THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 16, 1997 TAG: 9701160511
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 64 lines
According to the Hampton Roads Admirals, their 5-4 victory Wednesday night over the Charlotte Checkers had a far too familiar and unpleasant feel to it.
The Admirals blew leads of 2-0 and 4-2 before securing their league-best 25th win of the season with 1:35 to play on Ryan Mulhern's goal from in front of Checkers goalie Ken Shepard.
After moving back in front of South Carolina and into first place in the ECHL's East Division, the Admirals held a 15-minute closed-door meeting in their locker room. The subject wasn't where to go for a victory party.
``We talked about how when we get a lead, too many times we then go for the big goal rather than play our defensive assignments,'' Mulhern said. ``If we'd play it more straight-up, every once in a while we'd score off that and then we'd have a really easy third period. But we always seem to make it hard on ourselves.''
Actually, it could have been a much easier night for the home team. Two Admirals goals were disallowed by referee Jeff Smith. Included was a shot by Rick Kowalsky late in the second period that struck the padding behind and inside the goal post, then sat partially on the line, partially in the cage.
The goal judge turned on the light signifying a goal; after a brief discussion, Smith said no goal.
That typified a frustrating second period for Hampton Roads, which had a 32-16 advantage in shots on goal but a 2-2 tie on the scoreboard. Coach John Brophy spent the majority of the second intermission sitting on the team bench, his back to the glass, staring pensively straight ahead.
``He knew we were frustrated and I know he was frustrated, too,'' said forward Andy Weidenbach. ``Maybe he thought it better not to come in and vent his frustrations on us.''
It was a different Hampton Roads team that came out for the third period.
The Admirals turned a penalty against Dominic Maltais into a positive when Weidenbach scored a shorthanded goal. Alain Savage won a faceoff in the Admirals' end, after which Weidenbach darted behind Charlotte's Scott Kirton to reach the puck, then outskated him the length of the ice before beating Shepard in the right corner with the shot that put the Admirals ahead 3-2 just 1:02 into the final stanza.
Two minutes later, Chad Ackerman scored a second-effort goal to put the Admirals up 4-2. Ackerman laced a slapshot at Shepard, which the goalie kicked out to the right. Ackerman then chased down his own rebound, slapped it again and this time beat the Charlotte netminder.
Charlotte's Matt Robbins and Darryl Noren scored to bring the Checkers even at 4-4 with 6:46 remaining. That's how it remained until Kowalsky and Randy Pearce dumped the puck into the Checkers' zone. Mulhern beat the defense to it, then scored when Pearce and Kowalsky set up a screen in front of the Charlotte goal.
``He was totally out of place,'' Mulhern said. ``I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time.'' ILLUSTRATION: LAWRENCE JACKSON
The Virginian-Pilot
The Admirals' Victor Gervais gets the squeeze from Charlotte
Checkers goalie Ken Shepard, left, and Darryl Noren.
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