AHL Game Night 11/8: Ice Hogs at Admirals

[BP Staff]

Momentum.

RFD-1
NOR-3

Karri Ramo allowed just 1 goal on 21 shots for the win.

First Period
RFD Pelletier, (5) (Kontiola, Skille), 2:33

Second Period
NO SCORING

Third Period
NOR Segal, (7) (Smolenak, Szczechura), 3:35
NOR Konopka, (3) (Ward, Heward), 3:47
NOR Kearns, (2) , 19:13 (EN)

Rockford found out they were Marked for Death, as Brandon Segal was named the game's first star. Jason Ward was the game's second star after setting up third star Zenon Konopka's game winning goal.

Steve Downie was +1 with 9 penalty minutes in his Norfolk debut, including a fighting major with an unsportsmanlike conduct chaser.

This team started clicking this weekend thanks in part to Zenon Konopka snapping an eight game goalless drought to chip in goals in each of the games against Rockford. Norfolk is now 5 points back of fourth place Philadelphia in the division, and they will start a road trip through the Atlantic Division starting Tuesday against Lowell before back-to-back games against Manchester on Friday and Saturday. Both teams are under-.500 and give an opportunity for the 3-6-2 Admirals to start to climb the ladder.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

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[timothy]

Rookie defenseman Daryl Boyle's three-game assist and point streak (1G, 3A) ended … Boyle is tied for the Admirals lead in plus/minus at +6 …

Norfolk has only three first period goals in 12 games this season …

Scratches: D Ty Wishart, F Pete Zingoni, F Justin Keller, D Scott Jackson, F Brandon Bochenski

Brent Henley served the first game of a two-game suspension

[timothy]

Originally Posted by BP Staff

Momentum.

Yes. Momentum. But here's a little nugget from last Wednesday's practice from this blog post:

The captain, who is clearly more than a little irritated by his own horrible start and that of his team, decided he'd take it out on his mates today.

During a drill at one end where two nets and two goaltenders were in play along with four skaters, Konopka was a slashing, hooking, shouting menace. He and Juraj Simek had several battles, with one player hacking the other and then getting pushed from behind and over a sprawling goaltender in return.

Konopka became irate when goaltender Mike McKenna insisted he'd saved a shot and it hadn't trickled across the goal line. As he was skating away, Konopka hooked McKenna's skate, causing him to lurch backwards. It wasn't in jest, either. Then Karri Ramo did something to upset Captain Z and he got screamed at as well.

After practice, Konopka called the whole team together in a knot down at the far end of the ice away from the dressing room. The only thing we could make out was ``I don't like f*cking losing!'' and then it became unintelligible. But it was obvious that he was doing all the talking and his teammates were listening closely. Except for Wyatt Smith, who skated around in little circles a few feet from the pack.