THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 28, 1996 TAG: 9603280524
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
Give Andrew Shier's long-distance carrier an assist in Richmond's 6-5 playoff-opening victory over the Hampton Roads Admirals on Wednesday night.
``He was stuck in Milwaukee, never playing, and he called me several times, asking to come back,'' Renegades coach Roy Sommer said after watching Shier score three goals, including the game-winner, for the defending Jack Riley Cup champions.
``He kept calling and I finally told him I'd see what we could do. Fortunately, we had an opening. As you can see, we can use his scoring ability.''
Shier, a playoff hero for the Renegades a year ago, has played four games against the Admirals this season and has scored six goals.
Wednesday, he tallied twice in the second period to give Richmond a 4-1 lead. And he camped out in the slot with 11:20 to play in the game to rap home the game-winner after the undermanned Admirals staged a brilliant comeback to take a one-goal lead.
After Richmond's Dmitri Pankov scored to tie the game at 5, Shier took Jay Murphy's pass from behind goalie Darryl Paquette and fired the puck into the net to give his team a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series.
``We got them all by good, hard work,'' Shier said. ``In the playoffs, there's a tendency to just play hockey.''
The latter was a reference to the suspensions of Admirals coach John Brophy and players David St. Pierre, Aaron Downey and Mike Barrie following several incidents Saturday night against Richmond.
The Admirals traveled to Richmond on Wednesday with just 12 skaters and two goaltenders, a severe handicap they overcame with their most disciplined hockey in the last couple of weeks.
``I'm disappointed; we should have won,'' said Admirals assistant coach Al MacIssac, who filled in for Brophy. ``We got down by a couple, but we showed a lot of character coming back. We had our chances. I feel bad for the guys. They played hard.''
To compensate for the personnel losses, defensemen Steve Richards and Bob Woods played forward. The Admirals used just four defensemen, though Woods dropped into his old position for occasional shifts.
``It took some time to get adjusted to each other,'' Woods said. ``There were a couple of times I had to remind myself that it was my time to drop back. The second period, I thought, we played with much more confidence.''
Hampton Roads trailed 2-0 after the first period and 3-0 after Shier's first goal of the night. But then Rod Taylor, assisted by Richards and Rich Bronilla, scored to make it 3-1.
Shier pushed the lead back to three with another goal, after which Bronilla, Richards and Dany Bousquet scored to tie the score at 4-4 after two periods.
Then Woods flashed down the right side, beat Richmond defender Brendan Flynn, watched Renegades goalie Trevor Robins hit the ice expecting a low shot and calmly flipped the puck over his glove hand to give the Admirals an astonishing 5-4 edge.
``I thought we could hang on,'' Woods said. ``But they got that puck down low, and they won the battle behind the net. They're really good at finding the guy in the slot.''
The Admirals said Wednesday's outcome only reinforced their confidence that they'll ultimately dethrone their archrivals.
``We come out shorthanded and everyone chipped in and almost pulled it off,'' Woods said. ``We know we can play with these guys.
``We were 5-5 (against Richmond) during the regular season and we should have won eight. I'm optimistic. It would have been nice to sneak out of here with one tonight, but we get St. Pierre back Friday. That should make us better. The next one's the key.'' ILLUSTRATION: RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH PHOTO
The Admirals' Serge Aubin, left, takes down Richmond's Mike Taylor
during Wednesday's playoff game.
by CNB