Tokarski, Dustin

The Norfolk Admiral fanbase have selected their All-Time AHL 1st and 2nd teams as part of a 10th Anniversary team celebration at norfolkadmirals.com.

Current Bolt prospect defenseman Vladimir Mihalik and goaltender Dustin Tokarski were voted on the 10th Anniversary 2nd Team. Joining Mihalik and Tokarski on the 2nd team is former Lightning prospect forward Justin Keller. Former Tampa forward Brandon Bochenski was voted on 10th Anniversary 1st Team.

The Lightning have assembled a preliminary roster for the upcoming prospects camp July 10-14 at the St. Pete Times Forum. The following roster, courtesy of Erik Erlendsson of the Tampa Tribune, includes at least three goaltenders, 12 defensemen and 17 forwards. All 2010 draft choices will be participating.

Hockey Expressen is reporting that the agent of Lightning goaltending prospect Riku Helenius, Jay Grossman, has announced the Finnish born former first round pick will play for Sodertalje in the Swedish Elitserien again next season. Helenius joined Sodertalje late last season and backstopped the club to a first place finish in the Kval till Elitserien, the annual promotion/relegation tournament. The move may be a positive for Helenius' development, as he is expected to be Sodertalje's starter next year and the Lightning already have a glut of Norfolk-bound goaltenders with Dustin Tokarski and Jaroslav Janus in the fold. Having Helenius in Sodertalje allows the Lightning the luxury of having him develop with plenty of starts in a premiere European league. Helenius is entering the final year of his entry-level deal with the Lightning.

With their boots on and their heads held high...

HER-2
NOR-5

Dustin Tokarski allowed 2 goals on 26 shots for the win. He finishes his rookie campaign with a 27-25-3 mark, 4 shutouts, a 2.51 GAA, and a .915 sv%. That's a very respectable starting point for a young career.

First Period
HER Bouchard, (21) (Perreault, Bourque), 8:43
NOR Fornataro, (11) (Dehner), 13:11

Second Period
NOR Szczechura, (8) (Parrish, Craig), 2:36 (PP)
HER Giroux, (50) (Aucoin, Bourque), 15:43 (PP)

Third Period
NOR Simek, (20) (Jones, Mihalik), 1:49
NOR Simek, (21) (Hall, Jackson), 5:41
NOR Hall, (16) , 19:51 (EN/SH)

Juraj Simek, Matt Fornataro, and Paul Szczechura were the game's three stars. Simek, after seeing his playing time dwindle in the past month or two, finally topped 20 goals in the season finale.

Unfortunately, there will be no postseason for the Admirals as both Lowell and Bridgeport won tonight, meaning the crossover rule will go in effect. The propriety of the crossover rule is dubious at best considering the unbalanced schedules that are played, which meant Norfolk had to play world beaters Hershey 10 times while clubs like Bridgeport and Lowell got to feast off the worst team in the league, Springfield. Still, it is what it is, and Norfolk will cede its playoff spot to the 5th place team in the Atlantic Division. Norfolk finishes the regular season with 84 points (39-35-3-3).

In the short term, I suspect there might be a recall or two for tomorrow's Lightning season finale in Sunrise against the Panthers. Specifically, I feel like Dana Tyrell deserves a reward for his hard work, and the Lightning may want to take a look at Carter Ashton, who has spent his time on Norfolk's second line since Mark Parrish and Paul Szczechura were sent back down to Norfolk.

In the long term, this offseason will be a challenging one for the Admirals. The Lightning have a lot of decisions to make with veteran players like Ryan Craig and Adam Hall and 3rd and 4th year pros like Blair Jones, Simek, and Vladimir Mihalik. The only knowns I think Admirals fans can count on for next season are that the team will probably be younger and the team will probably still have fantastic goaltending between Tokarski and Jaroslav Janus, who actually has been practicing with the team this week and might've been ready to come back had the Admirals made the post season.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

The playoffs are now a very remote possibility for the Admirals.

HER-6
NOR-1

Dustin Tokarski allowed 6 goals on 29 shots for the loss. Other than the 4th Hershey goal, Tokarski was just hung out to dry. The Admirals gave up way too many odd-man rushes and just didn't do much to disrupt the Hershey power play.

First Period
HER Giroux, (47) (Bourque, Alzner), 9:40 (PP)
NOR Fritz, (2) (Marks, St. Pierre), 10:56

Second Period
HER Giroux, (48) (Helmer, Aucoin), 4:44
HER Giroux, (49) (Aucoin), 8:35
HER Rome, (6) (Alzner, Bouchard), 9:19
HER Joudrey, (15) (Pinizzotto, Kane), 11:27

Third Period
HER Gordon, (37) (Aucoin, Bourque), 6:18 (PP)

The night went about as badly for the Admirals as it could have. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton knocked off Albany 4-3, so the Penguins have clinched 3rd place in the East Division. Meanwhile, in the crossover, Bridgeport defeated Lowell 6-3 in Lowell. So, both Lowell and Bridgeport are 2 points ahead of the Admirals and each team has 1 game in hand. That means to make the playoffs the Admirals would have to beat the Bears tomorrow night and either Bridgeport or Lowell would have to lose both of their remaining games in regulation, because the Admirals would hold the tiebreaker for more regulation wins. A loss tomorrow night or a single point for both Bridgeport and Lowell and the postseason hopes are done.

Considering where the Admirals have been the past couple of years, I think it's progress that they can honestly say that all 80 games this season were meaningful. That said, this still feels rotten.

Box score from TheAHL.com.