The Norfolk Admirals, displaying their resilience and determination, met with the Trois-Rivières Lions yesterday for game five of their series in the first round of the Kelly Cup Playoffs. Leading the series 3-2, the Admirals were poised to advance to the Northern Finals, where they would take on the Maine, Adirondack, semifinal series winner. Norfolk, making their first appearance in the Kelly Cup Playoffs since joining the ECHL in the 2015-16 season, was ready to make their mark. Trois-Rivières, in the postseason for the second time in three seasons and with a tumultuous season, needed this win to solidify their presence in the ECHL.
Before the puck even dropped, both teams, fueled by intense competition, met at the red line during warmups and engaged in some banter. This led to minor pushing and shoving between resident mouth Admirals Iverson and Lions Parker-Jones. Iverson, known for his ability to get under anyone’s skin, set the tone for the game. The teams separated, and warmups continued. The night before, Defensemen Derek Louis-Jean was stretchered out of the game after an illegal back check by Trois-Rivieres forward Jonathon Yantsis sent him into the boards. It was announced that he was cleared and released from the medical facility, where he was checked out. Yantsis was suspended indefinitely pending a hearing with the league.
Once the first period was underway, both teams were playing as though this was the first meeting of this series, with neither team coming out strong to begin with. We would see the teams take some of that leftover emotion from the previous game and warmups and put it into some shoving and pushing after plays. This would cause us to have our first penalty at 9:07, with Charles-Antoine Paiement and Connor Fedorek getting into it in the corner. This would take us to 4v4 play. Less than two minutes later, the Lions’ Jakov Novak would score on a sweet pass from Guay, who took the game to 1-0 Lions. At 16:55, the Admirals would get possession of the puck, and Carson Golder would make it a 1-1 game. Lions Anthony Beauregard would get called for slashing, putting the Admirals on the power play, and not even 30 seconds into the PP would see Carson Golder get his second goal of the night, making it 2-1 Admirals.
The second period would get underway, and at 3:46, the Lions and Admirals would get the next penalty of the game when Mason Kohn, John Parker-Jones, Mark Liwiski, and Stepan Timofeyev got into a scrum that started with a push after the whistle. Then Lions Jakov Novak would get called for interference when he shoved Iverson down mid-ice. Putting Norlfok back on the PP, the power play would end, and then we would see Stepan Timofeyev score the second period’s only goal, taking the game 3-1. The penalties start coming, and they just don’t stop when, at 14:22, Admirals Carson Golder gets called for cross-checking, putting Trois-Rivières on the PP. The Lions would let another PP expire without scoring. Instead, they would succeed in riling the Admirals even more, leading to another big blowout at the end of the period, and we see Javok Novak, Nolan Yaremko, and Mark Liwiski getting the calls for roughing, with Novak getting unsportsmanlike conduct because he started the conflict.
We head to the third period on a PP. The play would expire with, once again, nothing produced from the uneven numbers. Thirty seconds in, the Lions would get their eighth penalty call of the night for Alex-Olivier Voyer and high sticking. We would see a few big hits and a huge slash sending Brady Fleurent to the bench hurt before we see our next big action when Jakov Novak at 8:55 in makes it a 3-2 one-goal game. The Admiral’s Stepan Timofeyev would get into it with Justin Ducharme when he relayed a delayed hit on Denis Smirnov. This would be followed up by Carson Musser scoring and taking the Admirals 4-2. We would then see something that we don’t see often. Goalie Yaniv Perets gets called for Tripping when his poke check trips up the Lions player. During the faceoff, we saw the Lions pull some dirty hits and really start to unravel the game, leading to another roughing penalty being called at 15:55 on Jacob Paquette. The tensions continued to increase when Keegan Iverson got called for Slashing and put Trois-Rivières on the power play, allowing them to score another goal when Nicolas Guay found the net, making it a 4-3 game. In the 90 seconds of the game, Yaniv Perets would keep the net clear while Lions goalie Zachary Emond headed to the bench to give the Lions one last push to tie the game. The period ends with more pushing and shoving, and Norfolk Admirals take down the Trois-Rivières Lions.
The Admiral will meet with the Maine/Adirondack series winner sometime later this week. The series is heading to game six at Adirondack, with Adirondack leading 3-2.
