights like we

(17:21):
did the other night and you seewhat you see them us play that hard
and you see that compete level,Now can we do it again? Then?
Can you do it again? Thencan And that's what ends up recurring
in the playoffs. So it's we'retrying to push our guys to have that
consistency and that high level of competeand physicality all the way through because it
then it just becomes second nature andyou're not trying to find that next gear.

(17:44):
It was five of eleven, nowit's four of nine games against Rockford.
Do you treat these like many playoffs? Or is every game like a
playoff game now as you ramp intolegitimate playoff series or is or maybe just
the Rockford because you play them fourtimes now in the next nine games.
Do you treat them that way oris it another game for us to fine
tune and tweak and be ready forApril twenty eighth. Roughly, Yeah,

(18:07):
No, I think it's I thinkit's a little of both. I think,
just like I said, our recordlately hasn't been hasn't been fantastic.
So I think we're just trying tofind consistency in our game and and in
our group, and and then obviously, like like you said, we play
for the next nine We can kindof treat it like a little bit of
a mini series where Okay, wewe need to maybe tweak the special teams

(18:30):
a little bit, or we needto maybe do it a little bit of
an adjustment here or there, becausewhen you do see the same opponent continuously,
you can kind of emulate it likea series. And who knows,
we might see them too. Soit's no, it's it's exciting. It's
definitely. It's definitely been a grindlike you like you've seen, and we're

(18:52):
trying to trying to keep the trainon the tracks and and and really develop
some consistency here. So is itfun? Oh, it's always fun.
Because somebody says to me the otherday, you know, and as you
get older, they're like, howmuch how many more years you got doing
this or whatever? Right they're askingme, And I said, well,
I said, four weeks ago,I would have said I would have done
this for the rest of my life. I said, right now, boy,

(19:15):
it's not that I don't enjoy itand don't love it, but yeah,
it's I mean, it's you're goinglike, it's it's it's finally the
blaws here. I guess it's it'sfinally the dog dog days have finally the
dogs you've been talking about three monthsexactly. That's we kept punting it down
the line, punting it down theline, and then it showed up.
And but don't don't get me wrong, it's still fun. You don't like

(19:36):
the id truck stop at four inthe morning, you know what? That
might be my next contract. Yeah, we'll just we'll just chartered eye.
Right. So yeah, it justdawned on me though from a chemistry staff
part, if you look at teamchemistry, it's got to be it's gonna

(19:56):
have to be by a little bitbetter this year. By the fact that
the day after the last game ofthe season. We don't see you know,
eight nine or ten fresh faces thatshowed up from Nashville. Most most
of the team that you're going tohave is sitting in that room right here
already. So it's like from thebuilding on the team chemistry seems to me,
it's a no brainer compared to lastyear, and look how well we
did last year. Well, Imean, I think the players we got

(20:18):
back from Nashville are pretty special players. Oh they all are. They are
incredible players and had equity here.Yes, yes, I agree with what
you're saying. I mean, Ithink I think having some I think getting
healthy is going to help a lot. That's a big thing for us right
now. Is just kind of slowlychipping away on that and hopefully getting putting

(20:38):
ourselves in a situation where you know, we have maybe a little bit extra
time before the first round something likethat, where we can get some guys
back. But you know, likewe're just kind of focused on on the
group we have right now because weknow there's not i mean, there's nobody
really eligible to come. So it'sone of those things that this is our
group where we're going to try todevelop, develop, you know what we

(21:03):
have and put together a plan inplace where our guys can consistently compete every
night and and give ourselves a chanceto win. You know, I said
before our goaltending in our back end, you know, we have some some
special athletes in those positions. Wehave guys that have been kind of scoring
by committee. Now up front findingways to you know, get to the

(21:23):
net. I think, uh,you know, even a guy like Alison,
I mean fresh guy to our groupfinding gretty ways to score goals in
front. Like, it's not there'sno kind of recipe or or there's no
secret to the to the sauce.It's it's pucks to the net, traffic,
playing heavy, getting to the inside. It's the model hasn't really changed

(21:47):
for you know, whatever decades.Yeah, I mean it's this is this
is how scoring is. I mean, it's the analytics show, you know,
where the majority of goals are scored, and it's in front of the
net. I mean there's only somany you know, tic tac toe plays
and so obviously there's more you know, skill and this and that, but
when it comes down to it,I mean there's not a lot of room

(22:08):
out there for sure. Thanks fordoing this. We appreciate it. Thank
you guys at Rockford tomorrow night.And by the way, uh go back
if people can you mentioned Wade Alison. I want to touch on this real
quick because we were joking about itafter the game on on Saturday night.
Go back and see how high WaightAllison can jump off of the bench after
Kemmel scores after Kemmel tries to putthe puck through the goal. Uh waye

(22:30):
to Alison hopping over the over theside. I've never seen anybody hop like
like that. That was pretty impressive. It was like a bull rider jumping
over the fence. I quick quickhops. That was something else. Yeah,
yeah, no it h He's definitelybrought some energy to our group.
I mean we're just we're an interestingcollection of toys. Yeah yeah, but

(22:53):
you know, our guys have Ourguys are pulling together like He's like Woje
alluded to the chemistry. There's definitelynot a group that doesn't enjoy hanging around
each other as much as they do. So it's it's a lot of fun
and hopefully we can translate it moreconsistent to consistently to the ice here going
down the stretch. Try it againtomorrow night, Tuesday in Rockford at seven
o'clock. Foard to thanks for thetime. Yeah, thank you, guys.

(23:15):
Admiral's assistant coach Scott Ford will takea break. Ozzie Wiseblad will join
us next. You're listening to MilwaukeeAdmiral Center Ice. Welcome back to Milwaukee
Admiral Center Ice with Michael Jahowski.I'm Aaron Simms. Our next guest is
new to the organization, completely newto the organization, acquired courtesy of a
loan from the San Jose Sharks acouple of weeks ago, and he has
fit in extremely, extremely well.He's Admirals Forward Ozzie Wiseblad, Ozzie,

(23:40):
thanks so much. How is everythinggoing for you? I'm guessing it's your
first time to Milwaukee when you madeit, you made your trip here.
How's everything been? It's been awesome. You know, the management and the
players have been unbelievable to me andyou know, extremely welcoming and me up
with a real nice place here,and you know, I really can ask

(24:03):
for a better place to be rightnow. So it's gotta kind of be
interesting. It's got to really beinteresting that you know, you get you
get a loan, one down ona trade deadline, dave in the in
the American Hockey League, and youwalk into a brand new locker room with
a whole front, a bunch ofnew guys, and I did you did
you know anybody when you got here? I mean somebody that you played Western

(24:26):
Connections or yeah, well, JasperWeatherby we talked about that, that's right,
that's right. Other than I know, yeah, I knew. I
knew Jasper. I played played withhim for a little bit last year,
and you know, he is agreat guy, and he's kind of showing
me around a little bit. AndI'm getting close with a lot of a

(24:49):
lot of guys already. So there'snot too many Western League guys. I
know, I know Reach Shafer playingin the Western League, but I didn't
play play against him or anything duringmy time in the Western Hockey League,
but I know him a little bit. But guys have been awesome, And
you know, it's a new experiencefor me. I've never never been you

(25:10):
know, never been trade or anythingand anything like that. So it wasn't
wasn't sure what to expect coming intohere. But you know, again,
the management and the players are makingit really beyond me. And you know
the coaches are awesome too. Sohas what has it? I mean,
as you said, it's it's been, it's been going well. Was it
welcome? Was it a welcome change? Was it a shocking change? When
they call you and say, hey, Azzie, here's the plan? What

(25:33):
what are you thinking when that happens? Just excitement, you know, you
know, following along. You know, obviously this team went on a you
know, a nineteen game winning streak, and you know when you follow along
as a year goes, you know, you see what these you know,
top end teams are doing, andyou know, to come here and have

(25:53):
an opportunity to win a you knowcall their cup is you know, it's
super exciting. And you know,just trying to add anything I can to
you know, you know, winmore games and you know, bring any
any piece I can to help out. So just really exciting. We got
to see, uh, see yourgame over the weekend here and see see
what you bring to the team.You tell tell the fans that may mean

(26:17):
I'd have a chance to see youplay, yet I mean, what what
what you bring to the table.I mean it's a it's a it's a
really solid skill set and then you'rea fun player to watch. Yeah,
I think, I think I pridemyself. You know, I've always prided
myself on, you know, beinga really tenacious player and a really hard
work and player that's you know,not easy to play against. You know,

(26:38):
I'm not I'm not the biggest guyout there, but you know,
going through what I went through growingup is really you know, put a
fire under my body and you knowI want to make it to the top.
So you know, I'm always goingto bring a high, high energy,
high compete level every single night.And you know my skill set will

(27:00):
fake air or the rest, butyou know that's that's a nasty is what
I really pride myself on every night, and you know it's something I know
I'll bring every night. We wewere just talking with Scott Ford about we're
all some of our experiences and I'mnot going to dig into your story as
well chronicled and we don't need todiscuss all of that, but your whole

(27:21):
family. You you guys, thestory you had to be tenacious like you
That's where it all comes from,right, Everything starts from when you're maybe
four or five, six years old. Yeah, yeah, I mean we
we really never had anything easy growingup. So you know, I think
seeing my mother and how she workedher butt off to you know, just

(27:44):
barely get us into hockey. Youknow, there's some years we weren't sure
if we were going to be ableto play or not. And you know,
we have a lot of family friendsthat have you know, helped pay
for you know, minor hockey andand things like that, getting us new
sticks, new skates. So youknow, just I think seeing seeing people
that have bought bought into us,and you know, I don't want to

(28:07):
let them down, so uh andI'm not going to let them down.
So you know, that's nasty.It's going to show up every night no
matter what. That motivation to notlet anybody down. To many, that
can be heavy, right, Imean to many that can be a burden.
To you. Talking with you overthe last couple of weeks and and

(28:30):
the way you're talking right now,you do not see that as a burden.
You see that as a welcome apart of your life, part of
your career. Yeah. Absolutely,I think there's I think there's a lot
of kids that you know, gothrough the same things and aren't as fortunate
growing up, but it's it's beena motivator my whole life. You know,

(28:52):
whether it's summer training or you know, you're in a you're out there
for a long shift and you hadto dig dig deep to you know,
maybe get the fuck out of thezone. So it's just I think it's
just something I've lived through, andyou know, it's just something you play
through. So it's definitely definitely reallyhelped me over my career and continue it

(29:15):
will continue to help. So yeah, again I urge people to look up
your story online. And again,it's not something we need to get into
here because we've have other things totalk about, but certainly a big part
Ozzie Wiseblad Admirals forward joining us.I remember asking Carl because the the loan
thing is so unique. It doesn'thappen a ton in this league. It's

(29:36):
been a while since we've gone throughsomething like this here in Milwaukee, and
I'm just curious, like, howquickly did you Because everybody here is is
under a Nashville contract right as youwell know you're under a San Jose contract
still, so how is was ita hard thing to say, Hey,
I'm now a Milwaukee admiral. Hey, and but you don't have the same

(29:57):
parent club. Was that a hardthing? Was it hard to fit in
or was it pretty easy? Like, Hey, I'm here, I'm a
Milwaukee admiral, I'm being welcomed.It's all good, everything's ready to go.
Yeah. I think that's my mindset. You know, I'm an am
roll right now and as long asI am here, that's that's what I'll
be. So I take a lotof pride and putting that jersey over my

(30:18):
back every night. And you know, the culture here is amazing. You
know, it's all about winning,and that's that's the type of player I
am. So it kind of fitslike a glove. And you know,
the coaches mess the coaches messages everynight or or something I resonate with.
And you know, I'm extremely happyto be here and very excited, and

(30:42):
you know, I just want tohelp win more games. So but plus,
I have to look at it alittle bit like, you know,
what, whether your futures in SanJose or wherever it happens to be,
I mean, you get a freshset of scouts and a fresh set of
ice to see every single night.I mean this is I mean the same
old guys that have been watching youin San Jose probably aren't the same old
guys that are watching watch you.Got a whole different set that's going to

(31:03):
be an inspiration to you. Yeah. I think it's It's something I kind
of needed, you know, afresh start, and you know, I'm
getting a lot of opportunity here andyou know, getting put in a lot
more situations where maybe nationally necessarily wasn'tin in San Jose. And you know,
I'm grateful for it. And Ithink that, you know, my

(31:26):
compete level and my tenacity, Ithink, you know, I want to
hold on to it, and uh, you know I don't. I don't
want to give that up. Souh just gonna be continuing and you know,
work my butt off every night justto you know, keep my spot
in the lineup and you know,earn everything. I think that's a big
part of you know, pro hockeyis you know, you got to earn

(31:48):
it. And that's what I'm herefor. So we need to take a
break. We'll come back with more. It's Admirals Forward to Ozzie Wisblatt joining
us in Milwaukee Admiral Center ICE.Welcome back to Milwaukee, Admiral center ice
with Michael Jahowski. I'm Aaron s. We're continuing our conversation with Admirals forward
Ozzie Wisblatt. You know, I'mgoing to go back to to your life
story, to your family here.You have you have three brothers and a

(32:08):
sister. Your brothers all play.Are they still there's one still in junior's
right to playing in the Western League? Yeah? Yeah. My my two
older brothers uh are moving on fromhockey at this point. And you know,
I think I think when I gotdrafted, it was pretty cool just

(32:28):
to have them kind of let itthrough me as as I was living living
through them when they were growing up. So you know, it was extremely
cool for all of us. Andyou know, I have a really good
younger brother that's you know, comingup the ranks and you've had a heck
of a season so far, andyou know they're in playoffs and looking forward
to him having a really good showingthere and see what he does. So

(32:52):
you know, growing up, Isaw his numbers. He was like a
point a game guy. He's aleft wing right yeah, yeah, yeah,
he's a he's a center man first. I mean, he brings he
brings all those elements to you know, really feisty kid that isn't very big.
But you know, I has aheart of a lion, so you

(33:13):
know, I'm excited for him andwhat he does. So they can get
you far. Having the right attitude, having the heart of a lion,
they can get you pretty far.Yeah, exactly. And I think that's
I think my mindset is something that'sgot me through a lot of the things
and in the past, and youknow, being positive. And you know,
my mother has been awesome with that, just being there for me.

(33:36):
And I think seeing her ah workthrough things as life, life goes on,
and you know, life's not easywhen you have five kids and your
single your single mom, that's that'sdeaf and you know, life's not easy.
And I think looking at her agettingthrough all those things, and you
know, what do I have?What do I have to complain about?

(33:58):
Being a you know, a hockeyplayer. I gets to you know,
do the do the thing he lovesevery day. So you know, you
know what, I'm sorry, Iapologize you there, but I just I,
like I said, I didn't wantto get into all all of it
because we got other things to talkabout. But I do. I'm curious
and I've been thinking about this sinceyou've been here in Milwaukee and and even

(34:19):
with Nick in San Jose, thebroadcaster there, Nick Nolanberger, How does
your mom you mentioned she's deaf,How does she pay? Does she watch
all the games? How do youhow do you guys communicate about the games,
and how do how does she knowwhat's going on? Is she ye
watching him? Watching of them?Is there a translator thing? Is it
like can she understand what I'm sayingor what Nick was saying in San Jose

(34:43):
or whatever? Yeah, a mostcaption. Yeah, I think that part's
tough. I mean, obviously notnot every hockey game has as close captions
and things like that. But youknow, she knows when I'm on the
ice, and she knows when I'mhaving a good game or a bad game.
So you know, she's someone thatholds me accountable throughout my whole career
and isn't just always always lovey doveyand things like that. You know,

(35:07):
she tells me, you know,when I'm when I'm not working hard,
and she holds me accountable that way, And you know that's that's why I
love her, and she she holdsus all accountable and she watches every game.
I mean, I don't think she'sshe's missed a game in a long
time. So pretty incredible, Prettyincredible. It's a big week here for

(35:27):
Milwaukee at tripped down to Texas.But tomorrow night against Rockford. Do you
guys have some payback in mind here? I don't know if you treat it
like a revenge game. I don'tknow if you can afford to treat it
like a revenge game, or doyou treat it like another game here?
Well, I'm I think one ofthe first things I saw when we walked
in, when I walked into theroom here is a big sign that says
we win here. And you knowthat's that's what we do. And we

(35:52):
want to win every single game,no matter no matter who who it's against.
And I think we have the sameattitude going into every opponent, no
matter who it is. And youknow there's there's big points up for grads,
and you know we want us alot of fireplace and in first place
here and set us up nicely forplayoffs. So every game you must win,

(36:13):
and uh, you know we're gonnaWe're gonna go in there and do
the job and get out of there. So I see, we talked a
little bit about the nineteen game winningstreak earlier, and you know, how
aware you know, being in awhole other division. Yeah, how aware
were you know everyone in San Joseabout the Adams Woody Street because something you

(36:34):
guys talked about when you were youknow, with them, just kind of
wow, those guys are How didyou see this? Did you see that
they scored with a second left togo to tie whatever? Whatever it was?
How dialed in were you to thenews of the American Hockey League?
Yeah, well, I think that'stough to miss. I think when I
when a team's got hot, youknow, everybody's talking about it. You

(36:57):
know. Of course, I thinkthere's there's still some guys that are not
in the lineup for us right now, and guys that have you know,
gone up to Nashville and that arethere right now, and you know,
there's a lot of a lot ofopportunity for guys to step up and you
know, show what they have,and you know they they want to become
the guys, right So I thinkthat's what I'm trying to do here,

(37:21):
is you know, I want toI want to step up to the occasion,
and you know I want to Iwant to go on another run.
You know, I don't want tolose games, and you know I just
want to keep on going here.So well, we look forward to it.
Ozzie. It's been great having youin town. It was great having
you here on the show. Wecan't thank you enough for your time.
Really appreciate it. We'll see youat the rink tomorrow. Fair thanks for

(37:42):
having me. Guys. All right, Ozzie wiseblad Admirals forward doing some good
things, all right, forward touh. I love watching him play.
He's a little flair. We werewatching the other night. There was a
whistle in the second period in frontof the Admirals goal. Marco Kasper,
first round pick eighth overall selection intwenty twenty two by Detroit, just kind
of between his legs, slides thepuck in and then after the whistle right

(38:06):
kind of frowned upon. Yep,Ozzie came from this was in front of
that. Ozzy was at the blueline on the right wing. Came in
and re arranged this guy's advisor sohe looked it went down, so he
looked like he was an Amish guy. He had the advisor. The advisor
came down and he had no facialhair except for that visor beard at the

(38:28):
that snapped off his head because Ozzigave him a pop. And as it's
like yeah, we and somebody inthe in the coach's office, and I
could see why Scott Nickel went toget him. It's like, you have
no question right there, It wasright there, It was all worth it.
We're going to take a break,come back with more. You're listening
to Milwaukee Admiral Center Ice. Allright, three two one, We need

(38:52):
to take a break. We'll comeback with more. It's Admirals Forward Ozzie
Wisblatt joining us in Milwaukee Admiral CenterICE. And then welcome back to Milwaukee
Admiral Center ICE with Mike wel Jahowski. I'm Aaron Sims. We're continuing our
conversation with Admirals Forward Ozzie Wisblatt.Beautiful one final time tonight Milwaukee Admiral Center

(39:12):
ICE with Michael Jahowski'm Aaron Sims.Fun to talk to Ozzie wise Blatt,
and I urge you again please goonline and look up his story. But
for those of you who don't knowand this is just going to be the
cliffs notes version? Did people usedto still use cliffs notes? By the
way, you have any idea youhave younger kids that that I have no
clue, but I doubt it becauseanything, it's all on the internet.

(39:34):
I want to find out it's ontheir phone. Yeah, you're right,
you're right. I mean you canget the full book report exactly. Yeah,
now you can, just don't copyit word for word. Yeah,
yeah, no, you're right.I hadn't thought of that. I you
know what, and I went backto school, graduated four years, five
years ago. Now you did itthe hard way I did it that I
was still right, and you're proudof the fact. Well, yes,

(39:57):
of course, but but you know, I wouldn't have had this been good
to save yourself about a thousand hoursstay overnight all night, every night and
being the only person in the onlineclass. Anyway, go online and check
out Ozzy Ozzie Wiseblatt his story.Both his parents' deaf mom and dad split
up. Mom takes the five kidsmoves to Calgary. She has no money.

(40:21):
Two of the older kids end upbeing taken in by other people in
the community because she couldn't afford totake care of all all of them.
So and then they end up allplaying hockey. And those older kids are
being paid for the two older brothersthe other those families are paying for them.
Ozzi is playing hockey, the youngerbrother. There's a sister. Uh.
It is one hell of a story. And and for him, he's

(40:44):
a first round pick by the SanJose Sharks. Doug Wilson junior when he
goes up for the draft in signlanguage, spells Ozzy, so his mom
could see how how this moment wow? Uh it's it's powerful, wow,
really good stuff. So, yeah, Ozzie's Ozzie's had some adversity in his

(41:04):
young life. And uh, he'sI tell you what. Right when I
met him, he smiles and readyto go and met him in Loveland,
and uh, it's it's been greathaving him here. He's added a lot
and in a short amount of time. And yeah, I'm eager to see.
That's great. Where his future bringshim, yes, whether it's with
San Jose or Nashville or somewhere else. But but he wasn't getting much time

(41:30):
in San Jose as Lane Lambert anduh and Claude Noel said, is in
lane Lambert all the time. There'salways somebody watching, exactly right, always
somebody exactly right. There's only threemore times in the regular season to watch
the Admirals on home ice, butthe playoff packages are out there, so
make sure you lost your down andand again that's to be determined the dates

(41:51):
and the opponents and all of that. Uh, and why and why you're
at it makes some invest in somememories and and and get a package for
for next season. Yeah, youknow, get a an you know,
spread your payments over the long haul. And it's it's you know, it
doesn't even seem like you're paying forit when it's when you're you're spreading over
twelve months. Yeah, it's great. Yeah, the uh, there's there's
what the twelfth against Chicago, yep, the seventeenth against Manitoba, which is

(42:15):
fan appreciation night, absolutely, andthen April twentieth, the last regular season
home game of the year. Yes, so those are the three games remaining,
which is just crazy. It's flown, isn't it. It just seems
like we started last week. Yeah, you're right, I mean, you
know, but this is such aspecial season. Yeah, no matter what
happens. Yeah, it's unbelievable.Yeah, you know, to win nineteen

(42:36):
games in a row to be partof the excitement, I mean, and
really, I mean when we lostthe other night at home, ice is
like, I mean, you haven'tremembered very many, like just plain old
dog games. Yeah yeah, yeah, and every once and like, oh
geezy, we're awful to night.Well I guess what. Yeah, there's
been one or two of those.Yeah for the most part, holy cow.
Yeah, entertaining and Saturday's game fora being, like I said,
being a two to one hockey gamethat had had me on the edge of

(42:59):
my seat all there was a terrifichockey game. Yeah, fast moving,
yeah, chances, uh yeah,everything you would want and try Rossnick battling,
which is always fun to say.It's really always fun to by the
way. You I mean, Iknow you're you're in enough trouble with the
I I'm sorry, Oh are youready? You know what? I don't
want to get you in trouble withthe league anymore. Well, wrapper up,

(43:20):
Thanks for listening to Milwaukee Admiral CenterIce