By Jimmy Carlton Sportswriter Published Nov 09, 2017 at 5:01 PM

Attention, Wisconsin hockey fans: The Milwaukee Admirals now have a former Badgers player on their roster.

The Admirals claimed forward Mark Zengerle off of waivers, the team announced Thursday, and he’s expected to make his debut on Saturday night when Milwaukee hosts the Rockford IceHogs at the UWM Panther Arena.

A native of Rochester, New York, Zengerle had been under an AHL contract with the Rochester Americans before being claimed, and he played nine games this season with Linkopings HC of the Swedish Hockey League. Last year, he tallied 13 goals and 21 assists for 34 points in 69 games with the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms. From 2014 to '16, Zengerle totaled 84 points (24 goals, 60 assists) in 144 games with the Grand Rapids Griffins.

Zengerle finished a distinguished four-year career at the University of Wisconsin in 2014 when he led the team in scoring with 44 points (10 goals, 34 assists). That season, he was a member of the All-Big Ten First Team and was named Most Outstanding Player of the 2014 Big Ten Tournament. Over his college career, Zengerle had 162 points (37 goals, 125 assists) in 151 games for the Badgers.

Admirals offer free tickets for veterans Nov. 11

The Admirals announced Thursday that they will offer free tickets to all veterans and active military personnel, as well as their immediate family members, for Saturday's game against the IceHogs. This is the 13th consecutive season of Milwaukee's "Salute to Our Military Night."

"This is always a special night for us to have these veterans and active military members enjoy one of our games," said President Jon Greenberg. "These men and women and their families have sacrificed so much, and this is a very small token of our thanks to them for all they have done."

The Admirals will be honoring World War II Veteran Bob Birmingham as the Hometown Hero during the second period. For the second season in a row, Chief Warrant Officer Ken Fabis of the 484th Army Band will perform the National Anthem at the game.

Jimmy Carlton Sportswriter

Born in Milwaukee but a product of Shorewood High School (go ‘Hounds!) and Northwestern University (go ‘Cats!), Jimmy never knew the schoolboy bliss of cheering for a winning football, basketball or baseball team. So he ditched being a fan in order to cover sports professionally - occasionally objectively, always passionately. He's lived in Chicago, New York and Dallas, but now resides again in his beloved Brew City and is an ardent attacker of the notorious Milwaukee Inferiority Complex.

After interning at print publications like Birds and Blooms (official motto: "America's #1 backyard birding and gardening magazine!"), Sports Illustrated (unofficial motto: "Subscribe and save up to 90% off the cover price!") and The Dallas Morning News (a newspaper!), Jimmy worked for web outlets like CBSSports.com, where he was a Packers beat reporter, and FOX Sports Wisconsin, where he managed digital content. He's a proponent and frequent user of em dashes, parenthetical asides, descriptive appositives and, really, anything that makes his sentences longer and more needlessly complex.

Jimmy appreciates references to late '90s Brewers and Bucks players and is the curator of the unofficial John Jaha Hall of Fame. He also enjoys running, biking and soccer, but isn't too annoying about them. He writes about sports - both mainstream and unconventional - and non-sports, including history, music, food, art and even golf (just kidding!), and welcomes reader suggestions for off-the-beaten-path story ideas.