Tonight was Game 50 for Milwaukee. They have 34 wins and 9 regulation losses for 75 points. They also have a 7 point lead and a game in hand on second place Iowa. The team has 47 PPG so far. Last season, I believe that they had 48 in 76 games.
Tonight's game was another grind-it-out against Texas. In the first period, the Admirals came out strong. They hit the post and jumped out to a 6-2 lead in SOG. Milwaukee should have scored 3 goals, but had none. The SOG ended up 11-10 Texas. Milwaukee could not complete a pass. Their 5 days off built up a lot of rust. They also passed the puck to Texas at least 6 times. The fore check was ONE man for half the period because Texas kept getting out of their defensive zone so fast that the second Admiral could not get up to the blue line in time to help out. It was AWFUL! No penalties were called in period 1. Plenty of penalties were committed, especially in front of Ref Sean Fernandez, #72. He was AWFUL too. The period ended 1-0 Texas.
In period 2, the Admirals were more aggressive and tied the game. Olivier hammered a Star in the O-zone (Reece Scarlett?). He looked like he had the wind knocked out of him, giving the Ads a 5-4 advantage in skaters. They passed the puck around and Carrier scored a nice goal from the top of the circle. The SOG were 10-7 Milwaukee.
In period 3, there was a goal mouth scramble by Troy Grosenick. The puck popped loose and part time Dman Arvin Atwal drilled a Star in the back and into the side of the net near the post. He was a big guy who went down like a ton of bricks. I think it was LW Michael Mersh, 6'2" and 215 pounds to Atwal's 6'1" and 190 pounds. Atwal got his money's worth! Cole Schneider scored on a tap in about 8 minutes into the period. Twenty seconds after the goal, Texas Star Reece Scarlett was called for high sticking against Tolvanen. He also elbowed Tolvanen in the head when they crashed into the end boards. Scarlett was called only for the high sticking by Ref Sean Fernandez. The last penalty called was Olivier for interference at 16:17. It was a good call, sort of. A Texas Star had been holding Olivier's jersey for at least 5 seconds so that he could not pursue the puck near the Texas goal. Olivier tried to swing around so Ref Jarrod Ragusin could see that a handful of the back of his jersey was being held. There was no call. That was the Texas player that Olivier drilled in the back with a cross check that knocked the player from in front of the crease and into goalie Jake Oettinger. The 2000 fans were on the refs for the remainder of the game.
Carrier was the #1 star. Grosenick made 31 saves to be #2 and Olivier was the #3 star with an assist.
Gaudreau was the energy player of the game and Jeannot had the Hit of the Game against Bayreuther, the Dman who scored the Texas goal in period 1. Jeannot ran him over.
Ref Ratings: Jarrod Ragusin, #2, called a good game in period 1. It went downhill from there as the game went on. He gets a 3.
Ref Sean Fernandez, #72, missed a bunch of penalties that were 20 feet in front of him. He gets a 1 and The Go Back to Referee School Award!
In period 3, Grosenick was run into by a Star player followed by an Admiral. He was laying on his back in the net for a good ten seconds. His mask appeared to be loose and he appeared to be stunned. Despite the league rule about it, neither ref blew his whistle. There was a time out after and Troy went to the bench to get his mask repaired and put back on the right way.
Linesman Jameson Gronert, #95, had a few issues on face offs He gets a 7.
William Handcock, #17, did a stellar job, again. He gets an 8.
The Dirty Player of the Game: Three or four Texas players deserve it. They have a bad habit of getting their sticks up, such as Gleason (0 penalties) and Scarlett (1 penalty). Dillon Heatherington did a good job of bumping people after the whistle. McCarron shoved him one time for doing that to him, and cross checked him the second time right in front of a Ref. There was no third time from Dilly. Joel Hanley hit McCarron from behind in the corner in period 1. You might call it boarding, but the refs did not. McCarron got up slowly and went back to the Milwaukee bench. Reece Scarlett was called for both official Texas Star penalties. Don't believe that those were the only ones committed!
The Admirals won the game in spite of their poor play in period 1 and the refs bad judgement.
