on the board first when he intercepted a Wolves pass in the offensive zone and skated in by himself, and fired it past Kari Lehtonen, who finished with 27 saves, for a 1-0 Milwaukee lead. In the second period Andrew Hutinson lead an Admirals 3-1 rush towards Lehtonen, and off assists from Alexander Jacques and Tim Shishkanov, Hutchinson Tic-Tac-Toed it into the cage to give Milwaukee a 2-0 lead. In the Third period, Rosemont's Curtis Foster skated in alone and beat Wade Flaherty to cut the lead in half. But Flaherty, the old veteran, made many saves down the stretch to secure the win. Even When Libor Pivko was sent to the sin bin for hooking with less than 2 minutes left in the game, and Lehtonen pulled for the extra attaker, the Admirals defence stood tall, in a hostile enviornment, and forced a Wolves turnover. Tony Hrkac and Wyatt Smith were all alone and Hrkac gave it to Smith, who tapped it in the empty net to ice the game, and the season. "They're a great team and they are tough to beat here." Wade Flaherty said after the game to the Journal Sentinals Nick Dettmann, "After what happened last night, we wanted to make sure theat we clamped down in the third period." Admirals Coach Claude Noel had nothing but good things to say about his veteran netminder. "He won the game for us. He made some big saves at key times... I thought he was outstanding!" Rosemont (42-26-9-3) finished the seaon in third place in the West divison, and will start the playoffs on the road against the Grand Rapids Griffins (44-28-8-0), who finished in 2nd in the division. The Admirals (46-24-7-3) will have to wait to see who wins the qualifier series between the defending Calder Cup Champion Houston Aeros (28-34-14-4) and the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks (29-37-13-1) to find out who they will play first. Dates and times for Admirals playoff games are yet to be determined. There will be plenty of home games, due to Milwuakee winning the regular season championship, and securing home ice advantage throughout the playoffs. |