Norfolk Admirals

(Norfolk Admirals release)

The Norfolk Admirals have signed defenseman Daryl Boyle to a one-year American Hockey League Standard Player’s Contract, Admirals General Manager Claude Loiselle announced today.

Boyle, a 6-foot-1, 191-pound defenseman, made his professional debut with the Admirals on April 2 at Philadelphia. The 21-year-old native of Lethbridge, Alberta, played the final six games of Norfolk’s 2007-08 season under an Amateur Tryout Contract, registering a +3 rating with two penalty minutes.

The Tampa Bay Lightning are reporting that the organization has reassigned Norfolk Admirals head coach Steve Stirling to be the Lightning's new full time NCAA scout. Lightning General Manager Jay Feaster also confirmed that that the organization has decided not to exercise its option on Admirals assistant coach Darren Rumble. A search for a new Norfolk head coach will commence upon completion of the sale of the Lightning franchise to OK Hockey headed by Oren Koules.

The Ads send a season ending message: "We'll be back." Punctuation mark.

NOR-3
WBS-2 (OT)

Marc Denis stopped 27 of 29 shots for the victory to help spoil Dennis Bonvie's final regular season game in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

First Period
WBS Smith, (22) , 14:53
WBS Gove, (23) (Stone, Engelland), 19:31

Second Period
NOR Tyrell, (1) (Jones, Klinkhammer), 7:47

Third Period
NOR Wanvig, (23) (Szczechura, Schneider), 17:35

Overtime
NOR Szczechura, (16) (Segal), 0:41

Congratulations to Dana Tyrell on scoring his first professional goal. The 2007 2nd round pick finishes his ATO with Norfolk with 1 goal and 6 points in 11 games with a +1 rating and 6 penalty minutes.

With the win, Norfolk surpassed the 28 wins of the Springfield Falcons of a year ago and finished 6 points ahead of the former Lightning affiliate's total from a season ago. It's progress, however modest.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

A big win for a young team.

NOR-3
BNG-2

Jonathan Boutin stopped 30 of 32 shots for the win to break a personal seven game losing streak. The win also helped Boutin raise his save percentage back to .900 for the season. It's been a roller coaster ride all year for Boutin as he seems to win and lose games in month long streaks. At one point a little over a month ago he seemed to be coming into his own showing a winning record and a save percentage above .910. Unfortunately he hasn't shown the ability to step up and win games on his own in the last month, which is the next big hurdle he has to get over in his professional development. The legitimate starters don't post 7 game losing streaks. They find a way to pull out wins even when the team in front of them struggles. Boutin isn't quite to that point yet.

First Period
NOR Wanvig, (21) (Tyrell, Crowley), 1:38
BNG Dimitrakos, (20) (Kinch, Smith), 17:48

Second Period
NOR Keller, (15) (Schneider, Segal), 7:46
BNG Hennessy, (22) (Carkner, Zubov), 10:10

Third Period
NOR Wanvig, (22) (Tyrell, Jones), 1:38

Kyle Wanvig and Justin Keller were named the game's first and second stars.

Congratulations to Dane Crowley on his first professional point and congratulations to Dana Tyrell on his first professional multi-point game.

With the win, Norfolk matches the win total set a year ago by the Lightning farmhands in Springfield of 28. They've also accumulated 4 more points than the Falcons did last season. The importance of hitting this milestone cannot be underestimated, in my opinion. It would have been a terrible blow to the organization if the move to Norfolk and the time spent developing their prospects hadn't shown any measure of improvement on the ice. Modest as it may be, these Admirals have gotten better compared to last year's Falcons, and they'll have one more swing at besting last year's win total tomorrow night against the Pens. It'll be a tough nut to crack against the division leaders, but it would be a heck of a way to end the season if the Ads could pull off one more big upset to head into the offseason on a high note.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

Admirals lose with just 50 seconds left on the clock. Ouch.

NOR-1
ALB-2

Marc Denis stopped 24 of 26 shots in the loss.

First Period
ALB Blanchard, (10) (McLeod, Angelidis), 7:21

Second Period
NOR Segal, (12) (Mihalik, Jones), 17:50

Third Period
ALB Conboy, (2) (Jensen, Petruzalek), 19:10

In his last 17 games Brandon Segal has notched 7 goals and 11 points. Segal was acquired at the deadline for veteran defenseman Jay Leach and has one year remaining on his NHL contract.

Box score from TheAHL.com.