Roar Report: Summer 2024

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M I L W A U K E E

A T H L E T I C

C O M M U N I C A T I O N S

editorial

CHRIS ZILLS

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS & MULTIMEDIA

SEAN ENGEL

DIRECTOR OF ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS

RACHEL KLEMP

DIRECTOR OF CREATIVE SERVICES

SETH DITTMER

COMMUNICATIONS ASSISTANT

GARY D’AMATO FEATURE WRITER

PHOTOGRAPHY

CONLEY BURCH, LEN CEDERHOLM, SPIRIT HESSE, RACHEL KLEMP, JACK PINGLE, AND STEVE WOLTMAN

CREATIVE SERVICES BRAEDEN DETERT, JAKE MICHALSKI, GIANNA LAPERNE, AND SPENCER JACOBS

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SPORT UPDATES

Baseball, track & field, and tennis

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ENGELMANN STADIUM UPDATE

The Panthers will be playing on a new soccer field this fall! The facility was given a facelift with new turf this spring, starting in late April and wrapping up in early June. The project was installed by Midwest Sport and Turf Systems.

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Q&A WITH WEGS

The Roar Report sat down with first-year Milwaukee baseball head coach Shaun Wegner to break down and look back at his first campaign leading the way for the Panthers.

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RAISING THE BAR

by Gary D’Amato The Milwaukee track & field program continues to shine as sixth-year head coach Andrew Basler persists in raising the program to new heights, capped by a Horizon League Championship for the women’s team this spring, as well as a runner-up spot for the men. Gary D’Amato breaks down the process.

RECORDS ON REPEAT

Natalie Block does it again... and again... and again... see all the times she has lowered the program records this year in the 100-meter hurdles and the 400-meter hurdles.

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PERFORMING “ADMIRABLY” WITH A NEW OPPORTUNITY

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I​ NFORMATION ON THE PANTHERS EXCELLENCE FUND

A familiar voice to fans of the Milwaukee Panthers, veteran broadcaster Matt Menzl turned an opportunity last winter into a huge highlight as he now gets the chance to work with the Milwaukee Admirals during the hockey seasons.

what’s

INSIDE 3

LIGHT UP THE HYPE

8 IS GREAT! The Milwaukee women’s track & field team won their eighth Outdoor Track & Field Horizon League championship in program history, completing the indoor/outdoor sweep for the first time since 2011.

The Panthers won five events, broke two Horizon League Championship records, and broke two program records at the meet. Coach Basler was named Women’s Outdoor Coach of the Year for the second year in a row, and Milwaukee picked up Athlete of the Year, Freshman of the Year, and Outstanding Performer of the Meet.

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LIGHT UP THE HYPE

SALUTE THE SENIORS! Ari Miller and Johnny Kelliher were named Senior Student-Athletes of the year at the annual Golden Panthers Award Ceremony.

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NEW LOOK SAME GREAT TASTE

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PEPSI, PEPSI-COLA, thE PEPSi GLObE, And thE PEPSi PuLSE dESiGn ArE trAdEmArkS Of PEPSiCO, InC. 28709000

Under the direction of first-year head coach Shaun Wegner, the Milwaukee baseball team finished fourth in the Horizon League with a 13-17 league record and a 19-36 overall mark.

BASEBALL

S P O RT U P DATE

The young Panther squad, looking to replace eight starters from the 2023 lineup that had graduated and a Friday starter in Riley Frey drafted by the Atlanta Braves, finished the year ahead of both Purdue Fort Wayne and Youngstown State in the standings.

Luke Hansel led Milwaukee’s pitching staff to a league-best 6.27 ERA and earned Horizon All-League First Team honors as he capped off his Panther career with a 3.41 ERA and 84 strikeouts over 89 2/3 innings. Adrian Montilva emerged as Milwaukee’s second starter after serving as a reliever in 2023 and struck out 71 batters over his 61 1/3 innings while pitching to a 5.43 ERA as he earned All-League Second Team honors.

After a shaky start to the season, Milwaukee’s bullpen proved to be a strength down the stretch of the year with the likes of James Severson, Logan Snow, Keagon Kaufmann, along with closer Johnny Kelliher

performing late in games and racking up six saves.

At the plate, Milwaukee was led by sophomore sensation Carson Hansen, who was named to the Horizon AllLeague First Team after a season that saw the Pewaukee-native hit .315 with 25 doubles, 11 home runs, while driving in a team-best 63 runs. Fellow lefthander Justin Hausser was right on his heels with 18 doubles while scoring 50 runs at the top of the Panther lineup as the team’s lone returner to the starting nine.

Newcomer Tyler Bickers hit .313 with 33 RBIs, while Sean Tillmon was the team’s designated hitter and had a .301 average with 31 RBIs as he was named All-League Second Team. Zach Lane was named to the All-Tournament team at the Horizon League Championship and finished his lone season with the Panthers with seven home runs and 38 RBIs. Kaufmann, Kelliher, and Montilva were named to the Horizon All-Academic Team, while Kaufmann, Kelliher, Lane, and Teige Lethert earned College Sports Communicators Academic AllDistrict honors.

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S P O RT U P DATE

TRACK & FIELD

The Milwaukee track & field program capitalized on their momentum from the indoor season, as their outdoor campaign ended with another championship for the women and runner-up finish for the men. Natalie Block and Golden Cotton earned the highest individual honors of the season, as they were both named Alfreeda Goff Outdoor Track & Field Athletes of the Year and Outstanding Championship Performers of the Meet.

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Five different Panthers broke program records throughout the season, highlighted by Block breaking the 100m hurdles and 400m hurdles records a combined eight times.

Anthony Campbell grabbed the program record in the long jump, and Cotton set a new mark in the 100m dash. At the championship meet, Tabitha Wechlo broke the outdoor shot put record, and Cailin Kinas broke the program record in the 3000m steeplechase.

League Outdoor Track & Field Women’s Coach of the Year.

The Panthers sent four athletes to the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds, as Block, Campbell, Cotton, and Wechlo represented Milwaukee at the meet in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Campbell (long jump) and Cotton (100m dash) earned 40th and 42nd, while Wechlo (shot put) finished 47th.

Block had a stellar showing, as she reached the quarterfinals in both the 100mH and 400mH. She finished 16th in the 100mH, followed by a 10th place finish in the 400mH to qualify for the NCAA Championships. Unfortunately, Block was unable to compete at the championship meet due to injury.

Barring an Olympic Trials invitation for Block, Milwaukee’s 2023-24 season is now complete, and the Panthers will compete next in the 2024-25 indoor season.

Liam Richards and Anna Szepieniec repeated as Freshman Field Athletes of the Year after winning the award during the indoor season, and head coach Andrew Basler was named Horizon

Roar report Summer 2024

TENNIS

S P O RT U P DATE

The Milwaukee women’s tennis team wrapped up the season with a 3-3 record in Horizon League play, earning the No. 4 seed in the Horizon League Tournament before suffering a heartbreaking 4-3 loss in the opening round. First-year head coach Mark Goldin posted a 9-14 overall record and helped Babette Burgersdijk to Second Team All-Horizon League honors in her last season with the program.

were honored as members of the Horizon League Valeo All-Academic Team. In addition, the squad posted a cumulative grade-point average of 3.857 as a team, which not only was the highest team GPA across the MKE Athletic Department but was also honored by the Horizon league with the “Raise Your Sights” award, recognizing the highest GPA for any women’s team across the entire league.

Sophomore Nadiia Konieva led the team in singles victories, posting a 17-9 overall record that included 10 consecutive victories at one point in the season. She also was second on the squad in doubles wins, going 17-8 overall, which included a perfect 4-0 mark in conference matchups at No. 1 singles in teaming with Burgersdijk.

Veteran Iva Stejskalova paced the team with her 18-8 doubles mark, teaming with newcomer Emilia Durska for a 13-6 mark on the season at the No. 3 position.

Burgersdijk, Konieva, and Sara Simonova were all recognized with spots on the 2024 College Sports Communicators Academic All-District squad, while Konieva and Simonova

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ENGELMANN ST • New turf came from Midwest Sport and Turf Systems in Plainfield, Ill. • Project was started April 29, 2024, and wrapped up early June • Entire field was removed and new surface put in • Field is Greenfields Ironturf on top of a Brock Powerbase shock pad • Construction underneath the synthetic turf system comprises a stone base with both interior and perimeter drainage. A “shock pad” was also placed between the stone base and the bottom of the synthetic turf.

• Properly maintained quality fields today should last at least 10-12 years.

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TADIUM UPDATE TURF CONTENT: TenCate U.V. resistant XWRD monofilament and Tencate U.V. resistant XPS Plus woven with a unique blend of 13 oz/yd 2 of U.V. stable PP and PE weft/warp fibers for the base structure THICKNESS (MICONS): 125 (XPS); 365 (XWRD) MELTING POINT: 128° C | 260°F BREAKING STRENGTH: 24 lbs/force (XPS/XWRD)

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Q&A wegs The staff at the Roar Report had the opportunity to chat with Shaun Wegner, who recently concluded his first season as the head baseball coach. Wegner reflects on his first year at the helm, and looks ahead for what the 2025 season can bring.

Roar Report: If you could summarize your first season, how would you describe it?

Shaun Wegner: It was a year of learning, growing, developing and then, due to these factors – success. Wins are not the only determinant of success within our sport, but it was nice to see our group come together after we finally had some stability, defined roles and see some wins build into the back end of our schedule … including winning 5 of our last 6 conference series.

RR: After the slow start to the season, the offense really picked up beginning with that second game at Wright State, what was working for the team offensively from that point forward?

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SW: We started to find our confidence and consistency …

It all starts with plate discipline and swinging at good pitches when you get them. I thought we were very passive and tentative early in the year.

RR: Your pitching staff led the Horizon League in many categories, ERA by a run, opponents’ batting average by 20 points, what would you say contributed to their success?

and did a tremendous job having our guys prepared and positioned for success. We hammered the fundamentals day in and day out and expected whenever the ball was put in play, we were going to secure the out.

RR: What were some of the key differences you experienced going from an assistant coach to a head coach?

SW: Obviously, there are a SW: I thought Coach Cory lot more responsibilities and Bigler did a tremendous job tasks you have on your plate of identifying and utilizing and most of those do not each pitcher’s strengths and happen on the field of play. ultimately, we found roles It was shifting more focus to that made sense for each guy the business side of the job and where they are at in their and ensuring I understood, development timeline. We identified, and utilized my staff had a few veterans who led and their strengths for the by example up front and the betterment of our program younger/less experienced guys to help ease some of the were able to grow from their workload. presence.

I didn’t always get as deep into RR: Defensively, your team was the individual development sound throughout the season pieces and often tried to focus and led the conference with on allowing my assistants fewest errors and best fielding [Mike Porcaro, Cory Bigler and percentage, has defense always Jack Sievers] to master their been a top priority in your responsibilities and serve as a mind? source of help instead.

SW: We talk about championship level teams and what it takes to win, and it always tends to lead back to pitching and defense.

We know the importance of it and [Assistant Coach Mike Porcaro] served as our “defensive coordinator”

RR: Are there things you learned this year in your first year as head coach that you would change next season?

SW: 100% there are things that we observed, learned, and realized, having now been through our first 9 months

together, that we will change – whether it just needs a tweak or an overall overhaul. If you are not constantly seeking improvements and looking for changes, you can always expect the same results and ultimately you are going to fall behind.

RR: What do you look forward to in 2025 and what are some of the team’s goals and your goals individually?

SW: I am really looking forward to getting our guys on campus and seeing what the blend of returners and incomers can do for the Milwaukee program.

Ultimately, we talk about goals and where we want to see ourselves and last year our goal was to win the regional.

With a one-bid league, and never having gotten through a regional, we wanted to make history and do what no team before us has ever done.

Personally, I want to keep growing in this role and build our program into a consistent contender for the league title, which would lead to becoming a yearly regional team. I want to keep growing my ability to lead and develop young men while also helping my staff develop and grow into their goals and aspirations within this profession.

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Track and field is not an easy sport to coach. There are no plays to diagram, no halftime speeches to give, no adjustments to make mid-game, no scouting reports to study. The opponents are the clock and the measuring tape, which cannot be tackled or dunked on.

The track and field coach is responsible for getting the most out of dozens of athletes, each with a specialized skill and different training modes and requirements. The discus thrower and the 5K runner are not cut from the same cloth.

There are a lot of moving parts, but when it all comes together at a meet, it’s a beautiful thing — a symphony of sprints, vaults, jumps and hurdles.

Andrew Basler has been the head coach of the men’s and women’s teams at Milwaukee for six years, and his athletes have consistently raised the bar, no pun intended.

In the recently completed outdoor season, the women’s team won the Horizon League Championship for the first time since 2011 — doubling up on their indoor title in February — and the men finished second for the fifth consecutive year (there was no meet in 2020 because of COVID).

Basler said the women’s championship was especially satisfying because the Panthers finished second both indoors and outdoors in 2023.

“Last year indoor, we were slated on paper to win by like 20 points and we just lost a few points here, a few points here, and then all of a sudden we lost the championship by four points,” he said. “I think the women came away from that championship now knowing, like, we can win this.

“Heading into this year, the women were extremely motivated. We talked about the championship on a weekly basis. It wasn’t something they shied away from.

They handled pressure really well.”

Four Milwaukee athletes went on to compete in the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds in Fayetteville, Arkansas: Natalie Block of Franklin, Wis., in the 100- and 400-meter hurdles; Golden Cotton of Milwaukee in the 100-meter dash; Anthony Campbell of Belleville, Ill., in the long jump and Tabitha Wechlo of Colgate, Wis., in the shot put.

Block advanced to the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., competing in the 400 hurdles.

Basler, a six-time Horizon League coach of the year, readily acknowledges that he’s not solely responsible for the program’s success and praises assistant coaches Terrance Howard and Caleb Rogalski (throws), Andrew Hatch (sprints), Jake Reilly and Maddie Wood (distance) and Zachary Schmidt (pole vault/jumps).

“We’ve formed into a good staff,” Basler said. “I’m a big believer that the coaching has to come from a good, positive heart. We recruit and coach people first, students second and athletes third. I think that allows us to have transparent relationships with them and allows trust to be built. I think my staff has really embodied that philosophy.”

In addition to overseeing the entire program, Basler coaches the heptathletes, decathletes, long jumpers, triple jumpers and high jumpers.

“You rely heavily that your athletes are making the right decisions outside of track,” he said. “Or even in the offseason, that they’re putting in the work. Because

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our sport is unique in that what you do in the dark gets exposed when the light is on you.

“In a team sport, a player can hide behind the play of teammates. In track, the eyes are on you. Either you did the work, or you didn’t. You’re either making the right decisions outside of track or you’re not. That’s all going to get exposed when you’re actually out there competing.

“That’s the challenging part, motivating them or teaching them the self-motivation, the internal motivation to be able to do the things they need to do when you’re not watching.”

Basler did those things as a student-athlete at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. He won the 2002 NCAA Division III indoor national title in the long jump and led La Crosse teams to indoor-outdoor NCAA team championships in 2001 and ’02.

He took the job at Milwaukee after successful assistant coaching stints at UC Riverside and Central Michigan University.

The lack of an outdoor facility on the Milwaukee campus might have been a deal-breaker for some coaches, but it did not deter Basler, who picked up on a chipon-the-shoulder, blue-collar mentality that is pervasive throughout the athletic department. It resonated with him, because he’s always been a guy who punches above his weight.

The Panthers practice outdoors at Shorewood High School and have a reciprocal agreement with Wisconsin Lutheran College, which does not have an indoor facility and makes use of Milwaukee’s Klotsche Center.

It’s not perfect, but the Panthers make it work.

“We’re going to do the best with what’s given to us and we’re going to fight for resources and for the right things for our student-athletes,” Basler said. “But when it comes down to it, we’re not going to complain and whine about what we don’t have. We’re going to use what we do have to the best of our ability, and I think that’s what’s going to cause us to be successful.”

Now that the women have risen to the top of the Horizon League, Basler relishes the challenge of staying there.

Though Block has graduated, she still has two seasons of outdoor eligibility left (and one indoor).

Anelise Egge, a sophomore from tiny Viola, Wis., won Horizon League indoor titles in the 800 meters and mile run and the outdoor 1,500 meters. She anchors the women’s cross-country team, too (Basler also coaches both the men’s and women’s cross teams).

Anna Szepieniec, a freshman from DeForest, Wis., was the 2024 Horizon League outdoor heptathlon champion and the outdoor field freshman of the Year.

“Rumor on the street was our rival school (Youngstown State) was redshirting a bunch of their athletes because they saw the writing on the wall,” Basler said. “To me, I feel like that’s just locker room motivation because they’re telling us this is a one-time thing. It’s not a onetime thing. So they can redshirt as many people as they want but they’re still going to be going up against a very strong Milwaukee Panther team next year.”

Basler’s goal now is to coach the men’s team to a conference title. The Panthers last won Horizon League indoor and outdoor titles in 2015. Since then, Youngstown State has won the outdoor title seven times, including the last four. The Penguins have won the last

RAISING THE BAR 22

Roar report Summer 2024

nine conference indoor titles.

“Outdoor, to me, is more about how can we close the gap on the men’s side?” Basler said. “Another unique thing about our sport that isn’t part of other team sports is that one gender is at the same place watching their other gender teammates win a championship. So I kind of feel for the guys. They’re excited for the women, their teammates, but they’re also sitting there like, ‘I want that.

What do we have to do to get that?’

or if it says ‘LSU.’ When it comes down to it, it’s you vs. them. I feel with track and field, we’re always going to have that chip on our shoulders. We’ll line up against those Power 5 schools. That’s not a battle I’m going to shy away from.”

No excuses?

Basler smiled.

“Heck, no,” he said.

“So as a coaching staff now, we’re really turning our attention to how can we close that gap with Youngstown on the men’s side, so both genders are there celebrating together?”

That’s the short-term goal. The long-term goal, Basler said, is to be a top-30 track and field program in the country.

“Track is unique, too, where what’s on the uniform sometimes carries more weight in team sports,” he said.

“In track and field, it doesn’t matter if it says ‘Milwaukee’

Gary D’Amato, a three-time National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association sportswriter of the year in Wisconsin, joined the Milwaukee Panthers as a feature writer for the Roar Report in September 2018.

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Roar report Summer 2024

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PERFORMING “ AN He’s been one of the main voices of Milwaukee Panther Athletics for nearly two decades, but for the past two winters, Matt Menzl has been able to begin another chapter to his storied broadcasting career.

Menzl started with the Panthers way back when the Horizon League Network was born and has been calling Milwaukee soccer and volleyball each fall as far back as the 2007 season. He also just wrapped up year No. 8 as the play-by-play voice of the MKE women’s basketball team. But for the past two winters, Menzl’s voice has also been heard on the airwaves of the Milwaukee Admirals.

moving. And I have always wanted to get into hockey.

I had a relationship with Aaron Sims, the play-by-play announcer for the Admirals, from the Northwoods League and quicky reached out to him and said, ‘hey I heard you might need a backup guy, can I send you my stuff?’ He quickly put me in touch with UWM grad and team president Jon Greenberg. I sent Jon my demo and resume and heard back.”

Greenberg was offering the opportunity to have Menzl serve as the radio voice for games while the Admirals were also on television on My24 in Milwaukee.

“For some reason I have always grown up with a love for minor league hockey especially,” Menzl said. “I grew up watching the old IHL – the Cleveland Lumberjacks, Detroit Vipers, Orlando Solar Bears – and for some reason I was always intrigued by hockey – it’s always a challenge.”

“At first, we were going back-and-forth and it was ‘let’s start off with a two-game trial’ and we will re-access,” Menzl said. “Two games came and went and we just kept going along with the schedule and I did 11 games that first year and 10 games here in this second year and the rest is history.”

It was an opportunity that came together with a little bit of luck in October of 2022.

The first question was the ‘how’ for Menzl to fit the opportunity into his already-busy schedule. After all, the Panther hoops season overlaps directly with the hockey season.

“The person who was doing the No. 2 job for the MKE Admirals was also the Lakeshore Chinooks public address announcer (Menzl has been the voice of the Chinooks for over a decade) and I knew he was thinking about

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“It has been very tough to balance,” Menzl said. “I don’t see the Admirals schedule until October and the

“ADMIRABLY” WITH NEW OPPORTUNITY

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basketball schedule has already been out. I am trying to plug everything together and there have been a couple of times when I am flying back and forth to places – doing a Panther game somewhere Friday, going back to cover the Admirals Saturday, fly back and finish with the Panther game on a Sunday. So far, knock on wood, there has only been one conflict. And the Panthers were nice enough to allow me to do the Admirals game and Scott Warras filled in for me. That was the first time I missed a Milwaukee game in eight years. I have been lucky so far that the pieces of the puzzle have fit pretty well.”

In addition to adding to the frequent flier miles, it also means that Menzl was going to have to do twice as much homework for the winter when it comes to preparation for his broadcasts.

“The toughest part of the hockey assignment is I am parachuting in,” Menzl said. “I am essentially doing one or two games a month. They play 10-plus games a month and I am doing one or two. So keeping up with them on a regular basis, whether I am watching the games on-line or if my schedule allows it, attend in person and sit up in the media area and take it all in and study as best as I can to keep up with the team.”

Throw in another curveball on the audio side: hockey on the radio, not a video broadcast, was a new challenge for him.

“Between October and April, there’s not much downtime for me when it comes to prep in juggling both basketball and hockey,” he said. “I think the biggest challenge on the hockey side is that I have a lot of experience with hockey, but it’s all on the TV and webcast side, not radio. So the first couple of years – painting the picture, keeping up with the speed of the game … I have found that the game has slowed down, at least for me. I now find the pro game to be a lot easier than the college or high school level because it’s cleaner. You have crisp passes, you have a better flow, it’s easier making the call.”

A pro’s pro, Menzl has the ability to stay calm in most pressure situations. But that first game behind the microphone for the Admirals? That was not as easy as he was expecting.

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“It’s funny because I was thinking about that earlier,” Menzl said when asked about that first contest. “It was October of 2022, my first game, I did the home opener against the Manitoba Moose. A couple of weeks before that I went to a practice and then a scrimmage. The problem with the scrimmage was that I couldn’t see the numbers. So getting used to who’s who and putting a name with a body. I thought I was ready to go for that Manitoba game. All of a sudden, the puck drops and I am thinking ‘what the heck am I doing?’ All of a sudden boom-boom-boom, and I have to yell names like ‘Egor Afanasyev’ … this has to roll off my tongue. ‘Marc Del Gaizo’, ‘Yaroslav Askarov’ … this has to come naturally.

And I thought I was prepared but in the first minute or two I froze. But one thing I love about doing hockey, is for me, it’s a challenge. Not that I have mastered basketball, football, or some of the other sports, but I am comfortable with doing those sports because I have done them for so many years. I have done a lot of hockey, but not on the radio. So it’s still the challenge of how can I get better, how can I slow down the game and capture what needs to be captured. On the radio, you are not going to announce every pass, but you try to do the best you can to keep up with the action. So when is a good time when I can take my eye off the action to bring this up, or that up, and keep it within the flow of the game so you at home know what is going on.”

For Menzl, the timing could not have been better from the standpoint of what he has been able to experience.

The Admirals won 41 games his first season and 47 more this year, finishing first in the central. The team also recorded the second-longest winning streak in American Hockey League history, winning 19 consecutive games this season – a streak that was snapped in February but afforded Menzl the chance to call a pair of games in the historic stretch. Each of the past two campaigns, the team has advanced all the way to the Western Conference Finals before coming to a close.

There is something about playoff hockey at any level, but the environment at UWM Panther Arena for Admirals playoff games is well-established.

“I have been lucky, I have done six playoff games – three each season – and there is nothing like it,” Menzl said. “It’s hard to describe. If you get even 5,000 fans at

Roar report Summer 2024

UWM Panther Arena, they are knowledgeable fans. They know when to make noise, they know what to cheer, they know what to say, and they are in it. It is loud from the time the puck drops to the final horn. It’s just chaos – they are on the edge of their seats – waiting for that goal, that big hit. It’s unlike anything I can compare it to … it’s a whole other animal and it’s a lot of fun. Every game means something. The fans get behind their team and it’s electric – and that’s putting it mildly.”

The relationship is one Menzl hopes to continue for the foreseeable future and one that he truly cherishes.

“There is something about hockey players; just the respect factor,” Menzl said. “I mean, here I am the back-up guy and they treat me like I have been there on a daily basis. The whole organization has been so welcoming, like I have been there for 10 years. That has been the fun part about it. Being kind of an outsider but being welcomed in by this close-knit hockey community and now feeling like I belong.”

Matt Menzl with former Admiral great and current Tampa Bay Lightning scout, Tony Hrkac

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STARTER ALL-AMERICAN $5,000 - $7,499 Anonymous Gregory Blohowiak Tim and Stephanie Connolly Karl and Chris Fiasca Andrew Fogel Matthew and Rachel Mahoney Glen and Melissa Ringwall Fred Tabak Jodi Ulrich Nicole and Steven Wurster

ALL-CONFERENCE $2,500 - $4,999 Karen and Kim Anderson Garrett Butrym Jason Frederick Ms. Shawn A. Geinopolos and Mr. Mark Geinopolos Larry Goad Gruber Law Offices, LLC Michael Orgeman Emily Phillips Larry Poll Susan Riesch Mort and Sarah Sayyed James Weise

$1,000 - $1,499 Artisan Partners Limited James Babcock Baird Foundation, Inc. James Barwick Kathryn and Robert Berkley James Bryce Richard Buser Stephanie Chedid Margaret Dethloff El Rey Mexican Products, Inc. Porcaro Ford Danette Gilhaus Lawrence Hackett Jack Johnson Samuel Keele Steve Masters Normco Ltd Jen Bauer Roche and Chris Roche Kyle Stephens Peggy Williams-Smith and Timothy Smith Carrie Smock Chris Torhorst

Anonymous Richard Amann Deborah Ambruso Patrick Anderson Tammy Augustine Frankie Azzolina Julie Baron Andrew Belton Sara Boyle Steven Broas Belinda Cambre Lisa Cantrell Connie Coan Anthony Davis Macie Dorow Jocelyn Fischer Barry Fries David Gilbert Chris and Karen Giles Chase Gravengood Tom Hoffer Patrick Horne Matthew Houk Charles Hurtgen Grant Jorgensen Roger Kamau Linda Keele John Kissinger Thomas Kleewein Lisa and Paul Kojis Mike Kosky Philip Lorge Dennis McBride John Morency James Mueller Joan Nesbitt Craig Nylund Old Time Ballplayers of WI Kenneth Peterson Kathleen Sawin Kahler Slater Somerstone Joe Sosnowski Dave Spano Thomas Stefaniak Jill Thistle Kara Thomas David Toepel Trina Van Horn Michael Vebber James Weatherly Louis Weiher Jill Wiedmann Wayne Youngquist

*Please contact Cody Bohl (bohl@uwm.edu) if you would like to opt out of having your name acknowledged.

Being a part of the Panther Excellence Fund is not only an investment in the athletic program and student-athletes of Milwaukee, it also provides many benefits for you. The Panther Excellence Fund is excited to announce the following benefits for donors who support the Panthers (beginning in the 2023-24 academic year). Benefits will be awarded according to athletics annual gifts and will be available to Panther Excellence Fund members the following sports/academic year.

For more information or to hear about opportunities to get involved with Milwaukee Athletics, please contact Chris Roche (rochec@uwm.edu) or Cody Bohl (bohl@uwm.edu).

#FORTHEMKE

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