05/08/23 - Admirals Center Ice

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Episode Transcript

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Hello and welcome. It's Milwaukee AdmiralsCenter Ice with Michael Jahowski Ameron Sims a

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decent weekend. Huh, you knowwhat, I'll tell you what you know?
I mean, I think I've beena walking goosebump. Yeah, you
know, if you're incredible, I'lltell you what. I'll tell you in
a second. But if you missedout what happened at Panther Arena. The
Admiral's down in the best of fiveseries, two games to one. They
win Friday Night five three to forcea deciding Game five. On Saturday Night
at Panther Arena, Manitoba scores withunder two minutes remaining to tie the game

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at one, and then this happens, and home Stewart's leveled by his own
guy. The April's two on oneSanford right circle back in Stars Stecers,
Stasney, Stecers, Stasnie stores Goodtwenty six boy days ago, two Moose
players collided at Center. It's SkeechersDasnie in his hometown scores in nineteen thirty

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three to get the Admirals a twoone lead. Oh God, you gotta
love this game. The postseason thatwas Spencer Stasany's game winner. Um,
it was fun. You gotta lovethis game. It was a lot of
fun. You gotta love the game. I'm here to talk about that and
much more. Admiral's assistant coach GregRollo. Greg, I'm sure you saw

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the video. I saw you celebratingon the bench. It's tough, man.
You guys are trying to be composed. Everybody's trying to be composed.
But when something like that happens,it's hard not to lose it, isn't
it. No, And that's that'sa true sign. And you see the
players, the coaches. George gotGeorge Bullock. It was awesome. You
invest so much into it and thenwhen something like that happens, like can't

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help, but the emotions just pourout. It was awesome, George,
George. At that video, itlooked like a sumo wrestler there, man
here. It was pretty cool tosee. That was good. Yeah,
I didn't I didn't ask for thehog. George just took it. He
went, he went all in andhe got me. So hopefully many more
of those that come. So itwas game five. I asked Carl if
Game four was the best game ofthe series. He still said it was
Game two, a game you guyslost in overtime in Winnipeg three to two.

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Was Game five the best game ofthe series. Obviously the result is
fantastic, but overall, was itthe finest game? I think it was
a progression for sure. I thinkGame four going into Game five, just
the way we kind of shifted ourfocus on some of the things and the
things that were hurting us in theprevious games. Our guys really bought into
what we were asking him to do, and you know, we never really

(02:27):
felt as threatened as we did inthose earlier games in the series. In
that Game four and Game five,we kind of played more our style and
we're able to create more things thatwe were looking to do. That Manitoba
club just kept coming indn't they.That was a credit to their coaching staff
and they were their guys. Yeah. I mean, they didn't have any
quit in them. They just keptcoming after it. No, and that's
their style and we knew that andit's very clear that's the way they play.

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And trudius to them. It's beentwo years now of just absolute battle
with them throughout the regular season andinto the playoffs, and there's no quit
in that room. And you canlistening to their guys interviews and stuff,
you can tell they really still hadthe chip on their shoulder from last season
moving into this year. And youknow, good on our guys for getting
to win, but the same thing, they put up a great effort.
It was an awesome series to bea part of it. So how does

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that series make your team better forthe one coming up here against Texas?
For sure? I mean it buildsthe rolling confidence and the things that the
adversity that our guys went through inthe first round, being down to phase
two elimination games, all those thingsare valuable lessons in the playoffs and the

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highs and lows and getting scored onlate in the period and then scoring again,
or the different power play calls atthe timely points and games. We
got a lot of experience in thatfirst round, so hopefully all that stuff
carries over when there's going to bemore adversity in the playoffs, and you
know, our guys got a lotof it. So it was great.
That's one of those things. Youtwo elimination games and the people who came

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and listen, the side eyes ofthe crowds was not big, but the
quality was incredible these last three gamesat Panther Arena, and every one of
those people is on pins and needles. I'm on pins and needles. I
don't know how you are. Maybeyou are, but you certainly can't display
that, Carl can't display that.You have to have this confidence and treat
it like another game. And Iguess I sit in amazement, never having

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been in a locker room in thissituation that players can treat in game where
if we lose, we're packing ourthings, We're trying to rush out of
our apartment right away. I can'tunderstand how people can be cool, calm
and collected in that game. Canyou put it. You've done this as
a player, you've done this asa coach. Now, how is that
possible? I don't know if youcan put it into words. It's I

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guess, like the best way tosumming up, it's just what we do
as a hockey player. As acoach, like you live for those moments.
There's the greatest moments that you getto be a part of where it's
all on the line. You're playingfor your teammates, you're playing for your
team, on your jersey, it'san opportunity to do great things. And
you just if you, if you'retruly a hockey player at heart, you
you want to be put in thosemoments. You want a chance to be

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great and have your teammates do greatthings like we did in the in the
supposing game there, those moments areamazing and I hope they continue to happen
this year for our guys. Ithought, the incredible resilience to come back
and still score in regulation. Youknow they're there. I mean, whether
anybody wants to admit it or not, I mean I know where I was.
It was like, oh, herewe go again, wherever we're ahead

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in to another overtime and the resilienceof your team to come back and just
and really just make it happen.And then in you know, in the
last few seconds, well game andreal quick. It was reminiscent Greg and
Woad of last year Game two.The same thing happens in Game two against
Manitoba. They score late and thenJimmy Huntington scores with seconds remaining, so
very similar situations. It's playoff hockeylike that was a definition of it.

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Unfortunate that there their guys collided likethat. But then at the same time,
great on our guys for capitalizing onus and making sure they put in
the net. Like so many differentthings can happen in that situation there,
and we did a really good jobof putting it away. So that was
awesome. It's just the highs andlows and what can happen in a game.
Like you said, it's an eliminationgame, and it came down to,

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you know, a bounce on theirend, there are two guys colliding
and then our guys, you know, executing a play that who knows what
could have happened, but our guyswent down and executed it and scored the
goal. So it was awesome.You know, I'll tell you what.
We had a lot of great looksand it always seems that there was the
extra pass. You know. Itwas like you know, everybody you know
and I and I and I andI generally get upset when when fans yell

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shoot shoot, But I and Igotta tell you, I mean, I
was like almost a member of theshoot Shoot club. I mean, guys
turned down really great looks to getthat one extra pass. How often did
did you see that going on duringthe game? No, you're spot on.
There was several times on the benchthat had conversations with players that like,

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next time you get that chance,you shoot it right in the net.
Like enough where we've begetting a littlebit too cute, and that speaks
a little bit to the skill levelof our team and the commitment to each
other. They're always kind of lookingto pass to each other at sometime.
We want our guys to be alittle bit more selfish, especially in those
key scoring areas, and trust theirability to score because we've got some key
scorers that we're passing up shots inthose situations that we need them to just

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be focused and put it in thenet. There's a Admiral's assistant coach,
Greg Rolo joins us here. It'sMilwaukee Admirals Center ice on the Big nine
twenty in your iHeartRadio app. There'sa couple of quotes. I want to
get to one and I'm paraphrasing here, but what wojoe to follow up what
he just said? I've used I'vesaid this before, maybe I've talked about
it with you, but I heardCharles Barkley say, regular season, get

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everybody involved, playoffs, shoot theball, shoot the puck, whatever it
might be, be selfish. It'stime to get after it. The best
player needs to be the best playerall the time. Regular season, best
player gets everybody involved, gets themfeeling good. Playoffs, now it's the
money's on the line. It's timefor the best player to do it.
No, I mean that's very wellsummed up. We want you want to
play the team structure with him,but the individuals that need to rise to

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the occasion our best players. Andyou hear it coaches all the time.
Best players gotta be your best players. Well, they just need to do
the things that make them great likethat. They don't need to do anything
more than that. They just needto play to their strength and do what
they do that they get them inthose roles to play in the power player,
play in the last minute of thegame. And the same thing goes
on our defensive side of our thingsare our best defenders need to be our

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best defenders, and our goaltender needsto be our goaltenders. So those are
the things that make up a team. So you can see in the first
round we kind of touched on allof them. But I think we're just
getting the ball roll for this team. The other thing. In the classic
nineteen eighty nine film Major League,Tom Berenger as it goes to Roger Doran's

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house, Corbyn Burnson and says,for some of these guys, it'll be
their only chance. For some ofthese guys, it will be their last
chance. And I always think,and I've been around this for a while,
you play in this league for along time, and coach, you
get through that first round and nowthat pure pressure kicks in and you realize
something cool might happen. Absolutely,the first round is hard. You just

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finished the regular season. It's along grind. You get to your last
couple months of the year, andthen you get into the playoffs and it's
hard, like it shifts. It'sfocused, and it's difficult, and you
have to the other team is pushinghard and you're pushing hard. And that
first series for us, like wetalked about earlier, had a lot of
perversity. We went down, wehad to come back, and now all

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of a sudden, it's like,oh, that was a pretty cool feeling,
like, oh, this could happenlike and then you start to build
a momentum and then all of asudden you're into the second round, and
now you really get a taste ofthat excitement and that energy level, and
now you want to win. Yep, text Well, Texas one our division,
so of course they got a homeice advantage. Have you how far?
How deep are you into preparation atleast of the film and everything else

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on Texas good. We had areally good meeting today. The coaches all
got to other today this morning andjust kind of do what we do with
the same thing we did with Winnipeg. We kind of break it up into
our sections and we go from thereand we start breaking it down. We
have a general idea already of whatTexas does. Any team in our division.
We've seen so much throughout the year, and this morning we spent a

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lot of our time kind of watchingwhat they did against Rockford and kind of
watching the series how that went andhow that played out for them, And
then will continue all throughout the weekand then get our game plan and our
modelist coach has always been kind offocused on what we do, and we
tweak things here and there if itreally is necessary depending on the opponent we're

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playing. Tell us about Texas here, we haven't seen them in a little
bit. They handled Rockford, theyswept them three games. We saw Rockford
a couple of times late in theseason and they were stacked up with adding
Grimaldi and getting a couple of players, specifically Ricle from Chicago. What does
Texas look like right now? Theyseem like they're rolling along just fine.

(10:58):
Texas is. Yeah, they're Imean, another team that a little bit
different. We're gonna see a differentseries, I believe than Winnipeg was.
Manitoba was pretty straight line, straightforward team that put a bunch of people
in front of our goalie and justtried to jam it away. As you
saw a couple of the goals inthe series where they literally pushed Asky into
the net. Yeah, um,Texas has more skill than them. They're

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very good in the ozone. Whenyou give them time and space, they'll
be able to create plays. Theyhave plays that they have more skill.
They're d are very active, similarto Manitoba. They have skilled offensive defenseman
that they're going to look to jointhe rush. So a lot of things
that are you know, key partsof our game are going to hold true
in this series. Is just makingsure we manage the puck and play the

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correct way. I was really impressedwith the degree of toughness our team showed
when you look at it, whenyou look at the penally minutes, I
think we're last in the league atpenely minutes. We weren't, you know,
weren't near the bottom. Yeah,and then and not an overly not
an overly aggressive or not not anoverly um. You know, the team
that you know gets into a lotof scrapes. But I think you answered.

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Your team answered most of them,if not all, of the pushback
from my Manitoba physically. Absolutely,And I think our team has changed a
bit over the last couple months ofthe season, adding some of those new
guys like Angelo and Rushoff and Ratcliffeand those are some big, big hockey
players that and McCarron for that matter, coming down to our team, Like

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we added some strength and toughness.And then I love to see guys like
Igor blocking shots in the third periodthe other night, Like typically that's a
role that he's starting to really growinto. He was really good defensively and
really bought into his role on theteam right now currently because he generally throughout
the season he's been we looked toto be a scorer or power play guy,
and just kind of the way it'sall played out right now, he's

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playing penalty kill and he's blocking shots, and you need guys to buy into
whatever role they're in. And thenKemmel an eighteen year old kid playing gritty
and tough, and the names cango on and on, like guys are
playing out of their comfort zone andthat's what we're gonna need moving forward.
It's the last maybe the last onehere, but I want i want your

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read on what happened on that play. Those two guys collide at center ice
and what happened. Spencer gave mehis version here the other night. We're
going to ask Spencer stats and hecoming up in our next segment too.
But what did you see? Uh? For standing on the bench, you
were you were probably closest to theplay of all the coaches. Yeah,
they said that there's so many highsand lows in the game. We had

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just had a big sustained O zoneshift after they tied it up, and
Luke gets hooked down as he's comingaround the net. So I'm all kind
of fired up, like, hey, we should be on the power play
and then they're coming out of thezone and then the two guys collide and
then everybody stands up. And thenI watched Sanny go down and pull it
to his backhand and slip it over, and I was like, does pretty
nice play And then didn't really evensee it go in, just kind of

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heard the uproar because of everybody's standingup, and then it was just all
from there is his excitement. Well, Spencer says he was the one he
should not have gone on the ice. He said, he said it was
it was supposed to be the left, it was a left defense, he's
the right defense, and he jumpedand all of a sudden. I mean,
mistakes happened, but sometimes they workout for the best. I mean,

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if you if if I had myeyes closed and you told me Stas
scored the game winner, I probablywould have laughed a little bit. Because
he's not that he's not offensive.We all know how well he can skate
and in his ability with the pocket, just the fact that he's pretty pretty
smart in those situations. So oneone game, jumping to lead the rush
that that's not something that you normallywould think he'd be doing. But excellent

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read on his part, because Ithink they had two guys fall down and
then they blew coverage on the otherside, so he jumped by his man
who has ended up able to score. It might be my imagination, but
he just seems like he's playing withjust a bunch of confidence after playing in
Nashville. Both both by the way, both he and Willsby were magnificent in
that series. Absolutely they were great. I mean we call him no,

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you're spot on. We call himthe kids like they just defend. They
go out there and play, theyfor whatever it's worth. They kind of
seem like they have ice in theirveins. They don't recognize where they're at
in their career. They Stas comesback from Nashville, did a really good
job getting his first stint in theNHL, and for sure, that does
boost your confidence when you go thereand you realize how close you are and

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you're right on the cusp of pushingto that envelope to possibly make it there
full time. And he's definitely onthe right development path and it's only going
to help them grow the more weplay in the playoffs, to getting that
confidence to play in these heavy,ear and harder games. The Division Finals
begin Friday night, at Panther Arenaat seven pm and Saturday night at six

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pm, Games one and two inthe best of five series. Greg,
thanks so much for the conversation.We really appreciate it. Good luck here
this weekend. It's going to befun. Thank you, guys, appreciate
it. Adamal's assistant coach Greg Rollojoining us here. Boyle boy that I
agree. And I'll tell you what. I was at a chocolate shop last

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evening, six o'clock last evening.You know it is um next to UH
sixty Yeah, yeah, yep,sixty eight and Wells and the Ultimate Confections
Ultimate there you go, and uh, I don't know if they're a sponsor
or not, but I walked inand they have oreos and they always have
like sugar coated UH logos of whatever, and they've had the Bucks and the

(16:18):
Brewers and all of that stuff.I swear to God, I saw admirals
on there for the first time inmy life. I don't know if they're
licensed or not. I guess Ididn't really care, but I bought them
and uh we enjoyed them last nightat home. But it was so cool
to see admiral stuff on chocolate coveredoreos. I will I will also tell
you. I will also first ofall, that's Pat Murphy Own's Ultimate Confections

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is also as an interest in majorgoals piece. Yeah, so you know
he's um, it's great that he'suh, you know, representing over at
the Ultimate Confections and we really appreciatethat and it's great. Yeh. But
but I will tell you the amountwearing Admiral's gear around yesterday was a pleasure
in the fact that at least tentwelve people, yeah, uninvited or basically

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just with walking up, not beingprompted. Ye oh, big game us
like what a great win. Ihad more people um come up to me
yesterday and mentioned but you know abouthow great the game was in the game
winning goal, and I saw iton the news this morning. I heard
it. I heard it. Yeah, it's great. And again, listen,
I don't we didn't have ninety fivehundred. This plays a whole ninety
five hundred for hockey. We didn'thave ninety five hundred in the building.

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But if you were listening, youwouldn't have a clue that that wasn't the
case. It sounded like it wasloud and it was awesome. And the
folks who showed up on Wednesday,Friday and Saturday, bless you all.
That was just fantastic and we hopeit continues this Friday and Saturday as the
Admirals take on Texas in the secondround. Um, and and I'll tell

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you something else here, Uh,Carl Taylor, And think of all the
great coaches the Admirals have had inthe American Hockey League, Carl Taylor and
his staff, Greg Rolo, ScottFord, Dave Rook, Ryan Costello.
Would you throw in a lot ofpeople there. Uh, this is the
first time that the Admirals have wonplayoff series and back to back seasons.
That's stunning, I know, right, I know. In fact, I
had to go back and ask Charliebecause it was so it was so wonderful

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winning a series in our own building. Yeah, and it had to go
all the way back, you know, years to Mark Van Gilder's right twn
exactly double over time against Texas,by exactly against Texas. It was just
incredible. Yeah. Yeah, Andthe feeling to win a big game like
this in your own building was fabulous. Yeah, no doubt, no doubt.
We're going to take a break theguy who scored that game winning goal,

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Spencer stats, and he will joinus next. You're listening to Milwaukee
Admiral Center Ice. Welcome back.It's Milwaukee Admirals Center Ice with Michael Jahowski.
I'm Aaron Sims. So we've beencelebrating obviously, and there's work to
be done, and maybe the celebrationstops tonight as we anticipate game Game one
of the second round. But dowe have to stop so we don't need
to stop celebrating. We can,we can, we can go at least
a couple of more minutes with ayoung man who scored the game winning goal.

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Uh he happens to be from Milwaukee, and uh he jumps into the
play, he wasn't supposed to beon the ice and it all worked out,
Spencer stats and he joins us.Now, Spencer, have you come
down. That's got to be aboutas good of a high as one can
have as a hockey player here,unless it was Game seven of the Stanley
Cup Finals. Yeah, that's that'ssomething I've never scruggled that big, So

(19:18):
it definitely was a nice one toget and just celebrate with the team.
Yeah, tell us the story hereyou you said this to me Saturday night
in the postgame show, But tellthe story on how everything went down from
your your perspective. Um. Yeah, so obviously they're go out the end.
There was a little bit of akiller, but just being able to
bounce back and keep going and keeppushing and h yeah. I think just

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last minute of the game, Will'sbeing at a going out there. I'm
not sure why I went up first, but usually Willsby had about to go
to the last side. I thinkI hop out and we're kind of standing
there like, oh, we've gotto switch sides, and I think everyone
on the ice collides at the sametime, and Stanford just has an been
waiting to take it and I hopright up there and he finds me for
an easy one. So we justtalked with Greg Rollow and he says he

(20:07):
was He says he would never haveguessed it was you jumping into the play
because you were so responsible, andhe wouldn't have thought you would take a
chance like that at all. Evenif you think you had it, you
might not take that chance. Wereyou being a little risk either than you
normally are? Ah, I don't, I don't know. I think I
think a little bit. I thinkit was nice to see that there was
really no one even there, andthen just being out there for the goal

(20:30):
right before, Like you want tobe part of a difference for good in
that game. So I think justseeing it all develop and being able to
process that pretty quickly and see thatI can jump there was making it a
lot easier for me to actually jointhere, something I probably don't too as
much about. Shit, did yousee it go in? Uh? Yeah,

(20:52):
I was hoping he wouldn't pass tome early because I didn't want to
tuck on my stick too early.So he got it to me at the
perfect time. And then yeah,I try to get a little more heat
on it, but I got justenough to get it through, And yeah,
I thought, go in there andsaw the guys come over to me,
and I kind of freaking out alittle bit, but it was,
it was. It was an awesomeplay, an awesome goal, veteran moved

(21:15):
by Zach Sanford to get it toyou're right at the right time. Yeah,
that's that was just a great playby an You know what I we
talked about. You know, rawl'snot you know, I couldn't believe it
was you that jumped into the playand made it happen. Is that a
move you make before you your tenurein Nashville? I gotta because I gotta
tell you. I think the confidenceyou've played with since you've been back here

(21:36):
has been incredible. Yeah, wellthank you. No, I mean yeah,
I'm not really sure. I thinkjust had enough there gave me,
give me a little bit more confidence, but also just just being able to
trend, just to see like whatworks up there and what works down here.
It's a different game, but Ithink just yeah, gaining confidence and
believing that I can do it andtrying to make a difference. I'm here.

(22:00):
How different are they were those fivegames, and how how different do
you anticipate the ones to come comparedto the regular season, are compared to
your time in Nashville. Was therea big difference? Did you notice intensity?
Did you notice things like that?Yeah, there was definitely a big
difference. I think I think theway they're able to take away time and

(22:21):
space and just make it hard onthe d, specifically going back for pucks.
I mean you're getting hit every timeyou're touching it, and maybe in
the regular season you have half asecond right now. It's sounded like point
too, So I mean it's it'sjust playing smarter, playing quicker, and
really trying to minimize the mistakes outthere. People. We talked so much
about playoff hockey and the value ofit and the experience of it. There

(22:45):
is something to be said then,a playoff experience does matter coming in.
I mean, it's tough to getin this league right because there are so
many young players and rookies, butplayoff experience does matter. Yeah, I
mean, I mean I was,I was here on the roster last year
during the layoffs and it never gotin. But this year, I think
I think even just watching what happenedlast year in the playoffs and how this

(23:07):
team found success and what ultimately unlet'sthe end of the season, I think
I personally grew from that, andI think a lot of guys now are
learning from last year. The guyswho are still here, and we have
a lot of guys like older guysthat have been through this in the HL
that really are helping out too.Admiral's defenseman Spencer stats and he joins us
it's Milwaukee Admiral's center Ice. Isaid this to Greg and you're a film

(23:30):
guy. The nineteen eighty nine ClassicMajor League when Jake Taylor says to Roger
Dorne, for some of these guys, it's their only chance. For some
of these guys, it's their lastchance. Winning. No matter where you
are, winning is special. It'shard, and I maintained that, like
nobody wants to win more than theguys in that room, and the peer

(23:51):
pressure there makes you you have topull and play for one another in that
room. Yeah, I think especiallywith this at least five game series,
we're going down one, going downone to two. I think in the
locker room just with Katum pretty muchjust saying just have fun, like you
never know when this is gonna happenagain, you never know what's going to
happen, but just have fun,give it your best, and fortunately it

(24:14):
all worked out for us. Iwas really impressed if you and the rest
of the players in Nashville and everythingyou guys were able to accomplish down there.
I mean it was it had tobe exciting for you guys, because
I mean, you got eliminated,what two days left to go in the
season. It had to be anexciting experience to be on the on the
verge of taking a team down betweentrades and injuries were decimated. Yeah,

(24:36):
it was. It was exciting.I think just having so many Milwaukee guys
there and made the transition a loteasier, a lot more comfortable. But
no, I mean everyone thrives themthere down there, no matter if they
got a couple or they're there forupwards of twenty thirty games. So I
think all the guys that we hadup there and all the guys that we
brought back down to just continue toexcel. And it definitely was a cool

(24:57):
experience. Why why did you isaaccellike to a person, everybody that went
up. I mean Luke was supposedto be there for a weekend. That's
a famous story. He stuck aroundfor twenty four games. You went up
and played every night when you werethere. I what what was the I
don't know if there's a secret,but but how did it work so well?

(25:18):
I mean just watching all the guysthat went up before me, they're
they're all playing to their strength.I mean Angeles to scores, he like
he changes every game. He thenum and he did that he'd be up
there. Um. Novak at thestart of the year Sherwood, like all
these guys just just played to theirstrength and really thrived in their role.
And uh yeah, I think Imean everyone, they're all just so talented

(25:41):
and you mean you see that herein the HL two. So it's just
a matter of time. And Ithink, Um, unfortunately for the guys
up there, but fortunately for alot of the Milwaukee guys, they just
got an opportunity and they took advantage. Yeah. Absolutely, And now you
get the to take on the TexasStars here this weekend. Beginning this weekend.
Your thoughts on this series? Whatis the what are a couple of

(26:03):
keys in your mind? Um?Yeah, I mean I think this will
be a good one. I know, Um, just talking to a lot
of guys and haven't played them thisyear, we know that they're pretty good
in their own barn. So Ithink it's nice that we get to stay
here in Milwaukee for the first twoand hopefully just keep riding the momentum and
the energy from the fans and hopefullyget off to a good start in the
series. The energy from the fans, I'll tell you what. And again

(26:25):
we talked about this before. Therewasn't ninety five hundred in the building.
But Mike, goodness you, ifyou close your eyes, you wouldn't have
known that. No, No,and I, especially with the game five
and we weren't really sure if wewere going to be there. It's nice
to see that just on a day'snotice, that many people and that much
energy show it up for a realpivotally game. Yeah, no doubt about

(26:47):
it. Well, you obviously hada big part in everything that's been going
well for the Milwaukee Admirals and continuedsuccess. We'll do it again this weekend.
Thanks for the time here tonight,Spencer, thank you, Thank you,
Spencer Stats and the Admiral's defenseman.We'll take could break. Doug Plagans,
the play by play announcer for theFlorida Panthers, joins us. Next,
you're listening to Milwaukee Admiral Center Ice. Welcome back. It's Milwaukee Admiral
Center Ice with Michael Jahouski Amaron Simms. It's been a while since we've had

(27:10):
this guy on. He's one ofmy favorites. He gave me one of
the greatest gifts that I've ever receivedin hockey and autographed Scott Darling Sammy Idakalio
fighting picture from both by both ofthose guys when the Monsters took on the
Admirals back in twenty fourteen. Lastseveral years, he's been the outstanding play
by play announcer, energetic play byplay announcer, active on social media and

(27:32):
active with trading cards. This guyand music. This guy. Doug Plagans
joins us. He's one of myfavorite people. Doug, thanks for the
time. How are you? Thankyou very much. I'm doing great,
Aaron, thanks for having me andgreat to talk to you again. You're
going back to my time in theAmerican Hockey League. I always say it's
the people you came across that madeit so special, and you were one
of those people always look forward tothe old Monsters Admiral's matchups. Well,

(27:56):
I appreciate that, and I tellyou what they watching when? What's your
team is doing right now? Slayingthe beast as will Joe saying the beast
in the first round, and thenup three nothing here against Toronto last night,
getting the overtime winner. You gotgame four coming up on Wednesday.
You could sweep the maple leaves andkill their dreams that have gone on for
sixty years. Almost What is goingright here? Right now. For the

(28:19):
Florida Panthers, well, right now, they're on a role playing and simple.
They've won six straight games here datingback to the last three of the
Boston series and now the first threehere in this series against Toronto, and
obviously there have been some high pressuresituations in there. They were, of
course fighting off elimination against the BostonBruins, came back to force overtime in

(28:41):
Game seven, Brandon Montur scored thatgoal the minute left in Game seven to
force the game into overtime, andthen of course they won the game seven
in overtime. And now they've beenable to come out on top of the
first three here against the Leaves andthere it's a team that really just really
got rolling. Of course, therewas the run late the year. They
had a six game win streak anda six one in one finish. They

(29:03):
ended up squeaking into the playoff onepoint better than the Pittsburgh Penguins to get
in and get that wild chard spotthat put them against the Boston Bruins in
Round one. So they did havethe role late in the year, and
they're of course on a role rightnow. But this is something that's been
building and going back to January fromthe from the turn of the new year
on the Panthers. If you ifyou compare the Panthers to the Maple Leaps

(29:26):
from January first on in the regularseason, the Leaps had fifty nine points
in forty five games. The Panthershad fifty six points in forty five games,
so they weren't that far off thepace the Toronto was on to finish
the year. This is a Panthersteam that was one of two teams in
the league that beat the Boston Bruinstwice during the season, the other one
being the Ottawa Senators. I guessyou need to have a kachuck if you
were going to beat twice during thisregular season. But they've really gotten rolling

(29:52):
and here into the playoffs, they'rea team that's playing with a lot of
confidence. They're getting great goaltending fromSergey Bobrovski, and you look up and
down the lineup and sure you've gotthe guys like Matthew could Chock and Alexander
Barkaw, Brandon Montors had a monsteryear. Carter Bhege if we're if we're
if we're drawing a basketball parallel,He's like that guy that wants the ball
in his hands for the last shotwhen the treads down one with a with

(30:15):
a second to go. He justseems to have a knack for coming through
in the clutch. But you godown the roster and everybody has had their
moment where they've really been able toimpact something in a in a game,
everybody has been contributing, and asyou know, this time of the year,
you need your big guns, butyou need everybody going in the same
direction. That's what the Panthers have. Whether it's the big stars or the

(30:37):
supporting cast. Everybody is contributing ina big way and it's been a lot
of fun to watch. You willJoe was talking about President's Trophy jinks,
how how sour were they last yearand how much do you think that ship
is playing a factor into this seasonfor them? Well, there are a
couple of things there. It wasit was big for the group that you

(30:59):
know, they're a lot of guysthat, um, you know, hadn't
hadn't won a playoff series before,and of course it had been a while
Panthers won a playoff series, Sofor a lot of guys getting that experience
knocking off Washington in a hard foughtRound one series last year that went a
long way, but then they raninto the Tampa Bay Lightning in round two
and whether it was through the Lightning, you know, coming through you know,

(31:25):
with a with a big goal andthey needed one after the Panthers had
really controlled the bulk of a game. There were stretches like that in the
series, or Tampa Bay clamping downdefensively, or something that a lot of
teams have run into. You justrun into andre Vassilevski and sometimes you just
don't have an answer when he whenhe puts up one of his big game
performances. The Tampa Bay Lightning tookthat series last year, and that you

(31:47):
know, as you know, thePanthers went into this season, they really
reworked a few things, tweaked afew things in the lineup, made the
big trade for Matthew could Chuck.Paul Mouras came in and he was he
was instilling a playoff type DNA,a playoff type style in this team from
the outset, and in the secondhalf of the season you've really seen this

(32:09):
team get rolling. But again therewere there were a number of factors.
I think that experienced last year.You know, good winning a playoffs series
that went a long way, butI think for a lot of guys,
the hunger really just if anything,just increased after they you know, fell
short in that series against the Lightning. So it was a tough ending last

(32:29):
year. But I think there werelessons that were learned, and now you're
seeing everybody, uh, you know, put that to good use here in
this playoff run. People always say, are fans, I'm saying fans,
not that players. Oh jeez,do we really want to make the playoffs
and just be like fodder for theNumber one? See he was just going
to sweep us anyway. And Imean this is one hundred percent like a
complete and total reason why you don'tdo that. I mean, you know,

(32:52):
I mean, you know, it'salways great to be in the tournament
because you never know what's going tohappen. How's everything just gone so white?
And I mean Boston will tell howmany games are your very view and
you've beat them three games in arow. Yeah, yeah, it's so
you look at the way things haveplayed out. I think hockey, first
of all, I think any ofus would say at any level, hockey's

(33:13):
the ultimate just get in sport,because anything can happen. But you look
at the NHL specifically, and youknow there was I brought this up on
our team's podcast a number of times, but you know there was an arrow
when sixteen out of twenty one teamsmade the playoffs. Now sixteen out of
thirty two makes the playoffs. Soevery year you've got you've got a handful

(33:34):
of teams that are probably capable ofwinning around that aren't even getting in.
So I think what happens now youlook at you know, sixteen out of
thirty two get in the gap betweenthe team with the best record and the
team with the sixteenth best record interms of talent, I just I just
don't think it's as significant as maybepeople thought. I think that's a big
reason why you're seeing road teams havea lot of success in these playoffs as

(33:59):
well. I think once you getto the playoffs, everybody's good, everybody's
deep. You can't back into theplayoffs anymore, you can't take it for
eighty two games and get in theplayoffs. Everybody's good once he gets there.
And I think maybe that you know, having that last change doesn't mean
as much as it might during theseason. During the playoffs, everybody's on
the same schedule, everybody's deep,everybody's good, everybody's got capable goaltending.

(34:23):
And I think it's just so evenlymatched that in the NHL specifically, if
you get in anything can happen.And like I said, during the season,
the Panthers gave the Bruins more fitthan anybody else did. They were
one of two teams and the onlyof the playoff teams this year that had
beaten Boston twice during the regular season. And I know it's the regular season,

(34:45):
but that stood for That stands forsomething. When you have a team
that won sixty five games and thePanthers were one of the teams that was
able to beat him twice, youknow that that mattered. And then you
get into a matchup against the TorontoMaple Leafs and the Leaps took three matchups
during the regular season from the Panthers, but three of the four games the
two teams play went to overtime.And you know in the in the regular

(35:07):
season, overtime can be a totaltoss up. So these are two and
as I mentioned, the Leaps afterJanuary one, only three points better than
the Panthers were. This was apretty even matchup coming in and so far
the Panthers have gotten the upper hand. So I think, just to illustrate
the overall point the NHL, youjust gotta get in, because once you
get in, it really is true. It sounds Lee shaven. Anything can

(35:30):
happen. Game four is Wednesday nightin South Florida. Doug, it's great
to talk to you. I knowyou're a busy guy. We'll let you
go here. We'll be listening androoting for you. All the best to
you and the Florida Panthers and especiallyBill Zito. Thank you very much.
Yes, Bill Zito certainly has theWisconsin ties and just a great guy who's

(35:51):
done a heck of a job,you know, putting this roster together,
and his his hockey operations staff,the work that they've done finding some of
these players and getting him into theright fit and seeing some of these guys
specifically I mentioned Cardiver Hagi, theway he's taken off, you know,
guys like that. He's just donean unbelievable job, you know, putting
this roster together, and and he'sagain it's just been really exciting to see.

(36:13):
So thanks again, thanks for havingme. All the best for you
guys, and we'll talk again too. Very good. Thank you. That's
Doug Plagin's excellent, excellent play byplay announcer for the Florida Panthers. Give
him a listen if you get thechance. He's phenomenal energy, very much
and he's a he's a big cardcollector too. He's I got some things
I got to talk to him about. He's he's told me where to get
my stuff graded and things like that. Yeah, yeah, real good,

(36:36):
real good guy. Doug Plagins joiningus. We're gonna take a break,
we'll come back and wrap things up. You're listening to Milwaukee Admiral Center Ice.
Welcome back to Milwaukee Admiral Center Icewith Michael Jahowski. I'm Aaron Sim's
one final time. So the Admiral'swon two straight to take that best to
five series three games to two overthe Manitoba Moose. Second straight here the
Admirals have won a playoff series.It's the only time first time that they've

(36:57):
done it in the American Hockey League, which is saying a lots. I
mean you look back. You wonthe championship in three h four. The
next year, a flukey goal endsthe season in a game seven. In
two thousand and five, you makeit to the final in OH six,
so that that could have been therun, but it fell apart unfortunately at
the end of game seven against Cincinnati. You had to remind me of that
one. Okay, well, let'slook back, let's look more at that

(37:21):
Spencer stats Andy's goal here. Butbut yeah, but that's that's where I
had to look, like, okay, close, that was clothes first year
in OH three oh four, andthen I had to and that was the
question I had, was I hadto think a little harder about oh four
oh five and like, oh yeah, I remember the story. I wasn't
here for that. That was beforethe year before me, months before me,
but I remember, Yeah, soI had to think about that one.

(37:44):
That was the question mark because Lanemade the Lane made it into the
second round in O nine and eleven, and the Admirals hadn't been into the
second round until last season. Yeah, it's been a long long time.
And I'll tell you what, there'snobody harder on himself about that whole situation,
Lamb. I mean, I rememberhe was coming back to pick up
some of the last of his belongings. And I was literally at Saz's,

(38:06):
believe it or not, and Iwas sitting at the Rectangle bar, not
the wrong bar, the more popularone, but and I'm sitting there just
having a beer, and all ofa sudden, I hear this voice next
to me going, hey, fancyseeing you here, And it was Lane
yea and Lane he was late forthe Brewer game because he was taking the
shuttle of the Boomer And we literallyhad a twenty minute conversation about how he

(38:27):
felt he left two opportunities on thetable here and he was talking about it
pretty in depth. Yeah, no, he still thinks about it, still
thinks about it. Yeah, that'sright. You just saw I saw him
a couple of months, yeah,back in February. Yeah, still thinks
about it. So yeah, Sowe have now all of these things here
this weekend, we want you tocome to the game, and if you
were at the game, bring somebodywith you that wasn't at the game.

(38:51):
Let's try to pack this place up. Visit Milwaukee Admirals dot com and find
out they were talking about ticket plansand things like that. So make sure
you're following the admirals on social media. There's a lot of things in the
works that are going to happen ratherquickly, so make sure you're tuning into
these to the Admiral's website and socialmedia channels. We can tell you we
got confirmation from the radio station,so this weekend Friday and Saturday, the

(39:15):
games will be not only on theBig nine twenty and on the iHeartRadio app,
but also on ninety seven three thegame, so you'll be able to
hear it there, which we're excitedabout as also, we just were literally
just received word at Friday will betelevised. Friday will be televised on my
twenty four. We'd rather have youcome by and buy a ticket to be
part of the studio audience, yes, but if not, you know,

(39:37):
if and record the game at homeand watch it later exactly right, Yeah,
which I did the other night,yes, and which kept me up
most of the night. But it'sokay, that's right, that's right.
I you know what, so manypeople It was so funny because Matt Donovan
did the game with me that night. That's the night that they passed the
puck out of the corner to laypenalty coming up, they shot it into
their own net. That turns outto be the difference really in the game

(40:00):
in a five to three win,an empty net goal. And I said
to Matt do you remember when theydid it three years ago? And he
says no. And it was abig Russian right winger and I believe he
was number forty eight, carried thepuck into the zone. It was a
second period and he was on theright wing wall. He passed it to
the left point. Nobody was there. It bounced off the boards at the
red line, like right on thestripe on the boards and into the net

(40:22):
on a delayed penalty. Mikail Burtonwas the goaltender that night. We looked
it up. There was a penaltycoming up against Richard for slashing. Alex
Carrier was credited for the goal.It was at five forty of the second
period. So Manitoba had done thatto themselves in this building three years prior.
They did it again here obviously onFriday night. I asked Matt Donovan
if he remembered. No, Idon't remember. Maybe I wasn't playing well.

(40:43):
Donovan had an assist in that game. He was playing. I asked
Carl Taylor if he remembered. Hesaid he did not remember. And I'll
tell you what, like coaches rememberthings, I know, so that that
shocked me that he did not thinkof that. But I remembered it it
pretty well. And a couple ofpeople reached out to me on Twitter and
and said that or corroborated that andall that. So um, but yeah,

(41:06):
it was a couple of bad bouncesand and that's it worked out.
Incadal's favorite, those bounces in Neat'sfavor. Correct me if I'm wrong.
I didn't see a great deal ofurgency on the part of anybody that run
off. To tell you what,And did you notice that that former first
round pick from twenty nineteen who missedthe pass, who was in a world
class skater uh and did not chasethe puck down was a healthy scratch on

(41:29):
Saturday night? Oh okay, thereyou go. Maybe you noticed that because
I because I was sitting there goingit wasn't a slap It wasn't a ninety
mile an hour slap shot going tothat exactly. Yeah, there was hope,
I mean, there was I meanthe ability for Okay, we played
that video of Scott Valentine crashing intothe net right exactly could have happened,
exactly right, no question about it. I just I just found a fascinating

(41:52):
yeah. Well and again that formerfirst round pick from twenty nineteen who was
a healthy scratch I believe on Saturday, and there was your reason. If
you have an Admiral's ticket rep,please call them. If you don't have
an Animal's ticket rep, please calland ask for an animal sticket. Yes,
and you'll have one. Yep.Absolutely, we'll be happy to help
you out. Again. Visit MilwaukeeAdmirals dot com. You'll get all the

(42:14):
information that you need there. Followthe Admirals on social media, and again
be on the lookout here in thenext twenty four hours something happening with ticket
specials and things like that for Fridayand Saturday night. Game one of the
Central Division Finals against Texas Friday nightat seven pm. We'll have that for
you on ninety seven three the gamethe Big nine twenty in your iHeartRadio app.

(42:36):
Game two Saturday night at six pm, then Games three, four and
five, all four and five ifnecessary, we'll be down in Texas.
Thank you all for listening tonight.It's been a fun week and we hope
to keep them going. You're listeningto Milwaukee Admiral's Center Rice at the Big
nine twenty and your iHeartRadio app