THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 7, 1996 TAG: 9603070597
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
It was a game, said Hampton Roads Admirals coach John Brophy, that could have had a devastating impact on the season.
Brophy's team trailed the Mobile Mysticks - next-to-last in the ECHL in points - by two goals seven minutes into the second period.
``I'm not insulting them or running them down, but if we had had to lay around here for three days after making a mess like that, it wouldn't have been nice to be near us,'' Brophy said. ``It meant everything for us to win this game in the third period.''
That Hampton Roads did, 6-4, using a four-goal barrage in the final 20 minutes to win their second game in a row and their fourth in the last five. Joel Poirier, playing just his 15th game as an Admiral, led the assault with three goals and two assists - his first five-point night since he played junior hockey in Windsor, Ontario.
Poirier's first two goals - one in the first, one in the second - served to keep Hampton Roads close after 40 minutes.
Rod Taylor began the third-period barrage with a breakaway shot past ex-Admiral Mark Michaud. Serge Aubin then took advantage of a 3-on-2 break to score on Michaud and tie the game at 7:36.
One minute, 17 seconds later, Aubin outscrapped Mobile's Alex Cherbayev for the puck, then fired a pinpoint pass to David St. Pierre, who lifted the puck past Michaud for the game-winner. But Poirier wasn't finished. With assists from St. Pierre and Bob Woods, he poked his fifth shot of the game past Michaud to close out the scoring.
``There wasn't one specific point where we turned it around,'' Poirier said. ``We started to come on midway through the second, and then we had a great third. That last goal, it doesn't get easier than that. I could have done that all night.''
Everywhere they turned, it seems, the Admirals found a scare.
Starting goalie Mike Torchia left the game after the first period after suffering a dizzy spell in the locker room. Mark Bernard replaced him and stopped 18 of 19 shots in earning his second straight victory and 15th of the season.
Torchia said he was feeling fine until he stood up in the locker room at the end of the first intermission. The room started to spin, he said, and he began to feel dizzy. Trainer Rick Burrill took his pulse, discovered an irregular heartbeat and pulled Torchia from the game.
The goalie will see Chesapeake general practitioner Dr. Edward Hanna today for precautionary tests.
``I don't think it was so much the heart as it was the fact that I wasn't feeling well before the game,'' Torchia said. ``It was one of those situations where it was better to be safe than sorry.
``I've had this before. It's nothing to worry about.''
Brophy said he was hardly surprised Torchia wasn't feeling well after a first period in which he faced 21 shots.
``Hell, he played three games during the first period alone,'' Brophy said. ``He was great to hold it close. Without him, it could have been out of reach by the second period.'' ILLUSTRATION: LAWRENCE JACKSON
The Virginian-Pilot
Ryan Sittler, left, takes aim as the Admirals' Mike Torchia, center,
and Steve Richards move to stop him.
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[For a copy of the graphic, see microfilm for this date.]
by CNB