05/13/24 - Admirals Center Ice

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hello and welcome. It's Milwaukee AdmiralsCenter Ice with Mike wil Jehowski. I'm
Aaron Simms. This is not thelast show of the year. The Milwaukee
Admirals have come back a reverse sweepdown oh two to the Texas Stars.
The Admirals win all three at PantherArena, defeat the Stars three games to
two in the best of five series, and now move on to the Division
Finals to take on the Grand RapidsGriffins beginning Wednesday at Panther Arena at seven

(00:22):
pm. Wojo A marvelous, marvelousweek at Panther Arena. Oh fun for
everybody, and you know what,hats off to all of you out there.
The crowds were fabulous. Yes,I mean what uh I mean?
You guys made enough noise for twoor three games. Was fabulous. It's
just unbelievable. Bring it back onWednesday and tell your friends and French friends.

(00:43):
I meant exactly, bring bring everybodyyou can on Wednesday and Sunday and
Wednesday and Monday. Pardon me,those are the games, the fifteenth and
the twentieth at Panther Arena. Totalk about what happened and what's to come.
Admiral's assistant coach Greg Ralow joins us. Now, Greg, thanks so
much for the time. Congratulations.I'm curious and and I guess we're all
tuned to say that there was nodoubt in our mind that that the team

(01:06):
was going to win. But whenyou're down oh two, how desperate?
How tough is it to try tocome up with a plan or come up
with motivation tactics or anything like that, And is it harder as a coach
than it is as a player.But I think to start, I think
it just speaks volumes of the teamwe have this year and the character that's
in our room. We thought,you know, we deserved a better fate
in Game two. Our guys playedreally good in Texas. It just happened

(01:30):
to not grow away, and that'sthe playoff hockey. And then coming home,
you can just feel it in ourpractices leading up to those games that
our guys had competence that you know, our season wasn't done and we're going
to take it obviously a game ata time. But again I always go
back to our room and our characterand the quiet competence that they exude was
it was pretty special. To see. You know, one thing that really

(01:52):
impressed impresses me. You guys haveno fear and when you when you make
out the lineup card, I mean, you know college players first, or
put kids just right out of juniors. I mean, a lot of youth
on that on the ice, andyou know, and it's just it's just
amazing the how it all seems tocome together. I mean, when you
guys make decisions on the lineup,you know, you do know some of

(02:13):
these guys just came out of college, right, yeah, you do know
that, right, absolutely, yeah, And it's you go back to kind
of when I was in these situationsas a player coming out of it,
and how excited you already get youropportunity. And I remember when I left,
I went right to the East CoastLeague and I jumped right into a
playoff series and I was playing regularminutes. So you got to trust these
kids to figure it out. Andsome of them have talent, and at

(02:35):
the end of the day, it'sthe same game. Yes, the stakes
are a little bit higher and it'sa little bit faster and the things that
we talk about, but it's justhockey and that's what we kind of try
to preach to them that, youknow, scoring a goal here is going
to be just like scoring a goalin college or junior. You're going to
go in and you're going to letyour skill take over assume thing defensively.
And we're lucky that the guys thatdid come in they're grasping our systems and
their hockey players they're very Their hockeyIQ is high, so that's helped us,

(03:00):
helped us along the way as well. You guys and Carl Taylor,
you guys all as coaches preach aboutdepth, talk about you need you're gonna
need more than twenty players to makea long playoff run. And we've seen,
because of a variety of circumstances,lineups have changed here pretty much every
game for the five game series againstTexas. But the big one that people

(03:23):
will focus on is in goal,where Yaroslava Scaroff started the first two and
then Troy Grossnik took the last three. That had to be a tough decision
to make, very tough that ask. He's been, you know, him
and Goose have been great all year. They've kind of been going back and
forth, ticking each other up whenthey needed to be or carrying the load
during different stretches of the season,so it was a hard decision. Coming

(03:46):
home. We just felt that,you know, it was time to you
know, maybe spark some energy oror get some you know, the motivation,
just shake things up, and thathappened to be our call. It
was an easy decision. There wasa lot of discussion between you know,
the coaching staff, management staff,and we just felt that coming back to
Wisconsin and Goose getting to getting thechance to go was our best opportunity to
win Game three, and he kindof took over from there. His play

(04:11):
made our decision, you know,somewhat easier moving forward throughout the rest of
the series. And I'm sure we'regoing to get back to a little bit
more about that, but likewise,I'm sure that's what Neil Graham was thinking
yesterday. I don't know. Iwas a little shocked that they went with
Ben Krause yesterday. Four games,the pro experience out of college, and
the twenty minutes that he played againstMilwaukee in Game three, I was a

(04:31):
little surprised. But at the sametime, what you just said, you're
trying to jumpstart your team somehow,some way, so you make that move.
Yeah, you can see the argumenton both sides very similar to what
you just said. Maybe you knowa young guy that the guys are going
to play extra hard for him,try to do everything right for him in
front of him, but at thesame time, on the road in an
elimination game, that was a difficultsituation for him to be put in.

(04:55):
And then you know our start,I thought, the start of the game,
from the anthem, from the out, from the loudness and the building
just got our guys even more ampedup and just came out of the gates
hot and we put the heat onthem right away. And that's tough for
a young goaltender and any goaltender reallyin those situations, but especially a guy
playing and you know his first probablygot start in professional hockey and an elimination

(05:17):
game on the road in a greatbuilding. So that's a tough spot for
that kid to be in. Sowhen you see the lineup, then at
the beginning of the game, roughlytwenty minutes before the contest starts, when
you see the lineup, do youshare that with the team and say,
boys, let's pepper this guy,Like, did you sense that the guys
were just jacked up? Like,hey, we got a shot to just

(05:38):
cripple a part of the term acripple this team right away. Yeah,
I mean, and we've kind oftalked a lot about this throughout the year.
We try not to focus too muchon the other team. But something
that drastic of the change. Carldidn't mentioned it before the game. Hey,
we have a young goaltender in nota lot of pro experience. Let's
maybe shoot the puck early and let'sget a lot of traffic on the marley.
So our guys did that and weended up scoring two goals right out

(05:59):
of the gate. So good onour fellas for completing the task. You
know, you go from one veryfamiliar opponent to another familiar opponent. I
mean there's probably you know, Idon't know if Texas showed you anything you
hadn't seen before, but you're you'rerunning in the Grand Rapids, a team
that broke our nineteen game winning streak. A team that's uh that we see
we've seen a lot over the years. Uh, what can we expect coming

(06:21):
up? I think you see there'sa lot of similarities. We watched a
lot of videos this morning on Grandrap It's just kind of retouching. Go
back and look at all our commentsthat we've made as a coaching staff throughout
the year in our video system,and it's a lot of similarities between Texas
with some changes. They're they're alittle bit more of a direct team.
It's a little bit older of ateam that that. With that said,

(06:43):
and they have some more size.They definitely hit more, they're more aggressive
on their fore checks. So that'sgoing to be our challenge as a team,
is you know, getting ready towin those wall battles just inside our
blue line of defensive zone, gettingready to win some NetFront battles, to
score some goals that are going tobe hard area goals against them. They're
they're deep, bigger, and they'restronger than Texas. So it's gonna be
another challenge for our young forwards,but they seem to be up to it

(07:05):
throughout the season till we're pretty confidentwith them moving forward. Admiral's assistant coach
Greg Raalo joins US this is Milwaukee. Admiral CENTERAI said one thing going into
the series with Texas, and Idon't know if you thought you could do
it, but win the special teamsbattle. That's the number one power play
team, the league MVP, theleague's leading scorer. Curtis McKenzie is a
force Tebluemell scored thirty one goals forthe Texas Stars. Like that as a

(07:30):
high octane team. They scored alot, but they give up some.
But you guys won the special teamsbattle and that I don't know if that
surprises you or not, but thatis a big, big factor in winning
this series. Yeah, and Iwant to make sure hanswer is this questions
correctly because it was a pivotal pointin the series and it was a huge
reason why we were able to winthe series. Is Portal runs are Penalty

(07:53):
County does a fantastic job. Andall season long, we've kind of been
watching some trends and how teams playthree high, and Carl and self,
he's been watching these trends. ButKyle as a coach who's been established and
he's been around a long time,he strongly believes in certain you know,
principles on the penalty kill and whatwe did drastically change his principles. So
kudos to Carl for being open andyou know, making that adjustment in a

(08:16):
series. And then Porto and himselfteaching it in practice in less than a
week and our guys implementing it thatquickly. It was. It's pretty special
and it was a difference in theseries. We caught him off guard for
sure, and their power play wejust wasn't the same. We were able
to frustrate them, they weren't ableto get They obviously score their good players,
they are going to score some goalson the power play, but definitely

(08:37):
we limited their opportunities, We limitedthe momentum with it. And those changes
just speaks to the volumes you knowof Kyl and Portal for being able to
make that adjustment you know, withina week or two or ten days in
our break and our guys implementing itand listening and executing it. So that
was a big part of the seriesfor sure. Yeah, you know those
power plays that they did score andthey had to yesterday, but like it

(09:00):
just they just seemed innocuous. Theyseemed like not that they seemed like a
two point basket in a ten pointgame, Like it just didn't seem like
they were that big of a deal. And on top of that, defensively,
you guys did such a good job, particularly at home taking away their
transition. Like every hockey team now, they want to get up ice and
move, and the Stars certainly haveplayers that can do that. But you

(09:22):
really took that away. You reallythwarded them too on the penalty kill,
talking about that they want to dropthe puck back at center ice, and
they ended up pushing it to theleft wing boards and just kind of stalling
the play there for a while.Absolutely, and like you touched on a
little bit there, of everything isour guys just bought in. That's what
it all comes down to when youtalk about these entries, are you know,

(09:43):
even our defensive defense and we're gettingup and taking away gap and space
and trusting their skating and getting rightup in their face. We were telling
our guys not to allow them,you know, any space coming through the
neutral zone with speed. We hadto take it away. They score almost
primarily all their goals, you know, throughout the season come from just inside
the blue line to the tops ofthe circles there. Very special in that

(10:05):
way where not a lot of teamsscore goals from there, but they had
some elite shooters over there, andwe were able to take away that time
and space in those areas so theycouldn't get those shots off because you saw
it in the series even when Bombodidn't he doesn't take much for him to
score. He scored some goals inthe series, and we were able to
you know, keep him that dayat times and then work as well.
He's an hl MVP, and Ithought our defensive core and R fours did

(10:28):
a great job, you know,getting in his face, taking away his
time and then ultimately frustrating him.So that was good on our guys's part
for sure. Yes, you talkabout frustrating and you talk about you have
a player that for you probably Ithink the first time in admiral history was
the number one star of the gamethree games in a row, and he
just an incredible three game run,I mean xactly Rue was was unbelievable.

(10:50):
But talk a little bit about whathe did right over over these three games
stretch. Oh, when when youtalk about what you want on your team
as a hockey player in an organize, you want serial winners. Is I
think is the terminal or the termthat Nashville uses, and he's the definition
of that. From the start ofthe game to the end of the game.
Every night he wants to win,and he wants to win right now.

(11:13):
He wants to win this season.I think he wanted to win in
many stick games in the hotel whenhe was a kid. He's just a
winner. He wants to win allthe time, and guys buy into that.
I know he's a young guy,he's a rookie, but he's kind
of earned that keep now where youdon't see him that way anymore. The
way he's kind of took guys onhis shoulder, whether it was blocking shots
of scoring a big goal, playeddiscipline in the first series that that was

(11:35):
an issue that could have got outof control as well. Throughout the season.
He did have some times when disciplinewas an issue, but he he
you know, he stepped up forthe team. His penalties were penalties,
and they're hard penalties there. Hemade a good card hit on a guy
the other night and end up gettinga penalty. We're okay with that.
That's just him being physical and hardand playing the right way in playoffs.

(11:56):
Admiral's assistant coach Greg Ralow joins us, you and wild we're talking about rookies
stepping in and being a big part, and you just talked about Zach LaRue
with playing his first professional season.I'm curious. The old adage was,
at this point of the season thereare no rookies anymore. Do you believe
in that or are there still guysout there who are rookies. I mean,

(12:16):
there's certainly a lot to learn,right But now that you've gone through
one series and everybody's been through it, do we have any rookies anymore?
Yeah, I mean to the terminologyrookie, yes, maybe. But at
the end of the day, withthe playoff time, so we're starting to
we're learning a lot about our players. We learn a lot about Zach and
those getting home games at home.We're learning about, you know, can

(12:37):
guys handle the pressure. And wehave other young guys on our team that
are stepping up at times, butthey can continue to grow and be a
little bit better, more consistent.That's what we're looking for, is to
kind of grow that consistency throughout theplayoffs, and we're there going to be
better next round now that we gotfive games under their belt and they understand
the pressure, and we went throughthree elimination games in the first round,

(12:58):
which is invaluable to learn. Thosegames are hard to play in because you
know, if you don't show upand play your your season's over. And
we have to do three of them. So that a lot of lessons learned
in the first round and hopefully wecan continue that into the second round and
you know, be on the otherside of things and we can learn how
to close teams out. Okay,you mentioned a little earlier about how you
retooled your penalty kill over the breakand Grand Rapids has had a huge break

(13:22):
here. I mean, yeah,so let's let's say, can they show
you something completely different that you've neverseen before. How do you as a
staff deal with something like that,Well, let's say their penalty kill if
they would change it. Kyl doesa great job with the power play,
and he asked my assistant at time, he's seen it all, to be
honest, he kind of we playteams throughout the season, whether they play

(13:46):
high in the penalty kill, lowon the penalty kill. Our guys have
kind of established what we're going todo against any kind of penalty kill that
they might throw at us. Andhe's really good at making in game adjustments,
whether it's be calling a penalty killunit or power play unit into the
coaches in between periods, showing thoseguys what we want to do. And
then that speaks to kind of whatI've talked about, is our guys are

(14:07):
able to adapt. We got somehigh Hockey IQ players on our team,
which really helps because he can makeadjustments right in game and then they can
adapt those adjustments without a problem orneeding a practice per se to practice at
first, Greg, last one herefor you. You look at going three
and o on home ice here inthe postseason, thirty and nine at Panther

(14:28):
Arena this year, it was thebest record in the Western Conference. Grand
Rapids has been very good at homethis season too, not so good on
the road. But I want totouch on just the admirals experience at home,
going thirty and nine at Panther Arena. What is it about this season
that that has been so good herein Milwaukee? Last year, I think
you won twenty games at home.It wasn't like this year this year.

(14:50):
It seems like there's just a differenceout there, you know. I just
think it speaks to the overall experienceof being a Milwaukee Admiral. To be
honest, it's the way Arras streatsour players the way our fans have been
this year to you know, theway the city is, how much our
guys enjoy the city. They justgenuinely like being here in Milwaukee, and
they take pride in being in Milwaukee. You see our guys wearing Brewers hats

(15:13):
around, you see guys going togames and Bucks games, and they just
have kind of bought into the city. And I think that's a big deal.
And the youth hockey in the areais starting to grow and catch on
more. You can see the crowdsare starting to get bigger and better.
So I think it's a collection ofeverything kind of coming together, the community
and then the players kind of buyinginto that. So I feel too,

(15:35):
living here in Milwaukee now for sixyears, I can start to feel the
growth of the sport, and thenthe admirals are growing, and it's just
I take a lot of pride inbeing here and proud to be here.
So I think that that's kind ofwhat I would token it to. We've
had, by the way, we'vehad some Brewers players. We had some
Brewers players here last night. We'vehad some Brewers players show up kind of
under their own volition, right,Like it's not it hasn't been a paid

(15:58):
appearances. They've come out to watchplayoff hockey, which is really cool.
Greg. As you've said, you'vebeen here six years, established yourself in
Milwaukee, You've done hockey schools.I'm curious as we go to break here,
let's throw a plug here. What'sgoing on with the hockey school and
can people sign up? Yeah?Absolutely, Well, it's a simple name.
It's gr Hockey, Greg Rollo Hockey, and I do hockey schools in

(16:22):
the summer. This year it's goingto be one one week in the summer
in August. It's just kind ofI really enjoy teaching kids. When I
can, I help out with mykids teams. I have two daughters and
then a son that also plays atShaw Hockey, and when I can,
I go on and help those teams. It's just something I've always really enjoyed
is skating with kids in the summerand helping them grow their skills and then

(16:45):
usually get some players that live inthe area or scott Ford or assistant coaches
helped me in the past as well, so it's a lot of fun.
It's a camp that I believe thatyou can get better and work hard and
have fun. So that's kind ofmy model in the summer, without pushing
them too hard, kind of teachingthem some skills they can continue to use
throughout the season. So the Grhockeydot com is that where we should go.

(17:07):
Yeah, it's Grhockey twenty seven dotcom. Okay, Grhockey twenty seven
dot com. Beautiful, Greg,thanks so much for the time. Can't
wait for Wednesday. Thanks, simmI appreciate it. You best, coach.
Admirals Assistant coach Greg Raalo. TheAdmirals will start the Division final series
against the Grand Rapids Griffin's Wednesday atPanther Arena. We're going to take a
break. When we come back,we'll speak with a guy who's just been

(17:29):
heroic player here the last week forthe Milwaukee Admirals. Admirals forward Zach LaRue
joins us. Next, you're listeningto Milwaukee Admirals Center Ice. Welcome back
to Milwaukee Admirals Center Ice with Mikewil Jehowski. I'm Aaron Simms. The
Admirals with the reverse sweep down ohtwo, they come back win the series
against Texas three to two. Ournext guest had a big hand in that
five goals all he did yesterday,Well, give a listen, this is

(17:52):
what happened yesterday. He got thepuck just across the Texas line, but
Alex Petromick knocked it away as itwent off and skate. Now LaRue steals
at two on one Milwaukee, LaRueleft circle, LaRue left dot. LaRue
shoots crossed the stuff rebound, gotto the goal in its card. The
Avril stored sack LaRue once again.It trickled past goal tenor ben Kraus first
shot of the game, and ZackLaRue gives the Admirals a one nothing lead.

(18:18):
At forty three seconds, LaRue gotto the left god and the shot
got past that arm of the goalieand now crossing just trickled by him again.
Nearly we out to the net.Laru from the right point dumbs the
puck in behind Crass. It's Parsonand to the left point winels me with
a shot. Timpt his card andguess who guess who? It's zack LaRue

(18:41):
again, a sack LaRue again.Fifty eight seconds into the game. The
Admirals have a two nothing lead.The blitzer is on Zach LaRue with a
pair of goals in the fifty eightseconds fifteen seconds apart, zach as Zach
LaRue joins us now Zak. Youhad four goals in a span of a
minute too, the span of aminute too in the in the two games,

(19:03):
the last two games, what didyou do the remaining one hundred and
eighteen minutes? Tried not to getscored on? But yeah, no,
there's definitely pretty special to be ableto do that when you saw the lineup
at the beginning of the game andnothing is certain, but Ben Crass was
the first goalie on the ice yesterday. But they've been trying to switch it
up like that and some deception inthe series, and those are the mind

(19:29):
games that coaches try to play inthe playoffs. But when you guys find
out that he's starting in goal afterplaying all of twenty minutes in this series
and four regular season games, whatgoes through your mind when you see,
Hey, they're shaking it up there. We got a chance to really pounce
on them. Was that the thoughtgoing into the contest? Yeah, I
mean, I don't think you reallythink about it too much. I mean,

(19:52):
I feel like it's whoever they gotthat it didn't really didn't really matter
for us. But you know,we were maybe a little bit and you
know what, maybe get some shotsearly on this guy and you know,
test him out. You know,we haven't seen them all series, so
you know, we didn't really knowwhat to expect. So it was it
was maybe a little bit of ashot. But at the end of the

(20:12):
day, still you know, he'san America League goal he still has a
goalie. You know, a coupleof bad bounces who didn't go as away,
but you know, we're happy.We're happy that it bounced our away.
Yeah, no doubt. You know. You know what's funny is last
year in a Game five and youweren't here for this last season, but
the Admirals rubbed four nothing in thefirst period against Texas, like really stepped
on the gas. And yesterday wasthe same thing. Up three to one

(20:34):
after the first period. My goodness. You can't ask for a much better
start than what you guys had yesterday. No, it was pretty textbooks.
We knew, we knew we hada good game plan. We knew that,
you know, coming into this thisgame five, you know they'd have
their best games. So we knewwe had to have a hot start,

(20:56):
and I thought we did a greatjob just managing whole game, managing the
ocean's you know, they they cameback in it and to those to them,
you know, they never gave up. So it was it was it
was a type battle until the end. But you know, having that that
hot start was was huge for us, no doubt. You know, now
you're get you've coming off a highlyemotional win and how you got to get

(21:17):
geared up for for a news nextanother series two days from now and uh
and you know what what comes tomind when you think about Grand Rapids.
Yeah, they're definitely a really reallygood team. You know, we've had
our struggles again from this year andwe know going into the series that they're
going to be prepared and ready,maybe a little bit more rested than we

(21:37):
are. But at the end ofthe day, we we know, you
know, the potential and you knowthe talent we have in that locker room
and what you know, our capabilitiesare. And I think you know,
winning these three games in a rowand you know, completing the reverse Suite
just you know, is a confidencebooster for everybody. I think you know,
everybody stepped up. So we're goinginto the series, we're definitely more
prepared than ever and you know,definitely excited to get to go. What

(22:00):
makes them a really tough team toplay against? Yeah, I think they're
just really big body. You know, their d man are solid, They're
hard to get around, uh youknow cos and nets and you know,
pretty good goalie all year and youknow he's a he's a tough guy to
you know, get through. SoI think just managing that, finding ways
to you know, pick their defenseapart and you know, hopefully get getting

(22:22):
you know, some good offense andkeep keep up, you know, the
the good power playing, the goodthings that we're doing right now and the
things that work against the Stars.But I think, yeah, they're just
you know, one of those hard, rugged, you know, tough teams
will get in your faith. They'renot not afraid to play that that you
know, chippy game too. Soit's it's gonna be an interesting one for
sure. When you're down two inthat series after two games in Texas and

(22:45):
I'm not going to ask you ifyou thought you were gonna win or anything
like that, because I think weall thought you all have to have that
thought. But I'm I'm just curiousabout the pressure of having to win in
in game three, in game four, in game five, how do you
separate this is just another game.From my goodness, I can't make a

(23:07):
mistake whatsoever out here, otherwise it'sgoing to kill us like that. That's
a tough way to play, tobe so protective and to be so serious.
You can't do that. But atthe same time, like one mistake
can do the trick. Yeah,exactly. You don't want to necessarily think
that way and think, you know, all what if I do something wrong?
Or I think you prepare all yearfor these moments that you know you're

(23:29):
ready when it comes. And Ithink maybe you know, the first game
in Texas, you know they've theythey played an unreal game, kind of
ran us out of the building inthe third period and never really give us
a chance. And I think maybethat second game in Texas, although we
lost, I thought we played anunreal game overall and maybe deserved a better
fate. And you know what,it wasn't our day, and you know
that happened sometimes. But I thinkfrom that moment, you know, we
knew going home that you know we'rethe better hockey team. There's never a

(23:53):
doubt that we couldn't win three gamesin a row. I mean, we
did it so many times this year, so I felt like I was just
take one at a time, andyou know, but what we were able
to accomplish, you know, Idon't think we we had to lead the
whole all three of the games.You know, we had really control of
it. And I think that justgoes to show you know, our you
know, our talent and everything thatwe you know that you know, we've

(24:15):
prepared for all year, and yeah, it was just a special yeah,
and you know, and that's thereason why you get home ice advantage.
That's the value of a regular season. That's the value of a nineteen game
winning streak. I've said this somany times, and Woojo has said the
same thing, Like, those weren'tall seven to one, six one games,
six nothing games. Those were threetwo games. Those were shootout wins

(24:37):
when you didn't have your best.Those were overtime victories. That was the
Belleville game, the Texas game whenyou had h February tenth, when the
night before you played well, butthen the next night it was a struggle.
But Troy had to win the shootoutgame. And Jordan Gross scored the
last game of that nineteen game winningstreak. When Cal scores a couple of

(24:59):
goals, you may the pass onthe on the all time uh for him
to become the all time scoring leader. They were not They were hard games
to win. And like that experience, you can't undervalue what goes on in
a regular season. Now in theplayoffs like that that what that's Those are
the building blocks that get you tothis point. Yeah, I agree,
like all those you know, learningmoments and stuff you can't teach. It's

(25:22):
you got to live through it.And you know you've got to be on
the winning side and the losing sideof things sometimes to you know learn and
you know, become a better playerand you know understand, you know how
to manage your emotions better. Ifyou are on the losing side of things
and that you're one, then whatwhat can you do again? Repeat it?
So I think you know, havingall those ups and downs and you
know those big moments and you know, high emotion moments throughout the year definitely,

(25:47):
you know plays a big factor comingto you know, the playoffs and
you know, making us ready toyou know, compete and you know know
what to expect in these in thesegames, and you know when those do
or died and feel like it,you know, just felt like did our
job and we sticked to the gameplan that you know we can win easily.
So I think just you know,in that mindset, and you know,

(26:07):
I think the coaches have done agood job with you know, guiding
us in the right direction. SoI think, yeah, you know,
we've done a good job. Retekto us all year. We're gonna take
a quick break here. We'll havemore with Admirals Forward Zach LaRue in just
a moment. You're listening to MilwaukeeAdmiral Center Ice. Welcome back. It's
Milwaukee Admiral Center Ice with Michael Jahowski. I'm Aaron Simms. We're continuing our
conversation with Admirals Forward Zach LaRue.You know what we also found out,

(26:29):
sorry, we also found out howrare and open ice hip check is because
the referees were dumbfounded and called thepenalty on a beautiful hit at Center ice.
No idea what that was. Maybewe should maybe send him a training
video. By the way, Ithink that was a Yeah, it was
me, it was me. I'lltake credit for that. What a what
a hit. That was a greatthat was beautiful. Yeah, I didn't

(26:49):
think. I was kind of shocked. I mean, yeah, I was
gonna say, I don't I don'twant to put you in trouble here.
I don't want to get you introuble here. I was just kind of
shock. I think it's of thosecalls that you know, I've I've gotten
a few times this year, andevery time I kind of talk to the
ref and be like, hey,like, it's not a penalty. Like
I know, I get it fromtheir perspective. May it look like a

(27:10):
knee, no trip, whatever theysee, But I think I think if
you were to open the rule bookand analyze it, I think I don't
think it's a penalty. But whoknows. Eventually we'll either tell me I
can't do it anymore and I'll haveto switch my game up, or maybe
they'll they'll be more a bit morelenient. But yeah, I definitely thought
it was clean. What what youjust said there. I'm interested in your

(27:33):
perspective, switch your game up?Have you switched your game up this season?
As the season has gone on,You've talked about experiences and highs and
lows and all of that. Haveyou had to switch your game? Do
you think you have? I don'tthink I necessarily have to switch anything.
I think it's more managing you know, situations, managing when it's time to
maybe you know, let out alittle emotion or maybe keep it in.

(27:56):
I think you know that side ofthe game. And I think I've learned
a lot. And I think,you know, just already into the playoffs,
I think I've done a good job, you know, really managing Matt
and you know, wanting to bea difference maker and you know, on
the ice rather than you know,in the box or trying to stir all
the time. So I think it'sit's not necessarily better. Is is a

(28:17):
good way to put it. Soyou look it back at I mean it
does it looks like you're gonna turntwenty one like pretty quick, pretty quick
here and and and then look backat your look back at your first year
pro and that what what type ofgrade would you give yourself? I mean,
I because I know what I'd giveyou, But I mean what type
of grade would you give yourself?Yeah, I mean I think I've I've

(28:37):
done pretty good. Maybe maybe aB. See that's that's that's the modest
thing, right like that the year. That's a person who was brought up
right, Yeah, exactly, that'sa person who, Yeah, we're going
to be room for improvement, butI wasn't so bad. So he's the
same kid that would get for classpresident. Class president. You vote for
the other guy, right, andgive the other guy the win by one
vote, right, you know.Yeah, I'm not voting for myself.

(29:00):
Phe No, Yeah, can't dothat. We're not going to be smug
here. Yeah. No, Ithink it's just been good, and I
don't think I you know, Ifeel like there's still a lot room for
improvement, a lot, you know, I could have done more. I
always, you know, I alwayswant to you will be better and be
a better player. And you know, if I played better, hopefully,
you know, maybe one day I'dbeen in the National Hockey League and then

(29:22):
maybe I wuld have gotten the nameplus. But you know, I think
there's there's always room for improvement.Well, Zach LaRue joining us. It's
Milwaukee Admiral Center. Ized. Everybodywants to be in the National Hockey League.
But I've loved you've been interviewed herethe last couple of nights because you've
been the first star for the lastthree games and uh one, you threw
in Happy Mother's Day as you wereleaving the ice last night, which I

(29:42):
thought was really cool. Yep,but you you are, You're enjoying the
hell out of this, Like it'sit's really cool to see your experience in
Milwaukee. You're just like you're eatingit up right now. And it's so
I think fans feed off of that. I think your teammates feed off of
that, and and they if theyweren't there, they're coming around to it
like it's it's pretty special what youhave going on specifically in this arena.

(30:07):
Yeah, there's something about playoff hockey. I think that just you know,
brings the best out of everybody.And you know, it's it's it's where
you know you can show you yourtrue colors and you know your emotions,
and you know the fans get behindyou a little bit, and you know,
to have them is such a bigthing that you know, when when
you have a moment to you know, get on the mic and get them
fired up and involved and make themfeel like you know, they're you know,

(30:30):
on the team and a part ofthe team because they are you know,
it's it's always fun for you know, me as a player, I
feel like you know that that emotionsize is always something I've had, so
you know, to be able toyou know, like I said, just
show my true colors and you know, get everybody on the on the wagon
and everybody you know, pushing towardsthe same goal. It's it's it's special.

(30:52):
And you know, I think,you know, the fans and Milwauk
here are so incredible and you knowthey come out and support us, and
you know, the building gets soit's it's definitely a cool spot to be
so you know, kudos to them, and yeah, definitely just you know,
looking forward to help hopefully keep thisup on Wednesday. Maybe maybe you
just answered this, but what hasbeen the most fun thing about this these

(31:18):
five games, this playoff run?Maybe it was something away from the rink
or practice or but what has beenthe most enjoyable the fun thing? Yeah,
I think definitely, you know thefans are you know, having the
home life. I don't think alot of guys Matt locker room has you
know done a reverse sleep and youdefinitely don't see it often and I'm sure
the numbers will show that you know, it's definitely nothing that happens. Well,

(31:44):
I'm gonna interrupt you. I'm gonnainterrupt you. Since the league went
to a five game playoff series likethis, it's only the thirteenth time that
it's happened, so it does nothappen often. Okay, there you go,
Yeah, so there there it is. But no, it's I think
it's just special. You know,it's happened yesterday, but just you know,
already looking back in those five games, it was you know, the

(32:05):
adversity we have to go through andfor the team to not quit and battle,
and you know, I think justthe way that everybody came together and
you know, just strive towards thesame goal and knew what we had to
do. And when you know,when you have a goal and you know
you have a game plan, it'syou know, sometimes it works out your
way. Sometimes you know, itdoesn't work out your way. But when
when you're able to know accomplish somethinglike that and you know everything lying up

(32:28):
perfectly, it's it's pretty special.And you know it's definitely a good feeling,
and you know, just you knowthat going into the next round,
you're you know, you have alittle bit of a confidence booster too,
So yeah, I think overall,just you know, the whole series was
just so special, and you know, for my first pro series, I
don't I don't think I could askfor a much of a much better one.

(32:49):
So happy, happy it's over withnow, and you know, just
looking towards the next one. Yeah, Weldo was talking about this earlier,
about the rest versus rust thing.You guys went through it before the Texas
series. Grand Rapids is going throughit right now based on Wednesday. I
got to imagine, like if youget a start, you know, step
on the gas right away, rightlike you had that in Texas. Actually,

(33:13):
you guys, rest versus rust,the rest was probably on your side,
and now you're hoping that kind ofthe rust is on the Grand Rapids
side. Here I suppose to startthe game on Wednesday, Yeah exactly.
You know they've had a little bitmore of a break, but you know
it can play an advantage to goboth ways. You know, we may
have a guy, you know,you guys are maybe a little bit more
banged up because we went all theway to five series and those physical and

(33:37):
we know they had that little extratwo days. So it's it can work,
you know, in your favor.Like you can't fogg it. It
depends on the puck chop on Wednesdaynight. Who comes up find out the
gates and you know, hopefully theycan we can do the same thing we've
been doing against Texas and you know, step on their throat and not give
them a chance to you know,get back in. So it should be
interesting. But I know we're goingto be ready, that's for sure.

(33:58):
I can't wait for Wednesday nights o'clockthe Admirals taking on Grand Rapids. Game
two is Monday at Panther Arena atseven o'clock. Zach, thanks so much
for the time. Congratulations on thesuccess, on the win, and we
look forward to more of it startingon Wednesday against the Griffins. Appreciate it,
Zach, thank you very much.That's Zach LaRue joining us. Mentioned
five goals in the last three gamesfor the Admirals, four goals in the

(34:21):
span of a minute too, twogoals and forty seven seconds on in Game
four, two goals and fifteen secondsin Game five, the Admirals winning five
three, four to one, andfive to three on home ice, and
just really really really impressive in eachof those three games. And the job
they did on specifically Maverick Bork's linein the series, the job they did

(34:47):
yesterday getting power play goals in thelast three games at home, getting power
play goals. Roland McEwan had theshort handed goal in game in the third
game, just so many good thingsgoing ry enough go on Friday night making
the pass for LaRue's first goal atthe point the close quarters, and you

(35:07):
rookie defenseman who's played all of thirteengames, twelve games, playing his thirteenth
pro game to make the play thathe did to Parson and the for the
first goal. Like just this iswhen you you start to find the players,
right, they think this is wherethe players who want to play,
the players who want to shine.They've got every opportunity to do so at
this point, they sure do.And as Claude Noval always said, you

(35:29):
know they you know National, andthey may not like you. And I'm
not saying that National doesn't like orlikes anybody. At the end of the
day, he goes and maybe theydon't have you in their plans, but
there's look up in the stands,there's scouts from twenty two other teams up
there, and guess what if Iif you play, don't notice you.
Yeah, there's no doubt about that, no doubt. And yeah, it's
been a lot of fun. Again. The Admirals will take on the Griffins

(35:50):
in the second round or the DivisionFinals, I should say technically it's the
third round of the playoffs nowadays inthe American Hockey League, but the Division
finals begin Wednesday. It's the bestof five series raise Wednesday and Monday.
Wednesday the fifteenth, Monday the twentieth, the Panther Arena, on the road
for the twenty second and if necessary, the twenty fourth, and then back
home if necessary for Game five onSunday the twenty sixth, that Panther Area.
And we know that those aren't thegreatest dates in the world. There's

(36:13):
there's some issues with the building,and I'm being don't blame the building.
Those are contracted events that happened longbefore we moved here. But at the
end of the day, it's hockey. It's the Admirals. Tell your friends,
tell anybody you know, anybody youwork with, anybody you're in a
bowling league. Yeah, and getthem down here. Yeah, I mean
we you know you just heard youjust heard Zach say the crowd helps.

(36:35):
Yeah, the atmosphere in this buildingfor those the one thing that was common
over those three games was the atmospherein this building. I think it was
phenomenal. Yeah. And again theAdmirals thirty and nine on home ice this
season, I mean that's tremendous.So yeah, and there's no doubt that
the fans helped the situation this season. So yeah, bring everybody you can.
I was telling somebody earlier today,most of these players will either play

(37:00):
in the NHL or have played inthe NHL at this level. And you're
not gonna have to spend two hundredand fifty dollars to see them. Eat
can get in for twenty five exactlyright, right, So it's playoff hockey,
And yeah, who knows who elseis going to be here? Maybe
maybe some special guests again, whoknows, Like the dignitaries self, Freelik
and his buddies show up at thesegames, Like who knows what's gonna happen.

(37:22):
You never know who's gonna show upin ad never know, So visit
Milwaukee Admirals dot com, get yourtickets again. Game one on Wednesday,
the fifteenth, Game two on thetwentieth here at Panther Arena. We're gonna
take a break. We'll come backin a moment. You're listening to Milwaukee
Admiral Center Ice one final time.It's Milwaukee Admiral Center Ice. Thanks to
Admirals forward Zact LaRue and assistant coachGreg Ralo for joining us a great series.
I'll tell you what, and I'mcurious for you because I think you

(37:45):
and I are pretty similar in thefact that I and I'm guessing hockey and
baseball are are one twos. Right, Absolutely, that's what you would do.
You would agree with that, noquestion. Okay. So I grew
up in Minnesota. People know that, big Minnesota north Stars fan, huge
Minnesota north Stars fan. They leftin nineteen ninety three, so they were
there in Minnesota for twenty six years. They go down to Dallas. I

(38:07):
understand they've been in Dallas longer thanthey were in Minnesota. But they go
down to Dallas and then in Austin. Obviously they're the Stars as well,
not the north Stars, the Stars, the Texas Stars. I saw a
couple of Minnesota and north Stars hatsand jerseys and It irks me to no
end that they get the rights towhat happened in Minnesota. And I'm curious

(38:31):
about you because you would have beenyou were pretty young when it happened.
But I'm curious when you see anAtlanta Braves fan wearing a Milwaukee Braves hat
if you have the same feeling.Well, I just I because again,
you were pretty young. For thelongest time, the Braves were dead to
me. I literally, I meanno, seriously, and I'm not because
they left, you know. AllI know is I was I was a

(38:53):
what seven eight year old little boywho I went to fifty plus s ball
games this summer with my dad ormother, and you know, and I
didn't understand the business of sports.I was eight, you know, And
all of a sudden, the team, the team that I cheered for,
with Eddie Matthews and Hank Aaron andJoe Tory and all you know, left

(39:15):
town. They're gone, and youknow, and it's like, whoa,
hang on, they abandoned me.So I mean I literally even when if
if reruns of Leave It to Beaverwere on and the Atlanta Braves were playing
somebody on on the on the TBS, I would watch the six reruns of

(39:36):
Leave It to Beaver before I watchedone Atlanta Braves really just the way it
was, I just you know,I finally went to a Braves Brewers game,
probably see that, to see theBraves four or five years ago,
maybe it was the first time.And you know, and I wore my
Milwaukee Braves hat just because I wantedto be a jerk to the game,
you know. And and it's like, and I every time I see that

(39:58):
a I'm just not a happy camper. He's not. So we're sort of
similar in that exactly. And youknow, and the greatest thing about it,
though, is that when the whenthe Brewers were in the American that
allowed me to really enjoy you know, like we talked to Doc Emrick.
Allowed me to enjoy a lot ofNational League team right right. So,
Like I mean, my dad tookme to twelve thirteen Cubs games a year.
Okay, it was the greatest wayto skip school. My dad would

(40:20):
would say, don't tell your mother, but I'm pulling you out of school.
They We're gonna go see the SanFrancisco Giants at Wrigley Field. Okay,
great, no problem. So wego down there, but you know,
it allowed me to really enjoy alot of National League games. I'm
big Pirates fan, a big CubsCubs fan forever. But you know,
at Cardinals, I mean during theGibson era, I mean, what was
not to like about you know aboutabout right? Right? No, what

(40:42):
you say about the Cubs. Thatwas funny because right, that's like the
most hated thing now, right,And I have I knew a guy and
he's past now, but he heused to say when the Milwaukee Braves moved,
my love for baseball moved south aswell. But it stopped in Wrigley
Field, Okay, because there wasno that was the closest team, right,
because that's right, And I tellyou what. And and then the
White Sox. The White Sox played, Sure, they played some exhibitions or

(41:04):
some regular season actually right, yeah, like fourteen trying to plant the seeds
for another one, yeah, exactly. So it was really it was it
was it was really nice. Imean, you know, to see Louis
Apparatio and see the great knucklebris time, wilbur Wood and Willingham both both with
the Socks. So yeah, itwas really a lot of fun, you
know. And again but I stillhold the grudge against them. Yeah again,

(41:25):
I'm against moving. I'm with youon. Yeah, I'm with you
on that day. So there Igo. That segment wasn't for not I
thought I thought it would go somewhere, and I'm glad it did. It
was. Yeah, get gets theblood boiling. Yeah it is. We
need to get ready to leave here. But again thanks to Zach LaRue and
Greg Ralo for joining us on theprogram. Now the Admirals again Wednesday the

(41:47):
fifteenth. It's two nights from now. The Admirals will host Grand Rapids the
Division finals. The last time theAdmirals played the Griffins in the playoffs I
believe was sixteen twenty sixteen. TheAdmirals were first played that year in the
division. Right before the playoffs wereto start, Nashville recalled Pontus Abering the
Admirals leading goal score and it justkind of crushed the Admirals and they got
swept in the first round by theGriffins and that was it, and the

(42:10):
Griffins went on and the next yearin seventeen, the Griffins ended up winning
the championship. The last time Ithink the Admirals beat the Griffins in the
playoffs. You gotta go back tosix, which happens to be the season
that the Admirals they last made theCalder Cup Final, and coincidentally, cal
O'Reilly was playing his first playoff gamesthat year. Cal O'Riley scored a power

(42:32):
play goal to help the Admirals winYesterday, years after the fact, So
and the Admiral swept the Griffins bythe way that year in six, four
games to none to move on tothe final against the Hershey Bears. So
Admirals and the Griffins Wednesday the fifteenth, Monday the twentieth, and then on
the road the twenty second and thetwenty fourth if necessary, back on the

(42:52):
Panther Arena on the twenty sixth.Visit Milwaukee Admirals dot com. Thanks for
listening to Milwaukee Admirals Center Ice