THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 26, 1997 TAG: 9701260226
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: 58 lines
The Hampton Roads Admirals sent the Richmond Renegades a powerful message Saturday night: Their revenge against the defending Brabham Cup champions isn't complete until they say so.
Far from content with Friday night's 8-0 shellacking of the Renegades, the Admirals emerged with a completely different kind of victory Saturday night at the Richmond Coliseum - a hard-earned 2-1 verdict before a crowd of 11,088.
Ryan Mulhern scored the game-winning goal 13:32 into the third period and goalie Darryl Paquette completed a dream weekend by rejecting 31 of 32 shots.
``I think after (Friday) night we came in here knowing that we could beat this team,'' Paquette said. ``We're a good road team because there aren't many guys in this room who need to feed off the home crowd. These guys feed just as well off the other team's crowd. We're the hated team wherever we go, and they make that work for us.''
Mulhern's goal was a power-play effort set up when Richmond's Gary Gulash elbowed Randy Pearce into the boards, leaving Pearce face-down on the ice for more than a minute.
But Pearce came back and played a major role in the game-winner. Defenseman Chris Phelps slapped a shot at Richmond goalie Grant Sjerven, who made the save. Pearce, camped at the net, tipped the puck, which Mulhern controlled and slid past Sjerven. That done, the Admirals' league-best winning streak climbed to six games overall, five straight on the road.
``We got a little retribution this weekend,'' Mulhern said. ``We owed 'em big, and we knew we had to win to stay in first place.''
What made Mulhern's goal so sweet was that it came moments after the Admirals concluded a brilliant penalty-killing effort. Admirals defenseman Neal Martin was assessed a questionable double-minor for cross-checking with just over eight minutes left. Not only did the Renegades not score, they didn't even record a shot on goal. Led my Mulhern, Alain Savage, Andy Weidenbach and Pearce, the Admirals fired four good-chance shots that kept the Renegades on their heels.
``Killing that was a huge boost for us,'' Pearce said. ``We knew we had to kill that off to have any chance of winning.''
The Admirals were without center Victor Gervais, the team's second-leading scorer. Gervais suffered a bruised thigh late in Friday's game. He made the trip with the team Saturday, but the injury tightened in warmups and he was replaced by Darryl Shedden.
Gervais' absence was felt most acutely when the Admirals had a 5-on-3 advantage in the first period. Hampton Roads got four shots on goal, all of which Sjerven turned aside.
With Savage off the ice for goaltender interference, Richmond's Mike Harding ended Paquette's 90:18 of shutout hockey against the Renegades with a power-play goal.
With time evaporating in the second period, Hampton Roads' Rick Kowalsky caught Sjerven and the Renegades' defense napping. With less than a minute left, Kowalsky and Pearce executed a perfect give-and-go along the right boards. Kowalsky's backhander beat Sjerven at 19:34, and the teams entered the third period tied 1-1.
``Right now, we're playing our best hockey of the season,'' Mulhern said. ``And when we get Victor back - and I hope that's soon - we're really going to be tough to beat. Winning without him tonight gives us a big boost.''