Admirals Weekly: March 13, 2018

Last Week:

Friday, March 9 at Brampton, L, 4-3

Saturday, March 10 at Adirondack, L, 4-1

Sunday, March 11 at Manchester, OTL, 4-3

This Week:

Friday, March 16 vs. Greenville, 7:00 pm

Saturday, March 17 vs. Greenville, 7:00 pm

Sunday, March 18 vs. Jacksonville, 2:00 pm

Week Ahead:

The Admirals head into the final ten games of the regular season six points out of the final playoff spot in the South Division. Norfolk will play their second straight three-in-three this weekend as the Admirals host Greenville on Friday and Saturday, before taking on Jacksonville on Sunday afternoon.  Winning each of their last five home games, the Admirals will look to continue the franchises longest home winning streak since 2013-14 on Friday night.

Playoff Update:

Heading into the final ten games of the regular season the Admirals find themselves six points back from the fourth-place Gladiators, and two points ahead of sixth-place Jacksonville. Atlanta who faces Idaho on Tuesday night has played the same amount of games as the Admirals so far. Six of the Gladiators last ten games will come against South Division opponents, including a pair against Jacksonville this weekend. Norfolk has a similar schedule with six games left in division as well. The Admirals will play three divisional games this weekend, before traveling to Florida to face the Everblades next week. Jacksonville plays each of their last ten games against a South Division opponent. Only the top four teams from each division qualify for the Kelly Cup Playoffs.

Get Your Green On:

Saturday evening the Admirals will wear green jerseys and playing on green ice as a part of the annual St. Hatrick’s game, presented by Papco, celebration. The jerseys will be auctioned off after the game via a live auction. All proceeds from the jersey auction will go to MDA.

Home Cooking:

Norfolk has won each of their last five home games, giving the team the longest such streak since the 2013-14 season when the Admirals matched the current streak, winning five-straight. Only six times dating back to the 2005-06 season have the Admirals put together home win streaks of five games or more. The longest came as a part of the Admirals 28 game win streak, stretching Feb. 10- Apr. 7, 2012. During the 2006-07 season the Admirals surpassed the five-game mark on two separate occasions, winning ten straight home games (Oct. 12-Nov. 21) and 14 straight home games (Dec. 20-Feb. 7). Five of the six home win streaks began during the month of February.

League’s Best-e:

Forward Grant Besse is tied for the league lead among all rookies with 59 points (28g, 31a). The former Wisconsin Badger is tied with Cincinnati’s Justin Danforth for the lead, having tallied exactly the same amount of goals and assists this season. Besse ranks ninth in the entire ECHL in scoring. The forward is only four points back from Brodie Dupont (62 points) for the team lead.

New England Hockey Conference Connection:

With the additions of Ben Greiner, Alec Brandrup, and Jordan Haskell on Tuesday the Admirals have six different players on the roster who played college hockey in the New England Hockey Conference. The Admirals boast two players each from Babson College, Hobart College, and Norwich University. Goaltender Jamie Murray and forward Matt McMorrow represent Babson College while Norwich is represented by Ty Reichenbach and Brandrup. Hobart is represented on the Admirals roster by newcomers Ben Greiner and Jordan Haskell.

In comparision, the Admirals have two players from the NCHC (Michael Young, Nebraska-Omaha; Max Cook, Miami University), Big Ten (Grant Besse, Wisconsin; Darik Angeli, Ohio State), and ECAC (Christian Horn, St. Lawrence; Tommy Schutt, Quinnipiac).