04/29/24 - Admirals Center Ice

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hello and welcome Milwaukee Admirals Center Icewith Michael Jahowski. I'm here in Simms
and it's like it's finally here.We've been waiting and waiting and waiting for
playoffs to get here. We stillgot to wait a couple of more days.
But the playoffs begin Thursday, whenthe Admirals travel to Texas to take
on the Texas Stars. Will Joe, this is what playoff number. It's
got to be about forty for you, right, thirty six? I think

(00:21):
thirty six. Okay, well closeto forty, close to forty. So
it never gets old, No,it never gets old. And I finally
learned to settle down just a halfa notch. Just when I learned,
Just when I learned to settle downa half a notch, we went on
a couple of real nice We hada couple of nice runs. And right
now I'm you know, I'm Betty. You're wired up, but yeah,
I'm wired up again. But itused to be. And you win,

(00:43):
great, you lose, Hey,it's fine, we'll get them tomorrow.
You know one of those routines.Yeah, I kind of like a real
I'm just even keel, not toohigh, not too low, all right,
I'm not I'm not that way.I had to talk about that much
more. Admiral's assistant coach Scott Ford, how are you with all of this?
You've bet I was trying. Ihaven't done this yet, but I've

(01:03):
been thinking a lot about you haveto be the winningest person involved with the
Milwaukee Admirals except for maybe Phil Whitliffe, but you, as a player and
a coach probably been a part ofmore victories than anybody in this fifty three
year history of this team. Doyou ever think about that? No,
I haven't really. I mean asfar as a play inside of it,

(01:26):
I was fortunate. I think oneyear maybe missed the playoffs as a as
a player, and that was whenI kind of that last year, yeah,
kind of that last half a year, and then as a coach been
fortunate to Uh, I think everyyear we've given ourselves a chance as far
as playoffs go, and a coupleof decent runs and just looking forward to

(01:48):
this week. Like you guys said, it's been uh, it's been quite
a long wait, quite a longlayoff, you know, trying to find
different ways to keep the guys sharp, compete, you know, to have
practices and things like that, justto try to emulate, you know,
the physicality and and things of thatnature and prep. But you know,
until that puck drops Thursday, younever know kind of what you're gonna what

(02:12):
you're gonna see. And players.We've got a young team, you know,
some of them haven't haven't been inthe fire like this before, so
hopefully we've can Hopefully we can youknow, come out with a good start
and kind of get them, getthem up and running. So is that
the difference from last year to thisyear? Because you had the same delay
last season to get going, youknow, season ended, you have to
wait for that play and round tocomplete and and move on. You weren't

(02:37):
the top seed, you were thesecond seed last year. But I'm just
curious if that's the big difference.It's it's only I shouldn't say only,
but the personnel, Yeah, Ithink so. I mean, our staff
has found a way to work togetherand in a manner where you know,
we we kind of know what theinner workings are, We know each other,
tech, we understand where you know, what we're doing prep and things

(03:00):
like that. Everybody we're kind ofyou know, finally tuned in that area.
So just kind of getting our playerson board, trying to like I
said, with practice and with prepto you know, try to prepare ourselves
as best as possible for you know, what if scenarios for you know,
five on six is six on fives, you know, late special teams type

(03:23):
of things, scenarios where you know, until you're kind of in the heat
of it, you don't know howyour guys are going to react. But
at least we're trying to you know, prepare them visually and physically for you
know, as many things that youknow we've seen, right, you know
that we expect to see and expectthem to see and at the same point

(03:44):
not overkilling it, but at thesame time, you know, trying to
utilize some of our veteran savvy asfar as being there before to you know,
project under our team. You know, I was surprised that, uh
they got through they got through Manitobintwo games. I I thought it would
be a thought for sure, itwas going to be a three gamer.

(04:05):
But the other they are the moreskilled team, the skating team versus a
little bit tougher team that Manitoba iswhat type of problems does that team create?
For you, Well, I thinkit's the overall transition speed of their
attack. They have obviously the numberone power play in the league. They
possess you know, weapons on theirteam where they don't need a lot of

(04:28):
chances to hurt you. So theyshoot the puck extremely well. They give
they give themselves opportunities by you know, delivering pucks at than that and then
when they get rebounds and they getsecond chance opportunities, they have some guys
that can can bury, so itdoesn't take them a lot of chance,
a lot of time, or alot of chances. And just their the

(04:48):
nature of their team is how fastthey play, how they are able to
execute and and you know small areasand very tight windows. And you know,
we're understanding we need to manage thepuck, take care of the pucket
the blue lines, and not givethem those rush opportunities. For like,
if if we can get on ourfore check and you know, create from

(05:12):
you know, sustaining ozone time,you know, generating more chances at the
net, you know, trying toutilize some of our some of you know,
our our size and some of youknow what we have as far as
attributes as well. So it's weknow that they're solid over there. They've
given us troubles in the past,just with their kind of high octane speed

(05:34):
and some of the things that they'reable to do off the rush and kind
of on their power play as well. Admiral's assistant coach Scott Ford joining us.
It's Milwaukee Admirals Center Ice. Youjust saw them three weeks ago.
How different is your team since then? Personnel is sort of the same.
But I keep thinking to myself,you finished the last six games for one

(05:57):
and one. You didn't have aheck of a lot to play for,
standings wise, things like that.It was pride. It was just you
know, players, Don't get mewrong, there was a lot to play
for. Players are trying to makeannounced that they're here all of that.
But I think those six games youguys came out with some statements. The
Rockford game, I just think theway you guys played was kind of an

(06:20):
announcement that, yeah, things havechanged, but we're still pretty good team.
Yeah, I think so. Imean we emphasize that with our group.
We try to focus on ourselves morethan you know, our opponent.
As a staff, we try toprepare our guys as best as possible.
And but we try to focus onus number one, you know, and

(06:41):
make our guys believe we do havethe personnel in here, whether it's changed
over, whether guys are up ordown, or new players coming in,
that we expect a certain level ofplay a second set, or we expect
a certain level of compete. AndI think our leadership group and our players
that have been here, you know, for a number of games or a
number of years, they've done agood job of pulling people in and and

(07:05):
saying, Okay, this is thestandard. Now live live up to it.
Yeah right, And and that's that'skind of been been the thing for
us. I think our our guysare our goaltending in our back end is
has been you know, pretty goodnow for you know, a couple of
years. Yeah right, I wasgoing to say at least year. Yeah,
And we pride ourselves on that,you know, our guys do a

(07:29):
heck of a job back there.For me, we dressed seven D for
a lot of the season this year, and that we talked about it before.
There's there's some you know, coolthings you can do with matchups and
to get players in positions and andice time and things like that where you
know they excel at and you cankind of hide them and and uh,
you know, help them and aidthem in the fision areas. So that's

(07:50):
kind of been a bonus with withplaying that that way, and we've had
success with that, and our guysare good back there in the fact that
they've checked their egos at times wheremaybe their minutes have been have been you
know, diminished a little bit,and you know some of their situational play
and stuff is they they've had totake a step back and they've done an

(08:13):
unbelievable job with it. So ourgoalten in our back end are obviously our
strength, and then are our youthfullegs up front. I mean, our
guys, our guys up front havecome so far this year just with their
play, with how they're learning tobe professionals and just a lot of fuck
that probably has to you know,help out with with caller Riley and yeah,

(08:35):
players like that, right. Ijust I love the fact that And
I don't want to speak for Wojes, but I think I am when I
say this. Ti Pheliber's learned howto be a really good rat. Ozzie
Wiseblatt lays some hits on like ZachLaRue is like, I like, you
hate them if they're on the otherteam, you absolutely adore them if they're

(08:56):
on your team. And I fellober specifically, Kevin Wall has fallen into
that guys that just and you andI have talked about this before. I
don't know that it's a real identityshift, but it is different than what
it was during the nineteen game winningstreak. No, it is for sure.
I think those guys have have lookedat the players, you know,
potentially coming in with Ozzie, he'sthis is kind of his second chance with

(09:22):
the new organization, and he's ahighly he's a high pick. I mean,
the guy's first rounder, right,and he's been given an opportunity here
to showcase his skill, but playinga certain way and playing with that kind
of edge that he's found and youknow, he's super dynamic when he gets
in open ice and when he makesplays, but he also has that element

(09:43):
of physicality and of agitating and gettingunder people's skin. Zach LaRue, I
mean, he's maybe arguably one ofthe best at I was gonna say he's
not twenty one yet, and hemight be the best guy in the league
doing it right. And it's youknow, obviously they have to ride that
line and they have to be onthat on that edge because there has been
times too where you know, you'vegot to be like, okay, guys,

(10:07):
you got to you know, reelit in a little bit because you
know, you can't be in thebox all night either, right, right,
So it's a fine line. AndI think some of those guys and
and also too with the additions ofsome of these players, you see guys
maybe like a Felly or or Walle, the guys that have been in and
out of the lineup. You know, they look at something that they can
bring and and that has you know, probably kept them in or given them

(10:33):
given them a role or you know, situation where But it gets back to
what you said about the young teamfiguring out things along the way. You
don't have to necessarily be nineteen yearsold to do that. You can be
a guy, how do I whatcan I do that I can help this
team the best, thus helping methe most exactly. And I mean it's
some of those guys have done that. I know, guys have come here

(10:54):
as maybe power play guys and havefound a niche penalty killing. Maybe they've
guys have come as a defensive guyand now they've had they've provided in some
other aspect. They've all they've allkind of taken a step back as a
team, you know, as ourteam has kind of navigated it's its way
through the year, and guys have, like you said, they've found kind

(11:16):
of second chance opportunities, our niche, niche roles within our system that you
know has given them opportunity and hasbasically kept them staples in the lineup when
we've had a lot of turnover anda lot of changeover. Well, Joe,
I'm going to jump in here againbecause I'm sorry. I apologize I'm
monopolizing the conversation, but I'm justcurious. For me, as I've gotten

(11:37):
older, that's been the most interestingpart is the mental the team building,
the psychoanalyg all of that stuff,right, anything between the ears, That
is what's the interesting thing. Becauseeverybody has a different ego, everybody has
a different mindset, everybody has differentgoals. Is that for you as a
player? Was that for you asa coach? Is that for you?

(11:58):
The the dealing with the human partof the game, as opposed to the
ex as and O's part of thegame. Yeah, I mean, I
think it's I think it's paramount.It's it's huge to be able to have
that relationship with your player and tobe able to develop something where you're it's
not so much of a jump howhigh you know, and that player like

(12:20):
how high anymore. It's like there'sa lot more that goes into the communication
side of it and understanding you know, who your player is and and how
he is, you know, asa as a person and on a human
level, and getting them to trustwhat you're doing is going to help their
future and and they you know,buy into that. Yeah, And it's
harder with some guys than others,obviously, And but for the most part,

(12:41):
we've we've had a lot of successhere kind of doing it that way
and trying to really enhance what ourguys are good at and trying to make
them elite at what people you know, drafted them for believed in them at
some point in their career. Becauseit's like you said, it's hard to
teach an old dog new tricks,but we can tweak and adjust and try

(13:03):
to kind of insulate them with eitheryou know, a defense partner or another
player in their you know, forwardlineup or something along those lines. And
I think we that's kind of hadus being able to have success with a
variety of different type of players,whether we were big and strong and physical

(13:24):
when you're too you know, smallerand a little bit rattier style play,
or super skilled or not. AndI think you can find ways to win
with all different types of players.You just have to be willing to tweak
and to continue to develop you know, their personalities and them as professionals,
and that earn that trust rather thanjust being like, okay, this is

(13:48):
it's black in size fits all likeit's so it's not. I mean,
it's not like that in life anda lot of different things you do.
So I think our staff's done agood job of understanding not as a whole
and still having our foundation and thestandard that we want to do things and
how we want to do things.But you can you can kind of,

(14:09):
you know, navigate that a littlebit according to the type of player you
have to the type of personality andtry to work within that to provide the
best you know, structure and thebest foundation for them to succeed. I
look back to the weekend of Aprilsixth and seventh, going to Texas.
We we hadn't clinched the division yet, things on, a lot of things

(14:31):
were up still up in the air, and we came back from a three
to one deficit in the third periodto score three goals to win the game
four to three. How important wasthat at the time and how important is
that as a learning tool down theroad in case you guys happen to fall
behind the game against that same teamand say, okay, guys, we've
done it before against these guys,we can make this happen. No.
I think in general, just whenyou've if you've had success throughout a season.

(14:56):
I think during that streak especially,there was lot of like we weren't
just freight training teams. Like there'swe have seventeen wins in overtime. I
mean, that's probably made our recorda little bit inflated. There's times where
where we're just grinding it out wherewe can give on up, you know,
one or two goals a game fora huge stretch, but we'd only

(15:16):
scored two and a half or three, you know, so there's like a
there's a lot of different scenarios ina lot of different ways to you know,
of learning and things situational things likethat. And you know, we're
emphasizing the same thing. We lookat our parent club last night in Nashville,
up two goals get scored on twicelate and third losing in overtime.
But we talk about these scenarios withour guys and talk about how momentum swings

(15:41):
occur and how to manage manage youremotions on the ice and on the bench,
and how to you know, basicallylearn from from failure or you know,
learn from what we're what we're seeing, you know out there, because
momentum, momentum happens, right,Yeah, they give more give momentum than
than game, more so in thissport, I think than any other.

(16:02):
Right because as soon as as soonas you start to panic and that fear
sets in, and that what ifyou just don't do things innately anymore and
it starts to snowball on you andyou can start to feel it and everybody
you know, you start you startto lose control a little bit. So
we're trying to at least emulate someof those scenarios, show it not don't

(16:25):
be afraid to talk about it becausestuff happens right right, and we've had
it, We've had it happened againstus yet before this year too, where
you blow a lead, or youyou get scored on late, or it's
it's how you react as a teamand as as a staff, and how
you continue to be like, Okay, let's not let's not compound this.
Let's put it an end to this. Now, let's have you know a

(16:47):
couple of good shifts here and getback at it. Let's try to you
know, understand that this stuff isgoing to happen, but how do you
respond out of it? I'm curiousyou brought up Nashville last night the Admirals
parent club up three to one withthree minutes to go, they give up
a couple of goals won with sixseconds remaining, and then first minute of
overtime they lose four to three.Should have been two to two in the

(17:07):
series. Now it's three to one. Should be maybe three to one in
favor of Nashville the way they've played. I've read all of these things from
people who say, how can theybounce back from this? To me,
going through something like this as abroadcaster, not as a player, certainly,
But to me, game five isn'tthe issue. It's game six.
I think game five is easier tobounce back, and now it's harder to

(17:30):
carry it over to game six.I mean, you've been through this stuff
like this, what do you think? Yeah, I mean you always say
the cliches like, oh, onegame at a time, prepare for the
next one. But it is definitelya blow. Yeah, but you have
to trust and you have to believethat that next game is going to be
the best game of your season.Yeah. And it's just the debt,

(17:51):
level of desperation and the thought ofthat do or die. Usually that game
five of like there's something special reapends and you bring it like it's just
it's it's just human nature. Andand then like you said, once you
get through that one, then it'slike then you're like, oh, yeah,

(18:12):
we've given ourselves a chance. Nowyou start to think it's like,
oh, here's some pressure. Thenthe pressure is kind of back on yourself.
Like you said, the next oneis not the pressure, and the
next one is like your pride asa professional one as an athlete, and
you you're going to lay it outthere regardless, right, And if it,
if the other team has a hotgoaltender or something, something happens.

(18:36):
You know it's not meant to be, but it You have to believe that
in that room and the pride andeverything that they've gone through as a team
this season, that they're gonna they'regoing to do something you know, up
above and beyond that next game,right you know, so I would agree.
I think so too. Admiral's assistantcoach Scott Ford joining us for a
couple more minutes. So you getdown to Texas two games down there,

(19:00):
it's such a cliche to say,oh, split on the road, win
at home. I know you guysare going down there with the mindset we're
winning too, right. You haveto have that mindset to go down there
and say we're winning too right,Right, No, we do for sure.
I mean, like I said,the first game one is huge.
There's gonna be a lot of nerves, but a lot of excitement as well.
Ye, right, So we justwant to have a good start,

(19:22):
get off on the right foot,and get our get our guys engaged in
the game. Their building is goingto be loud. They they ride and
and get fueled off of the ofthe noise in there and just the overall
excitement of them at home. They'rethey they bring a lot of energy and
you know, and speed. That'sthe biggest thing. You know, if

(19:44):
we're going to take care of thepuck, we have to basically have a
good start and get some of ouryoung guys feet wet early and have that
the moment's not too big for them, right, So a couple of simple
plays get the pucks in for allthat jazz, it's uh, We're just
going to continue to focus on thosethings, and like our group, our

(20:07):
group belief. We have to makeour group believes that that we're here for
a reason. You know, wehad a lot of success in the regular
season, and we have to continueto push and make the guys believe that
we're here for a reason and thatwe have the horses. So you have
to continue to make them believe thatthey are as good as it as it

(20:30):
says they are. Last one here, you said their whole ice, you
guys had the best home ice recordoutside of Hershey this year in the American
Hockey League. There's something to besaid about playing here at Panther Arena.
I know, you guys for yearshave said, we want to make this
place the hardest place we can possiblymake it. This year, you it
turned out that, yeah, itwas pretty hard to win a game here,
no, for sure. And Ithink just everything that I mean the

(20:53):
organization's done. As far as theattendance increase, I mean, it helps
when we generate excitement as as playersor as our team has success, right,
But I mean just I think thewhole general excitement in Milwaukee and whatever
you know, we've done as anorganization and as a group to generate that.

(21:14):
I think what is over a thousandmore season ticket sales or sorry,
a thousand more per game and attendancelike that's not nothing to slow chat and
that's I mean, I think it'sphenomenal for the community to show that support.
And I think the streak generated someexcitement. And then once people get
in the doors here and they seethe product that we have and they understand
that our players are professionals and we'reunder contract with Nashville, our players are

(21:40):
close, Like we have a numberof high draft picks. We have guys
that are going to have long careersin the National Hockey League. And when
people get to see that and understandthat that's how close this organization is and
that's what we do here. Imean, people have started to generate that
excitement and it's it's awesome for usto Yeah, no doubt about that.
I can't wait for the trip,can't wait to get going. It's gonna

(22:03):
be in Texas on Thursday, Thursday, and Saturday in Cedar Park. Thanks
for doing this awesome guys. AdmiralsAssistant coach Scott Ford will take a break.
Come back in a moment. You'relistening to Milwaukee Admirals Center Ice.
Welcome back to Milwaukee Admiral Center Icewith Michael Jahowski. I'm Aaron Simms.
Playoffs began on Thursday, when theAdmirals traveled to Texas Thursday and Saturday nights,
seven o'clock both nights, and thenback at Panther Arena on the eighth,

(22:26):
Game three, game four if necessaryon the tenth, and game five
if necessary on the twelfth. We'vegot watch parties, right, We've got
on Thursday. So visit Milwaukee Admiralsdot com and you can see this guy
play last year, his his lasttwo seasons. Three check that I'm gonna
take it all back. I thoughthe was the best defenseman for the Admirals.

(22:48):
As a rookie last year, hewas magnificent, kicked it up a
notch, played in all but onegame, and then on top of that,
he had magnificent playoff runs. Hesure did. This year, He's
been terrific, really terrific, andmade his NHL debut and I can't wait
to see him score two points agame in the playoffs. He's Admirals defenseman
Mark Dell. Guys are joining us, Paul Coffee. That's the kind of

(23:10):
stuff we're looking for. You're notasking for much, No, that's okay.
Hey, guys, thanks for thecoin words, thanks for having me.
Well, it's our pleasure. AndI tell you what, I'm curious
your thoughts. I've asked a fewguys. I asked yo, Kim Kemmel.
He went through the playoffs last yearfor the first time, just turned
twenty here on Saturday, and Iasked him how hard it was last year

(23:30):
and how much he leans on thatexperience. He had a very good playoff.
You had a brilliant playoffs last seasonfor the Admirals, and I'm curious
how much you lean on that goinginto the playoffs this year or Is it
more of the more recent stuff inthe seventy two games of this season that
you lean on going into the playoffsthis year? Yeah, I mean,

(23:52):
you know, the playoffs and theplayoffs are much different than the regular season.
So you know, at the endof the day, it's still hockey,
but definitely ramped up a little bit. You know, the crowds and
the you know, just the intensityof the game ramps up a bit.
So yeah, you know, it'shad a really good playoffs last year,

(24:12):
and you know, I'm feeling confidentgoing to the playoffs this year for sure,
in this little break we've had betweenour last regular season game and waiting
for an opponent. Now we've gotan opponent. Opponent, but just about
the same amount of time as youhad last year to get ready. I
have you've been able to heal up, you get ready to go, No
no issues. Everything's good. Yeah, everything's good. Yeah, I mean,

(24:36):
it's uh, it's you know,I think it's I think it's great.
Heaving. You know, this timeoff, I guess you could call
it just to you know, focuson ourselves and have some good hard practices.
And we had the scrimmage on Saturday, So yeah, I mean I
think it's uh, you know,it's a little bit weird not playing right

(24:56):
away, but it's it's definitely uhnice for sure for our team in particular.
Well, the bruises aren't purple anymore. I guess that's the nice thing
exactly, right, Yeah, yeah, you know, hopefully we get some
guys back here from injury and youknow, go from there, and we're

(25:17):
definitely excited to play now. Forsure. I think everyone's I was excited
to practice and excited for Thursday tostart. You mentioned that that controlled scrimmage
that went on Saturday down at WilsonPark, and last year they had one
again, it was a long layoffbetween the end of the regular season and
the start of the Division semi finals, same as this year. Last year,

(25:38):
there was a good group. Thisyear, I was stunned there was
many more people that came out tothat, and I just the excitement that
your team has built throughout the regularseason and now going into the playoffs like
this. You guys have done somethingpretty special here this year. No,
yeah, for sure. And yousee the San attend this year, I

(26:00):
think it's gone up quite a bitcompared to previous years, right, Yeah,
the fans have been awesome, andyou know, the community has seemed
to really get around it. Uh. You know, I think that nineteen
game winning strick really helped that,just you know, open some eyes and
and get some people to come outand whatnot. So yeah, I mean,

(26:21):
the community and the city's uh seemsto be getting around it pretty good.
So it's uh, it's definitely cool, and we're excited to play in
front of them, all right,So tell me the truth here now,
was was that how you guys normallygo go at each other and every practice
and in a scrimmage. Because Ihad at least a half a dozen fans
come out up to me and say, oh, my gosh, does he
do this every day? Like notquite, but they yeah, that's it's
pretty it's it's a pretty uh intensesituation. Yeah, no, for sure.

(26:47):
I think you know, having thisuh this little break or whatever.
You know, we're trying to simulate, you know, trying to do our
best and simulate the intensity and thework ethic and the details and everything that
goes into playoff hockey. So yeah, I mean I think, you know,
during the regular season, maybe it'snot as much, but you know,

(27:07):
the last week and a half twoweeks have have been hard practices,
and you know, we're pushing eachother and and trying to make it as
playoffs as much as the playoff atmosphereas possible. Admirals defenseman Mark del Goi
del guys are joining us. It'sMilwaukee Admirals Center ice. When you see
this Texas team, and you justsaw him a couple of weeks ago.

(27:30):
But when you think about them,what are in your mind the keys to
this series? Uh, defensively,offensively, whatever it might be. I
think the key the keys are goingto be managing, managing the talk and
managing turnovers. I think you know, they're they're a really good rush team
and transition team. And if yougive them opportunities, uh, you know,

(27:52):
turning the puck over in the neutralzone or they're not getting up hucked
deep, they're going to counter reallyquick. And they have a lot of
speed and and fowards that can makeplays. And you know, I think
if we we take care of thepuck and you know, play behind them
and above them, uh, we'llbe uh, we'll get what we want
out of this series. I thinkI think of last year it went,

(28:12):
it went five last year, andyou guys came out in game five and
I think, what was it fournothing at the end of the first Like
you guys came out and you justyou kind of put your foot down and
said, this is it, Likewe're we're leaving here with the win.
And I know that's a difficult thingto do, but my goodness, that
would be the dream scenario, wouldn'tit to come out every night and do

(28:33):
that, do it that way?Yeah? Absolutely. I think you know,
they've played already, so they're probablymaybe feeling feeling good about themselves after
uh, you know, went intoin a row against Manitoba. But we're
a group that hasn't played in acouple of weeks, and I think we're
all just you know, really eagerto get going and get playing, and

(28:55):
we know it's gonna be, youknow, a tough challenge. You know,
obviously, I will everyone will wantedto be up for nothing after the
first period, but you know,we know it's going to be a tough
challenge. And the challenge for usis to get pucks behind them and you
know, just play behind them andabove them, and I think we'll be
fine, you guys after that nineteengame winning streak. It didn't it didn't

(29:19):
continue obviously, and the it waskind of back and forth a little bit.
And I think, and you correctme if I'm wrong here, if
but I just think I look atthe last six games you guys played,
and throwing the Texas games too atthe end of at the beginning of April,
but going five to and one,especially the wins against Rockford and the

(29:40):
way you won that game and puttingsome bucks in the net, and like,
I just think those were such goodstatements for this team that maybe you
guys went through a bit of anidentity crisis. There were some personnel changes
and guys had, you know,guys had to change the way they played
a little bit or at least thoughtabout the game. Am I wrong in
thinking that? No, Yeah,for sure. I think you know,
when going through that that win streakand you know everything's going well and uh,

(30:03):
you know, the team's confident,then it's pretty normal to you know,
maybe go on to skid a littlebit after that, and and then
we fell into some injury troubles andand whatnot. So yeah, it was
it was hard. It was ahard you know, a month or two
there you know, dealing with youknow, the injuries, and you know,

(30:29):
you know, not winning games likeit was. It was hard.
And you know, credit to theguys that you know, we're healthy.
We're healthy and you know, grindedthrough that time. And yeah, I
mean I think we're feeling I thinkwe're feeling good now going into the playoffs.
I think, you know, youdon't want to be like top,
you don't want to be completely inthe top of your game early on.

(30:52):
I feel like at this time ofthe year, I think you want to
just just build every every game andand you know, and go from there.
So have you done that? Yeah? I think I think we've.
I think we've been building the lastyou know, a few weeks here,
you know, feeling better about ourselvesand and just slowly building building our game.

(31:14):
I think that's that's what the teamsthat stand at the end aren't.
Aren't always the teams that are playing, you know, at their at their
peak, I guess right away.I think it's the teams that just continue
to build each game and each periodand each shift and you know, just
slowly get that snowball bigger and biggerand bigger, and then and then you're
raising the trophy at the end.Yeah, last one here for you.

(31:37):
Maybe you answered this a little earlierwhen we were talking about playoff your your
playoff past. But how much ofthat playoff experience, How valuable is that
specifically last year? How valuable isthat? And then how much do you
need to push that off onto aJake Livingstone who's going through the professional playoffs
for the first or whoever it mightbe back there? How how much of

(32:01):
a leader do you need? Howmuch do you how much do you have
to step up and be more ofa leader than you already are if you
have to. Yeah, I meanI think you know that that playoffs run
for me personally, I think itreally uh it really sparked like a bunch
of confidence in me and in mygame. And you know, I went

(32:22):
home that summer, you know,I had a really good summer of training
and came to training camp really confidentbecause of you know, how how well
I did and you know, youknow, I guess, I guess after
the playoffs last year, I justI felt like, I could, you
know, I can really be areally good player at this level and and

(32:43):
you know, have that and havean opportunity to play in the NHL.
So I think, you know,if you if you grab it the right
way, I think I think itcan really spark your career and give you
a ton of confidence. And youknow it definitely it definitely did for me,
you know, uh, you know, scoring, scoring some big goals,
providing offense and you know, beinga big part of that team to

(33:07):
you know, play in the WesternConference finals and you know, we we
didn't get the job done. Butyou know, I think for me personally
in my career, like it reallyuh it really sparks a bunch of confidence
in me and and a lot ofbelief. And yeah, I'm just super
grateful for that run. And youknow, I've had had a really good

(33:28):
season this year. I've had areally good regular season and you know,
like I, like you said,you know, got some games up top,
and you know, I'm definitely feelingI'm definitely jacked up to to get
going again here in the playoffs.For sure, this will be the last
one here. You the success youhad last season and falling short, does
that weigh on you or is itcompletely new and whatever happens this year happens.

(33:52):
It's it's a new group, it'sa new team, it's new opponents,
all of that stuff. Do youor do you carry over a little,
hey we got a job to finishfrom last season type of attitude?
Uh? Yeah, I mean Ithink I think it's a it's a new
group, but I think, youknow, the players that were here last
year definitely, you know, definitelywant to get back to to where we

(34:13):
were last last year. And youknow, I think we're confident that we
can do that. And yeah,I mean, just it's definitely a new
group, new season, new everything. So you don't want to, you
know, think about it too much. But the guys that were here last
year definitely, uh, definitely wantto at least get to that point that

(34:34):
we were there in the Western Conferencefinals and just go from there. Mark
can't thank you enough. I can'twait to see on the on the ice
on Thursday. It's Uh, I'mlooking forward to another great run here.
Thanks so much for your time heretoday. Thank you, guys, appreciate
it. Admirals defense been marked ol. Guys, was so good in the
playoffs last season all this season.Made his NHL debut and I'll tell you

(34:57):
what on Saturday, Admirals head coachCarl Taylor had to get together for the
team at his house and Mark delguys, his girlfriend makes an unbelievable cookie,
chocolate chocolate chip peanut butter cookie.Very nice. Yeah, it was
the hit of the party. Soit was in a day of all the
food. Everybody's like, you gottatry del guys those cookies. It's like,
all right, well, you betterbe honest about this. It wasn't

(35:20):
him who made it and Mark Mark'squick to say his girlfriend did very nice.
We're going to take a break.Alex Doherty from the Tennessee and is
going to join us and tell ushow the Nashville Predators, Milwaukee's parent club
can get back into this thing withVancouver. You're listening to Milwaukee Admiral Center
ICE. Welcome back to Milwaukee AdmiralCenter ICE with Mike wil Jehowski. I'm
Aaron Sims joining us now from thetennesseean Predators beat writer Alex Doherty. Alex,

(35:40):
first off, thanks for the time. I know you're sitting in Denver
waiting to get through to Vancouver,so we appreciate you enjoying your layover.
Hopefully enjoying your layover with us.The loss last time. Yeah, it's
not too bad here, It's fine. I've got a couple a couple hours
to kill. I hear that thisairport is haunted, so i'll uh,

(36:00):
I'll keep an eye out. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I'll tell you
what. You got plenty of trainsto figure out which which spot to go
to in that place, put plentyof space. Uh. That loss last
night, up three one with twoand a half to go, losing four
to three in a span of threeand a half minutes of game time,
people are wondering, how do theyhow do they pull through this? How

(36:22):
do they pull through this? Ingame five? I mean I I do
not know how you can recover fromthat. To me, that kind of
loss is just that's that's gonna that'sgonna steal it for you, because the
the swing from going to two seriesa side two to two. You know

(36:44):
you're coming back for game six,and you you feel like you played probably
your best game of the season forthose first fifty seven minutes, and then
everything changes, everything, everything changes. You're you're not only down three one
in the series. Now you feellike even if you played your best,
it's not good enough. And nowyou've got, you know, your goaltender.

(37:05):
Even though I wouldn't, I wouldn'tput the whole loft on sorrows.
Your goaltender is not saving you theway that they're backup backup goaltenders are saving
them. And it's just man.But I will say this, you know
that I don't know exactly what Iexpected in the locker room. I mean,
I've been in the locker room manytimes after a series has concluded,

(37:27):
and that's obviously a different atmosphere.Everyone knows it's over, everyone everyone realizes
that everything is done. This wasdifferent, and I mean, I guess
I thought it would be a littlebit more funereal. I thought it would
be you know, people just kindof shocked. And while a couple of
guys looked that way, you know, Roman Yosi and Philip Forsburg and even
Burnett, seems a little bit morejust let's move on and just get to

(37:52):
Game five. I mean, again, I don't know what I expected that.
It seems like a team that alot of bad things have happened too
and they just can't find their waythrough right now. I mean, the
game one lost, the twelve secondsthat turned it around, that was bad,
but they were covered in one gametwo, so you know, could

(38:13):
they do the same here. Couldthey recover from an even worse outcome in
game four and win game five?I think it's possible, especially the goaltending
situation for Vancouver is the same,and I expect it will be. So
we'll see what happens. I tellyou what, I was talking about this
with Scott Ford earlier in the show. Will Joe and I were talking about
it. I always think that theway that happens game five, I'm not

(38:36):
too worried about, but it's thereality of a game six now, like
okay, now we have to carryit over again. Like five, we
can get through. Six is thetough one because now the other team is
pushing a little bit more. That'sjust how I Yeah, maybe this is
just my head wrapping it that way, but it just seems like my memory
that that's kind of the way it'sespecially in Milwaukee here, that seems like

(38:57):
how it's gone. It seems reallylogical to me, thank you, yeah,
and well, and and then thereality, you know, the sort
of feelings and emotional side of itis one thing, but you know the
reality is that you would expect thethe massive injuries at goaltender for for Vancouver
to catch up. I mean,and while they got they got to feel
off, you know a little bit. They got to you know, Nikelis

(39:21):
has that goal, and they scoreda couple, but it just at this
point, like I said, itfeels like they've just been kind of making
the saves they need to make.They're not over committing, they're not they're
not playing too wild and net ifthey if they get beat, they get
beat. But they're just doing whatthey can and net and it feels like
that's working. But ultimately, youfeel like if you get more you know,

(39:42):
quality chances, you're you're gonna you'regonna beat that level goaltender if you're
if you're the national predator. Soagain, like you said, game five,
you feel like, if the goaltendingsituation for Vancouver is the same,
you've got a chance to win that. But yeah, I would agree with
you. The Game six is theone where you know that's that's probably gonna
make it. But you don't wantto go back for Game sevens Vancouver,
right, So what does uh so, what does Nashville have to do in

(40:06):
your in your estimation, what doesNashville have to do correctly in tomorrow's game
to get to get to the nextlevel. Boy defending the front of the
net man and that breakdown in theovertime period with Elias lynn Holme just right
in front of the net. Therewere a couple of breakdowns, but that
was just it was just bad communication, lack of focus and uh, you

(40:30):
know, Ryan O'Reilly and Philip Forsburgjust getting completely uh doubled up and and
and forgetting who had to beware andthen the empty net or you know,
empty crease in front of the net. So I think they have to take
care of that. They they havegot to get their their top goal scorers.
But I mean, I know,for Forstbrook has scored a couple of

(40:51):
goals, but outside of the skatedeflection in he's got one moment in this
series. To me, he's gotone moment in this series where we saw
Philip Porsburg like we know he needsmore, He needs more moments like that.
Ryan O'Reilly scored a powerplay goal inthe game. One haven't seen him
since Roman Yosi hasn't scored at all. If you don't have scoring from those

(41:13):
guys, you're not gonna win aGame five, You're not. You're not
gonna win Game five, You're notgonna win Game six, You're not gonna
win the series. So those guyshave got to produce that. We know
that they've shut down. They've donea pretty good job shutting down Tommy Novak
and even Systems and some of theother role players. But it's the top
guys that have to have to comethrough. Yeah. Yeah, there's no
doubt. Your best players need tobe your best players. Alex, we

(41:35):
are short on time. I apologize, but thank you so much for that
insight. Follow him on Twitter atAlex Doherty one right, that's right,
And I just wanted to say onemore thing, outside chance that you so
Parsonen gets in the game tomorrow night. Outside right, I think I think
there's a chance. I mean that, I think they've got to change something,
and I think they like him asa physical option over Cody Glassa He

(41:58):
So parson And is one of thewrongest players I think we've had through Milwaukee
in a long long time. Soyep, I can see that. That
makes all the sense in the world, Alex, good stuff, Thank you
so much. Okay, calculatory AlexDoherty the Tennessee and joining us. We'll
take a break and wrap it upnext. You're listening to Milwaukee Admiral Center
Ice one final time, Milwaukee AdmiralCenter Ice. Thanks to Scott Ford,
Alex Doherty, and markdel Guiser forjoining us. Will Joe watch party Thursday

(42:22):
when the Admirals take on Texas seveno'clock at Major Goals. Guys, absolutely
so head on over there. Ifnot, come on down and check us
out. We'll be on HLTV.Of course, we'll have the games on
the Big nine twenty in your iHeartRadioapp Thursday and Saturday in Texas and then
back home on Wednesday. The eighthticket packages are still available, so make
sure you get a hold of theAdmirals. Visit Milwaukee Admirals dot com for

(42:44):
all your ticket needs, all theinformation that you might want. Thanks for
listening to Milwaukee Admiral Center Ice.