04/08/24 - Admirals Center Ice

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hello and welcome. It's Milwaukee AdmiralsCenter. I s'm Aaron Simms, the
Admirals in transit flying from Austin,Texas back to Milwaukee. So we're doing
this well, I'm doing this bymyself. And the interviews you're hearing they're
new. You haven't heard them,but they have been recorded over the weekend.
But we're going to have a kindof a defenseman heavy show here.

(00:20):
We'll hear from Scott Ford, theAdmirals assistant coach, his postgame comments from
last night's three to one loss atTexas that's coming up in just a minute.
Also hearing in this first segment fromdefenseman Ryanufko, who fourth round pick
out of UMass played for the ChicagoSteel in the USHL. He has stepped
in and he looks the part,ready to go and Ryanufko very exciting to

(00:44):
have him here. We'll talk withryanuf Goo about his first week as a
professional athlete. Also later on Markdel Gaizo and Jake Livingstone. So again
three defencemen plus the assistant coach whowas a longtime defenseman for the Admirals.
And then we'll also hear from CarlTaylor and to play a comment from Carl
Taylor because he talks about the milestoneof two hundred wins. Saturday's win at

(01:06):
Texas four to three for Milwaukee wasthe two hundredth for Admirals head coach Carl
Taylor as the bench boss of theAdmirals, but also the staff of Greg
Rallo and Scott Ford and Ryan costellO, Ryan Stacy, Scott Nickel,
so on and so on, likea lot of people, certainly players,
a lot of people have taken part. Carl gets credit for the wins and

(01:26):
the losses on his record, butI wanted to play what he had said,
and this is something he said inthe pregame show yesterday. When we
close out the show tonight, Iwant to play this back because I think
it's pretty special. It's a bigpicture thing from Carl, really good stuff.
So we'll do that in just asecond. The Admirals will start the
week here first placed by eight pointsover Grand Rapids. The Admirals this weekend

(01:49):
will host Chicago on Friday night andthen visit Rockford Saturday and Sunday. The
standings right now, Admirals with eightyeight points first play sixty six games.
Grand Rapids eighty points in sixty sixgames. And then you have Rockford in
third with seventy five points in sixtyfive games, Texas fourth with seventy points
in sixty eight games, Manitoba sixtyfive points in sixty seven games, and

(02:14):
Chicago with fifty six points in sixtysix games. In Iowa bringing up the
rear fifty five points in sixty sixgames. Those are the standings in the
Central Division. Four teams have clinchedofficially Milwaukee, Grand Rapids, Rockford and
Texas. Manitoba is close. Manitoba'smagic number is four I believe is four.

(02:34):
So and Manitoba has five games remaining, including one against the Admirals next
Wednesday, the seventeenth at Panther Arena. So lots to talk about. But
to the Admirals five points from clinching, that's points earned by Milwaukee lost by
Grand Rapids, and the Admirals havea great chance a couple of wins.
The Admiral six games remaining, twowins should get the job done. But

(02:57):
obviously you don't want to take anythingfor granted. You want to be hot
going into the playoffs, and theAdmirals are trying to find their way right
now. The Admirals last night,losing at Texas three to won the final
score. On Saturday night, theAdmirals come back and win four to three.
They deserved that win. They outshotTexas thirty seven to twenty one.
Last night, Texas out shooting Milwaukeethirty five to nineteen. Close game.

(03:20):
The Admirals had some good energy tostart, but Texas kind of smothered that
as the game war on. TheAdmirals come away with a loss. Here's
an assistant coach Scott Ford after thegame last night, flodahwa it was tough
to get to the net tonight,Texas got the job done here and came
away with with a three to onewin. Yeah. I mean they're quite
a good at a solid game atour energy level, and our compete was

(03:46):
was dead early and then kind ofgot behind the eight ball and incited a
good job playing death Spud and youknow, making it hard on our guys
going to the net. But Imean we still had our opportunities, just
I'm not not able to find backin the net to night. Yeah,
and there there were a few,right, and the first one is a
beautiful goal and and Ozzie wisebatt drawingthe defenders down and there wasn't much transition,

(04:12):
I guess tonight, but that firstgoal, Boy, if you could
get them all the time, that'dbe fantastic. Yeah. No, Willis
he's had a great second half.I think he's seen his kind of maturation
almost kind of since it's fast andhe's been gone, just his ability to
skate as well, and just kindof showed how good they work together as
a pair. But he's been doinga great job of skating, transitioning to

(04:35):
plot, breaking it out, andnow you can see he's starting to find
a little bit offense and upcoming kindof from joining in the second wave and
utilizing his skating ability. So alwaysalways good to get them from the back
end. The loss, obviously,it's something you don't want. I'm curious
where the team is at right now. It's not drawing board obviously, but

(04:58):
trying to find consistency. I guessthis is where we're at, right Yeah.
No, like I said, Imean, I mean the scores,
Will score. I didn't think weI thought our energy level and our compete
was there early. I just youknow our special teams is you know you're
not helping us right now? Obviously. I mean it's because it's five on

(05:18):
three calls ridiculous like yeah, Imean a flash behind the play and then
a call a trapezoid call, likeI mean, that's infuriating, but it
is what it is. It's justin that time of the game. And
to put us down for a fulltwo minute, five month three, I
mean, I don't we either haveto be more disciplined or or something,

(05:41):
but it's something we got to doat a stead of the box and not
getting it down a PK. Andthen obviously we're not We're struggling on with
pp too, so it's going tobite us at some point. Yeah.
Yeah, And now you got aday off here at travel Day tomorrow and
in Chicago this weekend. Three andthree this weekend, the rare three and
three anymore in the American Hockey League. Three three teams that then there again

(06:03):
we get back into the desperation.Three desperate teams, two desperate teams,
three games. Yeah, no,for sure, I mean we need to
continue to stay ahead of g R. That's the goal. Yeah, three
and three is obviously not not greatat this time of year, but and
they're gonna they're gonna be hard games. I mean, but it's that's the

(06:26):
schedule. I mean, our scheduleis light at the start of the year
for various reasons, and it's alwaysheavy at the end. So it's nothing
we can really do about it.We just got to be as prepared as
possible and we know what, uh, what's in store for us, you
know, so we got to tryto get a little bit healthier here.
You know, losing Alison in themiddle of the second wasn't wasn't good.

(06:48):
He's been playing well for us andkind of providing a little bit of spark
and he's kind of bought into hisrole with our group, you know,
coming and coming over here. Sounfortunate, but you know, we'll get
back to back to home and getyou get our lineup and os for the
weekend, figure things out. Doyou have. Scott, thanks for the

(07:09):
time. I appreciate it. Yeah, thank you. So that was Admiral's
assistant coach Scott Ford. Now Iwant to shift to defenseman Ryan uf Goo.
Ryanufko made his professional debut this pastweek at Rockford last Tuesday night,
and this is what Ryan had tosay about his first week as a pro.
New Admirals defenseman Ryan ugh goo.You've been here about a week,
played three games. What's this beenlike for you? It's definitely been an

(07:30):
adjustment. But you know, thiscoaching staff here, all the guys in
the room have really helped me.I've been trying to lean on them as
much as I can, and youknow, they've made me feel really comfortable
here, and I kind of Ifelt really comfortable on the ice for these
three games hereiou is going into thatRockford game, your first game. What
was it like the anticipation for thatgame, Because I tell you what,

(07:50):
when you got on the ice,you didn't it didn't show if you had
any jitters or if you had anynervousness that wasn't there. So I'm curious
what it was like building up tothat game. Yeah, I think I
kind of just tried to treat itas another game, you know, coming
straight from college, you know,we were in playoff situation, so I
kind of just treated it like anothergame, you know, just stick to

(08:11):
my normal preparation and kind of tookit from there. It's appointing and to
the season, right, you wantto keep going, obviously when you're in
college. So the three years youhad at U mess. What did that
bring to you everything? You know, a lot of people say college is
the best time in your life,and for that, for me, it
really was. And for my careerso far. I learned so much and

(08:33):
I grew so much as a player, you know, through the people I
played with, you know, includinguh Mark del GUIs was brother Anthony was
there, but especially through the coachingstaff. Just the culture behind everything that
they do there, the way theytreat everybody, the way they you know,
set high standards for everybody. Itcarries more than just on the ice,

(08:54):
it's off the ice too, andI feel like that's really important and
I feel like that's why they havea lot of success there. What got
you there? Why? Why didyou choose that school? You're You're from
Long Island right, end up inChicago playing in the us HL. What
gets you to UMass as a postbecause I'm sure there were offers everywhere,
right, So, I was prettyyoung. I was fifteen when I committed
a UMass, but I didn't knowtoo much about it. Honestly, why

(09:18):
why commit that? And by theway, isn't it crazy that people committed?
I mean, it worked out foryou, but isn't it crazy to
think that fifteen. I have afriend who is now the coaching Sioux Falls
in the Ushl and I grew upwith him and I years ago. He
was an assistant at Colorado College andhe says, I got to go into
fifteen year old's homes and tell himtake it or leave it. And I'm
like, that's a tough job,man. Yeah, it definitely was tough.

(09:39):
But being from Long Island, Iwanted to stay on the stay in
the Northeast for whether that be youknow, possibly go to an Ivy League
school. My parents wanted obviously we'rehard on education, but Hockey East was
something that you know, I reallykind of wanted to do growing up.
You see those big schools like beyou, Northeastern and all that, but

(10:01):
you know, those weren't really theright fit for me. And my advisors
told me to go check out Umass and I didn't know much about it
at the time, but I wentthere and something felt different on that visit.
The coaching staff was really open andyou know, showed like they really
cared about me and my game andme as a person Overallso I kind of
felt that connection and kind of ranwith it and then let alone. You

(10:22):
see the d that have come outof UMass. You know, cal mccarr
was there, Ferraro was there,and then Zach Jones. There's so many.
I got to put at Matt Kessel. He's in the NHL now,
but kind I think I read bythe way as we're recording this on Sunday,
I think he scored his first goaltonight. For his first goal tonight,
I saw that all over my socialmedia. But it was kind of
a no brainer. You know,they just the way they breed defenseman,

(10:48):
so it was kind of a nobrainer for me in that respect. It's
kind of perfect that you end upin Nashville when you think of the history
of the Predators, going back tothe beginning there in that three draft when
they have Shay Weber, Ryan Suter, Kevin Line like it. It's a
place that is known for cranking outdefenseman. Yeah, definitely. I remember
being drafted and I was like,wow, it could be a cauld be
a better spot for me, especiallyas a d man. And I remember

(11:09):
watching them growing up. You know, the Boolen was always different from every
other NHL team. They were veryactive, controlled a lot of the games,
so that's something that I think isreally important sticks out. What was
your team when you were a kidbeing from the Island. Was it was
the Islanders your team? Or wasit the Rangers somebody else did? Were
you more into specific players? Howdid you grow up? So, my

(11:30):
dad's from Pittsburgh, so I wasSteeler Steeler and a Penguin fan. And
you know, the Penguins did playNashville. I think it was seventeen right
in the Cup Final, but Iwas rooting for the Pens then. But
yeah, he's from Pittsburgh, sowe've always been paying Pittsburgh fans, you
know. For me growing up,obviously, Sidney Crosby still my favorite player.
Just watching him and seeing what he'sstill doing now is pretty remarkable.

(11:54):
And then you know, being ad man, I tried watching Crystal Tang,
just watching in those games. Butas I grew up older, you
know, we get all I getall the Ranger and Islander games on my
TV just because that's the source orwhatever it is. But Adam Fox is
from Long Island, and I likewatching him. I think he's really smart,
especially being an undersized guy. Hedoes so many things well, and

(12:16):
you know he's up for the NorrisTrophy every year, and it's not by
mistake. How did how did thesports start for you? Your parents involved,
you have siblings, or how didit get going for you? It
was actually my neighbor. My parentsnot too big into hockey, you know,
my neighbor. I think I wasreally young. They had a public
skate or something. I went andskated. I hated it, and then

(12:37):
I started playing street deck hockey.Then eventually took it to the ice,
and sooner or later I was goingevery day, every weekend. I could
go, just go to public skates, and then eventually started playing hockey,
and I just took off from theirfamous story. Brian Mullin played college hockey
at at Wisconsin. His brother Joeyis obviously a Hall of Famer, and
they Hell's kitchen and they were playingroller hockey and and that's how they got

(13:01):
recruited. Playing roller hockey back then, it was pretty wild. Yeah,
it's no one really. I havea younger brother trying to follow my footsteps.
He's playing hockey too, But yeah, before that, nobody was in
the hockey. Was kind of justspur of the moment for me, but
really glad I chose it. Well, yeah, so you've been playing for
a West since a youngster, butany other sports then coming up leading into

(13:22):
college or I mean, you endup in Chicago when you were you were
fifteen in Chicago, were sixteen,that you end up there, so you
have to I'm assuming at that pointmake the decision that hockey is the only
thing, right, Yeah, Ithink hockey was always going to be the
only thing for me. Like whenI was really young, I played t
ball and soccer, but once Ifound hockey, I kind of stuck to
it. I tried to cross alittle bit in the summer, just because

(13:45):
from from Long Island and everybody playslacrosse. It's really big there. But
I just couldn't do it in thesummer with the sun in the heat.
Figured the ice rink the colder weatherwas better for me. So I kind
of like that more. I'm curiouswhat you have found it Ryan Ufko joining
us it's Milwaukee Admiral Center ice.I'm curious what you have found then your
first three games, and we talkeda little bit about the anticipation going into
it. Getting through these three games, what has it been like, What

(14:09):
has your experience been like, Hasit been more than you thought. Has
it been what you thought it wouldbe? How it How is it grated
out for you? I think it'sbeen what I thought it would be.
You know, every hockey game,you can't predict anything. Hockey so game
of mistakes, but it is hockeylike you can't change too much about it,
you know. Obviously, trying toadjust to the pace and the speed

(14:31):
was definitely something I think I adjustedtoo well. I didn't think it was
too much different from college, butjust trying to play my game, you
know, try to make as manyplays as I can and be smart,
be hard to play against, andthen you know, I try to make
stuff happen in the offensive zone andI kind of pride myself on that and
try to do as much as Ican. Saw a couple of those plays

(14:52):
here, two assists in the Saturdaywin over Texas. Do you get those
pucks? What happens there with Theyweren't goals, but they or assist?
Do you get pucks on those ornot? No? I didn't. I
was just glad we got to win. It was a great comeback, you
know, being down three one goingin the third and you know you kind
of feel the momentum during that period, and you know, we found a
way to make it a win.Are you done with school now or do

(15:15):
you have to go back? What'sthe schedule like for you coming up here?
After you played three seasons obviously atyou maas, what's the schedule like
for you coming up are you?Are you stuck with Milwaukee so to speak,
for the rest of the year.How's it going. Yeah, I'm
gonna be in Milwaukee for the restof the year. You know, I've
reached out to all my teachers beforehand, and I was on pace to graduate

(15:35):
in three years. So I'm gonnagraduate this spring. And I reached out
to all my teachers and you know, they're let me do the work still
online, you know, giving mea little bit of different assignments if I
have to, you know, tosubstitute exams and stuff like that. But
you know, they've all been great, and I'm gonna graduate this spring with
with what what's your degree? Inbusiness management? So is there a plan

(15:56):
or is it? It's like hockeyis the plan and we'll use this twenty
years from now. Yeah, Hockey'sHockey's always been the plan. So it's
good to have you here. ThankI appreciate you doing this, I really
do. And best of luck toyou this season and in the future.
Thank you, I appreciate it.That's new Admirals defenseman Ryanofko. We're going
to take a break. We'll comeback with Mark del guys. Oh you're
listening to Milwaukee Admirals Center Ice.Welcome back. It's Milwaukee Admirals Center Ice.

(16:21):
I'm Aaron Simms, joined now byAdmirals defenseman Mark del Guiso. A
couple of days ago, I showedyou your first hockey I think it's your
first NHL hockey card. What whatgoes through your mind when you know that
this is happening. Yeah, Imean it's pretty cool. Just you know,
seeing that official card on there ispretty cool and uh, you know
something that I didn't even know existed, So it's pretty cool. You did

(16:45):
you collect when you were a kid? Do you? And your brothers?
Yeah, we we collected, actuallya bunch. We had a bunch of
like binders of hockey players, baseball, hockey and baseball we collected. I
think there's somewhere up there and areat a but yeah, me and me
and my brother's definitely collected. Itwas a thing, like, it's changed

(17:06):
so much. I started collecting innineteen eighty one, so it's it's a
different game. And I'm just curioushow many kids actually stick with it.
So when you collected, was itjust your favorite players? Just was it
favorite team? What did you do? We kind of just we would buy
those packs and whatnot, and thenkind of organizing by team, like you

(17:27):
know, like all the Avalanche players, all the Rangers players like, and
then you know, sort out likethe rookie cards in the and whatnot.
So yeah, I mean we werewe were into it for sure a little
bit. Yeah, and you friendstoo, or I mean trading all of
this stuff. Did you get toget together and do stuff like that?
No, I never, We nevertraded. But I have a couple buddies

(17:48):
that are kind of like into thatstuff, buying, trading and going to
like card shows and whatnot. Andit's pretty cool and definitely special to see
my card there, just you know, and for you guys then, like
I know, players, Joseph Lebateplayed for the Admirals, right, Joseph
Lebate. His dad I think hadevery like bought every card, like like

(18:11):
he has the Monopoly on Joseph Lebaterookie cards like it. It's it's really
wild to me. Is this somethinglike your folks will do and things you
think they'll they'll buy them all upas bests they can here. I don't
know. I might, I mighthave to buy one here. I might
have to go online and try andvio on for myself, But no,
I don't think so. I mean, I mean, it's definitely really cool

(18:34):
to see that, and I'll haveto go on Google or something try and
find one. Yeah. Mark delGuiso joining us at Milwaukee Admirals Center.
I so let's talk a little bitabout where this. Well, let's start
with you. You you're part ofthe nineteen game winning streak. You go
up Nashville is an eighteen game pointstreak. My goodness, what a season.
Huh yeah, unreal. Just whenI was up there, it was

(18:56):
kind of a similar feeling when whenwe were on our win streak, just
you know, team confidence and everyonehaving a good time and enjoying themselves and
just having that swagger. How doyou find that again? The admirals are
I don't want to say scuffling,but you're you know, there have been
a lot of changes, obviously,and trying to get back winning nineteen games

(19:17):
in a row was certainly special.Only one other team's done it in this
league. How do you get thatswagger back? I thought there was a
glimpse of it in Iowa there.I thought there was a glimpse maybe in
the in the Rockford game. Howdo you find it back? I think
we just have to continue to playthe way we happened. I mean,
I think we we deserve better.Last game against Rockford and that ot loss,

(19:38):
I thought we played, we playedreally well, and you know,
just it was just one of thosenights where you know you play well and
you deserve to win, and sometimesyou don't. Sometimes it's the opposite where
you don't play well and you knowyou find a way to win. So
I think just keeping just keep doingthe things that we're doing. I think
we've you know, we've strung acouple of good games together here, haven't

(19:59):
didn't get there result, Like Isaid, last game, But you know,
we're looking for a couple of winshere in Texas. The last couple
of games you've had and it'll happenedtonight. And we're recording this on the
Saturday before the before Monday here,so people listening to the radio show,
we're recording this a couple of daysin advance. But Ryan offko It played
at UMAs as well. Is thatthe reason they pair him up with you,

(20:22):
that you have that kind of commonbackground or is it just your games?
Mesh, Well, what do youthink it was? I think it's
a similarity of both. I think, you know, uh, you know,
we came from the same program.We never played together in college,
but we came from the same program. You know, we kind of have
the same habits details. No,I think we play a similar style where

(20:45):
you know, we like to possessthe puck, playing the offensive zone.
And just I felt like last gamewe complimented each other really well and I
was, you know, really happyplaying with them. So yeah, it's
been good. A couple of yearsapart, Like you said, you finished,
you left school and then he joinedthat fall I believe in twenty one.

(21:06):
But you're both kind of from thesame area New Jersey, Long Island.
You both have the USHL background.Like, it's really remarkable the similarities
between the two of you. Iguess when you just look at the piece
of paper. Yeah, for sure. I mean, when you look at
the piece of paper and then youknow you look at you know, the
game itself, and you know thestature of both of us were both undersized
guys, skate well, smart withthe puck. So yeah, I mean

(21:30):
I think, you know, there'sa lot of similarities there for sure.
And you know he's he stepped inand did a really good job last game
in Rockford, and you know he'sgonna he's probably gonna have a good weekend
as well. Yeah, MarkeTel guysare joining us. For you, where
is your confidence? At nine gamesthis season in two stints, nine games
in the NHL this season, howare you feeling the rest of this year

(21:51):
and then going into the next season. Yeah, I'm feeling good. I
mean, you know, it's kindof been a bit of a whirlwind the
last few weeks for me, justyou know, getting called up in San
Diego and then you know, flyingacross the country, played in Fort Lardale
and then back to Nashville and thenPhoenix. Like so yeah, I mean
it's been it's obviously been super fun, but you know, I'm happy to

(22:14):
to be to be here now andjust kind of have that mindset of you
know, be where your feet are, and you know, just do the
best you can wherever you are.You know, it's funny you mentioned that
San Diego getting recalled in San Diego. Fortunately it was a bit of a
longer trip, so you have afew more clothes than you normally would had,
right, Oh, yeah, forsure. I mean I I'm tend
I tend to overpack anyways. JustI don't know, I just you always

(22:37):
got to be prepared. I'm withyou on that packing packing light is like
I did that years ago and we'rein Las Vegas and we want to go
do some stuff and I'm like,all I got is a pair of shorts
and sandals. Like I can't doanything right, I'm limited. Yeah,
I always seem to, uh topack extra because I always think like,
oh maybe the bust will break down, maybe we'll stay an extra night or
like or maybe like we'll get delayedand have to like over the Yeah,

(23:00):
like I'm always an extra packer forsure. You so you were ready to
I mean as ready as one couldbe. I guess when it comes to
that, right, Yeah, yeahfor sure. I even uh yeah,
I only brought one suit, whichwas kind of tough. But when I
was down there, I bought anotherone. Guys, guys are hard with
people on that right, Like Iknow Yakov Trenton always got the business about

(23:22):
it. Luke Evangelista joked about wearingthe same suit all the time last season,
like they guys notice guys hope saysomething right, Yeah, Oh yeah,
for sure, I mean just yeah. I mean when your suit's been
you know, crumbled up in theball in your suitcase, it's it gets
kind of wrinkly. So yeah,I mean, uh yeah, I was
fortunate enough to uh to get anotherone when I was down there. For

(23:45):
sure. Who's that guy on thisyear's team? Can you can you throw
a name in there? Who whowould be the guy that would fall into
that category? If there is anybody, I don't know, if I don't
think we have any I think ofanything. It's pretty sharp dress, Yeah,
think of anything. I be melike I've been wearing that. I've
been wearing the same suit like probablyninety percent of the games this year.

(24:06):
So I figured I'd get another one. Superstitious guy or is it just no,
I'm not superstitious. I just someguys like really really like our inte
like fashion and whatnot, like andstuff, So I'm not I've never really
been like that, So just justkind of simple with the way I address.

(24:26):
Somebody said, if you buy ablack suit and a blue suit and
get like four shirts, and allof a sudden, you got like ten
combinations, right, so that's allyou need. Yeah. When I got
my suit, I got an extrashirt too, So maybe I saw that
somewhere or something. Again, howdo we get back on track here?
And Carl Taylor had said a coupleof weeks ago, We'll we want to

(24:49):
win first place in the division,but we'll give that up if that means
we're playing our best hockey. AndI'm sure everybody feels that way. But
clinching first place is during a seventytwo game season is something There's something to
be said about that. It's special. Yeah, no, there definitely is
something to be said about it.But you know, at the end of
the day, like it doesn't reallymatter, like it's it's not the best

(25:11):
team that wins in the playoffs,it's it's the team that plays the best.
And you know, we definitely wantto get our game in order here,
and you know, like Carl said, like, if you know we're
playing our best hockey and you knowwe don't come in first, like we're
happy with that, Like we justwant to you know, get the wheels
back on this this truck and getit going. There's about ten guys on

(25:34):
this team that were on the runlast year with with your club. And
I remember asking guys in twenty twentythat we're on the team when COVID shut
down, shut the season down,if it felt like unfinished business last season.
So I'm curious this year, doyou have unfinished business or can you
allow yourself to think that way?Yeah, I mean I think, you

(25:56):
know, like when you get tothe Western Conference finals, it's like,
okay, like this is real,Like you know, we're you can kind
of like sense it and like youknow feel it that like you're you're really
close, and you know that thatloss to Coachella, Like I still think
about it like all the time,like I you know, I still think,
you know, we could have wonthat series. And you know,

(26:18):
the playoffs are just are huge forpeople's development. Like it really gave me
a lot of confidence, you know, going into the next season because I
had such a good playoff run andlike it kind of like just like kind
of sparked my my career here andlike just gave me that confidence, like
yeah, like I can be areally good player, like I can you
know, put up I can scoregoals, I can put up points,

(26:40):
like I can be you know,a game changer. And you know,
I think that that really helped megoing to the next season. It's interesting
because you and I talked about thislast year and and but I'm curious what
a year out from it now.I mean it was a year ago that
that that that playoff, roughly ayear ago that that playoff run started looking
back on it, What was itabout that playoff run? Not that you
were playing poorly by any stretch ofthe imagination before that, but you really

(27:03):
did take off there. So whatabout it? What do you think it
was? I think, you know, I think like the season is such
a the regular season is so long, like and you go you kind of
you kind of as a player andas a team, you have ups and
downs. And I've you know,in the playoffs, like you're just there's
no time for ups and downs,like you got to just be up.

(27:26):
And I think it's a it's amindset. And you know, I think
when the chips are at its highest, like I tend to play my best.
Is that an experience thing? Isthat? Is that something you've always
had? What do you think?Yeah, I think it's an experience thing.
I've I've never been on a teamthat's never made the playoffs, like
in juniors and high school and college, like you know, played in two

(27:49):
national championships, had two good runsin the us HL, had two good
had a good run and junior backhome on the East Coast, like I've
never been on a team. Solike I think, you know, I
have pretty good experience. I thinkI have twenty five playoff game experience in
the American Hockey League, which ispretty good. And you know, I'm

(28:11):
only in my third year of proand I've made the playoffs two years in
a row, one one a playoffseries my first year and then last year
lost in the Western Conference finals.So I think, you know, I
have that, have that experience,and I think just when the chips are
all down on the table, Itend to play my best and and ross
to the occasion. Look forward tomore of that here. Thanks for doing

(28:33):
this, I really appreciate it,and good luck. Thanks Tommer. It's
Mark del guys, though, we'reback in a moment. You're listening to
Milwaukee Admiral Center Ice. Welcome backto Milwaukee Admiral Center Ice with Admirals defenseman
Jake Livingstone. The play you makeSaturday night on the second goal or the
third goal, excuse me. Youcall for the puck and it was like
a quarterback or a no look past. It was like Magic Johnson out there.

(28:57):
I think everybody's looking for the shot, and you make this asked to
Jasper and he ends up putting thepuck in the net. I mean,
what a play it did. Whendid you see that developing? Huh?
I don't know, really, Iprobably saw it. I just noticed how
they had changed and nobody came outonce I got the pucket, looked behind
me kind of and I didn't seeanybody coming from the bench. But then

(29:17):
I just saw I think, goingto the net, and there was probably
like four guys in front of thenet, and it's kind of like,
I'm probably not going to score ifI shoot this, or then I just
saw him, so I passed thepuck and he made a nice shot.
That's a tough angle to score from, too, even if it's an empty
net, it's still a tough angleto score from. So you do a
good job the plays made in thegame Saturday night, just the extra things

(29:38):
that you'll wait Allison chipping with puckdeveloper to break out of the zone the
past, you make Reid getting tothe front of the net when Willsby scores.
Like just I like the way theteam worked on Saturday, and I'm
just curious, like you've had gameslike that recently where you're doing the work,
you're doing the right things, butthe result hasn't been there. The
Rockford game last week, was ittough? After two periods you're down three

(30:03):
to one. It's like, boys, we're doing what we need to do,
we just can't score right now.No, I wouldn't say it is
tough because I think at the beginningof the year we went through a stretch
like this and then all of asudden we had I think it was like
seven goals in one game. Yeah, So it's just like tough like that,
Like obviously early on we have thata little bit of experience with that
adversity of dominating teams and not scoringgoals, and you know, there's always

(30:26):
little things that we can work on. As a group, and that's kind
of what we go over, youknow, mornings like this. But yeah,
I don't know, I don't Ithink we handled it pretty well.
Yeah, Jake Livingstone joining us onMilwaukee Admiral Center ICE. I'm curious.
There used to be a saying it'sprobably still around this time of year.
There's no more rookies, And I'mcurious technically it's your first season, although

(30:48):
you had the advantage, I guess, of playing in the NHL after your
college career last season. I'm justcurious, do you feel like a rookie
at this point of the year.Yeah, I'm still cleaning the bus.
So okay, let's take that.Let's take that part away. Let's take
that part away. Experience wise,confidence wise, understanding the day to day
operation of this whole thing and howto treat yourself and all of that.

(31:11):
Do you still feel like a rookie? Yeah, I think you do in
some ways, more so how totreat your body. You're still figuring out
what's like, what works, youknow what I mean, It's only my
first full year pro I figured outwhat works for me day to day.
You know, when we have backto backs, we haven't I think I
don't even think we've had a threeand three yet this year. One and
we got one next weekend. Yeah, and so next weekend it's like,

(31:33):
you know, remember what I didthe first one, if it worked or
not, like you know what Imean. So I don't know, you
still do and like I said,the little things that you're like, yeah,
I'm still rookie and I don't know. Yeah, I would say the
experience on the io is different,like you never have that playoff experience or
anything. But so far, youknow, coach of staff is putting me
in positions to I don't know,get that experience, I guess. And

(31:55):
that's been good. They're putting youinto those spots. But you've also I
mean, you got to earn it, right, I mean that's the thing,
right, you got to you gotto build up that equity. So
it's like, okay, penalty kill. We need a guy out there who
can block some shots and put astick in the lane and all of that
stuff. Hey Jake, you're goingout right, Yeah, I mean absolutely,
It's it's at the begind of theyear. It's tough. You know,

(32:15):
we have a lot of defenseman withsome pedigree in this lineup, and
so it's it's it's tough and it'sjust you know, doing your job and
grind it out every day. Thegame you mentioned, I'm curious you mentioned
playoff experience. I'm curious what thatNHL experience did for you last season now
that you had some time, becauseI'm sure I've asked you this a couple

(32:36):
of times during the year, Butnow that we're closing this year, what
that experience meant for you at thistime now? Yeah, I mean almost
exactly a year ago, I suppose, yeah, yesterday, yesterday a year
ago was my first NHL. Yeah, first NHL game. But yeah,
it's been good. I mean,looking back on it, I think it

(32:57):
just gave you more so just afeeling of like I didn't I wasn't not
a place in that league when Iplayed, and I've gotten a lot better
in this probably seven or eight monthsthat I've been here. So just kind
of, like I said, keepgrinding and working and hopefully get that opportunity.
But it's like at this point inthe year, you're just worried about
playoffs like coming and you're just readyto like go on a deep run.

(33:21):
Hopefully You're kind of you know,you want Nashville make playoffs and stuff like
that, but you're just thinking yourself, we would rather go on a deeper
run, and we have a goodteam. So when you had playoff experience
in college, obviously, compare thetwo colleges. College is tougher. I
think probably because it's one and done, right. I mean, that's that's
the tough thing. Yeah, Ithink college. I think college hockey playoffs

(33:43):
is harder than any probably any playoffs. Like just like the March madness,
you know what I mean, Likethe best teams don't ever don't always have
one hot guy and it's over.Yeah, exactly, Like if I I
just always say this to people,Like my sophomore year, the year we
lost the national championship, played bestof seven series. We probably we'd win.
We'd beat that team in five.Yeah, we'd beat that team in

(34:05):
five games. Which is you lookat it that way. It's tough,
but it's also like that's the wayit is, Like that's what makes it
so hard, and like little mistakescost you. But what are you gonna
do? Right? I mean that'sthat's how it is. But now,
I mean, what are you anticipatingthis year? You're close to clinching first
place. I'm just curious what theanticipation is like for you and for the

(34:25):
rest of the room here going intothe last six games of the season.
I think details. That's our biggestthing that we're like worried about, just
our details, because like you said, it's not as much as college,
but like little details might cost youin the playoffs and they and they will
if we're not if we're not hardon them. So it's like just finding

(34:46):
the finer details. Like you said, we've been playing good hockey lately,
it's just little finer details that needto be worked out. The game against
Rockford, you got a puck uphigh? How scary was that? And
how? I mean it didn't feelgood? But uh but I mean did
you did you think it was worsethan it was? Was it not as
bad as you thought? How didyou? How did you feel about that

(35:07):
situation? Honestly I was I waspretty good until after, Like the doc
wouldn't show me that the doc was, I don't know, he's good something.
I've been probably a little shocked andemotional and he was just like I
was just angry. So I thinkmore so anger, but like and initially
I was just like get off theice, Like I wasn't thinking to myself

(35:30):
like, ah, this is badbecause I could see, Like I think
if I couldn't see, that wouldprobably worried me, like really bad or
like feel teeth like Weather's like,I'm I look at weather, but I'm
fortunate that I just got in theforehead, you know what I mean.
It's eleven stitches. But it's likehe can't even eat food, like you
know, so that part of it, but it was it was scary.

(35:51):
The biggest thing for me was justtelling my girlfriend my family that him like
they see a lot of blood,right, and I'm just like I'm okay.
A tough thing. I remember yearsago weird in Houston and somebody at
Greg Zannon, longtime defenseman in theNHL, got injured and I'm trying to
describe it and I'm trying not toyou know, I'm trying to be I'm
not clinical, and I'm trying tonot go overboard. I'm trying to be

(36:15):
as this as a matter of factas possible. But it's a tough thing
to do. When Cloudeon no Wellwas the coach at the time, and
he says, well, how didyou describe it? And I tried to
explain it to him, and andwe had this talk about you know,
there are loved ones listening that areflipping out because they can't see they're not
there, so you can't go youcan't go overboard. That's a tough I

(36:36):
mean now they can watch, butstill it's not pleasant to see. I'm
sure, yeah, no, absolutely, I just I know they're like,
glad, you're okay. I justtold everything. Fine, I just got
to supposed to. The doctor toldme I was supposed to get five and
I'm getting eleven. But I wasjust like, I'm okay, yeah,
I mean yeah, there's I feellike a song as I don't get you

(36:57):
know, punched in the head ora high stick in that area, but
I gotta helmet covering it, soit's like it's okay. Yeah. I
talked to Mark Deel guys who aboutthis, and you've seen him. He's
on a hockey card for the firsttime. Yeah, and you are.
And I'm curious, like, didyou collect when you were a kid?

(37:17):
Was one question? And two what'sit like to see, especially if you
did collect, to see yourself ona hockey card that that kids are buying
and trading and all of that.Yeah, I mean I did collect a
little bit when I was younger,not much. Like it's just like had
a one of those open books andthen the plastic or you slide the card
in, and I had a decentsized one, but it was more of

(37:39):
my brother that did that. Butthe uh, it's cool to see.
Like right now, I'm I havea deal with Upper Deck and I'm signing
a bunch of cards that are doingit. It's just like it's cool to
see all the different ones that theyactually have. It's like so many variation.
Yeah, like I have a oneof one right now and stuff like
that, which is cool and I'mlike, oh, I'll probably never get

(37:59):
my hands on that because it's like, well like I don't know where it's
going after this, but like it'scool to see that stuff. Just take
pictures of it, like see ityou have a deal with You've signed a
deal with upper Deck, so that'supper Deck in OPG, right that that
you can be put on or yeah, I'm not sure what the like when
you say OPG, but I justknow that, like I just signed the

(38:20):
cards and then they sell them like, so I have like cards, like
they just sent me the cards,I sign the cards, or like they
send me little things I sign andlike put on jerseys and stuff like Warren
jerseys. Yeah, that's that's crazyto think about, isn't it. Like
you got you got time, Jake. Here, here's a box of cards.
Just go sign these for an houror whatever. Yeah. Yeah,

(38:43):
it's like it's cool. But sometimesI'm like sitting there, I'm like,
oh, man, like let's getthis over with. Yeah, it's like
the same thing over and over andover again. I tell you what,
I'll go. You'll go to acard show, you go to the National
or whatever, and all those cardsare going to be on display and everybody.
It's it's it's kind of wild tothink of the the money involved in
this hobby, right, absolutely,Yeah, it'll be cool. It's cool

(39:07):
now, you know. It's likea lot of things that they don't really
set it when you think, likewhen you got them right in front of
your face and then ten years downthe road, you're like, that's pretty
sweet. Yeah. Yeah, Iappreciate you doing this very much. So
good luck tonight. Thank you appreciateit, Jake Livingstone. We'll take a
break back in the moment you're listeningto Milwaukee Admiral Center ICE one final time
tonight, Milwaukee Admirals Center ICE wantto thank you all for listening. Saturday

(39:29):
night. The Admiral's victory for TOthree at Texas was the two hundredth win
as head coach of the Milwaukee Admiralsfor Carl Taylor and his staff, and
I wanted to finish with this.This is Carl talking about reaching two hundred
wins and what it means to himand the organization. We've got a good
staff, we work well together.I've always said this. The management team's

(39:51):
given us good players to work with. They've been very consistent in trying to
give us options and to help usmake good decisions with the different two in
the toolbox that they've presented us with. So yeah, like it's you got
to take a step back and go, Yes, two hundred wins, that's
great. That's that's a lot ofwins in basically four and a half years.

(40:13):
Is that what it is? Becausewe had the one season canceled and
the other year we didn't play.So we're very proud of that, but
we're also proud of the forty threeguys that are playing in the National Hockey
League that have played here. Soit's a double edged sword and a lot
of people always throw out every questionthat anytime an American League coach gets hired,
can you win and develop? Canyou do both? Can you do

(40:35):
this well? I think our staffand our management group and all the players
that have been here have proven thatyou can do both. It's not always
easy, but there's a balance,and you have to help you sell your
message but also how the group andthe players respond to it. And you
need to have good players like andthat's why I include the management group and
the people that have put this teamtogether. Everyone's involved, Trainers, yourself,

(40:59):
were all on the road trying todo everything we can to be as
professional as we can. So everyone'sgot a little piece of it. And
it's it's it's it's it's a processof creating the environment, staying with the
process, and then allowing the resultsto come. And if you chase the
results, you're never going to getthem, whether it's call ups or wins.

(41:20):
But if you just get that frameworkand that foundation down, and I
think we've done a good job ofthat, and it's not one year.
It's every year you have to resetit because your roster changes so much at
this level. So I made thatmistake in my youth. All right,
we got this covered. Then thenext year I skipped a couple of steps
and that was a long season.So I've learned that lesson the hard way,

(41:42):
which is usually how you learn andand so yeah, every year you
have to restart your foundation. Andso I'm very fortunate. You know,
my assistant coaches and our video staffand our goalie coach, all four guys
are outstanding and they've really supported usthrough everything we do. So that's Admiral's
head coach Carl Taylor talking about twohundred wins as they head coach of the
Admirals. The Admirals have three homegames remaining in this season, the next

(42:04):
one coming up on Friday night,the Admirals taking on Chicago seven pm.
The Admirals will be wearing a specialjersey on Autism Acceptance Night, actually two
special jerseys to be auctioned off insupport of three great local organizations, All
my friends, the Braxton Project andthe Autism Society of Southeastern Wisconsin. Visit
Milwaukee Admirals dot com to find outmore information. It's also a Fair Deal

(42:24):
Friday and an Ian's Peteza Student Night. Fan Appreciation Night is Wednesday, April
seventeenth, when the Admirals host Manitoba. Everybody will get a team picture,
and also April twentieth a Summerfest ticketgiveaway, a commemorative cup commemorating the admirals
winning streak, and also the Apriltwentieth game, the Battle of the Badges.

(42:45):
Find out more at Milwaukee Admirals dotcom. Thanks for listening to Milwaukee
Admiral Center Ice