THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 12, 1995 TAG: 9511120266
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RALEIGH LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
The Hampton Roads Admirals claimed a share of first place in the East Coast Hockey League's East Division on Saturday, pulling even with the archrival Richmond Renegades. But it was hardly in the fashion they would have desired.
The Admirals fell to the lowly Raleigh IceCaps 2-1 in overtime at Dorton Arena in what surely was their most listless performance of the season. It was the first home victory for last-place Raleigh (2-9-1) in five tries.
The Admirals, who pride themselves on being dominant in the third period, instead were dominated by the IceCaps. One night after mustering 51 shots in a 7-2 shellacking of Roanoke, Hampton Roads managed just three shots in the first 17 minutes of the third period and only three in the last three.
And, as usual, the Admirals shot blanks in the shootout. It was the fourth loss in four shootouts for the Admirals (7-1-4), who have lost 10 overtime games in a row, dating to last December.
Trevor Halverson was the only Admiral to score in the shootout, in which each team gets five tries against the other team's goaltender, one-on-one.
Raleigh needed only to send four shooters to the ice, as Lyle Wildgoose, Rob Pattison and Dan Murphy all scored against Admirals goalie Darryl Paquette.
It was the third shootout loss this season for Paquette, a rookie from the University of Cape Breton.
``Plain and simple, right now I've got big problems'' in shootouts, Paquette said. ``I might be making the first move. . . . I'm definitely doing something wrong.''
Ironically for Paquette, the shootout loss came after 60 minutes of near-perfect goaltending. Only an undefended Steve Potvin, who wristed in a backhanded shot over Paquette's shoulder, managed to score in regulation.
``That's what so frustrating about this,'' Paquette said. ``We worked so hard to get to that point.''
Admirals coach John Brophy would beg to differ.
``Our goalie played great,'' he said. ``But our other guys didn't do anything all night. I guess we looked at Raleigh's record and decided we could skate at half-speed.''
Brophy had declined to say whether the Admirals had a mental block in overtime after the first three shootout losses. On Saturday, he admitted that's probably the case.
``Our goaltender can't stop anything and we can't put anything near the net,'' he said. ``We didn't even come close. It's a mental thing now, I suppose. We're not that bad.''
The Admirals were dominant in the first period, taking a 1-0 lead and stifling the IceCaps defensively. Sean Selsmer scored at 12:02 on a goal made possible by Halverson and Dominic Maltais. Maltais dug the puck from the left corner of the boards and slapped it to Halverson, who passed to a waiting Selsmer in front of the net.
But the Admirals spent much of the second period fending off power plays. By the third period, the IceCaps had established superiority. They outshot the Admirals 26-13 in the final two periods.
At the end of the shootout, Brophy angrily knocked over the goal defended by Paquette on his way off the ice. Maltais, the last player to leave, then clubbed the goal in anger, breaking a stick.
``This was a bad loss, a bad one,'' he said. ``The way we played, we deserved to lose.'' by CNB