Sens vs. Admirals 2/27/04 Preview: Senators & Admirals face off in the first of two in a row
February 27, 2004

Posted by: Bob Howard
Credit: Binghamton Hockey.net

The Binghamton Senators travel to the Scope in Norfolk, Virginia for a two game set vs. the Norfolk Admirals starting tonight at 7:30 PM. Tonight's match up will be the fourth of eight times that the Admirals and the Senators face each other. The Senators lead the division series so far 2 games to 1.

The last time the two teams met up was in Binghamton on January 17th as the Senators doubled up on the Admirals, 6-3. In that game the Senators got goals from d-man Julien Vauclair & winger Brad Tapper in the 1st period, wingers Denis Hamel, Alexandre Giroux & center Captain Chris Kelly in the 2nd period and Denis Hamel earned his second goal in the game on an empty-netter with 49 seconds left. Norfolks three goals came from Burke Henry in the 1st and Matt Ellison/Ajay Baines in the 2nd period. For the Senators d-man Andy Hedlund, center Brooks Laich, winger Arpad Mihaly all had two assists in the game. Enforcer's Mike Brown and Shawn Thornton received fighting majors after only 7 seconds in the first period when the two fought just after the face off. Binghamton goalie Billy Thompson received the win after stopping 26 of 29 shots from the Admirals and Norfolk goalie stopped 21 of 26 shots in his loss for the Admirals.

The Senators and the Admirals only played each other four times last year with Binghamton getting the best of the series with 3 wins, 1 loss and no ties.

Binghamton, losers of their last 3 games are 1-3-2 in their last six games. Their one victory in those six games came February 21st vs. the Providence Bruins (2-1). The two ties were vs. Wilkes-Barre on February 16th (2-2) & vs. Syracuse on February 18th (0-0). Three straight losses have followed since that time starting in Springfield on Sunday (5-3), Monday in Manchester (2-0) and two days ago in Binghamton vs. Wilkes-Barre (4-3).

The Admirals last six games have seen the team win five out of their last six games. The only loss for the Admirals in that six game stretch came to them on the road in Lowell vs. the Lock Monsters (3-2). Wins in the last six have come vs. Lowell (4-1), Wilkes-Barre (4-2), Providence (3-1), Albany (4-2) & Bridgeport (2-1).

Tonight is the beginning of a 7 game home stretch for the Admirals. From tonight's game vs. the Senators until March 28th the Admirals only have one road game in a 13 game stretch.

The Senators play the next six games on the road before they return home to the Arena on March 10th vs. Rochester. After tonight and tomorrow night vs. the Admirals the Senators will then travel to Hershey on Sunday, Wilkes-Barre on Wednesday, Rochester next Friday and then to Bridgeport a week from Sunday to complete the six game road trip.

Denis Hamel continues to be the Senators top point getter with 50 points (22+28). Senators Goalie, Ray Emery is 18-16-5 on the season with three shut outs on the year. Emery’s goals against average going into tonight’s game sits at 2.34 and he has a .925 save percentage.

D-man, Marty Wiford has 33 points for Norfolk as he has assisted on 30 goals for the Admirals and has scored 3 goals for the team. The Admirals have seen at least 4 goalies play 9 or more games this year. Craig Anderson leads the team with a 10-13-0 record and recording no ties and 3 shut outs on the season. Anderson has a 2.13 goals against average, has made 529 saves in 23 games played with a .920 save percentage.

The next two games are pivotal for the Admirals (26-26-4-5) and the Senators (26-25-6-2). Both teams are fighting for 4th and 5th place in the East division and have 3rd place Hershey in view. The Admirals, currently fourth in the East have 61 points and are three points behind the Hershey Bears (64 pts). The Senators (60 pts) are one point behind Norfolk and four points behind Hershey.

After tonight's Senators/Admirals game come back to Binghamton Hockey.net for an updated East Division standings and a Senators/Admirals boxscore and articles about the game.

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