KEVIN GRAVEL

MILWAUKEE, Wis. — The Milwaukee Admirals will take on the Rockford IceHogs in the American Hockey League Central Division semifinals beginning with game one at Panther Arena at 7 p.m. Thursday.

Kingsford native Kevin Gravel, a defenseman for the Admirals, has skated in 61 games contributing five goals and 15 assists.

Gravel was called up from the Admirals to the Nashville Predators of the National Hockey League for two stints during the 2024-25 season. He played in six games and registered one assist.

Gravel was a 2010 fifth round pick of the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings. He joined the Kings in the 2015-16 season and has seen action in 138 NHL games over the course of his pro career, recording one goal and 14 assists.

Milwaukee won the Central Division title for the second consecutive season, posting a 40-21-5-6 record and 91 points.

Rockford finished in fifth place in the division with a 31-33-6-2 record and 70 points before beating Chicago two games to none in the divisional play-in round.

The 16 teams remaining in the Calder Cup playoffs — four from each division — will play a best-of-five series in the division semifinals. The playoffs will continue with another best-of-five series for the division finals and a best-of-seven series for the conference finals and Calder Cup finals.

Milwaukee had a 7-1-0-2 record against the IceHogs this season, including a perfect 5-0 record on home ice. Matt Murray was 4-1-1 in six games in net for the Admirals.

This is first time since 2009 that the two teams have faced-off in the Calder Cup playoffs. The Admirals won that series 4-0 as netminder Drew MacIntyre allowed just four goals all series.

Tickets for games one, two and five are on sale at https://www.gofevo.com/group/2025Calder or over the phone at 414-227-0550.