12/04/23 - Admirals Center Ice

.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hello, and welcome to Milwaukee AdmiralsCenter. I s somewhere in SIMS going
alone this week. Mike wil Jahowskioff, We'll be back. Mike will
be back next Monday is The Admiralshave an important week here coming up.
They play host to San Diego onWednesday night and then visit Iowa this weekend
on Friday and Saturday. So bigweek coming up for the Admirals, who

(00:20):
had a big win just this pastSaturday night over Grand Rapids four to two
at Panther Arena. The Admirals havebeen struggling to score some goals again.
They had a stretch at the beginningof the year where they were not scoring
very many two goals a game,and then they ended up having a stretch
where beginning with a school day gamein Milwaukee, seven goals, five goals,
four goals, five goals, andthen it cooled off again. The

(00:41):
last six games the Admirals had scoredeleven goals per contest. That was heading
into Saturday, eleven goals period,not eleven goals per contest, but under
two goals per game the Admirals thisseason. Now and then they go into
Saturday and they win four to twothis season the Admirals in the eighteen games,
they're ten to seven to one andoh twenty one points. Right now,

(01:02):
they're second place in the Central DivisionTexas in first with twenty five Rockford
twenty Iowa in Manitoba, eighteen GrandRapids sixteen in Chicago at the bottom with
twelve. Eight of the Admirals eighteengames, that's it, they've scored three
goals or more. They are sevenand one in those games when they score
eight or three or more goals,but it's only happened eight times in eighteen

(01:23):
games so far. Two goals ina game has happened five times this year,
the Admirals are three and two.So when Milwaukee scores two goals or
more, they are ten and threeon the season, and when they score
one goal, which has happened infive out of eighteen games, the Admirals
are zero four and one. TheAdmirals currently ranked tied for twenty eighth in

(01:44):
goals four per contest, but they'refifth in goals against. The defense has
been obviously very very good for Milwaukeein this season. In this early in
this season, the Admirals hosts SanDiego on Wednesday, we'll talk a little
bit more about that in just amoment. First, I want to play
back the conversation we had with Admiralshead coach Carl Taylor after the Admirals defeated

(02:06):
the Griffins four to two on Saturdaynight. So so, Carl, aside
from the penalty trouble in the firstperiod, another pretty solid game for your
guys here tonight. Yeah. Iknow, we fought through a lot of
diversity, a lot of tough calls. Able to get through it, even
at the end of the game whenthe pennies went from up pocket to the
other. But as a group,you know what, when you found a
way to get through it. Wegive up two power play goals, but

(02:29):
obviously we'd like to stay out ofthe box a little bit. Yeah,
but I tell you what, tostick with it and then you know,
the end of that first period penaltytroubles. But the second period, you
guys came out, you got somehelp on the penalty, on the power
play yourself. You didn't score,but the momentum was there and it certainly
built in your favor. Yeah,you know, it's a hard game.
It was a close game. Wewere down, we were able to come

(02:50):
back. Hard travel for both teamsobviously, So it's those games are hard
to play and they're never perfect.And you see they got behind us again
a couple of times. There's gonnabe mistakes when we did make mistakes.
For goalie Goose, who was alittle underweather, battled through and did a
great job hanging in there for us. So huge battle by him and good

(03:12):
job by the guys to get avictory here today. We talked so much
about players on this team that getthe offense, they get the stats,
and Adam Willsby is a guy whodoesn't have the stats, the scoring stats
necessarily, but my goodness, asolid game and you always get a solid
game from him, a solid skaterand for him to score that goal that
really really pumped your team up.Yeah, wills has been finding his game

(03:35):
and you know what, he's gotmore offense and people give him credit for.
You know, that's a good shot. He really leaned into it,
he got some good weight on it. He just needs to have a little
more confidence in his offensive game.Obviously, he's a great defender, does
a really good job taking ice awayand closing the gap and eliminating things with
a great stick, but he's gotmore offense and hopefully he showed that a
little bit in playoffs last year,so we're hoping that he can grow that

(03:58):
area. As we moved through theseam in here, you guys that you
mentioned, you know, sticking withit and showing some heart. I mean,
when you lose Mark Jankowski after thefirst period, he doesn't come back
out to the bench, and andnow your lines are all jumbled, and
boy, you had guys in differentsituations and for the most part they stepped
up. Yeah, you know what, it's those things happen, and so
the group found a way to getthrough it. You know, we also

(04:21):
got gross and staffs are out ofthe lineup, so you know there's every
team's got issues. You know,Grant gr lost a few guys today too,
So every team goes through those momentsand you get challenged and you learn.
We're we got a young group here, and so we appreciate the patience
for getting from the fans and we'reslowly building a little bit of a home

(04:43):
identity here. But we're a younggroup. We got a lot of lessons
to learn. We're still learning eachand every day. But these games,
these are the games where you findways when you're tired to fight for each
other, you push for the guybeside you. You're not doing it because
of anything the guy in the suitset. It's all about your teammates and
how you come together, how youwant to support each other and find a
way to get a win and enjoythe weekend and end it with a Saturday

(05:04):
night win. We'll end it justlike that. Enjoy the weekend and end
it with a Saturday night win.Congratulations Carl, Thanks Sir, Admirals head
coach Carl Taylor. So now theAdmirals get set to take on the San
Diego Gulls that is coming up onWednesday night. San Diego has the worst
record in the American Hockey League foureleven, four and zero. They're twenty
ninth in the league in goals allowedthree point eight to four per contest.

(05:27):
But they do play in probably thebest division in the American Hockey League,
the Pacific Division. Eight of itsten teams are at five hundred or better.
Four have a points percentage of sixpoint fifty or better. In the
Central Division, only Texas is abovesix hundred. Again, the Admirals are
in second place in the division now. Later on the Admirals will take on
the Iowa Wild that's Friday and Saturday. Iowa will host Rockford on Tuesday night,

(05:50):
Tomorrow night and then visit The Admiralswill visit on Friday and Saturday.
The Wild one two this past weekendat Colorado. So a big, big
week coming up for the Milwaukee Admirals. We're going to take a break still
to come. We're going to talkBadger hockey with Todd Moleski, both the
men's and the women's team. Andnext we'll visit with the play by play
announcer for the Minnesota while Joe O'Donnell, and he'll get us updated on everything

(06:14):
going on, the firing of DeanEvison, the trip to Sweden, the
three and O start under John Hines, all of that coming up with Joe
O'Donnell. Next, you're listening toMilwaukee Admiral Center ICE. Welcome back to
Milwaukee Admiral Center ICE. I'm AaronSimms, joined now by the play by
play announcer for the Minnesota while Joeo'donald. Joe. Last week we were
we had already recorded the show bythe time the news came down that former

(06:34):
Admiral's head coach and now former MinnesotaWild head coach Dean Evison had been fired
by the team along with Bob Woods. And I'm just curious. First off,
thanks for the time. How areyou after Thatt's Yeah, I was
gonna say, we're diving right inhere about about Dean Evison. The team
is three and oh, since thenthere's obviously a new coach bump. We

(06:57):
know John Hines. I've actually methim twenty years ago, just one time
when he was at the University ofWisconsin. There's so much to unpack here.
I guess you had the trip toSweden there. It's unbelievable what's been
going on for the first couple ofmonths for this Minnesota Wild team. Yeah,
and what's crazy is that now nowthe games like really start ramping up.
The Wild hauf a bunch of gamesin hand. I guess a lot

(07:20):
of teams that unfortunately they are lookingup at in the standing and that changes
here quickly. I think it's likesix games in eight days during this week
in Calgary, and then you gotan American League schedule there. It's the
American League schedule, I know.To let you know I was doing prep
for a game the other day againstthe Blackhawks. I was looking at it
like, oh, heck, Idon't know. Let me count this up

(07:40):
like I used to do in theAmerican League. Is it? Is it
four and five? Is it sixand eight? Like when are were talking
to yourself? But yeah, lookthere's a lot going on. Stockholm,
Sweden was amazing. We could talkmore about that if you wanted to coach.
And change wasn't a huge surprise.But obviously anytime it's becomes you know,

(08:01):
there's finality there and at the endof the road for somebody, you
feel for them. You know Dean, I know Dean, A lot of
your listeners probably know him. Justan unbelievable person and you feel terrible for
him. And same for Bob Wood. It's like a really good guy,
but somebody had a sort of fallin the sword for the wild slow start.
Bill Garren is not a GM thatwaits around. He wants to win

(08:22):
no matter what the captain straints areor whatever situation is facing his club.
He felt the change was needed.I thought it was interesting in his press
conference introducing John Hines that he saida couple of times that he didn't think
it was coming back and it beingyou know, whatever you deem it is
right, slagger, confidence, justsolid, overall consistent play. When he

(08:48):
felt that wasn't coming back to thewild game, he knew a change had
to be made. So tough tosee Dean lose his job. Really good
coach, really good person. Butyeah, you get that new coach,
bump three and older John Hines,and it just looks like a totally different
team. The players say, yeahyou do well, Yeah you're right,
and you know the wins that thethree wins they have been kind of in

(09:13):
dominant fashion that they've done so far, And I mean it's one of those
things right where it got to thepoint, like you said, they can't
find it. I think there wasjust desperation on everybody's part, right.
The players want to play and theycan't figure it out. For whatever reason,
Dean wants to coach, but hecan't get the players to play.
I mean, it's it's unbelievable howthis happens, and it happens everywhere.

(09:35):
So when a change does happen andyou get the fresh set of eyes,
we talk about it so much,Joe, and I'm sure you talked about
it over the years. I knowyou have with players that find a new
organization or whatever, and they're rejuvenatedbecause it's a fresh set of eyes,
it's a fresh opportunity. And Igot to imagine there's twenty two guys in
that wild locker room that are feelingthat right now with John Hines. Yeah,

(09:56):
it's such a simple, right,like from a standpoint of you're swapping
out one person. But is ita different voice? Is it the clean
slave factor? Is it maybe justhey, I think Billy Garrett had talked
about this, or some of theplayers, or even Dean maybe, like

(10:18):
in his interview with Michael Russo fromThe Athletic It's just like, well,
John Hines hasn't had to yellt theseguys yet, He hadn't benched them at
all, He hasn't made them ahealthy scratch really, So you're kind of
playing for your job in a lotof ways and just talking with some other
folks that aren't necessarily in the sportof hockey, but just you know that

(10:39):
observe and our fans, and like, I've heard some really valid stuff just
from like almost an outsider perspective.It's like, well, you know,
he changed the coach. So that'skind of a wake up call because now
the players are like, well,some guy just lost his job over our
poor performance. Like I've got withmyself in the mirror here and get this
thing turned around. Yeah, justfrom like the human nature standpoint. So

(11:00):
there's a lot of layers to thiswild Also the last three games. I'm
not trying to, you know,take anything away from the three game winning
streak, because certainly it's made myjob more fun the last few days.
But they also haven't played some ofthe NHL de Eleague teams, Like I'm
not I don't think the Saint LouisBlues are Nasville Predators. I could be
wrong, Like I think the Predscould probably sneak in, but I'm not

(11:20):
a believer to lose have a playoffteam. You know who knows about Nashville
will see I do like Andrew Burnetta lot, and that's probably why I
think they have a good chance toat least hang around that wildcard spot.
We all know Chicago is not makingthe playoffs, so you got to beat
the teams in front of you.We've had a tough cart. Does ease
up a little bit here, atleast on paper. The next you know,

(11:43):
from these past three games and maybethe next five or six, so
hopefully they can bank some points toget back in the standings. But it
is just amazing how the team lookedcompletely different with no practice time under John
Hines or anything like. He comesin essentially the morning of a game and
they look like a completely different team. It's kind of crazy. I think
there's something to be said, andI don't know, it drives me crazy

(12:05):
because you hear all these things aboutoh he lost the room and all of
these things, and the fact ofthe matt you know, these are all
professionals. They're professional athletes. Uhyou know the well the Minnesota while they're
they're all comfortable because there's you know, the cap. The cap is what
it is, and those players aren'tgoing to lose their jobs and all of
this. I think that's such hogwash. These are professional players. They have

(12:28):
you have to have an unbelievable egoand an unbelievable amount of pride to play
at this level. And so thereare so many cliches that are out there
that I just I just don't agreewith. You. Do you feel the
same way, Well, I wouldtend to agree with you, right that,
like these guys just their livelihood,their competitors, they're not just gonna,

(12:50):
you know, nail it in andthen all of a sudden, one
guy gets changed behind the bench andall of a sudden, like I don't
believe, I don't think Dean Eversonlost the room, right just a you
know, from that standpoint. ButI will say, and tucking with Ryan
Carter, who played a lot atthe NHL level that works Valley Sports North,
he did talk about this before Deanwas let go. Him and I

(13:11):
were have a conversation just about likewhen you have players that now have the
security of a three year deal orwhatever. Yeah, yes, it just
I think it just maybe alters thatmindset a little bit, right that like
you can't be traded and you don'tneed to play for the next four years

(13:31):
future wise, right, like youryour payday for your family or whatever you're
trying to achieve in life financially,because it's you've got security. Now,
I don't know. I mean that'sfrom a former player, So I got
obviously believe that there is that littlebit of a mindset that goes you know
what, I like Minnesota great placeto play. I know I'm locked in

(13:52):
here now, and so maybe doyou do a little lecture or do you
I don't know, but I justfound that interesting from him. Again,
that was prior to dee dismissal,that there could have been a little bit
of that as to why the Wildstarted so slowly. No, and that
would lend credits for a guy likeRyan Carter, who did, like you
said, played quite a few gamesin the National Hockey League. Joe O'Donnell
joining us here at Milwaukee Admiral Centerice. Joe is the play by play

(14:15):
announcer for the Minnesota Wild. It'sfunny what you just said there, because
that's what Barry Trotz did in Nashville. He said, this isn't a place
to retire. This is a placewhere we want to win championships, and
that that was kind of a tellingstatement at the beginning when he got rid
of the players he did. Sothere is a way that these guys get
indeed moved. Their their contracts maybe guaranteed, but there is a way

(14:35):
that they can be moved. Andit tarnishes some reputations. Yeah, you
never want to be the guy thatthey get put in that spot either right
or if the GM or the coachis making a statement like that, a
lot of times I think the playersknow right, like it was maybe directed
of me, but it directly directedto me. And honestly, like when

(14:58):
you look at the last couple ofdays since tenure, you know, again
I refer back to Michael Russo onthe Athletic but he was quick to point
out that Dean was starting to namenames, which it's something that Dean never
get it, you know, likeit was always we it's the Minnesota Wild
and everything was private or if therewas an issue, it was private.
Yep. Yeah, And it wasalmost like the last card he had.

(15:20):
It was either take away major icetime from some superstars or let everybody know
that their play is not good enoughand maybe that's the wake up call.
Ultimately it didn't work. But yetyou're like the whole cliche thing you mentioned
earlier, and the media is thecircus that can surround some of these firings

(15:41):
and hirings and stuff. At theend of the day, the guy's got
to lay them up, will goout there and play good hockey. And
thankfully the while we've done that thelast couple of games and then they put
themselves in the spot where again,if they have a really good December,
you know, and you flip thetwenty twenty four and you're hanging around a
wildcard playoff spot. I think thisteam, we've seen it back to back
hundred point season. I think thepersonnel hasn't changed much. They stay healthy,

(16:03):
they have a chance to be rightthere at the end. But they
dug themselves such a hole that rightnow, you know, winning three in
a row or two out of fouror two out of five, like that's
just not good enough. They haveto string together, you know, an
eight two and oh stretch, andthey probably going to do that for a
month or two to get themselves reallyback into it. You know Marko Rossi
very well. I'm curious with him. A few years ago, he gets

(16:26):
drafted where he did, and hehad the health situation, but he gets
drafted where he did. Everybody says, ah, here's the number one center
Minnesota has been lacking forever. Ittook him a little bit of time.
He was very good in Iowa andMinnesota and then maybe didn't get the chance
that he needed. This year,he has stepped up and I'm curious,
is he the number one center ordoes he have to be the number one

(16:48):
eighty ninety point center for this team. I don't know that he has to
be that. I don't know ifthat's his ceiling. I think the Wild
would still be sort of looking forthat. You know, that unicorn,
that number one center, and BillGarrett will tell you he really can't find
him through trades, much like who'streating that guy. Eventually you have to

(17:10):
draft and develop one, and normallyyou need a top ten pick to do
it. Now, Marko ROSSI,the transformation this year has been awesome.
I'd like to say that I sawit coming, but I don't know that
I did. I don't know ifanybody did, because he just lacks such
confidence and just like polish to hisgame last year at the NHL level,

(17:33):
if that's the right term, AndI don't know. I just I felt
like if he could just get offto a good start, it might be
what triggers what we're seeing now.And he scored in the first game of
the year, and now they wavedit off. It was one of those
challenges and got taken off the board. But then he got on the board
in the next night Toronto, andI think that just got him going,

(17:57):
like just to see the puck goin the net. He kind of felt
like that last year we talked withDean as Marco was struggling fifteen games into
his NHL career, saying like,well, maybe if you just get him
out there for an empty netter,like anything to see that puck over the
goal line, because to your point, he get produced at the HL level,
and usually when you produce at theHL level with regularity, you can

(18:18):
do it, you know, atthe NHL level. I did say to
Tom Reid yesterday, it feels likeforever ago that Ryan Hartman was centering Zucarello
at the pre safice right because Rossienow is at you know, to your
point, that number one center iceman, and it doesn't look like anytime soon
he's going to relinquish that role.So good to see him playing with confidence.
He put on a lot of muscleand size in the summer. He

(18:38):
just he's going over the hard areasand he's just one of those guys right
now that is sort of driving thiswild team offensively, and it's great to
say. I mean, I can'timagine where this team would be without Brock
Faber and Marco Rossi, two rookiescontributing a lot right now, you know,
you bring up that's the next placeI wanted to go to because so
many people were pointing about the lossof Dumba Matt in the offseason and you

(19:02):
know, just didn't have the moneyto resign him and probably would have been
great for the locker room, andhe was a solid player on the ice
and on the power play and allof that. But when you can get
a rookie play like Brock Faber isthis year, my goodness that that alleviates
a lot of concerns certainly. Andyou know, I saw your tweet here
the other day, and I stillcall it twitter. I saw your tweet

(19:25):
here the other day about the bettingodds for all of these rookies and that
Faber is not on the board.It is just ridiculous. It goes to
show that people aren't paying attention towhat's going on in Minnesota for whatever reason.
Yeah, I agree, but hispoint productions there too. It's not
like he's got three assists and threeright, and you know, and he's

(19:48):
playing fourteen minutes a night, likethis kid's eating twenty plus minutes to night
he has all year long. Hewas maybe their best player for the first
handful of games, which is youknow, alarming, as much as it
was great to see. And he'sfinding ways to get on the score sheet
pretty much on a regular basis.His offensive game, I think, is
where it needs speak. He's nowstarting to get power players time under John

(20:11):
Hines, and he is a smarthockey player that skates well, and I
think he's going to have a greatNHL career, could be someday a captain
of the Minnesota while from everything wehear about his leadership ability and to me,
he's the type of kid that hecould care less if anybody talks about
him for the Calder Trophy voting.I mean, he's a pretty humble kid.
He goes about his business. Heseems to have a good head on

(20:33):
his shoulders. From everybody I've talkedto around here in the Minnesota area,
the people that know him personally,that know his family personally, and they
just rave about him and his upbringingand how he approaches the game. So
it's great to see he's having somuch success. I really do believe he
should be you know, somewhere inthat Caldor Trophy conversation. Obviously, those

(20:53):
sexy names, but dark or Carltonand their highlight, real goals are going
to get noticed more than a guyit's playing twenty two minutes to night in
Minnesota. But trust me, thewild brass, the players, the coaches,
they recognize how valuable in well.This team now has won three straight
and now, as you said,you've got this road trip, you got
four games away out west. Thisis I don't want to say it's make

(21:17):
or break, but everybody points toAmerican Thanksgiving as the point where you better
start making. Hey, so isthis the big test of the young season
so far? I think so,because they've put themselves in botton now where
this tripley matters. It's not like, you know, they're five games below
five hundred and saying, gosh,we just gotta string a win or two

(21:38):
together and start to feel better aboutourselves. And they feel better about themselves.
Thrill and they are you know,a handful of fully tele playoff spot
but there's a lot of teams tohave them so you can win. And
then when you don't play for threedays, you look back at the standings
the next time you go to playa game and you have a game in
the ground, you might have lostground. That changes now with all these
games in quick succession, and thenafter this trip you've got the Bruins twice,

(22:03):
you had the Penguins. So it'sit's not gonna be an easy stretch,
but I think there are some winnablegames. But the way this team's
playing with increased confidence, I reallydo believe. You know, this is
one of those stretches of the seasonwhere if they go to and two on
the trip, it's probably letdown.They've got to get you know, five
or six of these eight points toreally put themselves back into the mix with

(22:26):
you know, a couple of weeksleft before the new year. It's it's
huge to have the Fleury's performance lastnight, Gustavson, what these guys have
done the last few games. Thesave percentage wasn't where it was certainly the
first couple of months of the season. If that turns around like it was
last year, that's obviously also goingto be the big help. Yeah,
it's huge, And you know,they have the third best say percentage in

(22:48):
the league last season and then darnnear the worst through the first six weeks
this year. Was this team couldnot afford that, right, Like,
lookul talented New Jersey Devils are,Yeah, there's percentage is atrocious, and
yet they were still treading water rightthey were five hundred or better. Part
because they just have so much darntalent. The Wilds aren't built like that,

(23:11):
so they need to get good goaltending. Again. It's crazy how you
switched the coach and then all ofa sudden the goaltending improves, Like you
know that, that makes absolutely nosense. I mean, Dean Everson has
no pairing on the goaltenders whatsoever.He probably doesn't even talk to the most
days. It's not like you changedthe goalie coach, or you changed the
goalies, like it's literally the sametwo guys. But the team played a

(23:33):
little better in front of them,and everybody gaining a bit of confidence,
and all of a sudden, bothgoaltenders are kind of rounding back out to
their form and it really couldn't comeat a better time. I'm I'm looking
forward to hearing your calls, Joe. I always like listening, I always
like talking with you. Thank youso much for your time here. Happy
holidays, best to your family andwe'll talk soon. Yeah you too,
buddy. Thanks as always and callanytime, Joe O'Donnell. Take a break,

(23:56):
we'll be back in a moment.You're listening to Milwaukee Adveral Center.
Welcome back to Milwaukee Admirals Center ICE. I tell you what you look at
the way hockey has been going inthe city of Madison, Wisconsin the last
few years, and certainly the women'shockey team has been magnificent. The men's
team has been up and down ina struggle new head coach this season,

(24:17):
and they are fantastic. They areoff to a wonderful start. They already
have as many points in a thirdof the season as they had the entirety
of last year in Big Ten play. Here to talk about that and well
all things hockey and Madison is ourfriend from the Wisconsin State Journal, Todd
Malsky. Todd, it's great totalk to you. I texted you boy

(24:37):
about a month ago, and Isaid, is Mike Hasting's the greatest hockey
coach ever? And you said somethingalong the lines of, well, the
evidence seems to be that he mightbe. I'm curious. I see the
team, what they did to OhioState this past weekend, and I'm just
I don't know if I should besurprised or not, but my goodness,

(25:00):
Uh, he's getting through what.I don't know what he's feeding these kids,
but man, it's working. Yeah. I mean, it's you know,
a very uh, zoomed out viewof things, as like Wisconsin being
in the top five, being rankedand you know high, and of course
because that's the way Wisconsin has been, but when you zoom middle of the

(25:21):
one these past you know, reallythe past decade, when it's been more
struggle than success. And for tosee a team that, like you mentioned,
was last in the Big Ten lastseason, you know, lost in
the first round of the Big Tentournament, didn't did not you know,
have a long run. It wasit was done by the second weekend of

(25:42):
March. To see a team thatwith their last season come out this season
and start well, well, rightnow they're twelve and four, but they
were nine to one and then theyyou know, a couple of things happened.
They moved into the number one spotin the national rankings. And to
see that happened in the first sixweeks of Mike Hasing's tenure was really you

(26:06):
know, it does kind of justgive the impression that he's he found the
magic to put things together here.And he said that, you know,
when he came in, when hewas announced here last March or last April
as the coach, he said hedidn't have magic dust to spread on this
put but something he's done has beenworking out well, and it's really it's

(26:30):
using a bunch of players that havebeen good players that just maybe haven't been
put in the right situation. Now, you know, half the team,
just about half the team is newthis year, so there there is an
influx of talent to come in.But we're seeing a lot of players that
are back from previous years have reallygood starts for the season. And I
think that's been pretty critical to thestart that I've had well. And you

(26:51):
mentioned, you know, the situationis so often, whether it's the professional
ranks or the college ranks, thereare people in front of you, right.
Young players have to come in andand there's a junior or a senior
in front of them on the firstpower play unit or this or the penalty
kill or or whatever the case mightbe. So to to find new roles

(27:11):
and stuff like that, I guessit's really nothing new. But but like
you say, these guys are excelling. And I hope I'm saying his name
right. I called I called onegame with him that Matthew d s Falluh.
He's he's been you know, fromwhat I see, he's been terrific.
You know, guys like that thatjust have and he hasn't been bad.

(27:33):
But it's just I guess the maturationprocess here. I think that's part
of it. Yeah, that theseare guys that have had had to kind
of live in the last couple ofyears with with not a lot of success,
and so when you start to geta little bit of it, I
think that starts to build quickly becauseyou want more of that. You want
to go back into the the waythat it's been the last two years.

(27:55):
Yeah, you don't want to eatthat that whole hate losing more than you
enjoy winning kind of thing, right. I think that that really builds up.
And so they have some success early. They they started the season with
two shutouts of august Ana, who'splaying their first ever Division One game,
and so you're certainly you kind ofwonder, Okay, is this a real

(28:15):
thing? Are we seeing? Youknow? There is a little bit of
a you know, smoking mirrors.It's a this happened to be this first
year team. But then to followit up a couple of weeks later,
you know, winning two games atMichigan tact and they've had some struggles,
but still winning two games on theroad, pretty impressive. Then going to

(28:37):
Minnesota and winning two games there,then coming home and winning two games against
Michigan. I mean that was that'swhen it started to be like, well,
there's something happened here. I mean, this is not just a uh
you know, it's something that thatjust happened on nowhere. There's something building
here. And I think that's thepart that the coaching staff is liked,
is that it hasn't necessarily been uhyou know, perfect, It hasn't been

(29:02):
the way they've wanted it every night, but they more often than not have
gotten a job done. And Ithink that's something that that is really something
you can build on as as we'vehad to win a lot of different ways.
If if you're talking as Wisconsin,now, let's let's put that to
the test and anything that would goout there and know we can have a
chance no matter who we're playing against. Todd Malesky from the Wisconsin State Journal

(29:26):
joins us. It's Milwaukee Admirals CenterRice the new players. You said about
half the team is new this seasonin Madison. Uh, the transfer portal,
and a few of these guys comewith coach Hastings, obviously, but
not all of them. But thistransfer portal. I mean, when I
was covering the game with you,the college game, and you were there,

(29:47):
You've been there. It's crazy tothink twenty five years now, but
when you were there and and andI'd see you around like that, that
wasn't that big of a deal.Every so often you'd get a transfer guy,
but it was it was few andfar between, and now it's it's
pretty wild. And more guys arebeing coaxed into the American League a little
earlier than their third year and stufflike that. Coaching is different, and

(30:14):
I'm just curious, like dealing withMike Hastings, what you see with him.
It's like he's graduated guys to thepro ranks, right. He's had
guys come from Mankato over the lastseveral years, but they've all been twenty
three, twenty four years old.I'm just curious how he handles all of
this and what you've observed because thecollege again, the college game is so

(30:37):
different than it was even six yearsago. Yeah, I think we'll know
more after a couple more seasons here, because you're right. When he was
at Minnesota State, they recruited alot of guys that came in as freshman
at twenty years old, had maxedout their junior age, and so they
wanted to see players, you know, how they be when they're actually eighteen

(31:00):
to nineteen years old rather than fourteenand fifteen years old, because I think
that's that's such a big difference ofpotential versus a reality. And so when
you're able to take in maybe you'regonna miss out on some of the high
end guys because that obviously those thoseare players that are committing when they're sixteen
now and starting when they're eighteen.Right, But if if you're not gonna

(31:21):
get them, you're gonna be ableto kind of see, well, who's
gonna who's surprised people that maybe wasn'ton the you know, the first page
of the recruiting list. You getthose players and you build them in your
lineup, and you build a linearound them. I think that's something we're
gonna see in Wisconsin the next coupleof years. Is a little bit of

(31:42):
a hybrid because the coach you haveto talk about, yes, we feel
like we can get in conversations withsome of the higher end prospect than they
have and that's been different than thanthis is what they were doing at Minnesota
State. So they've got a littlebit of the cash. You have the
Wisconsin name and playing in the BigTen to play with, whether they didn't
necessarily have that at Minnesota State.And so we're going to see a little

(32:06):
bit of this. Yes, there'sgonna be some older freshmen, but there
are gonna be a few of theyou know, the targeted ones that they
feel like fit in well with thatkind of system that they want to play
a defensive you know, you know, not a defensive system, but you
have to be strong in your ownend. Then you have to be willing
to work and to sacrifice and thento do those kind of things first.

(32:29):
Those kind of players are the onesthat are going to go after. And
so when you talk about the portalchanging it, it really is you have
to leave a couple of spots openevery year. I feel like as the
coach now and you know, ifyou had seven players going out, you
have to recruit seven players coming in. Now maybe you do four, and
then you see which three out ofthe portal fit us best. And it

(32:51):
really changes the goaltending situation too,because that's been something where you used to
only have really one chance at recruitinggoalie every couple of years, and and
if you missed, you know,too bad, you have to live with
it. And and now that's that'sreally opened things up for teams, and
it's it's just changed the old dynamicof of how coaches have to look at

(33:13):
things, you know, four andfive years out. Is that the is
that where the big difference is forthe team this year? Obviously they're they're
playing well, but the goal Imean, it's it's goalie. You you
think about it, and and itjust so happens that this past weekend,
I know they were celebrating the historyof the goalie at the University of Wisconsin.
But is that the big difference isthey've got a guy this year.

(33:36):
I certainly you got to play aroundhim, but that this Kyle McClellan or
whoever it might be. They they'rethey're living up to their transfer reputation.
Yeah, because you know, ColmCollan claim came in before last season,
so in the off season twenty twentytwo from Mercy Hers after two years there,
but it didn't get a real greatchance to u to be a number

(34:00):
one goal here. Dared mo waswas the starter last season. Uh.
And McLellan when he got into afew games, some of them were good,
some of them were bad, andand it wasn't necessarily a thing where
he uh you know, said Iby his play, I deserve more time
to show what I can do.But this season, uh, yeah,

(34:22):
his numbers have been just just astoundingcomparatively when you're looking at that, because
going into the week of the firstgame against August Data, they when I
asked, you know, my casings, what the goldpending situation was going to
look like, because we weren't surewho was going to be a starter,
he said he didn't really know yet. No one had really jumped up in

(34:43):
training camp and taken the number onejob. But then McClellan goes alsm wins
two games by shutout and just buildsoff of that and just keeps rolling.
And it hasn't stopped so far.He's had a couple of games, you
know, where he's given up threeor four but and they won one of
them against Michigan too, so thatwas that was a pretty impressive team outing.

(35:05):
But he's given them exactly what theyneed, which is just the ability,
calmness. His presence is just thathe's going to you know, things
are going to quiet down when whenthe Bucks in Wisconsin's own if he has
anything to say about it, becausehe is. He has just seems so
uh, calm poise out there,and I think that's a little bit of

(35:27):
his nature too. Off the iceis that you know, it doesn't get
rattled a whole lot, and andyou know, you know, with goalies,
you never really know what what areyou going to get. Sometimes it's
someone that that does get a littlescattered and you have to deal with that.
But that has been probably the biggestpoint of of changing the season.
But it, like you said,it also is the five guys in front

(35:50):
of him playing playing well, andthere's a lot better backchecking, there's a
lot better defensive responsibility, and soit does kind of go hand in hand
there. The Friday Saturday, theBadgers will host Penn State at the Coles
Center. Let's get to the women'steam. They lose their their game before
we're talking here to Minnesota. Duluthdidn't struggling to score the goals lately.

(36:12):
Mark Johnson just won a six hundredthgame recently. But where's this women's team
at right now? Because obviously everyyear they're top two, top three champion.
I mean, they're they're always there. Where is it right now?
Yeah, it's ut necessarily anything newfor the batter's women because there's a stretch
every season it seems like where right, we'll just go go in for them.

(36:36):
The way they wanted to end partof it is because they're playing some
pretty some weaker teams early in theseason and they just built up an incredible
number of goals. They're averaging ninea game through I think three or four
weeks. That way it was,you know, it was not going to
continue that way. But I thinkit's gone a little bit to the other
extreme more recently as they've played someof these these teams that really make it

(36:57):
tough to get the puck to thefather than that in uh, you know,
the players have been canted recently thatyou know, it's this isn't.
They're players that that like to scorethe pretty goals, that like the you
know, the dangle and inch andhit top boards and things like that,
and that's you know, those aregreat when they work, but you need
to be able to get into thehard to get to areas and get rebounds

(37:19):
and and and they did that forthe first gaming gets Minnesota to listen,
they won through nothing. They didn'treally do a great job of that in
the second game and loss for twoand in a game that the Loud did
get all of their three goals offof rebounds, and so that was that
was a little bit of the Ithink that's one of the lessons they can
learn. And Mark Johnson that youknow, if for as many years that
I've covered him, which is whichis quite a bit now, he has

(37:43):
always said that we picked the regularseason as learning processes better for marsh end
of February in March, and Imean, it's it's a it's really a
great coaching mentality if you can doit, and it's tough when you when
you get stuck in a losing straightlike last year they lost five in a
row, and you know, peoplewere saying, well, this is the

(38:05):
end, it's over. Yeah,the chances, but they build off of
that. They learned from it.They took those those things and they did
do things better out of that stretch, and so then they ended up winning
the national championship in the end.And that's uh. You know that the
regular season makes it easier for youto blame the postseason because you get a
better seat usually, but it's notalways. You don't have to be great

(38:28):
in the regular season. You haveto be great in February and March.
And that's where I think this wisconsininknows they need to get to and they're
starting to learn the lessons of whatthey have to do to be better.
And I think one of those thingsis getting to that hard area and you
know, you know, having towork for some goals a little bit more.
Since they were celebrating this will bethe last one for years, since
they were celebrating the goaltenders this weekend, men's and women's. Now, who

(38:53):
are the best that you covered?Not that you not that ever played,
but who are the best you thinkthat you covered? And the men's and
the women's because it would be easyto say Curtis Joseph or Mike Richter,
but we were kids when they werethere, so we're not going to say
either of those guys. So Imean I was thinking about this and who
they had this game, where whodo you pick, you know, who's

(39:14):
your starting goaliers? I saw that. Yeah, yeah, And you know,
I think it's because if if I'mtalking about the era that we're in
right now, you know, it'sit's it. You know, even you're
talking about Richter and and Kujo andand guys that played in the eighties and
in the nineties, that's such adifferent game for goalies right now. And
so that's why I if we're talkingabout right now, I'm going with Brian

(39:34):
Elly there you go. That's whereI was going. Yep, yeah,
just because you know, he wassomeone that I mean, he was so
cerebral and he had you know,through his whole NHL career too. This
is for here, isn't on ateam in yes, since he left Wisconsin,
but he thinks of the game sowell and he uses his uh he

(39:55):
pairs that with his his physical abilities. Uh kind of always be that one
step ahead. And I was kindof appreciated that about how you played and
how he interacted with us too.And that he was just able to analyze
himself better than I think any goalieuethat I've ever talked to. And on
the women's side, it's it's anye dab that's where I was going to

(40:17):
deal. Yeah, and you knowthere's been a few shoots from in the
last years. I mean Kristen Campbellcame from North Dakota when Northcota, uh,
you know, dropped their program askind of an unproven person and ended
up a you know, a nationalchampion and now part of an Olympic team
with Canada. Right. But innReine David, which is so dominating at

(40:37):
the college level, you know thather her shutouts record is I don't I
don't remember the number off hand,but it's ridiculous. Uh basically there was
a year every other game she playedwas a shutout and that's you know,
you know it was it was ashame she never won the national championship.
She did win a Patty Kasmira Wardenyour senior year and they just never got

(41:02):
to that finish land of the seasonand one the last game for But is
she I think in terms of individualefforts as a goalie here, that's the
one I go to Amory Davey,and I just looked it up. Two
seasons worth fifty five shutouts. Twoseasons of shutouts. That's just ridiculous.

(41:22):
No, that'll never be touched.I don't think so. No, that
would be pretty special if someone youknow playing playing most of four years.
And that's the other thing is thatshe I think she shared her first year
and then the last three issues thenumber one and I mean to be able
to get them in games too.And yeah, it was just really really

(41:43):
impressive, unbelievable. Todd, thankyou so much for the time. I
really appreciated all the best to youyou two ear and thinks Todd Mleski will
take a break. We're back inthe moment. You're listening to Milwaukee Admiral
Center Ice one final time. Tonightit's Milwaukee Admiral Center Ice or thanks to
Todd Mleski from the Wisconsin State Journal, Joe O'Donnell, the play by play
announcer for the Minnesota Wild, andalso you heard comments from Admiral's head coach

(42:05):
Carl Taylor after the win on Saturdayover Grand Rapids. The Admirals have two
home games before Christmas, the nextone coming up on Wednesday as they host
San Diego at seven pm at PantherArena. A couple of players will be
signing autographs afterwards in the Aurora SportsHealth Autograph Corner. It's a winning weekday
as well. If you had anAdmiral's ticket to the game a couple of
weeks ago on a Wednesday when theAdmirals beat Iowa, you get a free

(42:27):
ticket to this game. The nexthome game is Wednesday, December twentieth.
It's another winning weekday. It's alsoHockey Fights Cancer Night. Visit Milwaukee Admirals
dot com for tickets and information.The Admirals will host San Diego on Wednesday.
Evening. Pregame coverage will start atsix point thirty. The face off
is at seven o'clock. You'll hearthe game right here on the Big nine
twenty in your iHeartRadio app. Thankyou for listening tonight to Milwaukee Admirals Center Ice