Milwaukee Admirals honoring Coach Tozer

Discussion in 'Pro Indoor Soccer' started by skipper60601, Apr 11, 2014.

  1. skipper60601

    skipper60601 Member

    Aug 12, 2005
    Club:
    Hibernian FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The Milwaukee Admirals hockey team will honor longtime Wave coach Keith Tozer at the team's last home regular season on Friday April 18 at 7:00 p.m. at the BMO Harris Bradley Center. Discount tickets ($4 off) are available for the game.
     
  2. Scott717257

    Scott717257 Member

    Nov 28, 2013
    Club:
    --other--
    Will Sue Black be in attendance?
     
  3. the shelts

    the shelts Member+

    Jun 30, 2005
    Providence RI
    Club:
    Nottingham Forest FC
    The Milwaukee Admirals have always been a class organization. They treat their players really well and have been a success for many years.

    No surprise they are doing this.
     
  4. NickWISoccer

    NickWISoccer Member

    Apr 26, 2011
    Club:
    --other--
    the admirals almost never miss the playoffs, they've made it in 12 straight years. i think theyd make a darn good nhl team. this is a nice tribute to guy who was a big player in minor league sports here in milwaukee.
     
    the shelts repped this.
  5. the shelts

    the shelts Member+

    Jun 30, 2005
    Providence RI
    Club:
    Nottingham Forest FC
    This is a bone of contention in the AHL for some AHL owners and fans. The Admirals were sometimes an 'independent' team in the IHL days, when a team did not have an NHL direct affiliate. They still have the independent mentality and will sign players strictly for themselves, not to develop them into an NHL prospect for the Nashville Predators. They have a defenseman Scott Ford who is the best example I can think of, off the top of my head.

    Other teams are either outright owned by the NHL club, Utica, Bakersfield etc. or have very close participation from the parent club, Providence, Toronto etc. Milwaukee argues it is a minor league team in a major league market and needs have its own identity. The Chicago Wolves are another team with a similar menatality to the Admirals, its no surprise the parent club will drop them when the affiliation agreement is up and the Blackhawks won't touch them. Atlanta, Vancouver and St. Louis in the last 5 years were their affiliates.

    Also, did you mean Milwaukee would be a good NHL city or the Admirals could compete in the NHL.?
     
    skipper60601 repped this.
  6. NickWISoccer

    NickWISoccer Member

    Apr 26, 2011
    Club:
    --other--
    Both. I think the Admiral could compete with the NHL teams and I think Milwaukee would be a great NHL city. there was an effort in the 80s to get an NHL team here but the then-owner of the Blackhawks "Dollar Bill' Wirtz , put a kibosh on the deal. Wisconsin has never had a pro level hockey team, and its an untapped market in regards to hockey. During the Stanley Cup playoffs last year, Milwaukee was regularly in the top 5 in terms of folks watching , behind cities like Chicago and Boston and ahead of places like Buffalo. for a state without a team thats very impressive. a Milwaukee team (i'd keep the Admirals name) would have natural rivalries with the Blackhawks, Wild and Red Wings, and unlike with basketball, the playoffs are not predictable. one bounce of the puck can change a series, and the LA Kings won as an 8 seed a couple years ago, in the NBA an 8 seed is fodder for the 1 seeds.
     
  7. the shelts

    the shelts Member+

    Jun 30, 2005
    Providence RI
    Club:
    Nottingham Forest FC
    I think Milwaukee could work as an NHL team, the market may be a little small considering the Brewers and the Bucks are already entrenched. But I think Milwaukee would make a good choice, it just needs someone with a billion dollars to call Gary Bettman. The NHL Board of Governors really are a group of profit focused characters, Vladimir Putin could show up and want to put a team in Crimea and the BOG would do it.........as long as the check cleared.

    I don't think todays Admirals could play in the NHL though. The 1990's Milwaukee Admirals maybe. The Chicago Wolves in the 1990's definately. The mid 90's Detroit Vipers would have been an NHL playoff team, they had the payroll that was astounding, they flew charter, paid guys in cash all kinds of crazy things. The owner was a billionaire who also owned the arena. According to legend they, once ran out of visa's and moved some Canadian guys across the river to Windsor Ontario, put them up in a Hilton on the waterfront and the players would drive across to "watch a hockey game". They paid them through some Canadian company.........it was nuts. Sergei Samsonov was an example of an NHL player in the Vipers organziation, he made more for the Vipers than the Boston Bruins were offering his rookie year, so he played there.
     
  8. kenntomasch

    kenntomasch Member+

    Sep 2, 1999
    Out West
    Club:
    FC Tampa Bay Rowdies
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    In the AHL. And they've lost in the first round 7 times in 11 years.

    A team comprised of players demonstrably not good enough to play in the NHL would be "a darn good NHL team?" Okay, then.

    Their leading goal-scorer in the last 14 years is Darren Haydar with 110 goals. He played 23 total NHL games, never more than 16 in one year.

    NHL market, well, that's a different story. Nice building. Small market, obviously.
     
  9. NickWISoccer

    NickWISoccer Member

    Apr 26, 2011
    Club:
    --other--
    #9 NickWISoccer, Apr 16, 2014
    Last edited: Apr 16, 2014
    ok so them competing against pros and holding their own was hyperbole, but the market at least is a very good one. now that the bucks have a new owner(s) the new arena needs to be multipurpose and include room for hockey and indoor soccer, as well as basketball.
     
  10. Mkewavefan10

    Mkewavefan10 Member

    Jan 16, 2013
    Club:
    Portland Timbers
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I would have to agree with you now that the bucks have new owners who are willing to put forth 100 million dollars and herb kohl said he would do the same we need to make this happen but unforunately i don't think it will be that easy.
     
  11. NickWISoccer

    NickWISoccer Member

    Apr 26, 2011
    Club:
    --other--
    a new place will likely cost between 500-600 million. remember that miller park cost 400 million in 2000, figure building a new place 14 years later will cost a lot more. so kohl and new guys have pledged 100 million each, that still leaves 300 million to be spruced up. perhaps a tif could be used.
     
  12. JeffKuntz

    JeffKuntz Member

    Oct 17, 2011
    Just as Kenn said in a previous post - describing soccer as his main sport .. ice hockey is mine.. I come from very much a hockey family..

    As one small coincidence to this thread -- there's a young Admiral's player who's a first round choice (18th over-all) of the Nashville Predators.. my cousin is his agent.. I didn't say his name because people at his agency constantly google all their athletes looking for whatever and I don't really want me discussing it in a forum to pop up on their radar..

    Really lame attempt at name dropping, I know.. sorry.. =P

    Anyway, the point of my response was to state that there's no way on Earth the Milwaukee Admirals could compete in the NHL..

    In fact, none of the players on the Admirals can even play in the NHL on a regular basis - or else they WOULD have played in the NHL this season.. some of the players are there to develop their skills and were assigned there by the Predators to hopefully groom them in to future NHL players.. some are there to serve as injury replacements if Nashville needs them on a temporary basis..

    All of the older Admirals players, the veterans, all needed to have "cleared waivers" before being able to play in Milwaukee.. that means before an NHL team sends a veteran (having played in 160 pro games which really isn't that many in hockey makes you waiver eligible) to the AHL - all of the 29 other teams can claim him and he then joins that team without any compensation returning the other way.. it's a free player, basically..

    Meaning that every Admirals player that's Nashville property either cleared waivers or is a younger player that isn't ready for the NHL.. if the Admirals signed a guy that was a free agent then that player always has an out clause that says if any NHL team signs him he can leave the Admirals on the spot..

    So, what you have in Milwaukee and every other AHL city is a team for whom nearly their entire roster cannot play in the NHL regularly.. some teams do have 1 guy here or there that can play, but not very often.. there's just no way Milwaukee can compete as a major league team on the ice.
     
  13. NickWISoccer

    NickWISoccer Member

    Apr 26, 2011
    Club:
    --other--
    thank you jeff, for your through dissection of my comment on admirals competing against the pros. they cant. what is your opinion on Milwaukee as an NHl market? for an AHL team the admirals draw quite well, course pros need to draw at least 13k or there abouts. Winnipeg is the smallest market in the league, Milwaukee is quite a bit bigger than Winnipeg, course the jets are akin to the Packers in that the fans are rabid and its the only game in town.
     
  14. JeffKuntz

    JeffKuntz Member

    Oct 17, 2011
    I pay pretty close attention to the league, and I can honestly say that I've never heard any professional analyst discuss Milwaukee as a destination for an NHL team.

    It can flip flop, but some days they seem to favor Quebec City as the number 1 spot the NHL needs to go next, other days it's Seattle... Kansas City gets mentions here or there, as does Las Vegas but those seem to be in the distant background compared to the first two.. Milwaukee has literally never been discussed that I've noticed.

    My own opinion is that it'd be a really hot ticket for a year or two - then the owners, league and town would spend the next ten to twenty years wondering what in the world an NHL team is doing in that market.
     
  15. NickWISoccer

    NickWISoccer Member

    Apr 26, 2011
    Club:
    --other--
    it all depends on how quickly the team can put down roots and put forth a good product. the coyotes have never made a cent and are quite literally sending the city of glendale into bankruptcy. milwaukee is the largest market in the state and would likely draw fans from across the state, much like the packers. wisconsin has 20000 youth kids playing hockey at last count, higher than any state in the union that doesnt have a nhl team already. further apart from glendale you had a hockey team in atlanta and two in florida. gee when i think of hockey i think of canada , and eastern and midwestern cities. tampa bay is way down the list.
     
  16. skipper60601

    skipper60601 Member

    Aug 12, 2005
    Club:
    Hibernian FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I don't see Milwaukee getting an NHL team when the Admirals' average attendance is only about 5800 this season, down from over 9000 in the mid-90's.
     
  17. NickWISoccer

    NickWISoccer Member

    Apr 26, 2011
    Club:
    --other--
    times are tougher economically than they were in the 90s. for example in the mid90s the wave played at the bc and drew big crowds, they even sold out for the title game against the crunch in 1999. that was a long time ago though.
     
  18. bbwavefan

    bbwavefan Member

    Oct 27, 2006
    Milwaukee, WI
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Just to be clear, that was 2000, and it wasn't a sellout (15,469 in attendance). That wasn't even the largest playoff crowd the Wave ever had (16,802 in the deciding game against Philadelphia in 2o02.
     
  19. NSL2004

    NSL2004 Member+

    Jul 23, 2002
    If that's the case wouldn't it be hard for three times as many fans to pay three times the Admirals ticket prices to support an NHL team?
     
  20. Scott717257

    Scott717257 Member

    Nov 28, 2013
    Club:
    --other--
    This is right in my wheelhouse.

    -Quebec City has the Pepsi Coliseum currently, but have agreed to build a new arena (for NHL team to return) and Bettman and Co. seem to want to put a team their with the money in that French-Canadien market.

    - Kansas City was mentioned a ton a bunch of years ago, specifically when Pittsburgh was having issues at Mellon arena, KC was used to get an arena built.

    - Houston and Seattle both have been mentioned within the past year, but QC City and even Hamilton/Toronto seem to have a head start on both those cities.

    There was a good series on this by TSN in Canada a year ago on likely destinations for relocations or brand new franchises. Toronto having a 2nd team came out on tops for "best for NhL" according to that programs studies, with Quebec City being #2.

    With the Canadian dollar competitive for a few years now, it's more logical to place a team in Canada's hockey crazed market(s) to take advantage of that.

    Also, Winnipeg is the smallest market in the NhL but also has the highest ticket prices in the league, something a market like Milwaukee couldn't get away with to compensate for the lack of corporate dollars like Winnipeg does.
     
  21. JeffKuntz

    JeffKuntz Member

    Oct 17, 2011
    In order for a second team to go in to Toronto, both the Toronto Maple Leafs and Buffalo Sabres would have veto rights.

    The Sabres might allow it for a gigantic bucket of cash.. but the Leafs? I cannot envision them allowing another team anywhere near Toronto under any circumstances.. I honestly believe they'd turn down even obscene amounts of money (ie: a quarter of a billion dollars) before they'd allow another team in TO.

    You'd have to move the team somewhere in between Ottawa and Toronto, which could work but is obviously much less attractive.

    Milwaukee has no shot of being an NHL market until Quebec City, Seattle and probably Houston (I forgot about them) are.. I could even see another attempt at Atlanta occurring (and likely failing) and a handful of other cities before Milwaukee..

    Looks like it's MLB, NBA and the Milwaukee Wave for the good folks there..

    (Yes I put those last two paragraphs in just as an excuse to respond about another TO team in the NHL.. was it noticeable? Back to indoor soccer talk, sorry mods)
     

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