THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 25, 1995 TAG: 9511250368
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROANOKE LENGTH: Long : 115 lines
Reprinted from Friday's late editions.At least coach John Brophy and his Hampton Roads Admirals can be thankful that they accrue a point in the ECHL standings for each of their seven shootout losses so far this season.
The Admirals (8-2-7) lost their 13th overtime game in a row dating back to last season 6-5 in a shootout to the Roanoke Express before a Thanksgiving Day crowd of 5,828 at the Roanoke Civic Center.
It was their second shootout loss in 24 hours to Roanoke, which defeated the Admirals 4-3 Wednesday at Scope.
``We're not playing for ties, but I guess that's what it's like,'' said Brophy, whose Admirals host Raleigh tonight at Scope.
``Don't ask me what happens in the shootout. It's become a burden. If we win one, maybe we won't lose another.''
Roanoke's Jason Clarke had a pair of goals in regulation, including one that knotted the game at 5-5 with 2:42 left in regulation. Craig Herr then beat Admirals goalie Mark Bernard for the only goal in the shootout.
That was all Roanoke goalie Daniel Berthiaume needed. Berthiaume stopped all five Admirals shootout attempts after stopping the Admirals on their last six shootout tries on Wednesday.
Berthiaume acknowledged luck was on his side Thursday, as both Bob Woods and Rick Kowalsky hit posts during the shootout.
``I loved that,'' said Berthiaume, who replaced starter Matt DelGuidice in the second. ``You always love it when the other guys hit the post and it doesn't go in. They sent three or four of the same guys (whom he had seen in Wednesday's shootout) at me. They all didn't do the same things, but neither did I.''
Admirals forward Trevor Halverson scored his 14th and 15th goals of the season and added two assists. David St. Pierre added three assists and Ron Pascucci, Dominic Maltais and Jeff Kostuch a goal apiece.
Herr won it for the Express in the fourth round with a forehand over Bernard's right shoulder.
``I went backhand (in Wednesday's shootout) and didn't score,'' said Herr, who scored despite suffering a nasty bruise after taking a slapshot to his right leg. ``I rarely shoot high. Bernard was probably just as surprised as I was.''
The Admirals erased a two-goal lead, then saw the Express tie the score 4-4 when Michael Smith scored a power-play goal by taking a back pass from Herr, wound up once and buried a shot from the point that glanced the left post at 15:40 of the second.
Maltais gave the Admirals a 5-4 lead with a power-play goal late in the second, then the next time Smith fired on goal, Clarke was there to deflect it in and it tied the score with only 2:42 left.
``I've got to bump and grind for those goals,'' said Clarke. ``They may be garbage goals, but I'll take 20 of 'em.''
The Admirals put themselves into a deep hole with 11 first-period penalties that allowed the Express to take a 3-1 lead on three power-play goals. Brophy then pulled Darryl Paquette from goal in favor of Bernard.
The Admirals climbed off the deck with three goals in the first 8:37 of the second to take a 4-3 lead. But as usual, when it came to the shootout, they fired only blanks.
NORFOLK - The Raleigh IceCaps are penalized so infrequently that they are earning a new nickname throughout the East Coast Hockey League: IceAngels.
So when Raleigh arrived at Scope on Friday night, the Hampton Roads Admirals knew they had to be on their best behavior.
The mission was accomplished as Hampton Roads took the IceCaps' halo and turned it sideways to represent a goose egg.
Mark Bernard turned back 23 shots and the Admirals got power-play goals from Trevor Halverson and Dominic Maltais in a 2-0 win before a rowdy crowd of 8,151.
``If you don't watch it, you get lulled into playing pond hockey with Raleigh and it becomes the equivalent of a flag football game,'' said Admirals forward Rick Kowalsky. ``That can be kind of disruptive, especially for a physical team like ours.''
How disciplined are the IceCaps? They have more than 100 fewer penalty minutes than Roanoke, the next-least offender in the ECHL's East Division.
But the Admirals made the IceCaps' brand of hockey work to their advantage when Halverson camped just off the right post on a power play and poked in a centering pass from Serge Aubin. No IceCap even attempted to bump Halverson off the post. It was his 16th goal of the season, tying him for the league lead.
``Aubin made a helluva pass,'' Halverson said of his teammate who shuffled the pass into the crease from behind Raleigh's goal. ``He saucered that puck over the goalie's glove and I just batted it in.''
The Badmirals emerged from the locker room in the second period and allowed Raleigh three nearly consecutive power-play opportunities. But the IceCaps couldn't convert against Bernard.
Hampton Roads added an insurance goal in the third. Kowalsky's wrist shot deflected off Bob Woods and ricocheted off goalie Brian Mullany's blocker onto the stick of Maltais, who stuck it back in.
The shutout was the Admirals' second this season, and both have come at the IceCaps' expense. But this was a much better Raleigh team than was seen at Scope three weeks ago, if only because of the presence of Ryan Sittler. The son of NHL Hall of Famer Darryl Sittler was a first-round draft pick by Philadelphia in 1992 and is with the IceCaps on a rehab assignment (multiple facial injuries) from the AHL's Hershey Bears.
``We knew we had to keep an eye on him because he's got some skills,'' Bernard said. ``The defense did a good job of keeping him off the puck.''
The Admirals, meanwhile, were sporting a little less firepower than usual after the losses of forward Rod Taylor and defenseman Alexei Krivchenkov. Taylor has been suspended indefinitely after allegedly firing a puck in the direction of referee Paul Mariconda in a game Wednesday night. And Krivchenkov was called up by the IHL Cleveland Lumberjacks for Friday night's game against Kalamazoo. With Krivchenkov gone, Chris Phelps and Ron Pascucci skated an increased number of shifts on defense and played near-flawless hockey.
``Those two've gotta play well together or we don't win,'' Admirals coach John Brophy said. ``This was good for us. We had an ugly looking record going into this.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT, The Virginian-Pilot
The Admirals' Sergei Voronov has the upper hand in this scrum with
Raleigh's Curt Regnier in Friday's victory.
by CNB