THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 6, 1996 TAG: 9601060412
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KEITH NAMM, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
Sean Selsmer's score in the fifth shootout round lifted the Hampton Roads Admirals to a 5-4 victory over the South Carolina Stingrays Friday night in front of 8,204 at the North Charleston Coliseum.
The victory was the third straight for the Admirals (20-8-10), who overcame a 3-0 deficit.
The Stingrays (17-12-5) had a four-game winning streak snapped but are still riding a 10-0-2 stretch.
The Admirals pulled goalie Mark Bernard with 1:28 left for an extra skater and it paid off, with Trevor Halverson tying it 4-4 with 29 seconds to play. He redirected Mike Larkin's right-point drive past Sean Gauthier.
``It's a great character win for our team,'' said Mark Bernard, who replaced Todd Hunter in the Admirals' net midway in the second period. ``We had a bad first period, but we regrouped in the second and just inched our way back.''
Mike Ross put the Stingrays ahead 1-0 at 8:41 of the first, sneaking a blast from low in the right circle through Hunter's pads. Kevin Knopp steered it down low to Ross after collecting his own rebound. Mark Bavis also had an assist.
Brett Marietti made it 2-0 on a shorthanded goal with one second left in the first, moments after the Admirals won a faceoff in the Stingray end. Marietti muscled by Steve Richards after knocking down Richards' entry pass, skated in free and beat Hunter inside the left post.
Both teams had three first-period power plays, and the Admirals had a 13-12 edge in shots after one.
Hampton Roads' Dominic Maltais hit the right post with a wrister from the slot at 5:05 of the first during a power play when the Admirals buzzed around Gauthier.
Mark Bavis deflected Chad Seibel's left-point blast into the upper left corner for a 3-0 Stingray lead at 4:10 of the second period.
The Admirals cashed in on their first power play of the second period to move to within 3-1 at 6:15. Selsmer, skating through the slot, deflected Richards' right-circle drive up and over Gauthier's glove.
Rod Taylor brought the Admirals back to 3-2 at 8:38 of the second with the teams skating 4-on-4. He stole the puck from a crowd of three Stingrays behind the South Carolina net, circled in front to the right of Gauthier and found net with a far-side backhand.
Richards struck for a power-play breakaway goal at 8:41 of the second that cut it to 4-3. He took a Jeff Kostuch feed from his own blue line, split two defenders at the Stingray line and lifted in a shot on Gauthier's stick side. by CNB