12/11/23 - Admirals Center Ice

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hello and welcome. It's Milwaukee AdmiralsCenter Ice with Michael Jahowski. I'm Aaron
Sims. Good weekend for the MilwaukeeAdmirals, winning two games in impressive fashion,
just grinding it out and coming awaywith two big wins in Iowa four
to two on Friday, for toone on Saturday, and firming up that
spot in second place in the CentralDivision. Anytime you go to Iowa and
get points, it's a wonderful thing. Yeah, and it's nice to do

(00:20):
what I'm back to back night exactlyright. Leading off the show tonight,
we'll visit with Admirals head coach CarlTaylor. Coach, how are you doing
good? Aeron? How are you? Things are great? Good weekend?
Huh yeah, mostly good. We'replaying better, We're doing some good things.
And went in to play a hotIowa squad that was on a three
game win streak and feeling good aboutthemselves, and quite honestly, I just

(00:44):
like how we played. I thoughtwe took the game away from them.
We could have lots first game withoutthe second game we played even better.
So I like what we did.Hopefully we can keep doing that while we
continue. It's the road trip thisweekend. How about that power play?
You know, we were talking aboutthe power play and its struggled a little
bit, and all of a sudden, three games, we're five out of
fifteen, and you know, nowwe're we're up to i think eleventh in

(01:08):
the league, you know, attwenty point five and it's back up and
the end of the district that CarlTaylor teams have been in. What what
happened differently or did you just seesome opportunities? Well, we made a
few adjustments, but you know,obviously welcoming back Jordan Gross who's been out,
that's one of his major roles forus here in Milwaukee, so that's

(01:30):
a big addition. But we kindof loaded up one group. We try
to change a few rotations based onwhat Iowa was going to do. We're
able to get a lucky bounce onone goal if we're honest, but we
were executing what we're trying to getout of the system. So for us,
you know, it's just baby steps. We're still got room to improve

(01:51):
on it. But because of thelack of opportunities we've been given. You
get four goals and you move upfour or five percent in the standings because
it's because of the limited opportunities thatwe've had, so we haven't had a
lot of opportunities to work on itin games. But besides that, it
was nice on this weekend because youknow, you move up those extra percent

(02:13):
that we did. You move up, and like you said, the opportunities
you had been under three on averageand you get four and five and well
technically six I guess the way theythrew it at the end there, but
four and five power play opportunities togo out there. So it's nice to
you talked about possession time and allof that, you were able to work
on that as well. Yeah,it was really kind to them to change

(02:35):
that ten minimus contact to the powerplay opportunity, but then to have us
play five on five for five secondsinstead. Right, he moving right along.
We love how they handled with statssome days, but that's just the
way it goes. We're not goingto worry about that. We're happy with
what the power play did and obviouslythe results were there, but we also
had lots of quality opportunities on it, so it's improving. It's a work

(03:00):
in progress, but we definitely aregoing to stay on it and we're getting
back to close to the territory thatwe're used to running out here, and
regardless of the group we have,we got a bunch of young guys learning
and it's moving in the correct direction. Admiral's head coach Carl Taylor joins us
it's Milwaukee Admiral Center Ice. We'vetalked quite a bit about Dennis Gurryanov coming

(03:20):
up on five hundred pro games andnearly three hundred in the National Hockey League
and talking about him playing the fullgame, and a couple of nights ago
we talked about the first in thethird period with him and maybe not the
second period, but again, he'sscored goals now in three straight and he's
using his speed and making some playsout there and it's getting better for him.

(03:43):
Yeah, I no, he's weyou know, he sat out a
game, which was a difficult thing, and we caught his attention. For
sure, no player enjoys that moment, but we're trying to help him find
a complete game. He's moving inthe right direction. His analytics are very
strong. We just went over eachplayer individually analytically. How we go through

(04:05):
it with Dalton like as our analyticalgenius, from Nashville. So he's doing
a lot of good things, butthere's areas we want to clean up that
has been dragging behind him for awhile. Probably the reason he's in the
American Hockey League right now is towork on those areas. Just like everyone
else that's here, we all havedeficiencies that we're trying to erase and fix.

(04:30):
So it's great to see his strengthcoming out more. You know,
the Steed goal five on five,What a great set breakout that was.
And then the power play comes downthe wing with speed a couple of times.
It really makes power play more threatenedwhen the back line feels we are
a thread off the rush, notjust a setup and a slow moving power
play. Follow up with about Dennishere. He's a first round pick and

(04:54):
you said he's down here working onsome things that he can do better.
Is that maybe the politics of afirst round pick. You want to rush
these guys, You want to getthem up, and once they're up,
they're they're kind of there, andyou always have them penciled in if you're
the team that drafted him, untilyou finally this this is going to sound
awful, but you finally cut baitand let him go to another organization or

(05:15):
trade them to another organization or whatever, and then it's up to that team
to try to figure out how toget the best out of them. Yeah,
Denny has some elite, elite skills, as we've seen. He's a
great human. He's an unbelievable guy. He's a great teammate. He's just
a guy that has to go abouthis business defensively. His play without the

(05:35):
puck, there's some areas that hedoesn't focus as well as he does when
he has the puck. So it'slike anything, you know, when you're
when you're a golfer and your puttingis not very good, you work on
your putting right, and when yourdriver's not going good, you work on
your driving. Unless your name isScott Ford and you just go buy a

(05:56):
new one and break the old oneand start over, or you're like me
and you just stay home. Yeah, there's lots of things you have to
work on for us. Everyone's gotthings they need to focus on. Being
a first round pick, Denny gotup to the NHL eventually, and when
he was up there, he scored. His scoring was scoring at a rate

(06:16):
that was erasing his deficiencies. Scoringdries up a little bit. That's where
you get in trouble because now thedeficiency has become bigger and larger because the
scoring is dried up. Unless youcan outscore your deficiencies at a rate that
is comfortable for coaches to live withit, eventually it's going to cut up

(06:40):
catch up to you. And that'sI think what's happened for Denny over the
last couple of years, where hekind of bounced a little bit. But
I know we really want to assisthim and help him because he's such a
great guy. When I look atthe stat sheet and when I listened to
the broadcast with Aaron I, Imean, I we've got a we've got
a great new playmaker, Camel withfive assists in three games and uh and

(07:01):
then most of them sounding like highlightreal passes that uh that got completed?
That's uh? Is Is that anotheruh? Is that another product of the
analytics guy saying, Hey, maybethis guy should should pass the puck a
little bit more. Why didn't youget in the pass the puck? Is
that something you guys have worked onwith him? He's never gonna pass him
more than shooter. Let's not kidder. Okay, you know I can try

(07:26):
this. This kid is built forshooting. He's got an absolute bomb in
a rocket. But he's learning touse his teammates better. He's a little
frustrated because he's been getting a tonof scoring opportunities lately. He's playing really
well. He's generating opportunities out ofhis own play, not that his linemates

(07:46):
aren't assisting him, but he's drivingoffense. He's just not getting the goals
or getting the uh the rewards fromhis play. A little snake bitting a
little bit. And so he's adjustedand started using his teammate more. You're
seeing some of those assists pop upfor him. But he's a guy that
is handling adversity very well right now. Because the amount of great a's and

(08:11):
the amount of good looks he's gettingis a little bit extreme for the return
on the investment. But he's doinga good job staying with it, but
also using his teammates a little morein some other areas. So he's just
rounding out his game. I'm abig believer and Kim's in his game and
how good he's going to be atthe next level. I just think he's

(08:31):
figuring it out and growing and growing, and he's just going to get better
and better. You made some changeswith the lines here heading into the weekend,
and feeders. Svetchkow found himself betweenDennis Guriyonoff and youore Kim Kammel and
give us your take on where feederscome. In twenty games so far this
season, well, early on hewould try to beat people, not moving

(08:52):
his feet, kind of toe drag, stationary play. He's finding his way,
but these last seventy eight games he'sbeen very elite. As we've struggled
to score. Prior to this weekend, he was a guy that was still
making plays for us. We justdecided that we got to get this guy
some more uh help as far ashigher end talent finish finishing capabilities. So

(09:20):
you know, between Igor, Dennisand Kimmy there's some of our best finishers.
So we wanted to support him andget him some people uh that could
play with him and maybe help himuse his playmaking abilities to uh finish and
create more offense for ourselves. Ithink it's going in the right direction.
He's a he's a very good youngman. He's a very studious player,

(09:43):
very professional but he's also adjusting andlearning to a new culture in a new
a new continent country league, allthose other things that he's trying to learn.
So he's just he's this guy thathas been making place for us.
He demanded more, a higher rankingin the lineup, and he's earned it
and he's kept it and he didgreat with it on the weekend. You

(10:05):
you talk about learning a new cultureand all of that moving from Russia,
and you have a player, well, you have several players now, three
players who made the move from Russiathat have at least a year of North
American experience. But I want tohighlight Igor Afanasia because he kind of handled
that role with Yaroslava Scaroff last year. And here the other night, I
see him go out and you andI talked about this before the game on

(10:26):
Saturday Friday night. It's a twonothing game. He's in a bad spot.
He has to come in in thethird period. Cold. They scored
two goals that were not easy saved. Certainly they probably deserve to go in.
But Igor stays on the ice duringthe time out, and Igor told
me he gave him some motivational speechin Russian to get him going, and

(10:46):
I just from where Egor started whenhe came to Milwaukee to where he is
now, it's just it's amazing tome. Well, I'm glad you're saying
that because we still see more ofsimmer as a staff. We're happy he's
got ten goals, I think,yeah, and he's leading our team with
goalscoring. We still think there's moregame and growth for him. So he's

(11:11):
got room to go still, whichwe're excited about. But I agree with
you, he's come a long way. He's come a long way as a
teammate. He's come a long waywith how professional and demanding on himself he
is. But we still see himas a guy that can grow his game
in certain areas. Igor's got oneof the best shots in the locker room.
Like I know we talk about Kimmel'sshot. Igor can sling the puck

(11:33):
and just rip it. You sawthat off the rush bullet to the corner
cross squire the other night in Iowa. I thought the puck's broken too,
So we want to see him usethat shot a lot more. We want
to see him be more of ashooting threat off the rush. But he's
doing well. He's grown a ton. He is knocking on the door,

(11:54):
but there is still more he cando to grow his game, and we're
going to keep working with him becausewe're getting greedy. That's what coaches do.
We're gonna stay greedy because that's wherethe growth is. Where do you
see his game? Is he goingto be a guy that's a penalty kill
guy. You mentioned his shot beingan elite shot. I mean, is
he a guy that in your mindas a seventeen to eighteen minute guy and

(12:15):
gets the special teams at the nextlevel Maybe in a year or two.
I think he's yet to be determined. I think it's yet to be determined,
and that ball is in Igor's courtfor him to figure that out.
So if he completes the cycle andkeeps pushing towards the coaching and where we're
trying to get him to go,then he can become a complete player at

(12:35):
the next level. Maybe he endsup being a penalty kill guy. You
never know how it goes when youmake the jump to the National Hockey League.
You saw last year, I thinkIgor played twenty games. He was
used in more of a checking role, even though he got some scoring chances,
and then he came back to us, and he was used as a
shutdown guy through playoffs on a verygood American League team, playing against the

(12:56):
best players on it that we played. So I think he's got the capability
to do it. You know,him and jan Kowski together for me,
they are safe pairing. So thatallows me to swing other guys on their
wings that might be more risky ornot as defensively reliable because I know what
I'm getting from most two. Sofrom that perspective, you know I've used

(13:22):
him down here before, we wouldn'tuse them in every situation. I think
Igor is second on our team forice time as a forward right now.
He's used on the power play,kindly killed four on four, overtime,
goalie out four and against. He'sa guy that's been used in every situation
this year, and so that's Ithink that speaks volumes to the growth that

(13:46):
you're referring to as his ice time'sgrown, his game's growing, but we
still want more. After a qualitya period or all, I mean,
two quick goals but then settled inand and then let in one goal on
Saturday, you had to feel thatAsky's confidences is has gotten a little shot

(14:07):
of confidence with with two different twoperformances. How do you feel about Yeah,
No, I'm happy for me gothe got the dinger, and he
had a little bit of an injurythere and came back. He had a
great start to the season. Uh, there's always things for everyone to work
on, like we said earlier,and he's got stuff he needs to work
on. But I was really happywith this game on Saturday and how he

(14:31):
executed and played in that game.I thought he looked really good. I
thought he came into a very difficultsituation on the Friday night filling in for
Goose and found a way to getthe job done under tough circumstances. But
then his complete game on Saturday wasit was a breath of fresh air,
and I thought he looked really calm. I live loved how he played,

(14:52):
so we were excited about that.Seems like he's getting back to being comfortable
in the net again and feeling goodabout his game as he's pushing forward as
we get ready to play Manisroba onFriday. Get to go to Winnipeg on
Friday. Absolutely, coach, thanksso much for the time. All right,
thank you guys, see you latertonight. Admiral's head coach Carl Taylor,

(15:13):
the Admirals winning pair of games inIowa. And you talk about a
scar off, which Yaroslav. You'vegot the goalie in Buffalo who's now in
Rochester for the moment, Devin Levi, and then you've got Valstett in Iowa.
Three of the three, probably amongstthe people that are that are not

(15:35):
in the NHL currently, those areprobably the three highest ranked prospects in all
of hockey. And and some peoplehave a certain guy in first, so
on and so on. Falstet's wonthe player of the Week in this league
twice this year already. But againstMilwaukee or I should say a scar off
against Iowa is six to one andone and has allowed nine goals in eight

(15:56):
games in his career two seasons againstVoalstett head to head. Now, there's
a lot of things going into this, right, it's the players in front
of you, right question. Butthat being said, he's five zero one
head to head against yespervalstat which isand has allowed seven goals in those six
games. Like, it's remarkable absolutelywhat he has done in a short time.

(16:21):
You know against head you know everybody, you know Lay against Marino.
Whatever you want to do. Right, here's the rookie against the rookie.
You always want to set up thatbattle. Everybody has the one on one
thing, right, and you knowBrady and Manning all of these things,
right, Ques, and you've gota scar Off and Valstett and and again

(16:41):
football, there's twenty other guys yougot to worry about, right, Hockey,
there's twenty other guys you got toworry about that are jumping on and
off the ice constantly. But Yarrois five ohen to one in his career
head to head with Voalstet. Yeah, I was driving home when you were
when you threw out Goose's record againstIowa, and I was going, oh,
yeah, four and eight. Yep, the goals against is like two

(17:02):
point four and seven percentage is likeninety two and a half. Yeah,
he's got a super non support Iguess, right, routines. But yeah,
no, that's that's the really interestingand it really is interesting. And
really, I tell you what,it sounds to me like, you know,
by the tenor of your voice,it's und like he really picked up
some confidence. Yeah that's good,that's great. Yeah, absolutely it is.

(17:22):
We're gonna take a break. Spencer'sDassney, speaking of confidence. The
defenseman's played nine games already this seasonwith the parent club, Nashville Predators.
I honestly surprised to see him backhere, but maybe maybe he'll be gone
again in the near future. We'llenjoy him while he's in Milwaukee and he'll
join us next. You're listening toMilwaukee Admirals Center Ice. Welcome back to
Milwaukee Admirals Center Ice with Mike wilJahowski. I'm Aaron Simms. When we
went to break, we mentioned aboutthis young man that we're honestly surprised to

(17:48):
see him in Milwaukee. We're tickledthat he's here, but he's destined for
some more in the National Hockey League. He had a good stint with Nashville
so far this season. He hada great stint with him last year,
and he's having a great year sofar with the Milwaukee Admirals. He's defenseman.
Spencer's Dassiny. Spencer, thanks somuch for the time. How are
you today? I'm good? Howare you? Things are great? Thank
you your your journey this year.You've seen, uh, you've seen some

(18:11):
of the world this season, moremore than you have been in a lot
of Novembers in your life. Yeah, it's it's been pretty pretty erratic,
pretty crazy, but definitely a funone. When you go to Nashville,
when they call you up, areyou in the hotel or do you end
up staying. I know so manypeople stay with a teammate or something like
that, or one of the veteransopens up their house. I'm curious how

(18:33):
it works with you. Yeah,no, I've been I've been staying at
the hotel. I've been there afew weeks now, but it's in a
good spot and there's a lots hereon there. Well, I'll tell you
what your first or you got anNHL goal, you got your your plus
six. You know, for thefans that are listening, you know,
what, what's the essential difference?You know, I've maybe playing a game

(18:56):
of the American Hockey League in thegame of the NHL, But what what's
it? What's the difference for you? Yeah? I think, uh,
it's just just a bigger stage.You know, it's still hockey. But
you got to be a lot moreconsistent. Just make sure you're ready to
go. And they asked a lotup there of you, but just to
make sure that you deliver and tryto try to help out. However,
we again, when you go upthere, let's talk about your goal.

(19:18):
Uh, tell us it was itwas that? What was it? Say?
Did you score the team score seventhat night? I think yeah?
It was up there, it's likeseven seven three, I think right,
and you had the fourth one?Yeah. Yeah. To describe, describe
what that was like, what yousaw, how you went in and and
all of that stuff. Yeah,I think that, uh yeah, that
was that was pretty surreal. Butyeah, I just took a rush going

(19:41):
going our way and saw the talkgo around the board, so I hopped
up, which is something that they'rethey're trying to teach me to do,
especially up there, but also herein Milwaukee and be active. Got the
talk from Evangelista and Admiral last yearand had it right in the slot and
kind of looked off a pass andjust at the net, and before he
knew it was just in and Iwas standing there celebrating with the guys,

(20:04):
so I didn't really see it going. I kind of blacked out. I
don't remember, but it was anawesome experience. So you're you you You've
said that before about your goal againstManitoba here that won the series last season.
You kind of said the same thing. You didn't see it go in.
You just kind of blacked out,and all of a sudden you're celebrating.
Yeah, I'm not a I don'tscore often, so I think i'm

(20:25):
pretty I'm pretty shocked. Whenever itgoes in. I think I kind of
lose, lose what happens there.But it was an awesome time to get
that goal. Yeah, no kidding. With your incredible skating ability, are
they trying to get you to hopinto the play a little bit more and
take take more chances because you you'vegot the wheels to get back in case
things go badly. Yeah, Ithink that's something they're the question on me,
just trying to make sure I'm moreassertive, take more shots, get

(20:48):
up in the rush, and justtry to help the offense there. Yep,
I'm gonna. I'm gonna go backto your goal. Think about when
you're a kid, like when you'replaying baseball, it's always bought up on
the ninth in the World Series twoout space is loaded down by three.
Right. I don't know. Youprobably had the same thing in the Stanley
Cup or something like that. Butbut the goal you score that has to

(21:08):
be right up there with you know, it wasn't one that went in off
your thigh. It wasn't right likethat. That's about as close to living
the dream scenarios as it could havebeen. Yeah, I think, yeah,
I imagine if I were to toget my first mag NHLD goal,
it would probably be just just shoppingthe point bank off you guys and find

(21:30):
its way in. But I thinkit's pretty special that I had when right
in the slot there and I wasable to bear it. Yeah, Spencer
Statsney joining US Milwaukee Admiral Center Ice. Uh, coming back down? Then
you come down, and we've seensituations where guys struggle a little bit,
and you know, I'm not goingto name names, but but I remember
coaches telling me players in the pastthey come down and they'd have bad games

(21:53):
because they're doing too much, tryingto get back to Nashville as quickly as
possible, or the NHL in generalas quick as possible. It doesn't seem
that that has affected you at all. How do you keep the keep it
straight, keep your head about you, keep your wits about you, and
not go out there and and causetwo on ones and three on ones by

(22:15):
making pinches that you shouldn't make.Yeah, I think, well, I
think I'm not the type of playerand I've never been the type of player
to probably do too much. They'reprobably pushing me to do more. But
I think it's just always being consistent, just playing the same way, and
I think I take pride and playingthe right way and trying to help the

(22:36):
team win. And I think,yeah, I think just just doing everything
I can, whether it's in Nashvilleor Milwaukee. And and I'm glad it's
transferring and it's translating out there.What does the route when you get sent
from Nashville and you joined the teamin Des Moines? What kind of a
flight do you have to take toget to des Moines? But I know
Foodie and Jankowski had layovers and Denvers, so fortunately I out there in time

(23:00):
for for that first game in deMoine. That's good. Yeah, it's
kind of right on the way.Yeah, Nashville, Denver to Des Moines.
Yeah, perfect, perfect Yeah.Yeah. But so the team right
now, it's clicking this last weekendin Iowa. I mean, and it's
two games, but it seems likethings are starting to go. Even the

(23:23):
game against San Diego, and Iknow you weren't here, but it wasn't
a bad game. The Admirals wereoutscored. I think Carl Taylor said we
were now played. We were outscored. It seems like things are really steadying
here, that you guys are findingwhere it's supposed to be in Milwaukee.
Yeah, I think I noticed thattoo when I when I came back.

(23:45):
I think guys are finding their rolesand I think we're really settling in here.
And I know it was just earlyin the season, so we're getting
the hang of it, but Ithink guys are really stepping up and I
know we're We're having a great yearso far, and I'm hoping that we
can just keep going and keep keepgetting better. Yeah, and looking ahead
to this weekend, heading up toWinnipeg for the first time this season.
Obviously, you know them well,played them a lot last year, played

(24:07):
them in the playoffs. It's kindof strange to be seeing a team for
the first time in your division twoand a half months into the year.
Yeah, it is, which isYeah, we were looking at the leaderboard
in our locker room earlier and Ithought the same thing. It feels like
we play them all the time.But yeah, we haven't played them yet,
so it'll be interesting to see whatthey have. But I think as
long as we just speak playing ourway will be will be good. It's

(24:30):
a place that's always fun to play, isn't it. Going up to in
Canada and playing in Winnipeg and all. I mean, it's an NHL building
and it's it's for me anyway.It's a fun place to call a game.
I gotta imagine it's nice to playout there. I mean, i'd
like to travel. It's a fartrip, but it's a nice place to
be up there, especially around theholiday time now it would be nice for

(24:52):
it's probably some snow on the groundsand cold weather, so it should be
a good trip. Yeah, verygood. Spencer, will let you go.
Thank you so much for the time. I keep up the good work.
Thank you for having me. Thankyou, Admirals Defenseman Spencer's stats Andy
joining us. We're going to takea break and just go ahead. I
just think it's a question of time. I mean where he's Yeah, he's
gonna hop on, He's gonna,you know, get the recall and you

(25:12):
know, seeing him again maybe youknow, you know, could be never.
You know, you know, Iowahas been They moved up from from
Houston, as you know, twelveeleven years ago. And I just I'm
thinking about because Minnesota for years hadtraded away all their first picks when Chuck
Fletcher was the GM, and theywere trading all of these guys, and

(25:33):
they didn't have a ton of highend prospects down there. And they're starting
to build the build the shelf.It started with Fenton and and now with
Billy Garan, and they're starting tobuild that to build that stockpile of of
top ends. You see Marco Rossiin the National League Bold, he played
a couple of games in Iowa.But most of the guys that were impactful
for Minnesota that are still in thelineup, they were in Houston, if

(25:55):
they were in the American Hockey League, or they were acquired from somewhere else.
And I think about Milwaukee and youlook at Nashville's roster and they've made
changes, right, There've been tradesand all of this stuff over the years.
But on the current roster you haveassistants who seems to be playing better
than he ever has been. Whichis just amazing. Roman Yosi is a
legitimate superstar in that league. PhilipForsburg is a legitimate superstar in that league.

(26:18):
Yuci Sorros is one of the topthree goaltenders in the world. Like
just in the last handful, Imean, we're going back ten years,
I guess with Roman Yosi and Forstburghfor that matter, but you had and
then more recently Trent and Cole Smithand guys who are contributing on a night
in a night out basis. Andagain they've made some moves and there are
other guys there, you know,Ryan O'Reilly and players like that. But

(26:42):
it's really remarkable what has come throughMilwaukee to move on to be valuable every
night at the worst, better thanaverage every night performers, to superstars,
no question. And you know,and Craig said that to us on this
very show away back when when whenhe when he moved over to the Wild

(27:03):
and yeah, Craig Leopold said saidit was his dream to build a build
a pipeline BETWEENWA and and just likeNashville did. And then he briskly signed
two high price free agents exactly.It was literally it was it was literally
two weeks after he had said onour show, we're looking forward to billing
and you know, hey, Imean think things change when you understand that,

(27:26):
right but boyl boy wow. Butyeah, and I think that their
system is is you know, comingcoming along now. Yeah, yeah,
it is, and and it's niceto see and it's i mean, the
game is better when everybody is betterand all of that, right, So,
but but it's nice to see.I guess I'm highlighting the impact that
Milwaukee has had on Nashville. Andthen the old road to Nashville goes through
Milwaukee and stuff, and but butall of that to get back to Spencer

(27:49):
Stasny, he is going to bea guy who is already in a limited
time, has had such a positiveimpact in Nashville and you can see more.
Absolutely, there's no question about it. We're going to take a break
when we come back. Admiral's LegendFred Barry will join us. You're listening
to Milwaukee Admirals Center ICE. Welcomeback to Milwaukee Admirals Center ICE with Mike
wil Jahowski. I'm Mary in Simms. The Admirals that we should point out
getting ready to hit the road togo to Winnipeg this weekend. Joined now

(28:12):
by, and we're broadcasting from PantherArena, Landmark Credit Union Rink at UW
Milwaukee Panther Arena. And I'm lookingup in the rafters and there's the number
fourteen that belonged to our next guest, Admiral's Legend, Fred Barry, joins
us. Now, Fred, thanksfor the time. How are you happy
Holidays? It's all good, it'sall good. We're in the we're in
the heat of Christmas sales and stuffhere at the Hockey Haven. So as

(28:37):
a as a retail guy, wejust rock and roll right now. A
few years ago, Charlie Larson andI came out to your store, to
Hockey Haven and we did a podcastand it was so much fun. And
I'm walking around the place and Imean, it's been years since I played
it, and I played at avery low level. But it was all
woodsticks and you still have you stillhave woodsticks, or you did at the

(28:59):
time. And I'm walking around andI'm I pick up one of the new
sticks and I pick up a woodstick, and it's just unbelievable to me.
How light. And I tell thisall the time when we're comparing equipment from
ten years ago or when I wasdoing it thirty five years ago to now,
and I'm wondering, like for you, for your teammates when you're playing,

(29:21):
how different the technology is obviously different, but how many more goals?
How many more everything? With youguys think you would have had back in
nineteen eighty two, eighty three ifyou would have used those tools, well,
that team we had back then probablycould have scored four hundred goals with
shovels in their hands. We have, We had a lot of good talented

(29:44):
guys, as you know, Butas far as the technology it, you
know, it hasn't. It hasn'tgone from that wooden stick that you grabbed
to what it is now with nota lot of years of technology in between.
So luckily it's been a gradual changefor most. It hasn't just gone

(30:07):
from wood to a composite stick thatadds fifteen percent here the velocity of your
shot right away. It's come along way. They you know, they've
done a little something every year andthey continue to do that every year.
It's kind of it's like a golfclub, you know, even the old
guys can hit the ball as faras they ever did, you know,

(30:30):
in their career type thing. Becausethe technology is better, so that you
want to use that technology. Itell people all the time, you don't
want to go out with your friendson the golf course and still be that
guy hitting the pursum and wood that'sthirty yards behind all the other guys and
they're not even as good a golferas you. Right, So use the

(30:52):
technology. It's there. Bred howlong has hockey haven't been open. I
was trying to explain it to somebodythe other night. A little over thirty
years. That's amazing. It's amazing. And if you haven't been there,
I mean, if you've even playedin a in an old men's league,
you play, you know, youknow, you've got a you've got a
child that's interested in hockey and andit's joined an organization or thinking about it.

(31:12):
You go see the guys the hockeyhaven, I mean they know their
stuff, right, I mean,you guys are literally you know, I
mean you got in the field.I mean you used to it used to
use the line I mean professional offitting, you know, by hockey players for
hockey players. It was unbelievable.Sure, well, we're would we're a
lot like the like the admirals are. We're a big family here. The

(31:33):
hockey family, as you know,is not a huge one, but it's
uh, it's the tight knit one. And it's it's anybody you've played hockey
with or played for, or beingaround in a dress room or anything.
You know, you'd go to warfor the guys. So that's that's kind
of the way we are too.If we're gonna outfit a kid, we
outfit them just like we'd outfit ourown kid, and and then he's ours

(31:56):
for the rest of his career forsure. Fred Barry joins us, owner
of Hockey Haven and Admiral's Legend.And I you know again that that time
I stopped by there for that podcastand walking around your place and and seeing
and you had told me because Ihad told you that I was in the
process of getting back and doing somestuff and what Wojo just said, beer

(32:17):
league guys whatever. I mean.That's the nice thing. One of the
nice things is that you know newpeople, people my age who may not
have played before or don't understand thetechnology. You guys can help them.
Parents who have young kids that aregetting involved and don't understand everything going on.
That's the nice thing about coming toyour place. Yeah, well we're

(32:37):
we're we're in it for the longrun. We're yeah, exactly, we're
third generation hockey people around here nowthat we've been selling to. So,
yeah, you had a couple moregenerations on there, and you got you
got me. Yes, you dothe old the old fart in the back

(32:58):
sharpening scapes. Yeah, that's right. And then you've done how many I
mean, how many skates pairs ofskates? Are you sharper than your career?
It's funny you should say that,because I do have an answer.
I'm about three hundred and fifty thousand. That's a lot of skates. Then
I'm telling you, do you seriouslylike have a boarder? Or I suppose
you count receipts? We know whatwe know, no, we you know.

(33:22):
I'm a I've always been a numbersguy, and you know you can
figure it out pretty much over averagesof the of a of a year or
a week or sure, you know, we'll we'll do hundreds on a Saturday
and a Sunday. The machines.We got two machines in the back that
don't ever get shut off. Soyou know, those numbers can grow pretty

(33:45):
quickly, and you're not just hockeyanymore. You got lacrosse. Yeah,
I mean you've delved into lacrosse.Well, we done, We dove into
it. We uh uh. Asituation came up where a couple buddies of
mine were very interested in spending somemoney that they had and they and they've
been in the lacrosse business with theirkids and stuff and had a hard time

(34:08):
getting equipment and proposed it to me. And because of the w i AA
sanctioned lacrosse as a women's and men'ssport for high school. Now we think
it's the timing's good. We thinkit's going to explode, so might as

(34:29):
well use the space we got here. Yeah, and you do have the
space, which it's a it's anamazing shop, amazing store. But is
I mean, can you recall lacrosse? I mean, when I was a
kid, there was no such thing, And if there was, it was
in eastern New York and that wasupstate New York, and that was it.
Syracuse, that was it. Andnow it's just I can't I can't

(34:51):
think of a sport that's grown fasterthan lacrosse. Has over the last decade.
Funny you should say that because inEdmonton, Calgary, Vancouver it was
pretty big when I was uh itwas you know, in school and we
all did it in uh gym classat some time. And I had a

(35:13):
few guys that were pretty good juniorhockey players that went on and played with
like the Vancouver or the yeah,the British Columbia Sam and Bellies and guys
like that. Pro Teams were inbox across, which is a fascinating game
because it's just like hockey. Youonly can smash guys with your stick anywhere

(35:35):
below the neck and above the waist. And they fought a lot, so
it was obviously very exciting games.Yeah, yeah, it was. It
was big out west, and itwas big out east, and in between
it wasn't that big. So you'reright saying it was East coast, but
it was also West coast too,so so parents and grandparents that who are
listening, you know, you say, okay, you know you're you know,

(35:59):
you're a professional hockey player that youget fitted by hockey players for hockey
players, et cetera, et cetera, And they don't have any clue.
They just know their seven year oldplays hockey. You know you could still
take care of them, can't you, by all means that's that's that's better
because they're they're not they're not destroyedby somebody else trying to tell them about

(36:21):
the game that really might not knowenough to depict it properly. So,
you know, most of the peopleyou like any kind of sales job,
you have to win them over yourselfbefore you sell them anything. So you
just have to be brutally honest witheverybody and tell them what great kids it
makes, which it does, andand the camaraderie of the game and everything

(36:44):
that goes along with it, andthe honesty and integrity of of what the
kids learn and gain is is,you know, beyond any other sport in
the world. Real quick to wrapthings up, two things, One hours
of operation? When can people comeand see you days and all of that
stuff? And two where is thepicture of you as a kid with Gordi?

(37:07):
How in the car I saw Hallof Fame room? That's that's we
we like to We actually like toshow the newer people that Hall of Fame
room and give them a little backgroundabout the people here and what brought you
know, some of the great peoplewith those with their pictures on that wall

(37:27):
to Milwaukee. And yeah, there'sa picture of me and Gordy Howe riding
in the Kwondike Day Parade when Iwas six years old in the Hall of
Fame room, which we always tellthe story about. And uh, you
know, beyond that, we gotwe got fish tanks for the kids.
We got little knee hockey you know, area for the kids to play around

(37:51):
with, so the kids can keepbusy and the parents can be attentive to
what we're trying to teach them.You know, I'm trying to get them
to learn a little bit about thegame and get you know, into it
like the rest of us. Soin one of the hours to the holidays,
Freddy, Yeah, holiday location.Yeah, we're we're open on the

(38:12):
weekends. We're open seven days aweek, So weekends are nine thirty to
four and Mondays through Fridays ten thirtyto eight, and we sharpen all the
time. It's as you wait,and basically that's about it. Seven days
a week. We're well weekend Warriors. Sounds great, Freddy, very good,
Yeah, fred Happy holidays, Thankyou so much for doing this.

(38:35):
We really appreciate it. Pleasure,guys, Thank you, take care.
That's Fred Barry. Go see himat Hockey Haven, one North Janisick Road.
That sound right to you. Yesagain, right off of Blue Mount
woke open seven days a week.Yah, right off of Blue Mount.
The store is incredible. It reallymoved. They moved. They were across

(38:57):
the way in a smaller shop,right and then they bought the three four
years ago. I think this isa third different, Okay, and it's
but it was a huge, greatopportunity and you know you said in this
facility is unbelievable. Yeah, it'sfantastic. So go see them at Thehockeyhaven
dot com by the way is whereyou can find it. But type it

(39:19):
into your Google and you'll be ableto find hockey Haven over there. And
uh, fantastic and Fred Berry isone of the best. We'll take a
break, we'll come back and wrapthings up. You're listening to Milwaukee Admirals
Center Ice. Welcome back to MilwaukeeAdmirals Center Ice with Mike wil Jehowski.
I'm Aaron Simms. Thanks to Admiral'shead coach Carl Taylor, defenseman Spencer's Dasney
and Admiral's legend, Fred Barry.You go to visit him at Hockey Haven
thehockeyhn dot com. If you aren'ton the Admirals mailing list email blasts,

(39:45):
get on them. Because the twelveDays of Deals going on right now.
Today is Day eleven, so youcan hurry up and get one more.
But today the deal of the dayand it goes until midnight. You can
buy one ticket, get one freefor the Admiral's game Wednesday, December twentieth
against Iowa. That is Hockey FightsCancer Night. It's a summerfest, winning

(40:06):
and winning weekday, all of thatgoing on on Wednesday, December twentieth.
It will be the Admiral's final homegame before the Christmas break, so you
can buy one get one free inany gray, Navy or light blue sections
to the Wednesday, December twentieth game. Go to Milwaukee Admirals dot com and
take part of the Twelve Days ofDeals. Day twelve will be tomorrow on

(40:27):
the Admiral's website, Milwaukee Admirals dotcom. So there we go. Excellent
advice or excellent advice we go.Also follow the Admirals on all the social
media channels and such there's always somethinggood going on there. Mentioned the twentieth
the Hockey Fight's Cancer Night. It'sthat's a really always a special night.

(40:49):
And we'll we'll have that and thenback in action at home on the twenty
seventh and the thirtie, and thenthen you know, and then we roll
back into the week of hockey.Yes, that's phenomenal. You know,
you're right after the holidays, youknow, you get we play twenty seven
and thirty and then and the Badgersare at the five serve twenty nine.
Yeah. And by the way,we did that on purpose, so hockey
hockey people can just literally just havean entire get downtown, get four days

(41:13):
of fun, four days in arow in downtown Milwaukee watching hockey. Yeah.
And uh, you know we talkedTodd Moleski last week. The Badgers
they're doing okay, Yeah, it'sunreal house. You know what we should
mention too. Tony Granado, whosefamily his sister did this radio show several

(41:34):
years ago, and Bailey his niece, Bailey Wellhouse and his niece to broadcast
games with me. And she's thehead coach over at MSOE now for the
women's team. Tony Granado announced thathe's suffering from leukemia and he's taking a
break. So we we extend ourbest wishes certainly to him because he's one
of the really good people, oneof the really good families. Phenomenal.

(41:55):
Yeah, I want to want topass along well wished is there and obviously
hope for the best. So sadnews, but I mean, Tony Grenado
has been through some stuff in hislife. He can, he can,
he can, if anybody can doit, he can, absolutely, he
absolutely. What do we need totalk about here? No, I just
you know, I feel said,Yeah, you're you're all over, Debbie,

(42:16):
we got you know, just goon. If if you're looking for
a gift for an admiral fan onyour list, go on the website.
Check out the merch you got ticketpackages, We've got all kinds of great
things. But I will tell youour our line of merchandise is second to
none. Yep, yep, it'sphenomenal. On agree. So again,
as world you mentioned, visit MilwaukeeAdmirals dot com. You can find out

(42:37):
all about it, the upcoming schedule, the promotional schedule, the concerts coming
up, so many things to findout. Milwaukee Admirals dot Com thanks for
listening to Milwaukee Admirals Center ICE.We'll talk to you next week.