Admirals Weekly: April 10, 2018; Season Wrap-Up

Last Week:

Friday, April 6 vs Reading, L, 2-6

Saturday, April 7 at Reading, L, 2-5

Week in Review:

The season concluded on Saturday night in Reading as the Admirals fell to the Royals 5-2. Norfolk (26-39-6-1) ended the season with 59 points, good for sixth place in the South Division. The Admirals 59 points is one better than last seasons’ total.

Finishing Strong at Home:

Despite early season struggles at home the Admirals finished the year strong on home ice, winning eight of the last 11 games at the Scope. Norfolk finished the year just two games under .500 at home posting a record of 15-17-3-1. After the All-Star break when teams shifted from wearing light colored jerseys to dark colors at home the Admirals went 10-8-1-0 within the confines of the Scope.

Alberga the Iron Man:

Domenic Alberga became the first Admiral since Dave Steckel in 2013-14 to appear in each one of the team’s regular season games on Saturday night when he took the ice in Reading. The forward set career highs in goals (15), assists (22), and points (37) during his third full professional season.

Making Their Debuts:

Forwards Taylor McCloy and Sammy Banga, as well as goaltender Dillon Kelley all made their professional debuts in the weekend set for the Admirals. The three debuts ran the total of players to appear in a game for the Admirals this season to 55.

Joining the Playoff Run:

Christian Horn returned to the Peoria Rivermen (SPHL) for the SPHL playoffs. Horn, who was signed from Peoria in December, will rejoin the SPHL’s top ranked team as they begin their first-round playoff series against Roanoke on Wednesday evening.  In 44 games with the Admirals this season Horn finished seventh on the team in points (30) and fifth in goals (14). Prior to joining the Admirals in December Horn had appeared in 12 games with the Rivermen notching seven points (2g, 5a).

Strength of the Kill:

The Admirals finished the season with the league’s sixth best penalty kill, killing 85.7% of penalties. The 85.7% mark is a drastic improvement from last season when the Admirals finished the season 22nd on the penalty kill (80.0%).

Over the course of the season the Admirals were the fourth least penalized team in the ECHL, taking an average of 11.15 penalty minutes per game. Only Kalamazoo, Quad City, and Reading were less penalized than the Admirals. The Admirals took 803 penalty minutes this season, which is down from 868 a year ago.

Lucky Number Seven:

The Admirals led the league in hat tricks in the regular season totaling seven. Darik Angeli and Christian Horn led the way for the Admirals with a pair of hat tricks each. Angeli and Horn were joined by Trevor Mingoia, TJ Melancon, and Brady Vail in the hat trick club this season. In each of the last two seasons the Admirals only recorded a pair of tricks, and no player had more than one.