10/02/23 - Admirals Center Ice

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hello, and welcome to Milwaukee AdmiralCenter Ice with Mike wil Jahowski. I'm

(00:03):
Aaron Sims and now we've got hockeyin Milwaukee. Boys are in town.
They'll start practicing tomorrow. Wojo,It's Christmas all over again. It's just
great, isn't it. I justlove it. It's it's really cool.
You know, if you you know, you start seeing I said, uh,
you know, like there are guysthat there's been so much focus on

(00:24):
what's going on in Nashville, rightand and so much focus coming out of
Nashville, and this is the newswe're getting on the first rounders, the
Camels and Evangelisa wasn't a first rounder, but it was a second rounder and
it showed extremely well obviously last year. And Thomasino and and then the younger
the Lea Ruse and the Svetch Coughsand Afanasi of and all of this,

(00:44):
and you forget about some of theseother guys that were signed a long time
ago. And like one of theguys as as they put the list out,
Anthony Angelo coming back to Milwaukee callO'Reilly. Of course, we spoke
to him a couple of weeks ago. Cark Savage, who showed well for
Rockford the last couple of seasons ruggedforward. He was a teammate of Del
Gaizos at Amherst when they won achampionship a couple of seasons ago. Reid

(01:08):
Schaeffer's a former first rounder and Iguess they've been paying attention to him.
But a guy that that fell offmy radar for whatever reason, and it's
completely my fault. It is thyfellerber Ty fellerber Is had signed last off
season or early in the off seasonto come back to Milwaukee, and uh,
like, I completely blank. Butthink about last season, some big

(01:30):
goals in March when when all thoseguys were gone and he was on your
power play unit. He scored alot of big goals for this team.
He big. You know, it'stoo bad his name wasn't James, because
he would have been big game James, right like exactly Yea, But boy,
you know you had to get aseven a casual Admiral's fan who likes

(01:53):
looked, you know, gone bythe website and sea seen some names the
twenty seven people that I sent backlast you had to excite. There's a
lot of name you're looking at.Boy, at least you know, I
mean twenty two of them. You'resaying, boy, I know that name
exactly exactly right now. Yeah,you look at there's four goalies in camp.
A Skaroff and Troy Gross, Nickobviously, Gustavs Greegals who was here

(02:14):
at the end of last season,and Dylan Wells who played for Rockford in
Texas and has an NHL game withthe Blackhawks. And so you've got a
deep room there on defense. Andwe'll talk with Kevin Gravell in just a
little bit, but you also haveJordan Gross, Spencer Stassny, Roland McEwen,
Keaton Thompson, and Adam Willsby whowere here all of last season,
throwing Jake Livingston who joined the Predatorsat the end of last year. Griffin

(02:37):
Loose who's been around for a littlebit. Griffin his grandfather was Don Luis,
played long, long time in theNHL, and his dad is the
director of amateur scouting for Vegas,Scott Louse. You've got Luke Prokop who
was here a bit last last yearat the beginning. Jack McTeer who was
here at the end of the season, who everybody fell in love with from

(02:58):
what he did in juniors up front, and Avron Mutter back over for another
year. Kevin Wall. They signedout a Penn State Jasper Weatherbee who split
last year with San Jose and andGrand Rapids and his fifty NHL games on
his resume, and we mentioned alot of the other guys. Zachary le
Roux, Oh yeah, does zacomCondoleik is back. Does it appear to

(03:19):
you that they're a little more grittedto this team, Yeah, at least
on paper. Yeah, well Angelois here from the outset, right,
So that's that's gonna help. ZacharyLeroue certainly has the he's gotten and and
let's say earned the Brad Marshawn reputationfor his time in the Quebec Major League.
So yeah, Mutter, I'm anxiousto see how we talked so much

(03:44):
about rookie the first year, andcertainly that's a big jump. But then
year one to year two is likethat's where the growth takes place. I
think, because you go under yourit should like you understand a little bit
more. You went through the rigorsof this season and how to take care
of your body and how to allof the those things, right, would
you agree, yes, right,So you know, let's see what Mutter
can do, Let's see what whoknows, maybe Evangelista's back here eventually.

(04:08):
I don't see it at the beginning, but I always go back. And
a more recent example is last yearwith Yu so parsonon. But I always
go back to Nick spaul years ago, right exactly like nobody saw him coming
down. He comes down for acouple of games to start the year.
They had to sort some things out, whether it was injuries or it was
a trade or whatever it was inNashville, and he went up after coming

(04:30):
down here. Every shot he tookin practice was hard. I mean,
I've never seen anybody practice like NickSpauling did for that week in and he
never came back. And and Parsonand I guess who would degree the same
way last year. You know there'sgoing to be And by the way,
Nashville claimed a player off of waiversearlier today, Samuel Fagimo, who plays

(04:53):
for the LA He played for theLA Kings. He played a handful of
games. He'd been a twenty goldguy in the American League with on Terius
one hundred and fifty games in thein the American Hockey League with Ontario,
So I'm curious where he shakes out. He's a guy who's known as a
guy who can create his own shot, and he's got an above average shot.
So does he stick in Nashville oris he ticketed for here? Does

(05:15):
he get claimed again by the Kingsand go back to Ontario, whatever the
situation is. But he's a youngman, he was he's twenty three years
old. So now you've got againa lot of names thrown in and not
a lot of jobs. You havean ECHL affiliate, a full time ECHL
affiliate this year, which I thinkmakes things a little easier for cuts.

(05:35):
Maybe I don't I don't know thatthey're you have property right, they're not.
They're not free to join anybody else. So it's a it's a real
double A. Yeah, I justfor some reason, and maybe it's the
hangover from last year, but Ifeel so good about training camp starting tomorrow.
I know it's always nice to havean extra goalie around. It takes
some shots during training camp at twoextra goalies, right right, that's a

(05:58):
that's a I think and with withyou know, Griegals was a guy who
was basically the captain at Lowell thelast couple of years. Everybody says he's
just a champ among men. Andand then you had Dylan Wells, like
I said, who has shown wellin this league for the last couple of
seasons. So yeah, that's anice it's a position of power. Plus
there's going to be apparently another goaliefrom Atlanta that Atlanta had signed the Admiral's

(06:24):
affiliate HL affiliate who's going to bein camp. So there's gonna be five
goalies total in camp when when thingsget going tomorrow morning at Panther Arena.
Wow. So yeah, like that'sthere are worse problems to have. Oh,
absolutely, no question about it,no question about it. But it
is interesting though, Yeah, itis. It's in the in the experience

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on defense, it's just phenomenal.You love that, right, Like you
have to love that, you don'tyou don't want the young, young,
young defense. Yeah, it's niceto you know, Stasney's got a year,
Willisby's got a year. Del guyswho's got a couple, and you
can live with that. But whenyou can have three four guys who have
been in the league for six eightyears, that's that's nice to have.

(07:13):
Guys who know how to do it, guys who guys who know how to
pull guys other guys along. Ithink that's really really big. I think
the and the one that got gotlost in the mix last year, and
and you know, and you don'teven you kind of take him for granted.
It was Keaton Thomson the perfect extradefenseman because I mean he's he's a
he's a veteran. He doesn't uhhe you know, he's not going to

(07:35):
sit and MOPI he's if he's ahealthy scratch. He he knows his role
on the team. And and youknow, he gets and he gets a
bunch of games. I mean,and and he produced. I mean I
he there were times last year hewas our best defenseman. Yeah. And
that's the saying a lot considering nokidding, defense no kidding the end,
the amount of guys that played inthe NHL last year, no doubt about.

(07:57):
I mean, you know, hecarried I mean he really when when
you know the likes of Gravelle andI mean in gross and McCune, we're
up, we're up top. Imean he was the guy here. Yeah,
yeah, he was. I rememberhe ended that fourteen fifteen round shootout
in Rockford though one time, right, So that that was that was awesome.
So yeah, lots of things tobe excited for when camp gets going

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tomorrow. We're gonna talk more aboutthat coming up in our next segment with
as Admiral's head coach Carl Taylor willjoin us, and we'll also hear a
little bit later on with a guywill you mention a bit ago, Kevin
Gravel. We're gonna take a break, come back with Carl Taylor. You're
listening to Milwaukee Admiral Center ICE.Welcome back to Milwaukee Admiral Center ICE.
I'm Aaron Simms. We're joined nowby the head coach of the Milwaukee Admiral's
Carl Taylor. Carl It the summerflew by. Normally. I told this

(08:43):
to Scott Ford last week that normallywe have a chance to talk once or
twice. It didn't happen this year. Everything went by and in a blur
here this this past summer. Yeah, well that's a good thing. When
you play long, you try toavoid each other. Yeah, during a
little bit of time off, becauseyou've already spent a lot of time together.
So it did go by long,obviously, we had a great run

(09:05):
in a good season, and everyonewas trying to get some family time and
time away from this sport that weenjoy. But we definitely are looking forward
to the new year. As it'sapproaching here shortly, you know that it's
going to come up again once ortwice. But the season that the Admiral's
had last year was really special.We've had some time away now. I'm

(09:28):
just curious your reflections on the twentytwo twenty three season. Yeah, I
think overall, when you look atit, we had a solid year.
Obviously, Nashville Maade moves to movesome people out, which created a void,
and everyone knows the story of ourroster changing drastically. We survived that
time, which it could have wenta different way, for sure. We

(09:50):
were fortunate to find some good playersand find a way through it. And
then we had a great playoff run. We could have We lost the Palm
Springs in the conference finals. Wecould have, but we didn't. And
but it doesn't tamper us. We'rethe third last team remaining when we got
eliminated, and then you know,and then Hers and pomp Springs had an

(10:11):
outstanding Colder Cup Finals going to overtimein Game seven, so it was really
close all the way through. Alot of growth for the players and a
lot of growth for our staff internally. So we're you know, it's it's
the season snuck up on me.I don't know how you feel. I'm
slowly getting wrapped up to it.I know in two days we're going to
be on the ice, but it'sit's taken longer than normal, and I

(10:35):
think that's just a bit of theprocess. I can't even imagine what Tampa
Bay is doing with after going threefinals. Yeah, I wholeheartedly agree.
And I've talked to a few playersthis summer and they said that shockingly that
their workout routines anything like that,that hasn't changed too much, even though
the team played into June, andI was just stunned by that. And

(10:56):
I know that they take a coupleof weeks off immediately after the Sea season,
but still, it's it's pretty amazing. Although, as I hear from
what's been going on in Nashville,camp has been phenomenal. Yeah, I
know, we've been there for awhile. Obviously, we just got home
yesterday, so our staff has beendown there. We helped run the rookie

(11:16):
camp and then assisted in the coachingstaff and management throughout the last two weeks
in the Whever area. They askedus to it or anything we could have,
but no, the guys look goodand a lot of the players from
last year's team that got opportunities areshowing well. It'll be interesting to see
how things shake out this year,whether it's who starts in Milwaukee, who

(11:37):
starts in Nashville, how that proceedsthroughout the season. I think there's a
lot of a lot of different waysit could go for a number of players.
For us, we're very focused onthe group we have here. You
know, obviously we're going to havegood goaltending and good defense. We will
have a little bit of a challengejust having use in our forward group amount

(12:00):
that we do by six rookies,whatever the number is, it's going to
be a youthful group, but avery talented group. But you know,
there's always some learning curve with that, which we understand and we accept that
as we move forward, and we'relooking forward to working with some of the
top talented young fowards that we havein the stable. Admiral's head coach Carl
Taylor joining us in Milwaukee Admiral Center. Ice. Much has been made about

(12:22):
Andrew Brunette and fast and all funis what the quotes keep coming out,
And I'm just curious because you playthe same brand, I'm just curious how
similar you guys are, do youyou know, people always want to know,
do you have to play the samesystems? Do you have to use
the same lingo all of that stuff? With a new coach in Nashville,
Yeah, I think obviously they're sellingthat message is a big selling point for

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Andrew coming in. There are somechanges that we're going to make, but
overall, it's probably eighty percent howwe played right since I've gotten here,
Aaron, So there'll be some slightadjustments, you know, I've negotiate it's
still to have a little bit ofroom as a coach to make adjustments and
to not follow one hundred percent,because that's important, just to have some

(13:09):
room to win games in the momentwhen you need to based on what the
other team is doing and what's occurring. So Nashville has been great and always
given me that opportunity to make surethat I have that. But you know,
Andrews trying to making a stamp inNashville. Totally respect that I would
be doing the same thing. Andyou know, it's like differences from how
we've played in the past. There'sa there's a there's a little difference in

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some areas. So obviously I'm notgoing to say everything, but there is
probably ten fifteen, twenty percent differencefrom how we played. But mostly it's,
you know, seventy five eighty percentthe way we've been playing for a
long time, so our players willbe used to it that are returning.
The emphasis will be in certain areasa little stronger, and I think that's
the biggest point, is just wewill be pushing the group in different areas

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a little firmer, whereas maybe ouremphasizing points we're in different areas in the
past. And this might be asilly question or even a generic question,
but we always talk about the details. Is that kind of the thing?
Here is just a couple of smalldetails that when you'd say you've got to
push them in a certain way,just a couple of small things. Well,

(14:15):
the new zone always changes with everycoach. That's typical how you get
for checking the news zone. Soeveryone's got thrown belief there and we've always
followed Nashville in that area because it'san area that coaches will make differences as
for checking and all these other areas. It's it's very similar how most teams
play these days. It's how thecoach sells a message and what they're looking

(14:35):
for at certain areas and how muchrisk they're willing to take. I think
is the term to use, thegray area that coaches look at. So
the risk reward is always a challengefor coaches when they're in the moment of
winning games, are trying to produceor push a team through. You know,
Andrews coming in and Barry's coming intoa new situation. They're trying to

(14:58):
change a little bit of mindset therein Nashville, and they will have some
leeway there to do that. Obviously, with us, we still need to
win. We're committed to our fansin Milwaukee to put on a winning product
as always as is Nashville. Youcan tell that by how they've signed players
and produced the team that we havegoing into this season this year. It's

(15:22):
been a great culture here in Milwaukeefor the five years I've been here,
with the Scott Nichol and David Coyle, but now Barry's stepping in, so
I think they'll be very consistent withhow we've done things since Scott is still
with the organization and obviously our generalmanager in Milwaukee. So I think you'll
see the consistency. You'll see somechanges in areas, and you'll see the

(15:46):
players really focused on playing a certainstyle that's exciting. And you know,
if you look back kind of whenI got the job, I remember I
was talking about scoring and having funand having the players, you know,
make decisions, and that's a similarmessage from Andrew. We're just going to
go back to it a little strongernow. Yeah, you know, speaking

(16:07):
of exciting, I was excited tosee when the first batch of cuts it
came around that Mark del Geiso wasstill in Nashville. I think the world
of that young man, and Ijust I love the way his game has
progressed over his two plus years asa professional athlete. You mentioned the youth

(16:27):
you may have upfront as forwards,but your defense, it looks like it's
going to be almost the same,except Mark is still up at the moment,
which is great for him. Yeah, there's going to be I believe
we have eleven defenseman in camp,So that's it's a high number. There's
going to be some difficult decisions withthat, but it is a lot of

(16:48):
the same guys from last year's returningat this current time. Mark has been
great and the new coaches staff haveenjoyed him and they want to take a
longer book at him. So that'sgreat for him. And like you said,
he's a great kid, great family. We've got to know his brother,
his dad's been down for the dadtrips, and just wonderful people.
He earns everything he gets, sovery happy for him. An exciter for

(17:14):
him to have an extended state oror to stay there and start in Nashville.
I'm not sure how it's going toend, or how it's going to
season is going to start for him, or how Nashville's going to move forward.
They'll make those decisions as we're movingthrough our camp. But you know,
you know how we do it herein Milwaukee, Eric, We coach
everybody that's herest our abilities to getthe most out of them and to assist

(17:36):
them in improving your games. Andthat's never going to change that. That
group from last year, and therewas fifteen players I think that went back
and forth between Nashville and Milwaukee lastseason, specifically those guys first year to
second year. Have you, I'massuming you saw quite a bit of growth
with those young men in this trainingcamp compared to last. I always find

(17:56):
it, I find it difficult toevaluate training camps. So you have to
because of what's the correct Sometimes youknow, if it's an intern squad game
or a Gold Blue game, youknow a guy like Karen, is you
going to go out and crunch aguy and run a guy over? It's
it's kind of changed from twenty yearsago, as we all know, those

(18:17):
those types of situations are more difficult. So depending on the type of the
player you are, you kind ofwait for your exhibition games against the opposing
teams so you can assert yourself andyou can see that like Mac fights Waddy
in the game against Tampa in Nashville. So it's it helps some people,
and it's probably a detriment that somepeople camps are now, but it's really

(18:40):
interesting to try to see how itprogresses because everyone should have targets. And
I've always said those the players youknow, who are you fighting for that
last spot. I think there's twentysix bodies in Nashville, Radow allowed to
start with twenty three. Sometimes they'vestarted with twenty two. Who knows is
there are three more cuts or fourmore cuts? How they're going about it,

(19:02):
Maybe there's moves to be made,you know, and knows of how
they're going to finish it. OnlyBarry management staff will know what they're planning
or how they're moving forward. SoI think any in the end, you
have to identify who you're competing withand when you're giving those opportunities within the
training camp environment. You know,whether it's Carl Taylor in a battle's real

(19:22):
with Scott Ford see more, fightingfor the last spot on defense. Well,
if that's the situation, and Iknow that's probably the writing on the
wall, you better bringing in thatmoment. Maybe that's an opportunity to try
to show people that you deserve itmore than the other person, and the
other person should be thinking the samething. So those moments don't occur as
often, but everyone should have targetswhen they're in camp, knowing where they're

(19:45):
slotted, how they can move up, or how they can become the first
call up or the second call up, or try to identify people in and
you're not hoping they do that,But if you get an opportunity to compete
against them or to go straight upagainst someone and it is someone you see
as a target, you have totake advantage of that opportunities so that you
rise above absolutely absolutely last one slashtwo for you here. The veteran presence.

(20:08):
Cole Schneider was here for a longtime. Not here anymore, signing
with Chicago in this offseason. ButCal O'Reilly is in Milwaukee, he was
here thirteen years ago. Troy grossNick is back. You had obviously a
lot of young men that have beenon the team. You've got Kevin Grivell
and Roland McEwen and players like thatcurrently on the roster. I mean,

(20:29):
there's there's plenty of leadership to goaround. But the additions in particular of
Troy and Cal to this team.What does that mean for you as a
coach? Yeah, I would saybefore I talk about who we have,
I think we need to recognize Cooleand three and a half four years whatever
the total was that he was withus. We worked very closely together.

(20:51):
I have the highest regard, inthe utmost respect for what he did for
our organization. During this time asa player on and off the ice.
This is the whole situation. Everythinghe did to support us is something I'll
never forget and I will never forgetthat relationship. It was really important to
me as a coach. I wishhim the best, obviously not against us,

(21:12):
but we do wish him the verybest because he deserves nothing but success.
And you'll be remembered as a solidAdamal for a very very long time
in my opinion. So with thewe have a great veteran group coming back.
I'm always excited when there's a groupsomewhat of some numbers that has been
here and understands how we operate andcan also push us to change. And

(21:34):
so I think we have that.Cal will be a new person. Obviously
he's not new to the organization,but he's new to me, so that'll
be fresh ideas. And we're alsolooking to get some younger bodies into that
group. Potentially we'll see how everythingplays out, but you know a guy
that's good with Anthony Angelo add tothat group as guy who at the deadline.
So we got some really solid,caring older group who really care what

(22:00):
they do and how things are operated. So that's great for a coaching staff.
We can really turn the room overto them and feel comfortable with them
driving it. You know, wehave to decide how we're going to move
forward with the leadership group and howwe do that. Obviously there's a returning
assistant happens here, but with Colemoving on, we have to decide how
we're going to move forward with thecaptaincy. You know this will be the

(22:22):
last one because you bring up AnthonyAngelo and that's a good point. And
I got to admit lost in thesummer for me was that ty Felber was
back. I mean, there areyou're going to have a lot of You
mentioned the eleven defenseman, but allaround, you're going to have a lot
of competition, and you talk aboutguys having targets. Who do you have
to beat out? There are someguys that had some good feelings in Milwaukee
last season. They want to obviouslycontinue that and make it better. Yeah,

(22:48):
like it never ends. Like hockeyis such a hard sport to play
generally, and difficult and hard tocarve out your niche, and you know
it never ends. So you you'rein when you're in training camp, you're
trying to fight for everything. Youcan guess if you go through that process,
Okay, you get a signed toMilwaukee. You know the messaging from

(23:08):
Barry leaving Milwaukee, I was insome of the meeting exists. Now you
have to go with Bake Milwaukee,And that was a message to a first
round pick to americanly contract to someonewho's been here for a couple of years.
The message is very clear that Barrywants to base things on merits,
and we love that we've been ableto do that over the years based on
how Scott has managed and rewarded somepeople with call ups around that. So

(23:33):
for me that's exciting. But it'swhen it's based on merit, you're never
ever going to stop fighting for something, whether it's holding what you have,
getting more special teams, getting moreice time. Everyone wants more, and
that's that's what creates the environment thatwe're trying to have a positive pure rivalries
where you have people pushing each otherto get better in a positive moment.

(23:56):
No thing you're only going to getalong, that's okay, but you're going
to push each other to try toreach levels that you didn't know you could.
So hopefully we can create that andwe can assist the players a building
that within Milwacker Room. Practice beginson Tuesday in Milwaukee. Carl, great
to talk to you, Thanks somuch for this time here. Thank you,
Eric. Have a great day.All right, Admiral's head coach,
Carl Taylor, We're back in amoment. This is Milwaukee Admiral Center Ice.

(24:19):
Welcome back to Milwaukee Admiral Center Icewith Michael Jahouskiamaran Simms. And you
look at the roster twenty seven playersassigned by a parent club Nashville yesterday to
Milwaukee. And you look at thatroster, Will, Joe and it you
have to have a big smile onyour face when you see the goalie from
last year is back. Troy Grossnik, who was the man of the Year
in this league a couple of yearsago, is back on in goal.

(24:42):
And then on defense, you havesix or seven guys who were here last
season from Good Chunk. Absolutely,it gives you that, Okay, we
got some experience back there, We'vegot some leadership, and this guy we're
talking to right now is a big, big, big key to the in
Milwaukee and Nashville. For that man, no question, I tell you what

(25:03):
he did not embarrass himself in Nashvilleand it was terrific. I just thought
it was an incredible stint. Yeah, he had a wonderful season and looking
for more this year. From defensemanKevin Grivell, who joins US now,
Kevin, thanks for the time,How was summer, how's everything going?
Uh? Thanks for having me,guys's it was good. You know,
it was quick for a good reason, obviously, with a little rum who

(25:25):
went on there, so you know, you'd take a little bit of time
to recharge the batteries and then justhop right back into it. So obviously
an exciting time of the year.Got back to Milwaukee last night, so
you know, it's exciting to beback and things get uh you know,
kicked off officially forced tomorrow, soit'll be good to uh to get going
here and kind of get that littlenervous energy out. So when the season

(25:51):
goes all the way to the firstweek of June or even in the second
week of June, when when doyou like actually start skating again, or
when do you actually look at yourskates again? Because I can't imagine with
the run you guys had and everythingthat that you went through last season,
and they up and down and justan incredible season that you were going to
be awfully fired up to touch thosethings till at least you know, mid

(26:14):
July. So but what what didyou actually start skating again? It was
right around then. To be honest, usually I try to Yeah, I
took a little bit longer off thisyear than normal. I took a little
over a month at a few yourbumps and bruises that needed to heal there
from our little run. So,yeah, we got home. We stuck

(26:34):
around for maybe about a week afterour season ended in Milwaukee here, then
drove back, drove back home,sawfin family and things like that. So
you know, it took a littletime to just kind of recharge and get
away for a bit and what everythingheal And then once uh yeah, probably
you know, we'round mid July startedgetting back into the gym a little bit,
and then maybe a week after that, back on the ice a couple

(26:56):
times a week and just kind oftry to find your bearings out there again.
It's crazy how quick, Yeah,you lose everything, so you try
to get that back underneath you.And then as summer kind of goes along
there, you just kind of gothrough your normal progressions of of you know,
just getting ready to go for forwhen it's time to go to camp.
I don't want you to give awayanything you're not comfortable with giving away.
But we always here at the endof the season when a coach or

(27:18):
at GM does his press conference andhe throws out so and so ripped his
shoulder out, and and so andso was playing with a broken finger,
and this guy had a broken footand all like was the list like that
in Milwaukee. Maybe not specifically foryou, but but maybe for you.
Yeah, there were guys that wereplaying through quite a bit. I think.
I know personally, I broke myankle in game three I think against

(27:44):
Winnipeg in the first round there.So that took a little bit of time
to heal once the season was done, just because I never really got you
know, the full rest peers thatit probably needed. So that's kind of
why it took a little bit longeroff too. We just let that heal
up. So yeah, I meanthat's just kind of comes with the territory
of when you know you're playing inlate June like that and playing for something
that you work you know all yearfour, you know, guys play through

(28:07):
things. That's that's uh. Youknow, maybe they usually wouldn't if it
were November, December or I haveyou so, but you know, like
I said, that's just part ofit. Guys. Guys are sacrificing for
one another. So you know,it makes everything, uh, you know,
that much more special if you doend up coming out on top in
the end. New GM in Nashville, new coach in Nashville, and already

(28:33):
from all appearances, an incredible culturein Nashville. Uh, you know,
even prior to this season, howwere things different in camp? How was
it? Was it just a differentfield or what? What? What would?
Uh? How was everything in Nashvillefor the for the camp experience?
Oh, it was good, itwas it was. It was a little
bit different then. I mean,I guess I only experienced one other camp

(28:55):
in Nashville, but it was alittle bit different. You know. The
accesses were a little bit different,I guess, a little bit different.
I don't know if set up isthe right word, but a little bit
different purpose behind it. I guessyou could say I think they were more
up and down in terms of ofof skating, you know, just getting

(29:15):
up and down the ice a littlequicker, whereas last year maybe a little
bit more you know, battle drillsand and uh what have you. Things
like that. Both herds in theirown rights, both different types of heart.
But it was good. I think. You know, anytime you know
there's change, guys come in witha little bit of you know, new

(29:37):
energy, a little bit you knowof excitement because no one really knows what
to expect. And it was youknow, it was the same for for
the guys who are going to bein Milwaukee as it was for the guys
who are obviously fixtures in Nashville.No one really knew what to expect,
so I think everyone was kind of, you know, excited to get things
going and just to see kind ofhow everything was going to play out.
Admiral's defenseman Kevin Grivel joining us inMilwaukee, Admiral's center Rice with camp and

(30:02):
they used all of these terms fastand fun. We heard from players they're
after practices and things like that.I we just spoke with Carl Taylor about
the differences between him and what AndrewBrunette wants to do, and he says
it's about eighty eighty five percent thesame, So it's really what you guys
have been doing for the most partis what you guys will start tomorrow here
in Milwaukee. Yeah. Yeah,there are a lot of similarities to how

(30:26):
we played in Milwaukee last year toto how you know, uh, Bruno
wants to play up and up inNashville, and that's you know, kind
of playing fast, playing with thepuck and and creating, creating things offensively.
You know, you look, youlook to push and really not not
try to flow the game down awhole lot. And and that requires a
lot of skating and it requires guysto be uh, you know, in

(30:48):
pretty good shape. So you know, that was pretty pret apparent throughout camp
there that there is going to bea lot of skating and you know,
it's it's a fun way to play. Like you touched on him already,
know, you're up and down theice. Everyone wants to play on the
offensive offensive zone. So ultimately that'sthe goal is you know, to create
a lot offense with this. Soyou know, we, like you said,

(31:10):
we did do it a lot inMilwaukee last year. It's pretty smilar
in the late Kake he wants toplay, so you know, hopefully with
with there being a little bit offamiliarity with that. It just makes the
transition a little bit easier. Yeah, and like you said, everybody wants
to play offense. I mean thisis nothing new when hockey, right,
I mean this is you know,there's always trends. Right, There's some

(31:30):
team won with a bunch of sixfive monsters, so everybody goes to be
it has to fill up a rosterof six five monsters. But then the
next team won with fast and skilland all of this stuff, so everybody
tries to load fast and scale.I mean, it is a game that
follows trends, but at the sametime, playing north and getting into the
offensive zone. That's pretty simple.That's that's hockey one on one really,

(31:51):
it's just a matter of how youdo it. Yeah, it is.
I mean that's the end goal isis pretty much to play in the other
team zone and you know obvious,so you have to outscore the other game.
So you know, it's it's hockeyis really a simple game when you
break it down like that. Imean, obviously I'm biased, but there's
still something to be said to uh, you know, the defensive side of
the game and you know, doingwhat you can to keep the puck out

(32:14):
her night. You don't want toobviously winning game, you know, six
five, five, four, whathave you. So, uh, you
know, there's there's still you know, there's still obviously work to be done
on that side of the ice.But when it's all said and done,
you know, it's a fast,fast brand of hockey and and you know,
an exciting brand of hockey, andit's one that that is definitely fun
to play well. And I'll tellyou what I look at. I think

(32:35):
it was your first goal last seasonwith Milwaukee, Uh, jumping into the
play right, like, yeah,it's you can handle that. Yeah,
it's great to play defense and allof that, but but it's nice to
be in there and and snap onein. Yeah, one of one of
few. Not too hard to rememberthose. Well, that's all right,
there's there's nothing wrong with that.Yeah, you uh, it's good.

(32:58):
It is good to have the freedomto be able to do to do that,
you know, to be the fourthguy in on the rush or or
you know, maybe hang out alittle actually longer and in the ozone or
go a little lower than then youmight feel comfortable with and know that that's
acceptable. So yeah, you know, it kind of just proves that it's
very similar to what you know wehave been doing here in Milwaukee. So
you know, we obviously we're successfulwith the last year, and there's gonna

(33:21):
be some tweaks I'm sure this year, and you know, things that happen
throughout the year. But it isa little comforting knowing that, like I
said before, that you know we'vewe've done that system before, so hopefully
or similar systems, so hopefully iteases the transition when we when we get
going here in our trainingcamp. I'mcurious, Kevin, because I think to

(33:42):
most people, they see lineups acertain way. There's a checking line,
and there's a you know, scoringscoring one, scoring two, all of
this stuff, and then defenceman.I think so many people see the pairs
as a steady, stay at homeguy and a gambler. Do you think
that's kind of how how it hasbeen and maybe that's how you've been paired
up in your career or is thatkind of an antiquated or maybe too basic

(34:07):
look at how things are done.No, I think it. I think
it can be both ways. Ithink obviously, in terms of lines and
pairings, you're trying to find guyswho work well together. And and sometimes
in the back end that's a guywho is is you know, a good
puck mover and jumps up into theplay and kind of create offensively. Sometimes

(34:28):
he pairs well with a guy whois a little bit more you know,
I don't know if reserved is theright word, but maybe steady or heavy
in their defensive zone and you know, one more team to play in that
zone, you know. So it'snot odd for guys like that to mesh
well just because one guy's strength isthe other guy's weakness. And but at
the same time, the way thegame is going today and where it's that

(34:50):
you need to be able to kindof do everything. Obviously, guys are
gonna have their strengths and and theiridentities and and you know, play well
to you know, certain aspects overanother. But but the way they game
is going, you have to beable to skate it. You have to
be able to handle the pok,you know, and you still have to
be able to defend and and checkand play defense and all that. Whether
you're you know, a twenty fivegoal guy or you know a penalty killer

(35:12):
who who you know, checking stayat home defenseman, you still have to
be able to uh kind of chippingon all aspects. So I guess,
long story short, you just tryto look for guys who I guess have
good chemistry and seem to play offeach other well. And sometimes that takes
a little bit of time to find, and sometimes guys messed together right away.
Yeah, you know when you lookat your defenseman, you look at

(35:35):
the room right now with you know, I mean a lot of filming your
faces and and last year the team, by all accounts had great leadership and
in superior chemistry in the room.How how long is how long is it
going to take to basically build thatchemistry again the way you guys had it
in that defense room last year?And how tough is it going to be
a thing stayed the same for anybodyto correct that lineup and on the defense

(35:57):
side, Yeah, I mean there'sa lot of guys coming back, which
I mean that's obviously going to begood for us as a hockey team.
It should be leaned on as oneof our strengths, especially early going.
Well you know, we kind offind our footing here as a team.
So anytime you can have healthy competitionlike that, it's it's great I mean,
you know, we had it throughoutthe whole year last year. Anyone

(36:19):
who kind of stepped in, whetherguys were hurt or up with Nashville or
what have you. There was reallyno law back there, so which is
a great sign. And in termsof chemistry, I think, I mean,
obviously, you know, like yousaid, where a majority of us
are back, depending on how thingsshake up. You know, with the
rest of Nashville's camp, you know, there's a lot of familiar bodies back

(36:39):
there, so you have all playedtogether before, so that should help.
You know, we know each otheron and off the ice, so that
obviously helps being all But at thesame time, it's not just going to
take care of itself. It's stillgoing to require us to you know,
show up and and and put inthe work and you know, continue to
kind of grow as a unit.There Kevin Grivel joining us here on Milwaukee

(37:01):
Admiral Center ice. When you thinkabout last season and you move ahead,
do you so much change in theAmerican Hockey League rosters are different about fifty
percent different every year in that neighborhood, do you take last season as kind
of unfinished business when you come backto Milwaukee and gear up for the season,

(37:23):
or is it something brand new andit's like a new target rather than
what was missed out on last season. I mean, I think it's both.
Obviously, teams change more at thislevel than they do in the NHL,
so there's a lot of new bodiesand guys who weren't here last year.
But at the same time, there'sa lot of guys who were here
last year that that ended up fallinga little bit short, and you know,

(37:47):
use that and use it the rightway to kind of come back this
year and you know, finish thejob. I know, personally, I've
lost in that round a few times, so you know, it's not fun
and and uh me kind of drawon that. You know, going into
this year, it's obviously a verylong ear and you don't know how things
are going to shape up. Butyou know, we look like too like

(38:10):
we you know, we could havea strong team again this year and you
know, the ability to do somethingspecial. So I think, you know,
you just kind of that that thatgoes back to kind of the chemistry
and you know, the environment ofthe room where you know it's kind of
on the guys who were here andthe older guys to kind of set that
standard where you know that that's whatwe're shooting for in this room, and
we're shooting for obviously, to goone more round and finish the job this

(38:34):
time. All right, Kevin,let's get away from hockey for a second.
We're gonna say what what did youdo on your summer vacation? You
know, it's like your first dayback to school and and then and the
teacher says, okay, okay,Kevin, what did you do with your
summer vacation? Uh, this isa different summer summer vacation for me.
This year. We had our firstMy wife and I had our first kid,

(38:55):
uh, right at the end ofthe regular season last year, so
who we pretty much that that tookup our summer. This year was was
just pretty much trying to find ourroutine and pretty much figuring out what we're
doing. Essentially very water No,it was a great summer. It was

(39:16):
so much fun to be able tojust be around every day and kind of
you know, when they're when they'reso small and a little like that,
they changed so much, you know, day to day. So to be
able to be around for the firstyou know, the first progressions I guess
of his life was was really cool. And to be able to hang out
with him every day and just justspend a ton of time with him was

(39:37):
was. It was a ton offun. It was. It was really
you know, like we didn't reallyknow what to expect, obviously with it
being our you know, first timedoing this obviously, so it's been very
rewarding and very very fun so far. Yeah, I'm sure you had to
have your guest room always were alwaysprepared though, right, Like everybody came
to you this year as opposed tovice versa, I'm sure. Yeah,

(39:59):
they seem to be so up alittle bit more now too. It's funny
all that work. I don't thinkthey're coming to see us anymore. But
it's okay, it's it's yeah,it's good. It's good. We've had
We're in a good spot where we'reclose to both both sides. So yeah,
we a little bit more family thissummer than we usually do, which
is which is a good problem tohave. Yeah, no doubt about that,
Kevin. I can't wait to seeyou tomorrow, looking forward to a

(40:21):
great season. Thanks so much forall your time here today. Yeah,
no worries, I appreciate it allright, Kevin Gravelle, Admiral's defenseman,
and camp gets going tomorrow in Milwaukeeearly morning, out there doing physicals actually
right about the right about now actuallyas we're speaking, and then they'll get
everything fired up tomorrow and exhibition gameon Friday night here at Panther Arena.

(40:44):
It's great walking the hallways and yousee big stacks of hockey sticks and you
see helmets, and you say,it's just you know, it's just if
you. If you, if youcan't get excited today, hustle and bustle,
if you can't get excited for this, I guess you're in the wrong
business. Yeah, no doubt,no doubt. And it's going to be
you know, we touched on thisin the first segment. But the number

(41:04):
of players here and the number ofdefensemen and Mark el Geiso is still up
at the moment, there's eight defensemancurrently in Nashville and maybe Delhi stays because
Nashville, again, this is anew regime, but kind of the old
regime a little bit with Barry Trott'sstill there. But they've always kept eight
defenseman. They've always had eight defensemanup there. So is that a revolving
door. Does Stassny go up?Does? Will you know? Is that

(41:27):
a spot where they pop in aguy here and there? Because Deli can
still go back and forth without worryingabout waivers. So it's a night.
You know. They at Jake Livingston, who's was sent to Milwaukee, a
defenseman who played a couple of gamesat the end of last year. You
know, there's there's chances. Lastyear there was a lot of chances for
guys and a lot of guys impressed. And it looks like there's more chance.

(41:49):
You've said it for years, there'salways a chance in Nashville if you're
if you're playing well, if you'reshowing well, they're going to give you
a shot. And there's always oneperson or two players, one at least
and sometimes two that they just makethe team. You didn't see it coming.
You didn't see it coming. It'slike, whoa Holy cow. You
know it's you know, it's agreat different coaches staff. But I don't

(42:10):
think that I don't think that's changedin Nashville. No, No, I
think you're right. We're gonna takea break, We'll come back and wrap
things up in just a moment.You're listening to Milwaukee Admiral Center Ice.
One final time Milwaukee Admiral's Center Icewith Michael Jahowski, I'm Aaron Simms are
thanks to Kevin Gravel and Carl Taylorjoining us. The Admirals will get practice
going tomorrow morning and then the exhibitiongame. Two games, one here in

(42:32):
Milwaukee on Friday night seven pm atPanther Arena, then the other Saturday down
in Hoffmann, States the Wolves practicefacility. Visit Milwaukee Admirals dot com for
more information. The home opener isOctober the twenty first. Thanks for listening
tonight to Milwaukee Admiral's Center Ice