THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 31, 1996 TAG: 9603310208
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines
John Brophy's return to the bench Saturday helped the Hampton Roads Admirals regain their fire but did not help them stave off elimination from the Riley Cup playoffs.
Richmond's Brendan Flynn scored the game-winner at 6:52 of overtime to give the Renegades a 6-5 victory and a 3-0 sweep of the best-of-five series. It was the third time in four seasons that the Admirals have been knocked out of the playoffs in the first round.
Flynn won the game on a simple slap shot from the top of the circle that Admirals goalie Darryl Paquette never saw. The puck appeared to bounce in front of Paquette and into the net.
``I was screened from the puck by a Renegade,'' Paquette said. ``I saw him take the shot but didn't see the puck go into the net.''
Brophy, suspended for the first two playoff games by ECHL commissioner Pat Kelly, returned to the bench in an emotional frenzy that appeared to inspire his charges, who had lost at Richmond 10-2 on Friday in what was the worst playoff loss ever for Hampton Roads.
When Brophy saw the Renegades' stick boy knock over a stack of pucks underneath the Admirals' goal prior to pregame warmups, he overturned the Renegades' goal and kicked the pucks across the ice. He then implored the Admirals to be the tougher team.
The Admirals indeed hit the ice mean and nasty, and took a 2-0 lead in the first 5:39 thanks largely to aggressive checking.
Sean Selmser flipped the puck off the shoulder of goalie Grant Sjerven on a breakaway at 1:29 to make it 1-0. Dany Bousquet made it 2-0 when, only seconds after a Richmond power play, he took the puck from a Renegade and fired it past Sjerven at 5:39.
In what would be a game of surges, the Renegades then regained control. Richmond's Mike Taylor, Scott Gruhl and Flynn all scored in the last 13 minutes of the first period to make it 3-2.
Gruhl's goal drew a storm of protest from the Admirals' bench, directed at both linesmen.
``They were offsides on their first two goals,'' assistant coach Al MacIsaac said. ``But Gruhl was two strides offside.''
The protest came to no avail, and just 1:36 into the second period, Flynn made it 4-2 with a power-play goal.
Then the momentum shifted back to Hampton Roads. The Admirals scored on their next power play, as Rod Taylor, stationed to the side of the net, took a centering pass from David St. Pierre and pushed the puck past an outstretched Sjerven at 14:13 of the second period.
The Admirals exploded for two goals just 15 seconds apart early in the third period to retake the lead 5-4. The first came after Taylor missed twice from close in. The rebound fell in front of the net and Serge Aubin got the rebound and swept it past Sjerven at 4:04. Ryan Black then took a centering pass from Bob Woods and buried it at 4:19 to give Hampton Roads a short-lived advantage.
Referee Scott Hansen then made the key call of the game - a hooking minor on Selmser at 7:10, the only penalty in the third period. Richmond, the league's best power-play team, knotted it at 5 apiece on a goal that came three seconds after the power play ended. Trevor Senn drilled a wrister at 9:13, before the Admirals could even get their fifth skater on the ice, to tie the score.
The Admirals said Richmond's Mike Taylor took a dive on the penalty that set up Senn's goal.
``He (Hansen) kept telling us that it's a good game and he can't make those calls,'' Rod Taylor said. ``Then he goes and calls something like that.''
Mike Taylor ``is either a bad skater or he fell down,'' Selmser added. ``I didn't give him much of a push. To call that really makes you wonder.''
Brophy was enraged at the call, but said the Admirals lost the series last weekend, when a series of third-period fights against Richmond in their final regular-season game led to his suspension and that of three players.
``I can't believe the guy would make that call when he didn't make a call all night,'' Brophy said. ``He called the penalty for nothing. It was nothing. But we didn't lose the series tonight. We lost it because of our stupidity the last game of the (regular) season. It put us in a hole we couldn't get out.
``I damn proud of these guys. They played their arses off tonight. We played the game of hockey the way it's supposed to be played. It's a mortal sin that we didn't win.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
MOTOYA NAKAMURA/The Virginian-Pilot
The Admirals' Sean Selmser removes Richmond's Mike Taylor from the
puck.
Photo
MOTOYA NAKAMURA/The Virginian-Pilot
Hampton Roads' David St. Pierre, center, struggles with Richmond's
Adam French, with the Admirals' Ryan Black at left.
by CNB