06/03/24 - Admirals Center Ice

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hello, and welcome to Milwaukee AdmiralsCenter Ice with Michael Jahowski. I'm Aaron
Simms, the Admirals and Coachella Valley. Game three of the Western Conference Finals
coming up tomorrow night at Panther Arena, seven o'clock. Face off. We
need you to show up, getloud like you were in Game five of
that Grand Rapid Series. It madea lot of difference out there. Outdoor
voices, folks, outdoor voices.That's right, no matter what mom and

(00:21):
dad told you growing up, butyou're in when you're in an arena,
outdoor voices place. Yeah, herewe go. We're gonna be again seven
o'clock tomorrow night, the Admirals hostingCoachella Valley. Here to talk about what's
going on so far in the seriesand and what's to come, hopefully for
Milwaukee. Is Admiral's assistant coach ScottFord and FOURD to. I've had so
many people ask me, and I'msure you've had the same thing. You

(00:43):
know, what happened out there downoh two? And I'm like, it's
it's just a goal. You know, you give up two, you'd like
to think you're gonna score three.It's just it's not that the Admirals are
playing poorly, it's just it's runningout of time. Whatever it might be.
Your take. Yeah, No,I think we're just looking at the
numbers and going through some of thefilm and stuff like that after the games.

(01:06):
We think our defending has been asgood as it's been all year.
You know, they definitely have.They don't need a lot of opportunities to
score, that's for sure. Theyhave some good players in their lineup and
some weapons. So it's just oneof those things where we need something timely
to happen, you know, whetherit's five on five or on our power
play and try to you know,bang in one of those rebound goals or

(01:30):
something to get us, you know, feeling good. You know, I
think our record speaks for itself whenwhen we score first, and we've had
obviously a lot of success with that. I mean that show I mean for
any team really that you can getout to a lead, you know,
especially early, how you know Coachellahas it puts a lot of pressure on
your opponents. So yeah, wejust need some timely scoring and you know

(01:53):
we're trying to address some of that, and and you know, we're happy
with a lot of other aspects ofour game, real quick game two specifically,
there were a lot of pucks inthe slot in the crease. Was
it them doing a great job defensively? What? What? What? What
is your take on that? Yeah? I think just from their goaltender out,
I mean, you know, Driger'sgot a lot of pedigrees. Ye,

(02:15):
a big, big guy that doesa good job taking away the bottom
half of the net. And he'she's done a good job on some of
his fall saves and you know playsand bang bang plays and tight. He's
he's a big guy and has donea good job blocking and and and yeah,
and made some really timely saves forthem. And I think, you

(02:35):
know, gross Neck on our onour end has done the same thing.
I think the battle back and forthhas been good. And they said they
found a way to you know scoreyou know, timely power play goal or
you know, you know we hada mismanaged face off play early in the
game, and that they they gota good opportunity kind of point blank at
the net. And you know they'vethey've scored on the you know, power's

(03:00):
been around for a long time.And he you know, got loose and
was able to, you know,collect our rebound and put it upstairs where
I think some some of our opportunitieswe've had point blank, we just haven't
been able to kind of find theback and then out of late and that's,
uh, I think that's kind ofbeen our number one issue thus far.

(03:23):
So It's one thing I found justfascinating is the fact that you know,
ever since you know, Carl andGreg and yourself have been been around
our power plays and he remains isamong the upper echelon in the American acoleague
for a lot of years, asis our penalty kill. And then you
know, when you're getting five onthree opportunities and not able to convert over
the over the last three or fourgames, it's a little frustrating. But

(03:46):
at the end of the day,I mean, this team has found great
ways to win all year. Whatare they doing something against our power play?
That's uh, that that that weweren't expecting? Are we were just
not hitting on all cylinders? What? What? What's the status? Well,
I just I just think it's asas you go along in a season,
and I mean there's only four teamsleft, right, so it's you're

(04:10):
getting the best of the best andI think I just as far as our
guys go, I think the levelof execution has to increase. And they
they've done a good job, youknow, scouting and nullifying some of our
threats, you know, whether itbe you know, different personnel on the
shooting on the flanks or you know, different different plays, and they've done

(04:32):
a good job of adjusting and youknow, putting pressure on us in different
you know spots of the ice andand you know, good on them for
doing that. And we we needto understand that and we need to execute.
That's the biggest thing is is everythe margins for error, and you
know, the level of expectation andexecution increases, and you know, for

(04:55):
whatever reason, we just haven't youknow, reached that or been able to
match that and in some sinn butyou know, it's not like our guys
aren't you know, working on it. Are are are working at it.
It's just a matter of maybe gettinga bounce and getting some getting some i
don't know, excitement or getting thatyou know, kind of getting the monkey

(05:15):
after back kind of kind of idea. And you know, I think that
we burst that bubble and you know, hopefully the flood gates will open.
You look at Admiral's assistant coach Scottfour joining us. You look at this
series and coming in and numbers arewhat they are, but the records are
similar. The rankings they were firstin scoring, you guys were fourth,
they were second, and goals againstyou guys were third. They you guys

(05:39):
have the best home record, theyhave the best road record. Now you've
played two games, and we justsaw the Florida Rangers series finish, and
in that one there was hardly anyseparation between the two teams. It kind
of feels like this series here betweenthe Admirals and Coachella Valley. When you
get again it's a final four situationDivision champs, it kind of feels that
right, right know, Yeah,for sure, they there isn't a lot

(06:03):
of separation. I mean, theyhave a very good team over there.
They're coach extremely well. You know, obviously Dan is getting an opportunity with
Seattle next year, which has beenhighly publicized. I mean he's done a
fantastic job right from the start ofthat organization, their and their whole staff
with with Jason stew And, youknow, they found they found a way

(06:24):
to you know, get the bestout of their players. I mean,
they've had kind of an older veteranteam in comparison to our group, and
those guys have pedigree and and havelearned how to you know, play and
how to win you know, inthese in these type of moments. And
I think this has just continued tobe a teaching moment for our guys.
And you see in the first fewseries and even last year with the run,

(06:46):
we had the growth with with ourguys, and they're continuing to do
that. I mean, we wehave a youthful group that you know,
has is exciting, you know,loves escape, play hard, and and
there can continuing to learn and Ihope these first couple of games just the
level of play that is going totake and it's needed to compete and to

(07:08):
perform at a playoff or a championshiplevel. You know, they're continuing to
build layers and kind of add layersto the to the onions, so to
speak. And I mean, Ijust just watching the maturation and growth of
a lot of these guys. Ithink those first couple of games was eye
opening, but also at the sametime, you know, they're starting to
realize that Okay, we belong andI think you're going to see our best.

(07:32):
You know, Scott, you guysas a coaching staff, you and
Carl Taylor and Greg Rawley. Youtalk so much about putting doubt in the
other team. And the great thingabout what you guys have experienced, not
only this season but last season too, for people who were along on the
ride, you can be down ohtwo and you can still win a series
like it's it's by no means over, even if it's a five game series.

(07:53):
You guys have done that. Youwon nineteen games in a row this
season. There you mentioned the learningexperience, don't see and I don't feel
being around the team a little bit, and more so obviously when we're on
the road, I don't feel thatdoubt, which is which is awesome because
there shouldn't be. No. Idon't think there's doubt. I think that
the desperation level is has definitely increased, for sure, And and we know

(08:18):
what's expected of ourselves and what's expectedof our group, and I think they
they're in a good place. Weknow how you know, difficult it is
to to win at this time,the type of year, and and just
how kind of little the margin forair is. I mean, it's like
you said, one goal here,one goal there. It's just it's amazing

(08:41):
how momentum swings in the games occurand and hopefully we're able to utilize,
you know, how well we've playedat home here and having some having our
crowds behind us and which have beenfantastic. You know, I hope people
are as excited as we are tobe back here aner and to put her
best foot for so it's we're excited. I mean, it's just desperation levels

(09:07):
heightened, and you know, ourmargins are small, but our guys have
our guys are excited and already Idon't I don't think there's any doubt.
I believe there's there's more excitement andanticipation, you know, for this opportunity.
Admiral's assistant coach Scott Ford joining usat Milwaukee Admirals Center. Ice.
You talk about the road I mentionedthis before, your home record the best

(09:28):
in the Western Conference, they hadthe best road team. To place doubt
in them is going to be obviouslya hard thing, but it's it's not
something that needs to be done completely. You just need to win one game,
I guess is in that and thatstarts to chip away at that layer.
Yeah, for sure. I mean, I think just getting off to

(09:48):
a better start. I mean,I don't don't necessarily think our starts are
bad. Just when when you getscored on early or you know, you
you don't have successful you know,special teams early or something like that,
and then you kind of go herewe go again kind of thing. Right,
in order to put out in anotherteam, you have to have you

(10:09):
have to have a good start,and you have to kind of build momentum
shift after shift and and continue tokind of roll some lines over and stay
out of the penalty box would begood too for our for our club,
you know, to continue continue tokind of roll three four lines and get
everybody involved in the game. AndI think if if we're able to do

(10:30):
that, we're deep as any anyteam. You know, we're not.
We don't really rely upon you know, one or or two players you know,
or or a ligner to our roster. I think we need to play
everybody, and everybody has a littleyou know, piece of the puzzle that
adds to our success. And youknow, as long as we can you
know, play five on five andand get on our four check and continue

(10:52):
to you know, play hard andgenerate, creating a zone time and things
like that. I think that's gonna, you know, both bode well for
our group. In the series againstGrand Rappids, you played a very large
goaltender who who did did a reallynice job of up and coming prospect and
and you talked about Drinker's size,and he talked. He talked about the
fact that you know, he hashe's been around a long time and he's

(11:16):
a very capable guy. But whatare the things you can do to get
a you know, to get abig goalie out of position to be able
to to scor Again, you didit so well against Grand Rapids, what
what can be done to do itagainst Coach Ella? Well, I think
number one, we need to getto the front of the net. And
I then just however, you know, just getting and getting to the paint,

(11:39):
taking away his eyes, making himyou know, have to change his
positioning, look around bodies, tryingto find loose pucks. And then you
know, once once a big blockerhas to start to kind of scramble around
and try to find pucks. Imean that's and then basically you can bang
and rebounds on the side, youknow, change points of attacks, so
that to make a big guy moveif you know they're their de are doing

(12:03):
a tremendous job of boxing you know, our players out and giving him sidelines
to see the pucks. So it'sjust that tenacious attitude that that you know,
little extra effort to to basically getget to the paint, take away
his eyes and then us us youknow, basically second layer of attack able
to pick up rebounds and lose pucksand then with those those opportunities make quality

(12:28):
shots. You know, put itin the top of the net, you
know, bang home rebounds, notjust continue to you know, whack away
and put it in the pads.Right, it's you have to have enough
poison skill to to stand in thereand and you know, bury some of
these chances. And just same thingkind of off the rush. East left
plays off the rush, getting pucksinto his pads where you know rebounds are

(12:52):
there, and making making big guysmove after they've made that initial safe because
you know, big blockers are good. If you a good decor in front
of you that does a good jobof boxing out and picking up rebounds,
you usually you know they're very successful. I mean, we've got guys like
Magnus Halberg here, like Lindy wasanother guy, even Pecker Rene. I

(13:13):
mean super athletic guys, but bigguys that were very good at making initial
saves and then you know, oncethey get swimming a little bit, that's
when that's when trouble happens. Sowe need to get to the paint and
make it, make it hard ontheir defense, and make it hard on
their goaltender. Seven o'clock tomorrow night, the Admirals hosting Coachella Valley. It's
Game three of the Western Conference Finals. FOURDA before we let you go here,

(13:33):
give us an idea about black acesand and what they mean to the
team and how you keep them involved. There is seven years ago, our
friend Freddie Gudrou became a legend andput in NHL history because he gets the
hat trick in the game, kindof coming out of nowhere for the Predators
in the Stanley Cup. Uh,the guys you have here, the Hansels,
the Matiers, so on and soon, what what they mean to

(13:54):
the team and and how you guyskeep them involved in this stretch. Oh
no, it's been I think justfrom the start of the from the start
of the series, I think ourdevelopment staff overall, like just myself and
Greg as assistants, and then justhaving help from from above. You know.
I think Mark Warwick he's done agreat job. Scuds has been in

(14:16):
the same same with Nathan Gerby aswell too, so and you know,
they've done a good job helping helpingout with that and just trying to keep
guys gating ready as much as possible, you know, even though maybe there's
one goalie out there, eight skatersor what have you. Just trying to
implement as much kind of game typescenarios as well as some fun things,

(14:37):
kind of competitive atmosphere stuff to keepthem going because it is it's tough,
you know, when you're not withthe main group all the time, and
guys are guys are kind of slippingin and out. But the guys that
you know have are starting to getopportunity and starting to you know, jump
in and out, whether it's youknow, Ty Felliber or Wade Alice.
And you know, I think theNavern Mutter did tremendous job in the Crowd

(15:01):
Rapid series providing some energy and physicalityand and and kind of and then Foods
getting back in the lineup as well. So it's just trying to trying to
implement competitive edge games and different scenarioslike that. So you're still competing and
trying to implement a little bit ofbattle, but also you know, making

(15:24):
it enjoyable, doing different skill development, working on different things that that kind
of apply to, you know,what we're trying to do systematically and whether
it's a small area game or differenthalf ice drills, different things like that.
So it is a challenge. Butour guys have been been awesome.
I mean they come with energy,excitement, and you know they they're continuing,

(15:48):
you know, to have hope.I mean the biggest thing is to
believe that when you get that callthat that you're going to be ready.
So they've done a tremendous job.You know is self motivated athletes, so
they should be proud of themselves.We real quick on that. When you
go into a series or the secondseries or the third series. Now in
the third series for the admirals,is it when you work with them,

(16:11):
is there anything specific about the otherteam? And I know hockey, we
focus on what we do as ateam. When I say we the team
you work for Milwaukee in this casefocuses on what Milwaukee does, But do
you do throw in things that CoachellaValley does just in case Jack Matier needs
to come in. He's aware ofwhat they're doing. Oh yeah, a

(16:33):
little bit. I mean they're allinvolved with the meetings and the film and
the different things to keep them upto speed. I mean, we're more
focused on what we do as anorganization and what we're trying to implement.
And they're obviously they've played long enough. I mean they're aware of their personnel,
they're aware of their systems and whatwe're trying to do or what we're

(16:56):
trying to avoid to do to playinto their hands. And you know,
you can do different simple things,whether it's you know, breakouts or neutro
zone transition defending, you know,different looks that you're going to see against
an opponent. But until you're kindof thrown into the next it's you're jumping
on a moving train that's going prettyfast right now, right, absolutely,

(17:17):
Scott, thanks so much for thetime. We'll do this tomorrow. Huh
okay, thank you, guys.Admiral's assistant coach Scott Ford, the Admirals
hosting Coachella Valley seven pm tomorrow night, Game three of the Western Conference Finals.
Visit Milwaukee Admirals dot com for tickets. Come on down, I'll do
our voice. Just fill up theplace. Yep, absolutely, Let's let's
take a break. Troy Grossnick willjoin us next. You're listening to Milwaukee

(17:37):
Admiral Center Ice. Welcome back.It's Milwaukee Admirals Center Ice with Michael Jahowski.
A'm Aaron Simms. Our next guesthas been fantastic for the Admirals in
the postseason. Would be obviously wherewe are without him. He's Admirals goaltender
Troy gross Nick. Troy, yourexperience out there in Coachella Valley? What
what do you take away from thosetwo games? You know, there are

(18:02):
games that didn't go the way wewanted them to. Obviously, it's a
fun place to play. They're agood team. We're a good team.
We don't think that we brought oura game necessarily, and we were still
in those games. I was goingto say, but it was almost good
enough. Yeah, Yeah, that'swhat That's what we take away from it

(18:23):
is we know we didn't have ourbest games and we almost beat them on
their home ice, which is youknow, I think around the league people
respect how hard it is to playthere. And you know, we didn't
feel like we had our best gamesand we still almost came away with one
and even to two wins. Unfortunatelywe didn't. And you know, I

(18:47):
think we take that, we internalizedit, maybe change a couple of things,
emphasize a few different things. Andwe're coming home where you know,
we we've got a really home,good home my ice advantage too, and
we know we're good at home,and we're confident. We've been down oh
two in the series before, andyou know, we're just going to do

(19:08):
what we do. You know howyou know in football they say in defensive
cornerbacks have to have a really shortmemory. And what about goalies? I
mean is did you ever dwell ona goal something? Do you ever get
even get back to the hotel afteror go home and say, boy,
if I just would have done this, or are you can you pretty much
put it away quickly and say,you know what I played all right,

(19:30):
Tomorrow's another day. No. Imean it's a mix of both. In
the moment, you have to havea short memory and it goes Actually,
for me, it goes both ways. You know, positive things, negative
things, anything that's in the momentwhile you're playing, Like if it's in,
even if it's a couple of secondsago, it doesn't matter anymore because

(19:52):
the for a goalie, the nextshot is the most important one. So
maybe you made a big save andyou're all and yeah, that's potentially you
know, the next shots not ashigh danger, and that one might get
in and all those all those goalsare worth the same. So for me,

(20:15):
it's never being too high or toothough. It's always focusing on the
next shot in the game. Anduh so I don't in the game,
I don't dwell on the past toomuch. In between periods, I might
ask something about a goal, justto maybe you know, how did it,

(20:37):
how did it happen? Is theresomething that I need to be looking
for. I'm I rarely. I'dsay it happens a couple of times a
season. I don't really quite understandhow something happened, and I might go
look at the video quick. Butthose are things that I'm doing in between
periods just to have awareness to stopthe next shot. And then after the

(20:57):
game is over is when you knowyou do a deeper dive into things,
you know, trying to Yeah,maybe there is something I could have done
a lot different, or you know, maybe there's something that they they seem
to be queuing on on a powerplay or off the rush or something like

(21:19):
that, and that that's not onlythe goals that go in or that's kind
of taking taking whole stock of yourgame. But when I'm on the ice
and playing, yeah, it's sharpmemory and it's just stop the next puck.
So when you play a team forthe first two times in your career
for the Admirals, the eighth timeeight times in the existence of the series,

(21:45):
what what can you lean on?I mean, are there do you
see trends? Do you look backat tape from last year? Do you
trust word from last year? I'mjust curious how you prep for tendencies when
you don't have necessarily firsthand knowledge ofthose two Yeah, I mean they are
all things that I mean, Itake a lot of trust in the way

(22:06):
our coaching staff prepares, and Iknow they're going to have me pretty prepared.
I didn't necessarily have to look atvideo of what they were doing in
their previous games or anything. Ihad a pretty good idea of what they
would be, just just through ourpre scout, even just the sheets and
just talking to our staff and obviouslygoing to the building and knowing what to

(22:30):
expecting that standpoint, like obviously thecoaching staff was there last year. We
have, you know, a handfulof guys that played there last year.
We knew what to expect. Andyeah, I don't really, I don't
know. I think all goalies area little bit different. A lot of
guys really like to focus in ontendencies and do a lot of video.

(22:57):
I feel like I probably do alittle bit less video. Then I was
going to say you can overanalyze,you can overanalyze, and say it like
paralysis by analysis, right, Yeah, I want to, like because just
the way I play the game,like, I feel like I have a
pretty good read on a on aday to day play by play basis of

(23:21):
what's going on. I feel likeit's one of my strengths is being able
to read plays and kind of accountingfor guys and where they are. So
I don't want to just because theydo something, you know, eighty percent
of the time, like right,the other twenty percent of the time is
important too, So I don't wantto have just you know in my mind

(23:41):
like this is what they do.So I pretty much a lot of times
I trust myself to be able toread a play and like shootout stuff like
that. I'm going to trust myselfto make the read and make the safe.
So I probably watch a little bitless video on other teams tendencies than

(24:03):
some other guys would. Is thatsomething that has changed as you've gotten more
gotten more experience and in your career, Like when you come out of Union
and you're playing for Worlster in twentyfourteen, would you have studied, would
you been pouring over tape or isthat something you've kind of always been comfortable
with? Hell no, No.When I was we barely had video back

(24:27):
right, yeah, just set up, just set up the film projector and
all of that. Yeah yeah,yeah, I still had some VHS tapes.
I don't know, well good,we definitely had video and stuff like
that. But I think it hasdefinitely throughout the coach course of my career,
it's become more readily available. Butyeah, my first few years tro

(24:52):
it was just you know, beaware of this guy, be aware this
is what they're doing on the powerplay, and I think I kind of
they got used to that, andyeah, that's just kind of the way
I like to play it. Youknow, I'm gonna gonna read the game
as it comes to me, because, like I said, you know,
changes happen mid game all the time, and just because the team's looking for

(25:14):
a certain thing off the rush doesn'tmean they're going to do it all the
time. So I think if youget in that rut of like, this
is what they do after rush,this is what they do after rush,
the one time they don't do thatcan sting you. So I feel confident
in the way I read the game, and so that's kind of how how
I treat it. Yeah, nothingsays that Aaron Judge can't hit a curveball,
right exactly, Yeah, exactly,Terray Grossnick joining us. It's Milwaukee

(25:37):
Admirals Center. Rice. So nowback home, you guys have been magnificent
obviously on home ice, five andone in the postseason, twenty seven and
nine in the regular campaign, bestrecord in the Western Conference on home ice.
They have the best road record,you guys. Obviously, there has
been some animosity built up in thesetwo games. Here we go, oh

(26:00):
right, Yeah, I mean,we're excited for the opportunity to play in
front of our home fans, andobviously they draw some energy off off of
their home crowd, and we're lookingto do the same coming back home.
And you know, I'll let theanimosity thing just be what it is.
Like my job is not to getcaught up in it, like they want

(26:23):
to take shots whatever, I don'tcare, Like I'm just going to stop
the pocket on their face after Ido it. Yeah, So that game
five victories had that shut out.I was lucky enough to walk to the
parking structure with one mister gross Nick, your father and the family and and

(26:44):
you know, we talked the lasttime we had you on about you know,
introduced to here Brookfiel, Wisconsin hasworries from and playing goal in your
own own hometown. How about ashutout and again the designing game in front
of your own hometown. What doesthat feel like? Yeah? It obviously,
I mean, yeah, all Iwas thinking is just stop the next

(27:06):
shot and let the chips fall wherethey may. And I think, like
for me to have success, likethat's kind of the attitude I have to
have, Like I there's so manycliches about game five and Game sevens and
whatever. And but for me toplay my best, I just have to
go out and play and trust myprocess and almost like without I don't like

(27:34):
obviously we know what game fives andgame sevens and playoff games mean. But
for me to you know, havehave comfortability, like I just taught myself,
it's the same game I've been playingmy entire career. I've been playing
since I was six years old.And just go out and be me and

(27:56):
and have fun playing the game thatI love to play, and realizing that
it's a great optic unity to wina hockey game and move on and try
not to make it bigger than thenit is, even though it can be
hard not to do that because obviouslywe want to win, we want to
advance, or we want to wina championship. So for me, it's
all about staying in the moment,realizing the game hasn't changed. The stakes

(28:19):
may be a little bit different,but the game itself is the same that
I've been doing my whole life,and for it just so happened to be
a shoutout. Like shutouts, Ithink most goalies will tell you we don't
get shoutouts without the team in frontof us that game. The guys really
all year, the guys in frontof us have been awesome at blocking shots,

(28:41):
clearing up bodies in front, andyou know when I do leave a
rebound, clearing it out. Soshutouts are a team thing. But like
to do it in Milwaukee in frontof my family, in front of my
friends, like it doesn't get anybetter, and like it I was,
like it does, you know lookingback at whatever it was a week ago

(29:03):
and stuff, thinking about it,just talking about it to you now,
like it does? You know?It makes the kah and that back my
next stand up. It is special. It's something I relish and it's something
I want to keep doing. Andhopefully we can shut them out again game
three, because that means, youknow, we're getting back into the series

(29:25):
exactly right. Game three is tomorrownight, seven o'clock Here at Panther Arenavis
at Milwaukee Admirals dot com for ticketsand information. Troy, thanks so much
for the time, as always,greatly appreciated. Thanks Troy, Yeah,
thanks guys. Admirals goaltender Troy grossNick joining us. We're going to take
a break. Admiral's President John Greenbergwill join us next. You're listening to
Milwaukee Admirals Center Ice. Welcome back. It's Milwaukee Admirals Center Ice with Michael
Jahowski. I'm Aaron Simms. TheAdmirals and Coachella Valley Game three tomorrow night

(29:49):
at Panther Arena, seven o'clock faceoff. We'll have the games for you
on ninety seven to three. Thegame on right here on the Big nine
to twenty. Your iHeartRadio app willalso have it on my twenty four if
you want to watch it locally.Of course, a hl TV is a
good place to watch the games.Lots of options tomorrow night for game three
in a big series, big gamein this series for Milwaukee. And if

(30:10):
you're at all able, come downhere in major here yeh noise. Yeah,
absolutely love to have you here,obviously. And as we get set
for Game three between the Admirals andCoachella Valley, the Firebirds on top one
two games to none. Joining usnow is the President of the Milwaukee Admirals,
John Greenberg. And here we gohome ice again. Down oh two.
We've been here before. It's allfamiliar. Yeah, this isn't the

(30:33):
first time. I think we allknow what the deal is, but this
is a seven game series, sothis will be the one new piece.
And you know, while we didthis with coach All last year, I
think we learned a lot from thatwhole experience. And you know, you're
supposed to win your home games,so you know, that's why it's always
so impressive to me when somebody winsa road game in the playoffs at this

(30:53):
level. You know, it's beenhappening in the NHL level right, quite
a lot. But for here,it's hard, you know, and if
you ask Carl, you'll tell youwinning is hard. So we are going
to you know, do what we'vebeen doing hopefully in the plast five and
one on Whome ice during the playoffsin this building, and keep that rolling
Tuesday night. If it wasn't hard, we'd all be doing it. Yes,

(31:15):
right, Yes, there are alot of teams that wish they were
in our position for sure, exactlyright. You know, I'm looking at
looking at the crowds, looking atthe enthusiasm, you know, back nineteen
years ago. I mean, thishas got to be what you envisioned when
when yeah, when Harris bought theteam and brought you on as president.
Well, I you know, Ithink you know, this has been spectacular,

(31:37):
really that crowd for Game five versusGrand Rapids. You know, it
was Memorial Day weekend. You're hopingpeople will have some you know, a
desire to come to the rink andwatch a hockey game. You know,
we were blessed with some rain,which certainly helped. You know, eighty
degrees in sunny might not have beenhelpful, but people just kept coming and

(31:59):
it was an awesome hockey crowd.The people that were in the building were
knowledgeable, they were into the game, and I deliberately did not want to
tell our coaches or players what theattendance was as it continued to go up.
I wanted that jolt of energy whenthey skated through the big head coming
out of the ice for the firsttime, and it was noticed. It

(32:19):
was definitely noticed. And crowds havebeen really really fun through this play playoff
run so far, and we needyour help again this week. Yeah,
big games here obviously tomorrow night,as we mentioned, Tuesday at seven,
at Thursday at seven, and Saturdayat six pm if necessary, but we're
going to say it's necessary, soyou should get your tickets. Milwaukee Admirals
Dot com as we get ready herefor game number three? What what do

(32:47):
people need to know when they whenthey come in here. Well, in
articulars, I always like it ifpeople are here for the warm up,
just to give our players some extrayou know, enthusiasm for that. It
always starts at twenty nine, afterthe hour prior to the face off.
So uh six twenty nine, hitthe ice with the warm up and if
you're hearing your seats and the guyscan see you there and that type of

(33:08):
energy, uh, that does nothurt in the least. And you know,
I think that's important that people aregonna get a new type of noisemaker
as they come through the doors.First two thousand fans will get those Tuesday
night. You know, we've donecow bells the first round. Spoon spoons,
no, no, no, butI look forward to maybe, uh

(33:30):
you know, if we happened toget that far, maybe somebody could play
the spoons. Yeah, yeah,you know, yeah, it's part of
the whole thing. But uh uhyou know that was a little a little
fun. Uh yes, absolutely,but you know it's good to be back
on back on home ice in frontof our fans. That yeah, that
gamesmanship and it's it's uh, it'sfunny, the whole thing. And and

(33:54):
more for the fans I think thananything, right, Like, that's it.
And and but you know that's greatbecause you're playing a team the Admirals
and Coachella Valley. You don't seeeach other. You saw each other six
times last year, two times thisseason coming up on three and four.
For sure, let's get a rivalry, why not, right, Like,

(34:14):
that's what this is all about.Yeah, well, I mean you know
that little salt in the uh yeah, and this is nothing, nothing wrong
with that. And you know,as long as it doesn't get out on
a head and things like that,you know, I want people, I
want people to be respectful of what'sgoing on. But it's okay to have
a general dislike for your opponent yet, you know, and so you know,

(34:35):
a little booing is not a badthing. And I guarantee Craig Council
will not have an easy future comingto American Family Field in the next few
years. No. I was atthat first game when he was here,
and I have never heard booing likethat really ever ever. And that's saying
something. And it was it wasangry. That's very angry. I don't
know that we need to go quitethat far, but you know we can

(34:58):
a little distaste for a few playersover there wouldn't be the worst. Yeah,
right right on, Admiral's president JohnGreenberg joining us. So you didn't
make the trip this time out toCoachella Valley, but you know what it's
like in there, and we experiencedit when we talk about the crowds here
in Milwaukee, and it has beenYou look at the way this season went,

(35:19):
the nineteen game winning streak, theplayoff run here, the eight thousand,
almost eight thousand fans at Game fiveagainst Grand Rapids, like, there
have been so many good things involvingthe folks here in Milwaukee this year.
It's just been phenomenal. It reallyhas. And I give our fans enormous
credit. You know, the wordof mouth has really spread. Yeah,

(35:40):
you know, I think all thethings we've done from an advertising and marketing
perspective have been effective. I thinklast year's run really helped us to kind
of give that a jump start,and I think this one will give us
a jump start into next year.So we want to keep winning. We
want to keep being able to putthis show on for people. But this
has been a special season and justyou know, wanted to keep going so

(36:01):
big big games this week for sure, you know, and our friends in
the media too, like they havebeen out you know, it's it's not
normal for them to be out herein January, and they were this year
to cover what something special going onthe nineteen game winning streak. But I
mean, let's be honest, there'spacker stuff going on, right, Like
we don't normally see that. Butthey were here then and and that's certainly

(36:22):
and again they wouldn't be here ifthere wasn't something special going on, and
they wouldn't be here it's years ago. The whole who sets the who sets
the tone, Who sets the story? Is it the media setting the agenda
or is it the audience setting theagenda for the media to cover, right,
And it's kind of a hand inhand thing like if nobody's there,
well why should we cover it?Well, if we're not covering it,

(36:45):
or is anybody there? Yeah?Right, right? For sure, you
know we've we I think having thegames on TV and has been a great
addition, you know, having youguys calling those games in the enthusiasm you
and Mark provided those and seeing peoplestands and seeing the excitement that's going on
here, I think makes people say, geez, we got to go do
that sometime, and then they comehere and they do it, and then

(37:07):
they want to come back and doit again. So heards from so many
people friends of mine, just peoplemaybe I haven't heard from it in a
long time, who are like Iwent to a game and I was like,
holy cow, that was a lotof fun. I need to go
back and do that again. Youknow. Matt Donovan, who played for
the Wolves of year to Admirals alum, was just in our offices earlier today

(37:27):
and he told me it was atgame five and what an unbelievably building this
was that day. So you know, people notice and fans make a difference.
So be part of it, youknow, come out and be part
of it and help us get backon track here. Absolutely any any final
things here, As we said again, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday seven
pm, seven pm, six pm, in that order, respectively. Vis

(37:50):
a Milwaukee Admirals dot com. Arewe missing anything for this week that we
should know about? Well, whatI would say is you can still get
a ticket to watch Conference Finals hockeyfor less than twenty five bucks. Yeah,
and that is pretty darn spectacular.I mean, we really pride ourselves
on making this accessible to people andpricing in this, you know, throughout
the Playoffs has really been geared towardthat. You know, we've been offering

(38:12):
up deals in a lot of differentways to get people to come to games.
And you know, it means alot to us when we see these
seats filled. Yeah, it meansa lot of the players when we see
these seats filled, and I thinkit means a lot of season ticket holders
who have been with us for alot of time, who tell us,
Wow, these crowds of the Playoffsare really good. So it means a
lot to everybody. So come andbe part of it. Hey, real
quick, I want to finish withthis because I was talking about this with

(38:34):
Charlie Larson earlier today. How didTim Dillard get involved? He's a character,
he's kind of he's obviously he doesthe Brewers, he's become he's kind
of adopted Milwaukee, played here,played for the Milkman, He's adopted Milwaukee,
and then they certainly have welcomed andlove him. So how did all
of this go down? With TimDillard? He called last year. It

(38:55):
was his. It was his call. He reached out to us. We
didn't reach out to him, andwe called him and he was I'm sorry.
He called us and said, hey, I'm interested to this, and
we're like, well, we'd loveto have your social presence because you're very
popular on social media, of course, and the two things came together,
and you know, he's been offeringdeals for every game, whether he's here

(39:16):
or not. For Game five againstGrand Rapids, they were on the road
as soon as they landed, hecame here. He got here for the
last couple of minutes of the game. So you know, Tim is into
what we're doing. He loves beingpart of this awesome. It's fun to
have that type of presence here.Yeah, no doubt about that. Again.
Visit Milwaukee Admirals dot com. Comeon down and see the Admirals Game

(39:37):
three tomorrow between the Admirals and CoachellaValley here at Panther Arena. John,
thanks for doing it, absolutely,thank you. Admiral's President John Greenberg will
wrap things up next. You're listeningto Milwaukee Admirals Center Ice one final time
tonight Milwaukee Admirals Center Ice with MichaelJahowski, I'm Aaron Simms or thanks to
all of our guests, Admiral's assistantcoach Scott Ford, goalie Troy Grossnick,
and team president John Greenberg. SoGame three tomorrow the Admirals hosting Coachella Valley

(40:00):
at Panther Arena. The Admirals downtwo. They were down two last season
and came back to win the nextcouple, forcing in going into Game six,
losing in Game six out in CoachellaValley once again. Uh, of
course, the Admirals were down twoagainst Texas earlier in the playoffs, came
back to win the next three.Here we go that you know what,

(40:22):
that would be awfully nice syst timeright back right? All three? Yep,
yep, put some we talk aboutputting doubt in a team that would
that would put some doubt in people'sminds. Yeah, you know, the
Admirals have won nineteen games, sothat's a lot of three game winning streaks
in there. In certain certain combinationwill tell me, well, at least
six, at least six, yeahexactly, but it's that how many triangles

(40:44):
exactly? Right? Which combination areyou going to go with? Uh?
So, nothing I've seen it tellsme, we can't beat this team.
That's just it. Like all seasonlong, I've been hearing from people.
It's like they've been telling me they'rethe best team I've seen, that the
best team I've seen there. Don'tget me wrong, they are a really
good team Coachella Valley. They wouldn'tbe here if they weren't. But it's

(41:05):
not It's not the eighty five Oilersagainst the ninety two San Jose Sharks out
there. No, it's it's Isaid this earlier, I think on the
show. It's reminiscent of what wejust saw with the Florida Panthers and the
New York Rangers, a couple ofteams. They're not scoring a ton,
but they're they're out there fighting.They're out there fighting, and right now,
Coachella Valley has the edge. They'vewon the first two games. Have

(41:29):
they have they been by far thebest team out there on the ice.
They have not been by far thebest team. They have won the games.
So you can say, yes,they were the better team because they
won the games, but the Admiralshave been there. We also made a
point during the break is that you'vegot an entire roster an entire roster of
Coachella Valley players that are basically auditioningfor the for the parent clubs. It's

(41:51):
a situation where boy, I'm gonnawin. I'm gonna help the Sky win
a championship and maybe he'll take mealong for the ride to Seattle. Nex
Well, and this this league isall about last hurrahs. There your team
is going to be fifty percent atleast different next season, So it's all
about last hurrahs. And for them, when they know the coach is gone,
it's really a last hurrahs. Sothey have a lot that they want
to play for. Obviously, theAdmirals want to win. They've got a

(42:13):
lot that they want to play for. It doesn't it does not get better
than what is going on right exactly, it's not. It's awsible. And
John made an excellent point. Fortwenty five dollars you get to see a
conference finals hockey, Yep, it'sit's incredible. I mean, you know,
and you know the price structure we'vebeen able to keep together here with
the Admirals and being able to seegame, bring your family to a game

(42:36):
for an affordable price. It's real. It's incredible, real quick we got
five seconds left. I want tosay real quick thank you to Major Gooldsby's
for hosting the watch parties so far. They have been unbelievable in all the
fans who have been out there towatch, thank you and thanks for listening
to Milwaukee Admiral Center ICE