05/06/24 - Admirals Center Ice

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hello and welcome Milwaukee Admirals Center Icewith Michael Jahowski on her and Sims.
Well. Unfortunately the bad predicament hereon paper for the Admirals. They're down
two in the best of five series. They come home on Wednesday to take
on Texas and after they win thatthey'll play Friday, and after when that
they play on Sunday at Panther Arenas. So games four and five if necessary,
all the Milwaukee. It's not aseries until the team wins on the

(00:23):
road. So exactly right, yougot to hold serve at home on home
ice. Well you know what Idid research, Yes, sir, this
gentleman were about to have on wona Calder Cup with Manchester in the last
ever game of their existence before itmoved Ontario. Yes, and each team
helped serve in that series. Itwas a two to two one each team.
And he came away And that wasin the first round against a kel

(00:46):
O Riley led Utica team, Okay, and they ended up winning. They
on the whole thing. In thefirst game, went five. In the
first series, won five games,and the home team helped serve in each
of those games. Admirals Captain KevinGravell joins us. Now, Kevin,
you know that. You remember thatthey're get to Portland, Pirates went up
to nothing, won them both athome, and then uh, that's right,

(01:07):
that's right. Well they don't recordthere, and then then we finished
them off in game five there andthey shut and they and they shut you
out in game four. It's like, holy mackerel, you know they did.
Yeah, So you know what it'sit's it's the hardest win to get
is that last win? So lastwin in the series the sand A team
season. So and I apologize andI apologize. They probably said something about

(01:30):
kel O rally that. But ifyou look at the scoring in that series,
you guys had the top three scoresin the league for that, for
that for the whole playoff series,cal O'Reilly was number four and you guys
had five and six. So tosay you may have dominated the Color Coup
playoffs, you might have been theunderstatement of the year. We uh,
we had a great team. Alot of guys went on to have really
good careers. We actually played callin the final that year. He was

(01:53):
obviously a mark man on their team, you know, kind of doing his
thing when he's done his entire career. So yeah, we have a really
good run. I think we Ithink the longest at that point it was
only the first round was the bestof five, than every other series was
best of seven, and I thinkthe farthest we made it with game five
in every series. So we've definitelyhad a good team and obviously got some

(02:16):
breaks and things are rolling for us, but very very vivid memories and very
good memories of that year. Sothis team this year against Texas, the
Admols are down two, coming backto Milwaukee, playing on Wednesday night against
the Stars. It could very wellbe one one, It could be two
nothing obviously, but but one oneat the least. Instead it's O two.

(02:38):
So how do you guys treat thisgame coming up on Wednesday when you
know there's a lot of weight toit. But at the same time,
you can't play with that weight becausethen you play tense or maybe you don't.
Where is it at here? Youguys are pros. You go,
it's a young team, but youguys are pros. Do you want that?
Do you welcome that pressure? Yeah? Look, all we gotta do
is win on one day. Ithink that's all you got to approach it.

(02:58):
You know, it's one game thatwe have on Wednesday. You know,
we we really like how we playedlast game on in game two,
you know, obviously got to finda way to score a few more goals,
but I think all in all,like we play like that the majority
of games. We're gonna like theresults. You got to give from credits
to Texas. Now, you knowthey play, they're they're playing very well
right now too. But Saturday night, we we really like the way we

(03:20):
played, so try to bring moreof that, more of the same on
Wednesday. And and and really youjust got to look at it in one
game second. Here, you can'tlook at it and say we need to
win three in a row. Weneed to win this, we need to
do that. All we got tofocus on is Wednesday, Wednesday night.
We gotta win Wednesday, and wewake up Thursday and figure it out from
there. Yeah, you know,it sounds simple, but really as simple
as that, you just got towin one game Wednesday. You know,

(03:40):
facts against the wall. We're obviouslynot in the spot we need to be,
But by no means does anyone inthat room think we're done. You
know, we're still a very confidentgroup. You know, we're we're confident
in our abilities here and we're lookingforward to getting going here on Wednesday.
One term I've used to describe thisteam the entire season has been resilient.
I mean, you guys, ithasn't been easy. I mean, we

(04:01):
had a nineteen game winning streak,but then we had a bunch of injuries,
and we've had a lot of thingshaving But I mean, wouldn't you
say this team has been has reallygone through quite a bit this season.
I think so. I mean,I think, you know, we've experienced
a lot this year. Like youyou touched on it. You know,
we had that win streak Covincy.That was a very special time, and
then after Auto that was you knowwhat, things weren't very easy for us.

(04:21):
She kind of went the other wayfor for a few weeks. There
were wins were kind of hard tocome by, and then we got through
that kind of came on the topand finished the year on a good note.
So, you know, we we'veexperienced some eyes and we've experienced some
lows, and I think that's that'sgood when I mean when you can kind
of draw on those and plow thosefrom from the regular season and kind of

(04:42):
use that in the playoffs. Obviously, you know, first two games here
didn't go, didn't go the waywe planned. But no big you know,
well we we still got to loseone more. You know, we're
not done yet. So you know, like I said, the third one
is generally being on the other sideof it. That's the win to to
end the team season. Is thehardest, the hardest game of the series,
and we're going to try to makethat, you know, the same
on ours idea. We're going tobe playing uh you know, des Britain

(05:02):
and eager to continue our season.So you know, like I said,
we've got a lot of faith anda lot of confidence in our room,
in our group, and we've doneit all year. You know, we've
we've been a good team all theyear. So you know, not looking
to change too much. It's gotto come out win a game on ones
day Admiral's Captain Kevin Gravell joining usat Milwaukee Admiral Center ice As you said,
and that's where I was going toleave you. You don't want to

(05:23):
change much because what worked on itwas working on Saturday. You didn't score
the goals you wanted to, butyou played well and and you know,
a leopard doesn't necessarily have to changeits spots. You guys know what they're
going to do, they know whatyou want to try to do. There
is really no secrets. It's justa matter of going out and doing it.
Now. Yeah, definitely, Ithink what is it. We've played
them ten times now this year,so there's certainly no secrets. Everyone knows

(05:46):
pretty much everything there is to knowabout each other on both PEPs here we
know their roster, they know ourroster, and they play and vice versas.
So you know, it just comesout to you know, just sticking
with it and and really just havingthat mentality of we're not we're not going
home. You know, it's it'sit's going to be a challenge certainly,
but but you know, we're lookingforward to it, we're excited for it.

(06:08):
And it's again, these these gamesare fun, really fun to play
in and you can really grow asan individual and as the team in these
games. You can come out onthe other side of it and not let
the mom would become too big.You know, it's at the end of
the day, it's just another notjust another hockey team, but it is
just you know, it's a hockeygame, and we got to approach it
as that we're going to obviously beplaying with desperation on our side and playing

(06:30):
you know, with intensity to continueto continue our year. But you know,
we've done it all year long.Like I already touched on, you
know, it's it's it's our groupis really really close and really you know,
committed to each other. So youknow, we're we're looking forward to
to get this thing going here andtrying to get our feedback in the series.
Explain the fun part, Kevin,because there's an old guys sentiment that

(06:53):
says, if you're having fun,you're doing it wrong. In the playoffs,
Okay, you know what I'm saying, Like it has to be you
know, the old guys would say, it's the struggle is such that it's
not fun until it's finally over andyou can raise that trophy. But you're
going to be so all of thosethings right, like the old the old

(07:13):
story about Gretzky walking by the Islanderslocker room and seeing them celebrate in eighty
three and they're not celebrating, they'rejust all gassed. And and you know
Billy Smith probably has a bud light, but everybody else is just whipped right,
you know, you know what I'msaying. Yeah, absolutely, But
you know, and I think youcan. I think you can embrace that
struggle and brief that grind and havefun with it. You know. I
think that's going to really grow asa team and come together as a team.

(07:36):
It's certainly gonna be hard. Idon't I don't mean it's meaning it's
not gonna be hard, but itI think you can. You can embrace
that. And and guys want toplay in meaningful games, and this is
definitely a meaningful game. In theplayoffs are meaningul games and that's what makes
it so fun. Yes, it'svery hard, it's a very it's it's
it's very much ground and got itbeat up, hurt. You know,
they're tired of what have you.So maybe not in the essence of how

(07:59):
you would have, you know,expect fun to be, but right right
in terms of just like day today life. But I think when you
look at it as a whole,as an athlete, and it's as a
competitive person, you want to beplaying in these games with their heart,
right, you embrace the challenge,right, Yeah, yeah, exactly,
you know, it's not a Tuesdaygame in January, you know, game
fifty four or whatever it is.You know, these are these are the

(08:20):
games that you get up for,and these are the games that you look
forward to all your wrong to playin. And and you know, we
put ourselves in a position to beable to play in the playoffs and play
these games. And now you knowwe're proviously not back to the wall here,
but I think there's just there's notherchallenge you can embrace grow from it.
And like I said, if youcome out on the other side of
this is where you see the realgrowth and when you face a little adversity
to be able to dig deep andtend to dig in and really push back.

(08:45):
The coaching staff has talked many timesabout how special this leadership group is,
of which you're the captain. Howdo you how does Kevin Gravel the
captain differentiated and get him help getthe rest of the team prepared to play
this game versus Kevin Gravell, theindividual defenseman the same thing. You know
what, it's just kind of keepingguys, you know, on the same

(09:09):
page. Like we you know,we're we're not in the spot we we
want to be in let's you know, we can address that first privat all.
Right, that's done now. Nowyou know, it's just going out
and winning a game on Wednesday.We've we've done that numerous times this year.
You know, you just kind ofkind of stressed the message that we're
we're not going to go away quietlyand we're by no means out of the
series. We win this game onWednesday, it's two to one. You

(09:31):
know, now we got a seriesright back in it. We did the
same thing last year. We lostthe first sue to Pacella Cochella, we
win the next two and all ofa sudden, you got you got yourself
tears here to to, you know. So honestly, I don't think we
really need to worry about that asa group. We've we've had such a
good group all year, and guyswho've been bought in the entire year and
really want to be here and enjoyplaying with for each other. So I'm

(09:52):
not I'm not at all worried about, you know, guys being ready for
this game or getting or you know, losing focus or what have you.
You know, we we're up againstwe know the task at hand, and
we're really excited and you know,speaking about myself individually. The second party
question, you know kind of alreadytouched on. These are these are the
games you play and you know,you look at these are the games you
want to play in where where whereit is going to be hard and it's

(10:13):
going to be tough, but uh, you know, if you're able to
come out on the other side ofit, it makes you know, it
makes the struggle that much with it. The top line for them Maverick Bork,
Curtis McKenzie, Amelio Petterson. Theyhad a huge game in game one.
Uh we're quieter in game two.But they are certainly aligned that you
need to focus on. Now thatyou're on home ice, you have the

(10:33):
matchups, and you guys are ateam that doesn't necessarily play a ton of
matchups. But I'm curious is doesthere need to be a ton of attention
paid to that group or do youconcern yourself with they're just the line that's
out there at the time. No, No, I think you. I
think you got to be aware.You know, you always have to be

(10:54):
aware of who's on the back againstyou. And I mean you got one
of them, the MVP of theleague, the other you know, and
then you got Kurt Kain. He'sbeen around for a very long time and
you know, the head of theirsnake there, their captain and still a
very very productive player at this level. You know, no no shortcuts at
all by him anywhere on the ice. So then you know you got Emilia.
I actually played with him a stockand right, so I know I
know him and his game very well. Uh So you you have to be

(11:18):
very aware of guys. They canhurt you in the blink of an eye,
and you know when they're out there, maybe you make a little I
don't know if savors the right word, but more you know, responsible play
where instead of you know, tryingto make that actually play, you just
put the fucking deep and make him, make him come before new Hunter or
try to make them play in thediesel and instead of chasing around the old
a little bit. So yeah,you got to be aware of of who's

(11:39):
on the ice and what they arethere. Dangerous lines. They've had a
great start to not only our series, but you know they're playing round against
Manaitoba there, so you know they'rethey're one of the better lines. It's
it's uh, you know, it'sbeen a challenge, but it's you know
something, again, do you lookforward to you want to play the best
players, So just be aware itwas out there and do your job and
try to shut them down. Whenagain, you guys were three and one

(12:01):
against Texas on home ice this season, you're at home. You were twenty
seven and nine on home ice thisseason. Does that factor in at all
or is it come kind of thrownout because it is a playoff game.
No. I mean maybe a littlebit of both. But I think you
know, guys are excited to behome, work to kind of get back
in our domains. We're in ourbeds, our locker room and everything,

(12:22):
you know. So we've been areally good team at home, and guys
really enjoy playing here. So Ithink that gives you a little bit of
a boost, a little bit moreof a you know what, we haven't
played at home yet. Let's getthem back on our home ice and kind
of get back to our surroundings andyou know, give them our best shout
here. So we're excited to beback here. You know, it doesn't
mean now, hey we're at home. You know that's awesome. The tid's

(12:43):
going to turn it's still you know, it's still we got to do our
job here and make sure we're doingthe right thing and playing our game here.
But no, we're certainly excited tobe at home. Acrows been great
all the year. You know,we love playing here, so a little
bit added boost here. It's whatwe you know, worked so hard for
all the years, is a halfhome ice, and you know we're gonna
need all every bit of it thisthis round here with with hopefully three more

(13:05):
games here at Milwaukee. About aweek and a half ago, you got
to have a special night at theBrewers game. Let's talk about that for
a second. H that was anincredible night. You know, I saw
more admiral stuff, just as muchadmiral stuff at the at the ballpark than
we did it. Uh, andwe did our building for a game night.
How was that experience for you?That was really cool? Yeah.

(13:28):
I didn't really know what was happeninguntil maybe three or four days before two
three days before whatever it was.You know, there were kind of like
rumors of guys going to the Brewersgame, and then rumblings of someone throwing
the first pitch and then and thenit turned into shooting the first pitch.
So, uh that one, thatone got me sweating a little bit.
I was, I was a littlenervous to do that. I think you

(13:48):
didn't obviously I've never done it offgrass or anything like that, so no,
no, I didn't really get thepractice or anything like that. So
I was, I was sweating alittle bit going out there. You know.
Obviously, I think it a littlebit more uh calming if I was
just throwing it beforehand. Knowing Iwas throwing it, but knowing I was
shooting it was made me a littlebit more nervous because that's probably has a

(14:09):
little bit more of potential to gowrong. But uh no, it was
really cool. I'm really thankful forbeing able to do that. And my
wife's got to go down and bedown there with me, and you know
a bunch of guys down there.The rest of the guys were at the
game. So all in all,a really fun night, a really cool
night, a really cool experience tobe able to to be able to,

(14:30):
I guess, shoot shoot the firstpitch, if that's what you want to
call it, meet some of theirguys and just kind of be around and
hanging out down there. So reallyreally cool and really thankful to be able
to do it. You know what, It's funny you say that because,
like me, if I'm a hockeyplayer and I don't know how much catcher,
how much ball you're throwing around,But like I would have been stressed

(14:50):
about throwing right, you don't wantto be fifty cents. You don't want
to be Gary, Gary Damavante.You don't want to you know, but
like you get it. You gotto build an excuse a little bit with
a hockey stick. Maybe well,right, like I knew if like if
I was throwing it, I couldat least get it there what we made.
You know, it wasn't gonna beprobably maybe not a strike or what
have you, But I knew itwas. It was going to get Detroy

(15:11):
one way or the other. WhenI'm shooting it, I didn't know if
I was gonna go four feet,if it was gonna go, So I
didn't, you know, I didn'treally know how it was going to go.
And then it wasn't a strike.I don't think he had to stand
up a little bit, and I'lltake that as a result every single time.
So he wasn't he didn't have tocome meet me halfway or chase it
back to the batch up. Yeah, No, that's huge. Yeah,
it depends any highlight reels for thewrong reason, so I'll take that.

(15:35):
Depending on the umpire, it wouldhave been a strike no matter what,
so you would have been fine.Uh, real quick. It was it
was a few weeks ago before thatthat you signed an extension with Nashville and
Milwaukee, and we haven't talked aboutthat on this radio show. So just
your thoughts on that and and youknow, speaking on behalf of a lot

(15:56):
of people, I'm very excited you'rehere, uh that you will be here.
Your thoughts on on why make thesigning now and and what have you
liked and what what your reasoning?No, uh, really excited to be
back, you know, really wasreally happy when when you know that opportunity
presented itself. My family, Ihave really you know, liked being in

(16:19):
Milwaukee and Nashville last year almost twoyears now, so I've touched on it
before a few times. It's it'sclose to home for us first and foremost
where we live now in Minneapolis andwhere I grew up and where Morgan grew
up. My wife, so youknow, we can't get closer to the
home, which is great for ourfamily. And we have a little one
year old now too, so Ican see grandparents more often and and things

(16:40):
things like that. So first andforemost that that was a big key.
And you know what I think,you just look at you look at everything
as a whole. Like we we'vebeen very good. We've had very good
teams here in the last couple ofyears. And as a player, you
want to be on competitive teams andhave a chance to win. And Milwaukee
National's organizations do things the first dothings first class and the right way from
top to bottom. So you know, you could tell early on last year

(17:02):
when Sason started, this is theplace that you want to be. And
you know, as I'm getting alittle older here now, so I'm very
happy to be able to have alittle bit of stability and and and you
know be sticking around in Milwaukee,which is an awesome city. You know,
we love it here. So Iwas thrilled to be able to you
know, extend for two more yearsand then just kind of know where I'm

(17:22):
going to be and just you know, like I said, it's it's a
spot you want to be. It'sa great organization, so we're very excited,
both myself and and Morgan and therest of our family. That's excellent,
excellent, Kevin, we can't waitto talk about a win on Wednesday
night. We thank you for yourtime as always, always great to talk
to you. We'll see you atthe rink. Sounds good. Thanks Emley.
Admirals Captain Kevin Gravelle the Admirals hostingTexas on Wednesday night, seven pm.

(17:48):
You can hear the game on theBig nine twenty Also on ninety seven
to three the game watch it onhl TV, and in southeastern Wisconsin you
can watch it on television on mytwenty four. Mark Van Gielder will join
me on the broadcast. Mark's goingto join us next actually, because Marcus
had in one fashion or another takingpart in all three previous series against the
Texas Stars in the playoffs, butand played very prominent roles in the first

(18:12):
two of those series. But Iwant to touch on real quick, he
said. He was talking about andI've shared this story with a few of
the younger players on the team overthe last few weeks as players have come
in. But and I bring itup because a couple of weeks ago.
You get the Brewers yourself, Reelik, and and those guys are out at

(18:33):
the rink and they're, you know, the Brewers jerseys that they're giving away
at the at the game the nightKevin shot the first pitch. And the
next day you and I are atthe practice at Wilson Park and I saw
a good dozen of those jerseys fromthe night before that, and I'm like,
where did those come from? They'relike, no, the Brewers game
out last night. So it wasawesome to see the amount of people.

(18:56):
And it brings me back to thestory that Dale Yakachuk told us about about
how all of the and Danny LeCourhas says this, has said this too,
but it was it was a differenttime back in the eighties when all
those guys would get together and theywould go to Pete Bukovic's and then they'd
meet up with Paul mckskey and thenhere comes John Matusick and a limo to

(19:17):
go to his mom's house in OakCreek and they'd all go to get like
just the you know, a motleycrew of of people, whole mishmash of
personalities, if we can say somethinglike that. Boy, but I dig
it of late, because that hasn'tnecessarily been the case for a long time.

(19:37):
You know, years ago when wewere at the Bradley Center, like
Dan gads Riach had a kid,maybe maybe more than one, but I
knew of at least one child whoplayed hockey. So Dan Gadd's reach would
show up at the games here andthere when the Bucks weren't playing and stuff
like that. But I don't Idon't know Colin Blackwell, they were tight,
they grew up together. Yeah,but yeah, for the most part.

(19:59):
Yeah, but it was a youknow, the eighties was a lot
of that. It was an awfullot of that. It was. And
I can I tell you what earlyin the early Brodley Center years, when
you would get out of your carin the morning and you'd be walking in
and some of the guys, uh, I mean Ray Allen was and I
think Ray Allen probably for the mostpart, he had a lukewarm interest in

(20:21):
what was happening with the admirals,but he would either read you know,
he'd read the sports section and youknow exactly what happened because he knew.
He'd probably if they were in town, would walk it right into me.
As I was walking into and he'dsay, oh, tough one last night,
really, or he'd say, oh, great game last night, good
Win. I mean he and hehe became well versed in the admirals hockey
and current events, knowing knowing that, and Glenn Robinson to some extent too,

(20:44):
I mean, the first couple ofyears of the Bald it was,
it was, it was amazing.And the fact that you they walk in
and they want to talk admiral's hockeyand that's great. It started once when
I walked in and said and theBucks got trounced one night, and I
said tough one last night, andhe said, yeah, he goes.
You know, fans all left earlygoes today. One problem with me,
I couldn't leave early on. Butbut he was great and so yeah.

(21:06):
But Ray, I mean Ray Allenand Glenn Robinson were two guys that you
know, never went out with them, never hung out with them, but
they were so well versed on whatwe were doing at that time, you
know it. Clode used to tellme stories too about Tom Crean would go
into the Admirals office and they wouldjust shoot the breeze about coaching strategies and
things like that. And I alwaysthought that was really cool, like just

(21:27):
just the fraternization between uh and gettingdifferent ideas and all of that stuff.
I just I just thought it wasneat. So it's great to see.
I know Tim Dillard is going tobe out here on Wednesday again with a
bunch of his friends, So Imean, it's it's really cool to see.
I love I love that people areinto the supporting one another here because

(21:48):
it's it's been, uh, it'sbeen a lot of fun these last couple
of seasons. Absolutely no question.We're gonna take a break when we come
back. Guy who's played more gamesin the American Hockey League for the Admirals
than anybody, Mark Van Gilder,He's going to join us next. You're
listening to Milwaukee Admiral Center Ice.Welcome back to Milwaukee Admiral Center Ice with
Michael Jahowski. I'm Aaron Simms.This guy has been a big part of
Admirals series. This is the fourthplayoff series against Texas. He's been a

(22:11):
big part of all of them,broadcasting with me last year, broadcasting here
with me on Wednesday night, thefirst one back in twenty eleven. He
had a couple of big goals inthat one, you sure didn't. And
in twenty thirteen he was a partof the Admiral Series as well against Texas.
He's a former Admiral Mark van GilderMark, thanks for the time you're

(22:33):
Wojo was just running down the championshipsyou've won. It was twenty ten in
Cincinnati and then you want a coupleoverseas. But talk a little bit about
these championships and what it takes,especially in the EHL, like that that's
a revolving door of players going inand out. Like that's a tough place
to win a championship, much likethe American Hockey League in that regard,

(22:56):
it really is. That league isvery interesting. It's similar to the Mayor
League where you can have a vastlydifferent team at a number of different points
of the season. Yeah, soit's a lot about like who gets that
the best version of their team inthe playoffs or at the right time.
I remember we lost to Chicago inseven games with yeah that I went in

(23:19):
Cincinnati and I think that was thenineteenth time game seven we played Chicago that
year forough. But then I rememberbeing on a plane with Michael Bartlett,
a former teammate of mine at NotreDame and then in Milwaukee, and he
was on the other team we playedfor South Carolina. We went in Game
six, I believe Cincinnati was downthree to two. We somehow won even

(23:41):
though they out shot us about eightiesfifteen Game six and game seven there and
then what played I believe Redding,We're down three nothing, came back and
won. That was insane. Ithink you two having soundtracks in their rink
and having three days off to killtheir momentum with the turning point in that
series. So thank you to youtwo, And then we want then we

(24:04):
want to there's another U two referencethis year. There's another U two reference
this year. Turning your team seasonaround here National Predators And oh yeah,
that's right. Yeah, we hadan Alan Jackson that turned our series around
against We had them all the momentumagainst Kansas City and we had to take
a day off the balley centers soAlan Jackson could come in. So then
when we came back for game two, they were already and got a guy

(24:25):
back from wherever. And yeah,that Alan Jackson is always you know.
So if you ever see Phil withif you just say hey, Phil how's
how's Alan Jackson working for you?You know, one of those I'm sorry,
sorry Mark, you too. Yeah, we need to plant you two
certain gun us, whether it's real, real or not, to get teams

(24:45):
seasons turned around strategically in the future. But yeah, that kind of turned
things around. So very very interestinghow different every run is. And obviously
with this the series against Texas andthe way it went, I don't know,
however many years ago it was likeyou remember those really remember the tough

(25:06):
ones of the most, I guessspecifically more so when you win than lose.
But right there are so many Iguess parts you're playing overseas, playing
hero everywhere. You hardly remember asingle detail from the sweeps, like we
swept a number of teams, likeover winning championships in Europe, but you
remember the finals that were just soso you know, hard fought and tested

(25:29):
and no room on the ice andphysical much like that Texas series was.
That was one of the best seriesI've ever played in, not just because
like it was, there were closegames, but physicality, lead changes late
in the game, last second goal, overtime drama. It was amazing and
that's what makes for a great round. Well, I tell you what I

(25:52):
mean that that Texas series in twentyeleven, and it was it was a
seven game series, best of seven. At that point Addams won four games
to two. Gabriel Bork has fivegoals and five assists in that series.
He was just and Chris Mueller justincredible. But after four games, the
Addamals took Game one Texas, Gametwo, Texas, Game three the Admirals,

(26:15):
and Game three was in overtime.The Admirals take Game four. So
now the last two games the Admiralswinning Game four. Mark had the game
winner in that one, three totwo. The Admirals win. That was
in regulation. Three of the lastfour were in overtime. This one here,
a Game four, was regulation win. We go into Game five in
Texas, Gabriel Borg scores with fiveseconds to go in the game, forcing

(26:38):
the overtime. Mark here assists onthe game winner for Ryan Thang, and
we come back on the twenty fifthof which is a Monday night of all
nights for the season finale or theseries finale, and the Admirals win that
one in double overtime with Mark scoringthe game winning goal. In that contest

(26:59):
is unbelo amazing. I'm just incredible. Yeah, I mean, as you
said, you remember those games.For three of those games go into overtime.
The last four were all decided byone goal, like just crazy.
It was crazy, and I'm I'mglad you bring up like Gabriel Borks that
line because yeah, it's nice tostore the overtime winner and you get you

(27:22):
get a lot of love for that. But that guy Chris Mueller was an
absolute machine. Gabriel Bork in thatseries, those guys are unbelievable and I
think that kind of hockey was justperfect for Gabriel Bork's game. The guy
that skates well, can battle,is skills, you can do everything.
So it's so much fun. Therewas so many heroes and it's so funny.

(27:44):
I just remember so much release aftergame six winning that we didn't have
to play them again every game.It seemed like those four games in one
like so much emotions, physically tookso much out of you. So I
remember for the most part, yeah, I was happy that you you score
and you win, but the reliefthat's not having to play a game seven
but kind of like outweighed everything elseis kind of funny. Yeah, no,

(28:08):
I get that totally. So inthat the same thing in Italy.
NOI were they long series? Didyou guys played long series or was it
you know how many series? Onlythree over there three rounds in each.
So in Italy we had the bestteam in Italy that the team that we
played in the finals is very close. They were really they were really good

(28:29):
back and forth and we were ableto win. The fun part we were
we were living in a tiny townin northern Italy up on the mountain,
small village or maybe six hundred peoplethere. So the fun part about winning
there, other than the ridiculous viewwho looked out at the rink of the
mountains of the Dolomites, was thetown. All the entire town, everyone

(28:51):
in the mountain surrounding villages came overto celebrate. We had a parade.
Now keep in mind that this talentwritten in in uh we were written written
that the village was called Klobenstein,and it was so small it probably took
maybe five minutes from from one endto the other. That's going up hill

(29:11):
downhill. It took about a minuteand a half, just a steep hill
and the mountains there. But westill paraded. We could loaded up in
cars. We got like a littlebuggies and the parade lasted I don't know,
maybe like a minute and a half, which I thought was one of
the funniest things of all time.Dressed in leader hose. And it was
up in the north that used tobe Austria, a strong in tradition up

(29:34):
there. It was hilarious. Itwas so much fun. But it's so
it was interesting because it's not Imean, obviously when you went in the
State and North America everdance having agood time, but it was everyone was
having a good time over there inItaly. It was a lot of fun.
Uh. And everyone knows each other, which again in the small village,

(29:55):
so that's kind of funny watching allthe teammates and their families. You
don't know anyone, which probably idealover there, but a lot of a
lot of good times, really goodwine and the German influence of the beer
there and from the south of Germanyas well. Great place to win,
that's for sure. It was alot of fun. Stabonger, you guys

(30:18):
be talking about it briefly, we'rethe best team by far. It was
great, a great experience that teamis an absolute machine over there there on
the West coast. Beautiful, beautifulplace to play, great town. That
team wins it almost every year otherthan this year and a few So that
was a great experience. Playing overseaswas so much fun. I absolutely loved

(30:41):
it. And I wish I wouldhave been more helpful to the Europeans that
came over and played in Milwaukee,because I had absolutely no idea what they
were dealing with until later in mylife, until you did it. Yeah,
yeah, Mark van Gilder, Markvan Gilder joining us. You know
what the great thing about going toStavanger is the concession stands. You can
get a fish talk go and it'sLudifus wrapped in lefsa. It's just perfect.

(31:03):
It's just perfect. Not only ofyou know the on night, but
he knows the stat from every inNorway. Yeah. No, that's just
that's just my Lutheran Minnesota Norwegian upbringingis what that is? It sure is,
No, that's all I did.That's great, Mark van Gilder joining

(31:25):
us that That second series against Texaswas thirteen twenty thirteen, and the Adremles
had a good season and you guysplayed them and there was. It was
a Texas won. It was thebest of five. Texas won three games
to one. Only twelve goals scoredin that series. You had Christopher Nilsdorp
and Magnus helperg were the goaltenders.And I remember asking the TSX home in

(31:45):
that series, and if you golook at the rosters in those series,
it's just silly. But I rememberasking the TSX home why nobody can score
and he smiled and he looked atme, and on the record, he
says, because we have two Swedishgoaltenders playing. And he was very,
very open, like that's that's thereason best goalies in the world. But
I mean, you think about thatone point seventy five against one point twenty
five goals per game? Is thatwas the series? Like it's just it's

(32:08):
it's amazing. And I remember ifyou look back on that, the Admirals
lost brad Winch yesterday injury and MikeLeambis was knocked out by Luke Gasdik.
She grew up with, yeah,he sure was, and he came running
over, running over in the lockerand Chris Stierwald, the Admirals assistant equipment
manager, thought he was going tohave to fight Luke Gasdick because he didn't

(32:29):
know that they were friends. AndLuke Gasdik comes rushing in thinking you get
you know, and he's going totake out liambas again and finish the job.
But that wasn't the case. ButI mean, what, what are
your remembrance of that series? Becausethat was you know, yes, tight
games, but that those were alittle more a little different there. That

(32:50):
was nuts watching the playoffs. Nowif you watched the last game sixes and
games all the NFL first round,like every is one nothing to one ye
is insane. I hate giving goaliesany kind of credit. I just don't
like goalies in general, not timeas people, but just like they ruin
a lot of the fund but andjust everything, but like so much on

(33:17):
the shoulders of the goaltender. Idon't know how they do it, the
pressure when you're looking down at theother end. Just think about those two
goaltenders in that series, Like ifI give up even an average goal,
we're probably losing Stain. I thinkthe margins are so small, the pressure
is so I I hate giving goaliesany credit, but they are awesome in
that series. Magnus is such agreat guy too, like massive human and

(33:45):
such a happy guy. Like thegoaltenders that kind of have come through Milwache.
There's been so many characters. Theyhave a great one now too,
which is why, like no seriesis over until it's over when you have
a goaltender like that, because atany point, like they can just stay
decide, you know what, Likethat's enough, I'm not letting in another
goal until next month or whatever itis. So I think that's like the

(34:07):
crazy and beautiful thing about hockey andplayoffs is that so much is riding on
these players and then anyone can stepup, anyone can score that big goal.
But that was a tough series.We just couldn't find a way to
break through. And it's tough,like there are so many good guys going
into it thinking like we can dothis again. There are so many great

(34:30):
memories from the previous series, butthat one didn't work out the way we
wanted we wanted to do. We'regoing to take a break right there.
We'll come back with more with formerAdmiral Mark Van Guilder. You're listening to
Milwaukee Admiral Center Ice. Welcome back. It's Milwaukee Admiral Center Ice. We're
continuing our conversation with former Admiral centerMark Van Guelder. You know, I'm
looking at him, so I wasjust going to ask him, like my
next question was, I mean,Texas has got a pretty hot goalie right

(34:52):
now through through the first four playoffgames, and now you know and Remy
done a great job against us,what do you what do you do?
And yeah, I think you gottabe careful of like, hey, let's
just throw everything up the net andget everyone in front of him, because
I think that's a recipe for blockshots and one and done in the offensive

(35:15):
zone. I think that obviously gettingsomeone in his face so that he's not
seeing every shot, but not onlyfor that, but let's get someone off
the side. So instead of justthrowing everything from from from the point and
thinking what volume shoot here, it'scan we maybe lane isn't there find someone
on that week side that so maybehe's that screen that guy in front of

(35:37):
the net. He's not allowing thatgoaltender to see the pass, so now
he's a second late pushing off isa little bit more net for that weak
side guy to shoot at, especiallybeing shoot off the path like that is
the tough part when you're facing ahot goalie, you can really get in
your head as a shooter of okay, we need to put fifty shots on
goal instead of thirty. Well,might sometime be the goaltenders into his hands.

(36:02):
I've played with a really good goaliesand they said, I love looking
up and seeing I got twenty savedafter the first period. Right. I
think the strategy there is we can'tbe overly simplified. Yeah, let's get
someone in the space we can getto pump through from the point or wherever
it is. Let's get it there, especially if we can take his eyes
away. But let's have a coupleof different ways we can try to beat
him. Let's get someone off thatweek's side. Let's get someone on the

(36:23):
backside post. Let's get someone inhis eyes. So if you can't do
that shot and possibly so it screensthe past, giving that shooter a little
bit more than to shoot at.So what I'm thinking right now is we
just took away your a material forWednesday night's telecast of the Animals in Texas
here from the Panther Arena. Butplease, we'd like a nice live studio

(36:44):
audience of a bunch of fans tobe able to you know, be in
the background for the telecast obviously.Yeah, let's fill it up. Yeah,
yeah, I'll try to mix itup. We'll try to change it
up. Aaron. That's the greatthing with Aaron, he's been just on
this so long. He'll I justI just show up. I just kind
of to not get in the way. He'll come up with something. Yeah.

(37:05):
Yeah, no, no, Mark, I've got more outstanding comments from
both the work you and Aaron bothdo on the telecasts and and that so
many people say have commented about.I mean, why isn't this guy doing
this for you know, you know, for for a real living and doing
things every you know, I'm doingit all the time. Because you guys
do a great job together. Iappreciate that. And I will say Aaron's

(37:25):
too humble to admit it, buthe's the best in the business. He
makes it easy on you. It'sjust like it's just comfortable going up there.
It's like having a conversation with agood friend. That's the same way.
But I feel I feel the same. Yeah. I was lucky when
Mark decided that he would accepted theoffer a couple of years ago that he
would do this. So it's beena lot of fun. Uh, Mark,

(37:45):
It's always great to talk to you. And I know this is a
different setting, but it's even so, it's always great to talk to you.
I hope your kids don't grow upto be goalies, and I don't.
I don't know if you can greenthat into them already, you know,
show them, by the way,video of how fun it is to
score a goal, not how funit is to give one up. By
the way, can I've hated yousince he became a goalie? Right,

(38:08):
there's no goale here entering this out. Yeah, like Scott, Scott Darling's
material is about how you know,stand up comedy's the only place where he
can feel the failure of letting eighteenthousand people down with a red light going
on behind him every time something happens. That's right. Yeah, so let's
yeah, let's make sure that doesn'thappen. Mark, always great to talk

(38:28):
to you. We'll see on Wednesdaynight. Take care thanks to have Mark.
Mark van Gilder all time leader inadmirals games played in the American Hockey
League. And it just my listof favorite people he's it begins with him
in my time with the atmosphere listof favorite players. It begins with him.
We'll take a break, we'll comeback and just the moment you're listening

(38:50):
to Milwaukee Admiral Center Ice, Welcomeback to Milwaukee Admiral Center Ice. One
final time with Michael Jahowski. I'mAaron sims I. I love love working
with Mark van Gilder. I lovedoing anything with Mark van Gilder. He's
he's just the best. He's goingto have joined me in the broadcast booth
on Wednesday, Games three of theAdmirals in Texas. The Admirals down two
the series two. The Admirals havedone well in the O two situation the

(39:15):
last couple of times they've faced it, Chicago a couple of years ago,
the Admirals winning last year Coachella Valley, the Admirals coming away with a couple
of wins, down two after losingin the desert for the first two games.
So feeling good. As Kevin Gravellsaid earlier on, you can't win
three unless you get one first andyou just focus on the one and you

(39:37):
move on from there. You haveone and then you get the other.
Playoff series are cliche city. Imean you guys, there's a million of
them. You have to play oneother time. Yeah, you know,
I mean it is. But atthe end of the day, you know,
everybody, you know, every everybodyleaving gold Piece the other night was
asking what do you really think,Yeah, if we can come back win
the series? No, no,no, really what do you really think?
Well, I think we can comeback wins series. Yeah, And
it's just what it is. Imean, you know, it's look at

(39:59):
Dallas, you know, Gallas Vegasexactly right, exactly. You know,
you know you feel a little worseif you're on the outside, and I
admit me too. Five games,five game series are tough, like bad
hops can happen, and and youknow, it's two less opportunities in you
know than a seven game series.And again, but that's that's the way

(40:22):
it is. And you know thatgoing in, and you know, the
the job was to get one downthere and it didn't happen. So now
you got to get three at home, and that's just but again you got
to get the first one. Theresilience of this team has amazed me all
season one. Well, and youbrought it up with Kevin earlier and the
nineteen game winning streak. And listen, that nineteen game winning streak wasn't all

(40:43):
six to one wins, no,right. You think about the game against
Texas, mind you, and itwas a shootout, but the Admirals the
night before they have Texas coming inon the Saturday, that was the night
Cheap Trick played, and the Admiralswere kind of flat, but they did
enough and Troy Grossnick was hero andthey went in a shootout two to one.
And I keep going back to that, like the Belleville game in that

(41:07):
same stretch late January, like it'sthey had to go through some stuff.
It wasn't just all walking through teamsand and it was lesser teams and all
of that stuff. Like they theyhad to fight their way in third periods
of games to figure it out.Absolutely, And in the Texas game,
with one of the last broad tripsof the year, yeah, we went,
we went in the third period downdown three one, down three one,

(41:29):
and we scored three goals. Yep. I mean again, I mean
there's a lot we've we've had.It's been an incredible season. I mean
it's been from from a production standpoint, from a lot of you know,
the amount of points we came upwith. It wasn't just a nineteen game
winning street. Yes we did wego cold after. Yes, you know,
we had a lot of injuries,a lot of things, but we
ended the season on high know,Yes, So I mean we can I

(41:51):
mean this again. Is it goingto be easy now? No? But
at the end of the day,and again, all you can think is
good things for the team. Yep, yep. And we're looking for in
a as we said, and Iwould love to see out here. Game
three is Wednesday, Game four willbe Friday, Game five will be Sunday.
All of day four and five needto put the caveat if necessary.

(42:12):
We're hoping that they will be.We have a good feeling that they will
be. But the Admirals, you'vegot to get through the first one first
on Wednesday at seven o'clock here atPanther Arena six thirty with the pregame show
on the Big nine twenty. Alsoon ninety seven to three of the game
on AHL TV, and you canwatch the game beginning at seven o'clock on
My twenty four with Mark van Gilderand me. So lots of cool things

(42:35):
to come here. What do wedo it? Real? Quick we get
fifteen seconds. Any cool things happeningon Wednesday, playoff wise or we is
not just up. We're going tohave some Coyle Bels Prairie from Cayle Belves
people. Can you know we needto add to the atmosphere and which certainly
will. But it'll be a greatnight. We've had great growd last time
we were here it was sold out. Let's see if we can do it
again here on Wednesday with the Admiralstake on Texas in Game three of the

(42:57):
series. Thanks for listening to towalk the Admirals Center Ice