Milwaukee lost 2-1. Tye Felhaber scored the only goal for Milwaukee with 7:39 remaining in period 1. Originally, it was unassisted, but O'Reilly (1) and McKeown (1) were given assists. Felhaber missed an open net about 4 minutes before. Milwaukee played an even game with Grand Rapids in period 1. The SOG were 8-5 GR, but the score was 1-0 Ads. There was a lot of neutral zone play, which is why the shot totals were so low. There were also a lot of blocks by both teams and a lot of shots that missed the frame of the goal.
The officiating was pretty good. The refs didn't call Grand Rapids for high hits or high sticks, but they didn't call Milwaukee for retaliation. There was one fight. Team Captain Josiah Didier punched Navrin Mutter in the face behind the Griffins net. Mutter hit him back 3 or 4 times and knocked him down near the southwest corner. Then Mutter picked him up off the ice and hit him 3 or 4 more times and knocked him down again. When Didier got up the second time, the Linespersons were there and he straightened his helmet. Both received 5 for Fighting.
Period 2 was mostly played in the Admirals end. It was like a shooting galley with Askarov being the target. Asky saved 2 or 3 goals, by poke checks. That is how close Griffin players were getting. The SOG were 22-7. The Admirals had problems getting out of their end most of the period.
During a time out, Two Griffins wanted to fight Mutter. I counted SEVEN GR skaters to Milwaukee's five. The linespersons managed to stop a potential line brawl from happening because a couple of GR players back jumped Admirals who immediately socked them in their faces. Then, and only then, did two GR players return to their bench area. No penalties were issued. That was a big mistake by the refs! About 4 game minutes later, the scene repeated. This time, there were TEN GR skaters on the ice to six Admirals. During this time out, Simon Edvinsson (#77) punched Mark Jankowski in the face 3 or 4 times. Jankowski returned the favor, but no gloves were dropped. Then #71, Cross Hanas jumps Jankowski from behind. They throw more gloves until the linespersons pulled them apart. The refs give Jankowski and Hanas 2 minutes each for Roughing. The CORRECT call would have been 2 minutes each to Jankowski and Edvinsson for roughing and a Misconduct or a Game Misconduct to Hanas for Third Man in a Fight. This is part of the reason that the refs got twos for the period. Grand Rapids did a lot of clutching and grabbing and checking people late. By late, I mean 2 seconds after they passed the puck and 50 feet behind the play. NONE of that was called. During the 4-on-4, Grand Rapids committed 3 more penalties that were not called. Anthony Agnello was cross checked in the back while standing above the Admirals crease. That opened a lane for the second Griffins goal and a lot of booing by the Admirals 7000 fans. GR 2-1.
Period 3 was a lot Milwaukee bad passes and a lot of Grand Rapids icing. With 6 minutes remaining, the crowd broke out with "Refs you suck" for at least one minute. I guess one penalty not called was one too many? Only one penalty was called. It was Slashing against GR's Jonatan Berggren (not misspelled). He deliberately slashed Reid Schaefer on the wrist while he was trying to return to the Milwaukee bench. If I was a ref, it would have been for 4 minutes because Berggren looked like he was trying to break Schaefer's arm. That happened with 4:20 remaining, but Milwaukee could not score on the power play. Even with Askarov pulled, the Milwaukee offense was ineffective.
Period by Period Ref Ratings: (A First!)
Ref Stephen Hiff (#46) 7-2-2 average of 3.7. He was the Ref-in-Charge or Ref-in-Coma.
Ref Kyle Bauman (#59) 8-2-3 average of 4.3. Five is average. The other ref made him look good.
Linespersons Rating:
Greg Offerman (#91) did a good job and gets an eight.
Bryce Fetzer (#65) had a slow whistle all night. He get a six. When its Offside, somebody should not be at the bottom of a face off circle with the puck when the whistle blows. Grand Rapids was Offside for 15 seconds in period 3 and his whistle NEVER blew.
The Admirals lost this game in period 2 and didn't do anything about it in period 3.
The refs didn't help them out in the least. They seemed to spend a lot of time beating on Kemell and Svechkov regardless of whether or not they had possession of the puck. They allowed GR to get away with a lot of infractions.
