THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 16, 1996 TAG: 9603160531
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C9 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
Some losses teams can pass off as a bad night at the office. Some losses teams can't shake off even if they wanted to. They make a statement, not about one night, but about a season.
The Hampton Roads Admirals suffered one of those ugly, stick-to-your-gut losses Friday night at Scope.
Call it lousy goaltending; Admirals goalie Mark Bernard did. Call it just another frustrating lost opportunity; Admiral Rod Taylor did.
Whatever it was, the Admirals blew a 3-1 lead in the second period, allowed five unanswered goals and fell 6-4 to a South Carolina team they had every reason to beat.
The third-place Stingrays increased their lead over the fifth-place Admirals to four points. Hampton Roads gets a crack at chipping away at that deficit when the teams play Sunday in Charleston. First, however, there's division-leading Richmond, which comes to Scope tonight for the Admirals' regular-season home finale.
``How many chances are we going to get?'' Taylor asked, unable to savor the third-period goal that moved him past Brian Martin as the team's all-time leading scorer with 358 points. ``Every time we've had a chance to move up, we haven't stepped up. We don't step up in the big games. We haven't all year.''
Sean Selmser, David St. Pierre and newcomer Dany Bousquet scored to stake Hampton Roads to a 3-1 lead early in the second period. Then everything, went south.
At one point, Bernard allowed goals just 19 seconds apart. One came on a breakaway when Bob Woods couldn't hold the puck in his own end, the other when Mike Figliomeany stole the puck deep in the Admirals zone and rifled a shot past Bernard.
In all, Bernard faced just 29 shots. Six escaped him. It continued an inexplicable recent slump. In the last two games, Bernard has yielded 10 goals in 43 shots.
``If we're going to get back on track, first of all, we need goaltending,'' Bernard said. ``The last two games, the goaltending - and that's me - has been crap. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. The guys in front are playing hard, I'm just letting them down.''
Coach John Brophy said Corwin Saurdiff will start tonight against Richmond.
Conversely, Hampton Roads pumped 40 shots at South Carolina goalkeeper Sean Gauthier.
``We started off with confidence, but as the game went on, it looked like we had to knock down their end of the rink to score,'' Brophy said. ``They got a couple of easy ones.''
What bothered Brophy most was that the Admirals fell apart at a time they should have been at their best.
``When it was 3-1, we totally disintegrated,'' he said. ``Everybody running around all over the place. I'd thought we'd win the game in the third period, but we didn't.''
Taylor surveyed the room, pondered his team's 17 losses in the last 23 games and wondered why.
``This is one of the best-talented teams, but we're having one of the worst seasons,'' he said. ``We just don't click all the time. What is needed to win is for the defense and forwards to click. It ain't happening.''
RELOCATION, REALIGNMENT: The league has approved the relocation of the Erie Panthers, one of the league's founding franchises, to Baton Rouge, La., and the Nashville Knights to Pensacola, Fla. The addition of two expansion franchises and the two relocations will result in divisional realignment for the '96-97 season. The Knoxville Cherokees will join Hampton Roads in the East Division, along with Charlotte, Raleigh, Richmond, Roanoke and South Carolina. by CNB