The Admirals meet the Houston Aeros in this year's West Division Finals. TheAHL.com has a great breakdown of the series...here is a snippet:
Two years after taking their West Division final matchup to the limit, Milwaukee and Houston meet once again in the second round in 2011, their fourth postseason clash overall in the last nine years... Just as they did in ’09, the Aeros defeated Peoria in the first round to set up a meeting with the Admirals... Houston is coming off a four-game sweep of the Rivermen, while the Admirals needed six games to finish off Texas... The Aeros used the same lineup for all four games in the first round and 17 of their 18 skaters recorded at least one point in the series, led by Patrick O’Sullivan (2-2-4)...Chad Rau (2-1-3) and Colton Gillies (2-0-2) were the only other Aeros to score more than once vs. Peoria... Houston rookie Matt Hackett stopped 84 of 91 shots in the sweep (4-0, 1.67, .923), and he has now won 12 of his last 15 decisions since Mar. 13... After tallying 18-18-36 in 78 regular-season outings, rookie Gabriel Bourque led Milwaukee with 5-4-9 in the first round... Ryan Thang and Mark Van Guilder scored two game-winning goals apiece – their only goals of the series... Van Guilder’s goal at 10:42 of the second overtime – assisted by Thang – was the series-clincher in Game 6 vs. Texas... With Mark Dekanich still sidelined due to injury, Jeremy Smith (4-2, 1.89, .941) started all six games for the Admirals and led all AHL goaltenders in minutes played, shots faced and saves made in the first round... Houston will have had nine days between games by the time this series gets underway on Friday at the Bradley Center.
See the full breakdown...including some great stats.
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Here is how the schedule lines up for the Admirals/Aeros Series:
Game 1 – Fri., Apr. 29 – Houston at Milwaukee, 8:00 ET
Game 2 – Sun., May 1 – Houston at Milwaukee, 6:00 ET
Game 3 – Tue., May 3 – Milwaukee at Houston, 8:05 ET
Game 4 – Thu., May 5 – Milwaukee at Houston, 8:05 ET
*Game 5 – Fri., May 6 – Milwaukee at Houston, 8:35 ET
*Game 6 – Sun., May 8 – Houston at Milwaukee, 6:00 ET
*Game 7 – Tue., May 10 – Houston at Milwaukee, 8:00 ET
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Ads Try to Stay Above Aeros
MilwaukeeAdmirals.com
The West Division Finals of the Calder Cup Playoffs pits the top two teams in the Western Conference against each other in the Milwaukee Admirals and the Houston Aeros. The teams are no strangers to each other in the playoffs as this is the fourth postseason match-up in their ten year history in the American Hockey League.
The Admirals come into the series riding the momentum of a three game winning streak as they beat the Texas Stars in six games, including a 3-2 double overtime nail-biter on Monday night in a game that lasted over 90 minutes.
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As you may remember, former Cyclone Mark Van Guilder scored the series clinching goal for Milwaukee a few days back. However, he's not the only Cyclones Alum to have made an impact in the Admirals playoff run...
- Chris Mueller has posted 8 points (3 goals, 5 assists) in 6 games.
- Mike Bartlett (who played a handful of games with the Cyclones this season) has a goal and an assist so far.
- Jeremy Smith has been tremendous in goal for the Ads...earning a stingy 1.89 goals-against average in the opening round. Even more impressive, though, is his .941 save percentage. Last year's Kelly Cup Playoffs Co-MVP is shining at the next level. Hopefully he can keep up those numbers when Round 2 begins.
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