THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 25, 1995 TAG: 9503250492
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
Tallahassee center Greg Geldart stuck a knife in the hearts of the Hampton Roads Admirals Friday.
With just 10 seconds left in the opening game of the ECHL playoffs, Geldart slapped in the rebound of a missed shot to give the Tiger Sharks a 4-3 victory over the Admirals before 5,184 stunned fans at Scope.
The best-of-five series resumes tonight in Norfolk, but even if the Admirals win, they have lost the home-ice advantage. The Tiger Sharks can lose tonight and still clinch the series by winning Tuesday and Wednesday in the Tallahassee Leon County Civic Center.
Tallahassee was clearly the better team Friday in spite of the close margin. Hampton Roads was outshot, 35-29, and the Tiger Sharks had many more high-percentage shots. Three of the Tallahassee goals came on rebounds of missed shots.
``When you stand around and don't knock anybody down, that's what happens,'' said Admirals coach John Brophy, who came to Scope adorned with his white hair sprayed blue after losing a bet with defenseman Brian Goudie over whether the team would start with home-ice advantage for the series.
``When you're skating half-speed like a bunch of old drunks, that's the way things go. We didn't play 10 minutes of hockey.
``Not one of our players who is supposed to lead this team played, not a one of them.''
Not quite true - goaltender Corwin Saurdiff played very well. He managed to keep it close with a dozen sparkling saves, and didn't give up a ``soft'' goal. All came on point-blank shots.
Geldart's goal came just two minutes and 20 seconds after the Admirals had tied the score on Rod Taylor's second goal of the game. Hampton Roads then made a strong attempt to wrest victory in regulation, pummeling Tallahassee goaltender Mark Richards with five shots in less than a minute.
But Tallahassee cleared the puck with 20 seconds to go and Reirden worked free for a shot five seonds later. Saurdiff knocked it away, but Geldart was left free in front of the net to knock in the game-winner over Saurdiff's shoulder.
The game was not without some controversy. The Admirals appeared to take the lead, 4-3, on a John Porco shot at 18:58. But the goal was waved off by referee Terry Korarski.
Fans booed and threw debris on the ice. Some of the Admirals protested, but Porco admitted Korarski made the correct call.
``The whistle blew,'' he said. ``It was under the goaltender's pad when I knocked it in. He made the right call.
``That wasn't the problem. We came out flat. That was the problem. This is not the way we wanted to play in the playoffs. We gave them way too much respect.''
For Tallahassee, the victory was its first ever in the playoffs. The first-year Tiger Sharks have the league's best road record, at 22-12-1. But this was the biggest of them all, said Ron Pasco, who had two goals.
``This is a big step forward for us,'' he said. ``For a lot of our guys, this is their first playoff game.
``It was important to win the first one.''
Brophy, who rarely accepts defeat with grace, looked more worried than angry at game's end.
``Maybe Tallahassee is better than us,'' he said. ``Maybe that's as good as we can do against them.
``I think we'll be ready tomorrow. But I don't know.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by TAMARA VONINSKI, Staff
Yes, his hair is blue. Admirals coach John Brophy dyed his hair blue
after losing a bet with Brian Goudie...
Photo by TAMARA VONINSKI, Staff
The Admirals' Brian Goudie, right, tangles with Tallahassee's Darren
Schwartz in the first period of a game in which the visitors
outplayed the host.
by CNB