THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 29, 1995 TAG: 9511290564
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
Following each of the Hampton Roads Admirals' seven previous shootout losses this season, there were a lot of hang-dog expressions.
But after Tuesday night's 5-4 shootout loss to the Richmond Renegades, every Admiral left holding his head high, for two reasons:
The Admirals had pulled yeoman's work just to force a tie and earn a standings point.
And they had to stay alert as some unruly fans at Richmond Coliseum rained beer and give-away Frisbees on them as they left the ice.
Richmond (15-3-2) won when Scott Gruhl and Brendan Flynn converted their shootout attempts - the Admirals were 0 for 4 on their shots. But for Hampton Roads to force a shootout in this one seemed a long shot at best.
After a series of misadventures, the Admirals (10-2-8) trailed 4-3 entering the third period and were down to 12 skaters and one goalie, Todd Hunter. Hunter, who was 3-5-1 with the Admirals last year, was acquired from Lakeland of the Southern Hockey League on emergency basis after Darryl Paquette was called up late Monday by the AHL's Portland Pirates.
After two Richmond breakaway goals early, Admirals starting goalie Mark Bernard chased Richmond's Greg Hadden out of the Admirals' zone and started swinging after Hadden downed defenseman Sergei Voronov with a vicious slash that went undetected. Bernard received a game misconduct for leaving the crease, and Bob Woods received a game misconduct for finishing the retaliation on Hadden.
``Am I mad at Bernard? Not one bit,'' Admirals coach John Brophy said. ``He did what he had to do, although it might have been better if someone else had done it.''
After a Rick Kowalsky goal, Richmond scored on another breakaway, this time by Mike Taylor, shorthanded, to take a 3-2 lead at the end of the first.
The Admirals were down yet another skater in the second period when Jeff Kostuch received a game misconduct. Kostuch rode Richmond's Steve Carpenter to the ice after taking exception to Carpenter's major charging penalty against Admirals forward Serge Aubin.
Hampton Roads lost yet another skater when David St. Pierre aggravated a groin injury. The Admirals were already without Rod Taylor, serving an indefinite suspension for allegedly slapping a puck at a referee last week, and Jason MacIntyre, out with a bruised shoulder.
All of the early fighting - there were six skirmishes in all - served as mere undercard action for the second period's main event: former Admiral Brian Goudie vs. current Admiral Aaron Downey.
As if to signify he was reigning king, Goudie flipped off his helmet before the fists flew. But after several good punches by both men, it was Goudie who left the ice, saying he'd hurt his shoulder in the melee.
In the second, the teams traded power-play goals by Trevor Halverson, his second goal of the game and 18th of the season, and Richmond's Mike Burman as the Renegades took a 4-3 lead into the third. But the Admirals tied it again with 8:48 left when Sean Selmser one-timed a Kowalsky pass past Grant Sjerven on a rush down ice.
``Forget the shootout,'' Brophy said while wiping beer off his lapel. ``We showed a lot of class and played one great hockey game tonight. The early goals we gave up were mortal sins, total breakdowns on defense. But we put them behind us and came back.'' by CNB