All

I was fortunate enough to be invited down to The Scope before Saturday morning’s optional skate to talk to Norfolk Head Coach Steve Stirling and Norfolk General Manager Claude Loiselle. At about 9 am I made my way down to the building in the heart of a quiet downtown Norfolk. The hockey operations staff were in a good mood after beating the Binghamton Senators 5-1 in the Admirals’ home opener, and there was a feeling in the building that things were starting to get on the right track.

A good third period is hopefully a sign of better things to come.

NOR-3
PHI-4

Karri Ramo had a rough first two periods and ended up allowing 4 goals on 30 shots. Ramo struggled mightily with his rebound control until finally settling down in the final frame.

First Period
PHI Zingoni, (1) (Gauthier), 1:17
PHI Reid, (1) (Matsumoto, Greentree), 9:10 (PP)

Second Period
PHI Matsumoto, (1) (Greentree, Timonen), 3:13 (PP)
NOR Wanvig, (1) , 4:25 (SH)
PHI Reid, (2) (Timonen, Grant), 17:32 (PP)

Third Period
NOR Lawrence, (1) (Jancevski, Milley), 0:36 (SH)
NOR Wanvig, (2) (Fletcher), 18:57

Just some quick thoughts of mine going into this week's tournament:

The Tampa Bay Lightning has graciously provided Bolt Prospects with the following roster for the 2007 Norfolk Admirals Training Camp:

It has been brought to my attention in the last couple of days by BP reader Freadrich43 that my understanding of the August 15th signing deadline for NCAA players has been incorrect. I had been operating under the impression that NCAA players leaving school did not have to be signed until August 15th of the year after they graduated. This, as it turns out, was incorrect and I thank Freadrich43 for bringing it to my attention. An NCAA prospect must be signed by August 15th of the summer following their graduation for their rights to be retained by the NHL club.

Site rules are that only players whose rights are held by the Lightning can be included on the Prospects page. That means that for the last year PJ Atherton was incorrectly included on the page. While this wasn't necessarily a catastrophic oversight considering Atherton played last season inside the organization under a minor league contract, we still strive for 100% accuracy. So, I apologize. The fault was mine.

The rule also will effect three other prospects who have been included on the Prospects page: Dustin Collins, Arthur Femenella, and Joseph Pearce. With Collins and Femenella both slated to appear for the Lightning in Traverse City at the start of September and likely to attend Norfolk Admirals camp later on in the Fall, I have been forced to decide what to do with them until their participation in those events are complete. The decision I've reached is to remove Pearce, who was not invited to Traverse City, from the page immediately and leave Collins and Femenella on until Bolt Prospects releases its Preliminary Rankings in early October. If neither receives an NHL contract by that time, they will be removed from the page as well.

Just to reiterate, I'm sorry. While it's not a huge mistake in the grand scheme of things, I know that our readers expect and deserve nothing less than complete accuracy. For the future, now that we have clarification on how the rule works, we will be sure to promptly and correctly update the Prospects page after an NCAA player graduates.

Thanks,
Pete