Admirals Weekly: March 6, 2018

Last Week:

Monday, Feb. 26 at Orlando, L, 5-3

Friday, March 2 vs. Atlanta, W, 3-2

Saturday March 3 vs. Atlanta, W, 4-1

This Week:

Friday, March 9 at Brampton, 7:15 pm

Saturday, March 10 at Adirondack, 7:00 pm

Sunday, March 11 at Manchester, 4:00 pm

Quick Hits:

The Admirals head into a three-in-three road trip sitting five points out of the fourth and final playoff spot in the South Division. After sweeping a weekend set with the Gladiators, Norfolk has won each of the last five games at home. The rest of March will see the Admirals play five games at home, and six on the road. Brodie Dupont (overall), Grant Besse (rookie), and TJ Melancon (defensemen) all head into the final full month of the season in the midst of league wide scoring races.

Week Ahead:

The first full week of March holds a three-in-three of road games for the Admirals. The Admirals will wrap up the season series against Brampton, Adirondack and Manchester during the three-in-three. Friday night will be the Admirals second and final trip to Brampton this season. The Beast topped the Admirals 4-2 on November 10. The trip is also the second and final trips of the season to Glens Falls and Manchester. This season the Admirals have struggled against the North Division taking at least a point in five of 19 games.

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.

In the Running:

A two-point week for Brodie Dupont helped the captain keep pace in the ECHL’s points race. The captain currently sits in a three-way tie for second place in the league with 61 points, six points back from Shawn Szydlowski. Dupont has already set career highs in goals (21), assists (40), and points (61). If Dupont were to win the ECHL scoring title he would be the first Admiral to ever win a scoring title. The highest an Admiral has ever finished was Victor Gervais in 1992-93.

Rookie Grant Besse, who tallied four points (2g, 2a) over the week, ranks second among ECHL rookies with 58 points. The University of Wisconsin grad trails Cincy’s Justin Danforth by one point for the rookie scoring title.  Defenseman TJ Melancon ranks third among all ECHL blueliners in points (40) and goals (14). Melancon is one goal behind Nolan Zajac and Taylor Richart who both have 15 goals. Last year the blueliner led all QMJHL defensemen in goals.

Winding Down, Tightening Up:

With 13 games left in the regular season the Admirals are currently five points out of the fifth and final playoff spot in the South Division. Florida, who has already clinched a playoff spot, South Carolina, who can clinch on Tuesday night, Orlando, who is ten points clear of Norfolk, and Atlanta currently hold the four South Division playoff spots. Jacksonville is currently one point behind the Admirals for fifth place with a game in hand. If Norfolk qualifies for the playoffs it would be the first time since the 2013-14 season that the Admirals had skated in the post season.

Goaltender of the Week:

Ty Reichenbach was named the ECHL Goaltender of the Week for the week of February 26-March 4 on Tuesday morning.  This marks the second time that the Admiral netminder has won the award this season.

Reichenbach started both games over the weekend going 2-0-0-0 while stopping 73 of 76 shots. The Billings, MT native has appeared in a total of 36 games for the Admirals posting a record of 16-16-3-0 with a .914 save percentage and a 3.26 goals against average. In his first professional season Reichenbach leads all ECHL goaltenders in saves, and ranks in the top 15 in save percentage.