Admirals Weekly: Nov. 27, 2017

Last Week:

Wednesday, Nov. 22 vs. Florida (L, 3-4)

Friday, Nov. 24 vs. Florida, (L, 1-4)

Saturday, Nov. 25 vs. Florida, (OTW, 3-2)

This Week:

Thursday, Nov. 30 at Jacksonville, 7:30 pm

Saturday, Dec. 2 at Jacksonville, 7:30 pm

Quick Hits:

Trevor Mingoia helped the Admirals pick up their second win in four games with a 3-2 overtime victory on Saturday. The Admirals sit in sixth place in the South Division, four points back from fifth place Orlando.

Week Ahead:

Norfolk has its first two-game week since October as they head to Jacksonville for a Thursday, Saturday set with the Icemen. The meetings will be the first ever between a professional hockey team from Norfolk and Jacksonville despite both cities having ECHL teams during the 90’s. The Icemen, in their first season in Jacksonville, sit in seventh place in the South Division, four points back from the Admirals with four games in hand.

Week in Review:

A win on Saturday night over the Nailers snapped a five-game winless streak and allowed the Admirals to stay ahead of Orlando and Jacksonville in the South Division standings. Saturday was the first regulation victory at home of the season. Ty Reichenbach made back-to-back starts on Friday and Saturday making 82 saves on the weekend. The Billings, MT native had his best outing of the season on Saturday stopping 36 of 37 shots. Defenseman Joonas Lyytinen netted two goals en route to his first professional multi-point and multi-goal game. The victory on Saturday night was the largest margin of victory for the Admirals this season.

Mingo’s Will to Win:

Trevor Mingoia led the Admirals on Saturday night scoring all three of the team’s goals en route to a 3-2 overtime victory. Mingoia became the first player this season to score each of his teams goals in a win. Earlier this year Reading’s Mark Naclerio scored all three Royals goals in a 4-3 OT loss to the Stingrays. Mingoia joins Naclerio as the only players to scorer every goal for their team in a single game this season.

Mingoia, scoring his first professional hat trick, ended the game with 0:22 left in the overtime period. The game-winning goal was Mingoia’s third of the season. In 60 games played last night Mingoia scored 21 times, but none of the goals were game-winners. In both his junior and senior seasons at Providence the Fairport, NY native netted four game-winning goals.

Hats Off:

Mingoia’s hat trick was the second of the season for the Admirals. Brady Vail netted the first hat trick of the season on Oct. 27 against South Carolina. Norfolk has now scored as many hat tricks in the first 19 games of the regular season as the team did all last season. Forward Joey Benik and defenseman Mikael Tam netted the two Admirals hat tricks last season. Since rejoining the ECHL, Norfolk has not had more than two hat tricks in a season.

Hit the Road:

The month of November saw the Admirals play ten games at home, including a six-game home stand that lasted from Nov. 16-25. The Admirals will end November in Jacksonville against the Icemen, kicking off a five-game road trip. Seven of the Admirals 11 games in the month of December will take place away from home.

First Of Eight:

This weekend will be the first of eight meetings between the Admirals and Icemen for the 2017-18 season. Norfolk and Jacksonville play four times each at Veterans Memorial and Scope Arena. Prior to the current incarnation of professional hockey in Jacksonville the south Florida city, Jacksonville was home to the Lizard Kings from 1995-2000. The Lizard Kings played in the ECHL for five years, but never hit the ice against the Hampton Roads Admirals, prior to the Admirals joining the AHL.