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Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Coach Michel Therrien had to maintain appearances to keep up team morale.  After three games down against the Milwaukee Admirals, the young team full of future Pittsburgh Penguins was desperate for a win. 

“I’m not going to be here and say the truth.  I’m only going to say the clichés.  You know the clichés that we (are) supposed to say.  And that is exactly what I’m going to do.  I’m going to say those good, good, nice clichés.  That is what I’m doing right now.  If I were to say the truth it wouldn’t be nice.”

In playoff hockey, the truth can be awful especially when dealing with young players.    

“You know what is the cliché.  One game at a time,” pointed out Coach Therrien to Hockey’s Future in his post-game commentary after Game 3 of the Calder Cup Finals.

Andy Chiodo knows that sayings are what keeps the team motivated especially when facing elimination.  During Game 2 and his second Calder Cup playoff final start, the 21-year-old goaltender was taken out after 32:17 of play, as the Milwaukee Admirals lead 3-1. 

“You need some break in the playoffs.  You need some momentum.”   Therrien said.  He did not get his break after veteran Sebastian Caron came in goal.  Just 30 seconds later, 24-year-old defenseman and Nashville Predator prospect Andrew Hutchinson scored.   This ex-Michigan Spartan who played eight games in the NHL this season is considered a quick decision maker with great puckhandling skills. 

During Game 3, Andy Chiodo now backed up by 20-year-old Marc-André Fleury, made good saves, but not to the caliber needed given the menacing opposition of the Milwaukee Admirals who won the game 2-1 in overtime.  After the game he studied his past wins against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, Philadelphia Phantoms and the Hartford Wolf Pack.   

“Hey, it’s part of the past as far as we are concerned.  We’ve done it before.” 

“Take one game at a time,” affirmed the young goaltender.

The Milwaukee Admirals headed by Claude Noel turned the series into an inevitable sweep.  He believed in a sage truism “taking the winds out of their sails” and it worked.

Coach Noel attempted to maintain his team focused despite sold-out crowds at the Wachovia Center at Casey Plaza.   His secret for a win:  “Timely goals, timely saves.”

“A lot of line juggling on my part… (Simon) Gamache and (Darren) Haydar are key guys for us.”   Despite his size at 5’9, 23-year-old left winger Gamache is known to make quick plays on goal.  He is high energy and has shown significant improvement in his defensive game.  Twenty-four-year-old right winger Darren Haydar is his counterpart in size and action on the ice. 

“We got some other guys that can play as well….(veteran Captain) Wyatt Smith and Libor Pivko, and  (Timofei) Shishkanov.  They can be dominant.  They have weight and they are hard to handle down low.”

Twenty-year-old Czech left winger Libor Pivko, was ranked 55^th among Europeans according to Central Scouting in 2000.  During the playoff season he scored a hat trick with two assists against the Chicago Wolves.  During the Calder Cup Finals, Coach Noel counted on his two-way play. 

Twenty-year-old left winger Shishkanov who has impressive size and skill showed similar determination and effort, qualities he was lacking previous to his AHL debut.

“Wilkes-Barre’s got big defense and so (these are) guys (that) can really push it for us…We’ve got guys such as (Curtis) Murphy and (Andrew) Hutchinson.  They are very dangerous off the rush.  They push up and block up the ice real well.”

Coach Noel also counted on veteran goaltending from 36-year-old Wade Flaherty.  “You have to have goaltending like that and you don’t get rattled up by anything.”  

During the last game of the series, Marc-André Fleury bounced into goal with his signature orange and black pads replacing Andy Chiodo early in the second period.  Chiodo took 18 saves out of 23 during the first half of the game.  Fleury, despite letting in a goal from Simon Gamache, played outstandingly well even without a stick.  He made three consecutive plays counting on his quick reflexes and numerous variations of the butterfly position without his stick.

After a score of 7-2 score was on the scoreboard, Coach Therrien decided to let Andy Chiodo watch the end of the game in goal for the last five minutes as his fans called his name out in a chant.

At the end, Coach Noel could only point out that to win you need to “play with a lead.  Play on your toes!”    The Milwaukee Admirals were crowned the 2004 Calder Cup Champions.