“The direction of the team needed to change,” Knights coach Pat Aiello said. “I was there twice a week. The team had a lot of talent; they just didn’t have any direction. It needed a jolt. As a coach, you set a culture and that’s the most important thing. And then the kids, they either buy in or they don’t.”

His team bought in to the tune of a 17-1 record on the back of 309 goals and became the first public school from Hampton Roads to qualify for a state championship game. The Knights face three-time defending state champion Riverside in Saturday’s Class 5 final at Glen Allen.

“It’s pretty wild,” Aiello said. “I never thought at the beginning of the season that would happen. They’ve been king of the hill. We have our work cut out for us. The message is pretty simple — keep playing our game. We don’t change who we are.”

It’s the first year on the Kellam sidelines for Aiello, who started the season as a volunteer coach, but took over following the resignation of the previous coach after one game. But he brings a load of experience, having coached the sport all over the country for the past 22 years. His last stop was as head coach of Beach District rival Bayside last season.

Lacrosse is in its infancy in the area — to a certain extent. It is the second season of being a varsity sport for public schools in Hampton Roads; it was previously just a club sport. By comparison, the area’s private schools and Northern Virginia public schools have been playing lacrosse for decades.

Kellam was in Class 6 Region A last season and lost to Battlefield in the state quarterfinals. And although there were some minor successes that initial season, Aiello could see the potential for greater leaps and bounds this spring.

“Setting the culture was the biggest piece,” Aeillo explained. “It’s putting in discipline, accountability, respect for the game, respect for each other and respect for your opponents — the kids really bought into that and it kind of spirals in a good way.”

Kellam has some experience against the teams from up north. The Knights defeated private-school powerhouse Bishop O’Connell of Arlington 11-9 on April 5. A couple weeks later, they thumped West Springfield 16-6.

“Those wins really gave us that confidence boost that we can play with any team,” Aiello said.

At the start of the season, the Knights moved to Class 5 and beat previous champion Cox 9-5 for the Region A championship.

But it’s the manner in which the victories have amassed that Aiello praises his team, saying that opposing coaches, players and parents have remarked on the noticeable change within the program.

“That’s just how I was coached, being a former player myself,” Aiello explained. “You learn from your coaches and pay it forward. It’s been discipline. It’s one of the things we changed, and the kids have followed the system all season and it’s what helped lead to our success.”

The Knights have matured quickly in a year, but still remain very young with just four senior starters.

Senior attacker Evan Djunaedi leads the team with 62 goals and 67 assists, which is tops in the state. Djunaedi is flanked by junior Jacob Leonard, who has registered 59 goals and 11 assists, and sophomore Colt Goodwin, who has 35 goals and 19 assists.

In midfield, freshman Jacob Lyons has been lights-out on faceoffs this year, winning 212 of 262. Sophomore midfielder Elijah Lamb has tallied 31 goals and 19 assists.

Senior Kieron Auld and freshman long-stick man Jack Kelly power a defense that has allowed just 61 goals, and senior keeper Gavin Sinram has notched 75 saves and four shutouts.

Miller was a force on both wings all night — she combined with her twin sister, Skylar, for some interweaving play off a short corner from the right side and then slid a pass to the penalty spot to find Camryn Marcondes streaking through the middle. Marcondes slotted in the opening goal less than five minutes into the game.

“I just tried to go out there and have some fun and just find my teammates and set them up to score some goals,” Sydney Miller said. “That’s how I try to do it when I’m out there.”

Sydney Miller was then on the receiving end of a give-and-go down the left side of the penalty box and calmly stroked the ball into the net to put the Patriots up 2-0 midway through the first half.

That second goal seemingly spurred the victors on, and they started to press even deeper into the Menchville defensive third. Skylar Miller broke through with the Patriots’ third goal, powering through the middle of the field, slipping past her defender and curling a shot in with less than 13 minutes remaining before halftime.

Less than three minutes later, Emma Woods hit a centering pass to Izzy Coshland, who fired a goal into the top-right corner to give the hosts a 4-0 lead heading into the break.

Shortly after the restart, Sydney Miller assisted on three goals off of corner kicks during a six-minute span, connecting with Ava Bourne, Kylie White and Keaveny Dull to push the Patriots’ lead to 7-0.

“We practice set pieces every day,” Patriots coach Joe Tucei said. “Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t — today, we were on.”

Bourne then chipped in a corner kick that Victoria Hannah knocked in with less than 24 minutes remaining for the final margin for the Patriots, who didn’t allow a shot all game. The final whistle was blown just four minutes later.

First Colonial will face Midlothian — a 2-1 quarterfinal winner over Briar Woods — in the semifinals Friday at Glen Allen High.

“I’m excited to face either team,” Miller said, not knowing his opponent at the time. “It’s going to be a tough match and we’re ready for it.”

Added Tucei about keeping his team focused and relaxed before the next game: “It’s our fourth year in a row, so we’re kind of used to it. We just have to make sure we have enough time for travel and we’re not rushed or anything.”

Fifth-seeded Maury edged No. 2 Menchville 1-0 in the girls final, while top-seeded Menchville thumped No. 3 Norview 3-0 in the boys matchup.

Millie Darden scored seven minutes into the first half to lift the Commodores in the girls game.

“I was making a run and (the ball) went over (the defense), so I went around the player,” Darden said. “It was just me and the goalie, and I made a little tap-in toward the corner of the goal and got it.”

It was the fifth goal of the season for Darden, a senior who missed the previous season due to ACL and meniscus injuries to her knee. She also had the lone goal in the upset over top-seeded Granby in the semifinals.

“She’s a fast runner and she’s got a good little chip-touch,” Commodores coach Orion Hall said. “The last two games, she’s been really hitting her stride. We’ve been pushing that through-ball and she’s basically gotten the winner in the past two games.”

Maury played poised throughout the rest of the half and ushered in a lead at the break.

“It always calms you down,” Hall said. “We preach that we want to get up early and get that confidence built up.”

Less than 10 minutes after the restart came Menchville’s best chance at equalizing. A long ball over the top provided a breakaway for forward Caylyn Candia, who powered past the Commodores’ defense and ripped off a shot that keeper Lili White blocked. Menchville’s Alora Chappell corralled the rebound and tried to push a secondary shot past White, but she smothered the attempt in her arms.

“That was honestly me just flailing my body for whatever piece of the ball I could get,” said White, who has committed to play for James Madison next year. “It was definitely scary — I was shocked I got to that ball.”

Added Hall: “Having her back there is huge. The two saves, I don’t even know how she got to that second.”

Menchville then flailed at another goal attempt with less than 16 minutes remaining. Alyssa Ware streaked across the top of the penalty area and found Caitlyn Hollis, who sliced a shot just right of the goal — White had cut off the angle with both arms outstretched.

“You always know that she can do it (come up with big saves),” Hall said. “She doesn’t always have to do it, but when it comes down to it, that keeps your defense from worrying about mistakes. Mistakes are going to happen, but having her back there as a shield is incredible.”

Both teams advance to the Class 5 state quarterfinals. Maury will play Kellam, while Menchville will face Region A champion First Colonial.

In the nightcap, Zach Robinson opened the scoring with a snapping header less than 10 minutes in off a corner kick from Grady Morello.

“I’m pretty tall, so I waited at the back post and the ball came through,” Robinson said of his height advantage over the smaller Pilots. “I just put my head through the ball.”

The Monarchs fully wanted to exploit the size differential between the teams by playing deep and controlling possession. Toward the end of the first half, though, Norview, which is having its best season in school history with its first region final appearance, started to mount some pressure in the Monarchs’ half.

Leon Edwards blasted an ambitious shot from around 35 yards on the left side of the field that curled away late with less than eight minutes remaining in the half. Four minutes later, Keith Deloach drove in toward the goal by the right side of the end line and fired in a searching ball to earn a corner kick. He then collected the ensuing corner kick, but wasn’t able to connect on a shot with power. Edwards found the rebounded ball and swung another shot high over the bar.

“It was sticking to our game plan, we knew they were going to try and dump it a little more — they like to kick the long ball and they’re good at it,” Monarchs coach Bryce Fail said. “We just sat in a little bit, won those and tried to keep it a little more and eliminate them from having the ball.”

A minute later, a deep pass released Robinson on a run into the Norview box. He was fouled, and the referee signaled for a penalty kick.

“I ran as hard as I could, tried to shoot the ball and just got taken out,” Robinson said.

Christian Robertson’s first effort was blocked by keeper Joe Fernandez, but the rebound fell right back to Robertson, who didn’t miss a second chance to give Menchville a 2-0 lead going into halftime.

Two minutes into the second half, Morello sent in another corner kick that the Norview defense could not clear. Tristan Klompenhouwer pounced on the loose ball and knocked it into the net to put Menchville up 3-0.

“It’s a pretty big win,” Fail said. “We wanted to get the regional trophy back — next step is states.”

Menchville will face Region A runner-up Cox in next week’s state Class 5 quarterfinals.

Fail added it would be the school’s first victory at the state tournament level if the Monarchs win. Norview, which also qualified for the state tournament for the first time, will face off against Region A champion Great Bridge.

Brett Burvill and Max Puttman of Team Australia pulled into Virginia Beach on Friday with a time of 90 hours, 9 minutes and 11 seconds to win the race, dubbed “The Spark that Lit the Flame.” The duo captured 11 of 12 legs during the two-week race, which started in Hollywood, Florida.

“We’ve been sailing together for about five or six years now, so we have a very good synergy with each other,” Burvill said. “We don’t have to communicate a lot on the boat, we do it a lot by feel and we understand each other on how to make the boat go fast.”

Burville added that knowledge of how to pull every second of speed from the boat comes from months of designing and building the hulls, while his teammate Puttman builds the sails. Burville said every component of their boat comes out of a small factory in Fremantle in western Australia. And then there’s the countless hours of testing their design in the water.

“We know every component intimately on the boat,” Burville said. “We had zero failures and just everything was perfect. And for us to come all this way and achieve this on our first try — we’ve done an almost perfect event.”

Added Puttman: “Everything happens for a reason. We thrash these boats when we’re at home. We absolutely abused them to try and figure out what’s going to break, so we were very well prepared.”

Compatriots Team Australia 2 finished second at 93:11:15, followed by the French-American Team Cirrus/MM Sailing at 93:35:13. Both teams battled back and forth over the 12 legs for the runner-up spot.

It was that attention to detail combined with their racing skills that gave Team Australia 1 the edge over their competition.

“Max and Brett are world class (Formula 18) sailors,” principal race officer John Williams said. “They had maximum confidence in their equipment.”

Williams added that perfect boat preparation allows the racers to keep their heads in the race the entire time out on the water because you’re not thinking about the boat and any problems that can arise from equipment failure.

“You saw less experienced teams with events like this who spent days working on their boat after the start of the event,” Williams said. “It was a learning curve throughout the race.”

Williams explained that during traditional races, such as many buoy-rounding regattas, there are down times between heats when you can make adjustments to fix anything that comes loose or gets broken on a boat. But in the Worrell 1000, when sail days can take as long as 16 hours on the water, the equipment has to hold up and Team Australia’s boat was better prepared than all the others.

Virginia Beach’s Team Rudees finished fourth at 94:40:16.

“It’s all 1,000 miles and you’re fighting every inch, there’s no relaxing out there,” Smyth said. “And because of the weather, every day is so different.”

Smyth’s boat was the one that spoiled Team Australia’s Worrell 1000 sweep, winning the leg from Atlantic Beach to Ocracoke. Team Rudees edged Team Australia 2 by a little less than five minutes.

“You have a big option there because you can go the ocean way, which is a little longer, but you’ve got to go around Cape Lookout,” Smyth said. “That particular day, there was an offshore wind and there were better conditions on the inside, so we took the shorter course — which is the more treacherous course.”

Smyth explained there were a lot of unmarked and uncharted obstacles in the form of sandbars and shoals, and that bridges and fishing nets would also come into play in Bogue Sound. Getting back to the oceanside to where the landing spot on Ocracoke could have been a challenge as well because the inlet is small and narrow and if the tide is coming in, it makes for a strong current flowing back into the sound.

“That day had light wind, so if we had to fight the current, we may have never got out,” Smyth said. “We timed it just right and the current was going out, so we got flushed out. But it could’ve gone the other way.”

That strategy put the two boats ahead of the rest of the fleet by at least 50 mins.

Added Williams: “For the very first time, in the 50-year history of the event, somebody went into Bogue Sound, took Cape Lookout out of the equation and shaved 13 miles off of the course. It had never been tried before because it is incredibly risky. Shallow water, moving sandbars, shoals, lots of fishing nets — it’s nearly an impossible navigable waterway. Yet two boats snuck through there and it really paid off for them.”

Team Outer Banks, comprised of Hardy Peters and James Eaton. finished eighth at 103:24:33.

“It’s definitely a long two weeks,” said Peters, who competed in the race for the second time. “We had some really good days and we had some really long days. Coming into the race the last time, we were the deer in the headlights. This year, we knew what to expect, we knew what was out there and we had a much more comfortable feeling about what to do with the race.

Eleven of the 12 boats that started finished the race. Team Babysitting Robots was forced to retire after their boat capsized during the third leg.

“We had a hard day with thunderstorms off of Cape Canaveral,” Williams said. “That’s when we lost (Team) Babysitting Robots — their sailors were rescued by the Coast Guard and their boat was abandoned at sea.”

In 23 tries, every team reaching the finish line has happened just four times. But overall, racing was a mixed bag, Williams said.

“We had the thunderstorm and then leaving Florida is a long day,” Williams explained. “The 120-mile leg was a long day. The last boat got in at 3 a.m. in the morning. Then there are days like (Friday). The winds are mostly out of the south, during which boats can fly their spinnakers. It’s not as physically demanding and there’s enough breeze where it’s not a mental grind to perform. The boat is moving well and all the equipment is working.”

Shane Harper popped into the left circle and slid a pass to an open Smith streaking from the right side, who then snapped in a goal past Admirals goaltender Yaniv Perets. It was Smith’s seventh point in the series for the Thunder, who lead 3-2 after going behind 2-0 following the initial home stand at the Cool Insuring Arena in Glens Falls, New York.

“I was making a line change,” Admirals coach Jeff Carr said. “It’s unfortunate. It was a heck of a hockey game between two great teams, a 1 vs. 2 matchup.  We had the lead 1-0 and they get two.”

Josh McDougall had given the Admirals the lead midway through the second period after collecting a pass from Carson Golder deep on the right side of the offensive zone. McDougall then cut directly in line with the cage, zigged and zagged the puck back and forth and then flicked a wrist shot past Adirondack goalie Isaac Poulter.

The Thunder had started to turn up the intensity of their attack at the beginning of the period, and the deficit spurred them on to the second intermission. They finished with three power plays in the second stanza and a 13-6 advantage in shots — compared to the two penalty-kill chances in the first period, during which they were outshot 9-5.

Momentum shifted back to the Admirals early in the final period when a slashing penalty on Matt Steif, signaling a power play, brought a roar from the 5,200-plus crowd at Scope, as did another big shot by McDougall from the point. Then midway through the third, Golder and McDougall tried to connect on another scoring opportunity that was deflected high above the boards.

Then with a little less than eight minutes remaining, Adirondack’s Yushiroh Hirano blasted a puck into the Admirals’ crease from the left near the blue line. Perets got his pads to stop most of the force from the slap shot, but the puck squirted through his legs as though in slow motion, just over the line enough to trigger the red flashing lights. Two-and-a-half minutes later, Smith silenced the crowd again with his goal.

“We didn’t want to give up anything cheap and easy, and I think they got a little bit of a cheap and easy goal that squeaked through,” Carr said. “And the next one, we’re on a line change. Smith gets loose and that’s what he does well — he scores goals.”

Holder and Perets each finished with 21 saves.

Added Carr: “Poulter had a 96% save percentage. Yaniv played great — just two goals that snuck through. Just didn’t close the 5-hole fast enough. Tough one for him as he was battling all night, same with Poulter. It was just really good playoff hockey that was very unfortunate for us.”

The series shifts back to New York for Game 6 Tuesday night at 7. If necessary, Game 7 is scheduled for Wednesday.

The Admirals entered the homestand on a four-game winning streak against Adirondack, including two victories dating back to the last regular-season meeting between the two teams. Adirondack seemingly has seized momentum back with this current three-game streak, but has lost six of seven home games to the Admirals.

The series winner will advance to face the Florida Everblades in the Eastern Conference finals. Based in Estero, in southwest Florida near Fort Myers, they beat the Orlando Solar Bears 2-1 in overtime to clinch the South Division finals 4-1.

“They’ve been down two games in this series and now we’re down one. That’s the way we’re looking at it,” Carr said. “We love playing in their rink. That’s probably the most success we’ve had, and that’s the rink we get to go to and probably have some fun up there.

“I told the guys there’s no reason to hold your head low or be disappointed. We get to play in mid-May. They’ve been through so much, and this is another chapter of the story. We’ll load the bus like we did last week and try to take two like we did last week.”

The Worrell 1000 is an offshore long-distance catamaran sailboat race that starts on the shores of Hollywood, Florida, at 10 a.m. Sunday. Sailors will log countless hours over 12 legs that span more than 1,000 miles over the water up the East Coast until the finish line. Racing is scheduled to conclude on the afternoon of May 24 in Virginia Beach.

“It was an East Coast race to begin with,” said Randy Smyth, at the helm of Virginia Beach’s Team Rudee’s boat for the second consecutive race. He has competed in eight previous Worrell 1000s, winning six.

“It kept getting so much press coverage locally — each little town would cover it. Then, a lot of the sailing magazines would cover it. So no matter where you were in the world you lived, you could read about it. It was a story about an event you didn’t have to race in to understand that it’s an over-the-top kind of race. It’s built up that reputation. For anybody that races a beach catamaran and wants a full adventure, this is it.”

Rich history

Over the years, the race has had a tumultuous history. It started as a bet between bar owners and brothers Michael and Chris Worrell, transformed from its original continuous format to daily checkpoint races, and then went into hiatus for 17 years starting in 2002.

This year’s event will be the third time it’s been run in its current format by the Worrell 1000 Reunion Race organizing authority, a 501c3 non-profit, having just three boats compete when it was resurrected in 2019.

“We thought we were going to have five boats, but we only ended up with only three,” said Beverly Simmons, the Worrell 1000 communications director. “It didn’t matter. We had to prove to the world that it could be done.”

That race brought teams from Australia, Florida and Texas, and it again caught the world’s attention. It was scheduled to be held again in 2021, but was postponed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, 13 teams from six countries competed. Twelve teams finished, and the last was dismasted on the final leg.

This year will be the 23rd running of the race during its 50 years of existence. Twelve teams are again vying for bragging rights with competitors from all over the world, including Australia, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United States. Smyth and teammate Dalton Tebo will be the crew representing the aforementioned local entry, Team Rudee’s, which finished second in 2022. There is also an entry from North Carolina, Team Outer Banks, comprised of Hardy Peters and James Eaton.

Aside from respect, the teams are also seeking the Ron Anthony Memorial Perpetual Trophy for course record, which is held by Jamie Livingston and Brian Lambert of Team Alexander’s on the Bay, set in 2002 with a time of 71 hours, 32 minutes and 55 seconds.

___

‘The clock’s always ticking’

Smyth explained that the Worrell 1000 is not a regatta in the sense where there are multiple races and a team’s score is based on its placement in those races, so a couple of bad finishes won’t be the end-all. It’s a race based on cumulative time.

A team can win 11 of the 12 legs, but if it doesn’t finish a single leg, then that team won’t have completed the entire race. Or if a team wins a number of early legs and then goes six hours behind on a subsequent leg because of going the wrong direction, that can have a huge adverse effect on its total time. It’s much like how the Tour de France is run, which both Simmons and
principal race officer John Williams offered as a comparison.

“Every minute counts because the clock’s always ticking,” Smyth said. “You never know how much time you’ll need at the finish to do well, so that puts pressure on all the teams to always be racing. There’s never a moment when you’re up two minutes on a competitor and thinking I’m going to beat him. No, you’re thinking I need to make this three minutes because every minute counts.”

Smyth, who is also a National Sailing Hall of Fame inductee and an America’s Cup participant and winner aboard Stars & Stripes in 1988, said all the beach catamarans in the race are in the Formula 18s class. A catamaran is a multihull design boat with two pontoons at the waterline with a trampoline for a deck. The Formula 18s distinction signifies that the boats have all the same parameters — same length (18 feet), same sail area and same weight, which also factors in the weight of the two crew members, food and water and safety equipment.

But various manufacturers can build boats with different designs that look and perform differently, which makes for a class that evolves — similar to how auto racing works. With the boats all having similar performance expectations, it’s the skill of the crew and weather and nature conditions that determine the race results.

___

‘We know there are going to be stories’

“Every day is so different,” Smyth said. “Florida is a wide beach, so you just go straight to the finish line. Once you get past that, the Georgia coast where there’s a whole bunch of islands or Cape Lookout, Cape Fear and Cape Hatteras, there’s a lot more navigation involved. And some of the longer legs end up being night legs if it isn’t that windy the day of. A lot of the testing for the teams quite often is when you get further up the course closer to the finish line.”

Smyth said each leg averages about 70 miles — a substantially long race for a beach catamaran.

“What really takes you out on the Worrell 1000 is the fact that it’s not a one-day race. Each day is cumulative body damage,” Smyth explained. “Day 2, you’re a little more tired, and then Day 3 and so on. So when you’re dealing with the surf and the shoals around Cape Fear and further when our bodies are tired, that is the test the Worrell 1000 gives you — each day is a little more difficult as you get closer to the finish.”

Things like submarines and marine life can also be unexpected obstacles. Smyth recalled one year a shark hitting the daggerboard (underwater fin that keeps either of the pontoons stable) of a boat he was on and creating a hole in the hull, so the boat started to sink.

Navigating through rough surf on starts and finishes, where boats can break rudders and even tip over, represents even more perils on the water. In 23 tries, every team reaching the finish line has happened just four times.

“We don’t know what the stories are going to be, but we know there are going to be stories,” Smyth said. “You don’t know until you get there that day whether the shoals or sandbars have moved and how you’ll get through them. There’s all kinds of treachery and ways that things can go wrong out there — you can’t put a location in your GPS and get all the answers.”

And although it’s a competition, there’s still a strong sense of community and camaraderie among all the teams. Most of the teams are friends outside of racing. Simmons said the race committee and organizing authority won’t let teams compete if they don’t personally know them or if their credentials to race can’t be vetted by the tight sailing community.

“In 2022, Team Great Britain had a collision at the start and they went over. Every single batten in their main sail was broken,” Simmons said. “They limped to shore. Every single crewman from all the teams magically appeared with tools, sail tape and new battens. And within 15 minutes, they were back out on the course. That’s the spirit of this race.”

And it’s that idea — the spirit of the closeness of the competitors — that keeps the fire burning that is the Worrell 1000 race.

“There were some events that tried to emulate what had been done in the past, but they weren’t coming to Virginia Beach. None of them stuck. It’s just not the same,” Williams said. “There’s a recognition worldwide that this is a one-of-a-kind event. There’s nothing else like it.

“It’s this 1,000 miles that crosses the beautiful beaches of Florida, the graveyard of the Atlantic and the Outer Banks and finishes in the idyllic setting of Virginia Beach. That’s why we get so much international attention and participation.”

Ryan Smith scored with less than five minutes remaining in the second period to power the Adirondack Thunder to a 5-2 win over the Norfolk Admirals at Scope and tie the series at two games apiece.

The Admirals, who had won the series’ first two games at Cool Insuring Arena in Glens Falls, New York, had just leveled the score at 2 just 75 seconds prior.

“It’s deflating,” Admirals coach Jeff Carr said. “The puck bounced in the slot; I feel bad for (Carson) Golder. He tried to clear it out, it bounced over his stick and they capitalized.”

Andre Ghantous gave Adirondack a 1-0 lead midway through the first period by snapping a shot past netminder Oskari Salminen, who rejoined the Admirals on Monday from the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League. It was just the second playoff appearance for Salminen, who recorded a Game 1 victory in the North Division semifinals against Trois-Rivières on April 17.

Smith, who also had the winning goal in overtime Wednesday, knocked in his first goal of the night five minutes before the first intermission to extend the lead to 2-0.

A little less than four minutes after the break, Admirals captain Mathieu Roy smashed in a goal on a power-play opportunity to cut the deficit to 2-1. With the period winding down, Brady Fleurent poke-checked the puck away from an Adirondack defender in the neutral zone. Carson Musser collected the loose puck and found Stepan Timofeyev, who fired in the equalizer at the 5:35 mark.

Then came Smith’s goal — his second of the game — off of a missed clearance, which quieted the crowd of 6,007 and sparked a run of unanswered goals for Adirondack.

Early in the third period, the Admirals couldn’t capitalize on a 5-on-3 power play. They were moving the puck around well in the offensive zone, but were unable to find that last unlocking shot on target.

“A lot of great chances and looks,” Carr said. “We liked the setup and we liked who we had on the ice — we just didn’t get the result that we wanted. That’s been the M.O. over the last two games.”

Shane Harper and Ryan Wheeler added a goal apiece for the final margin.

Game 5 is at 7:05 Saturday night at Scope. Game 6 and, if necessary, Game 7 will be back in New York on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“We’ve got to come out and play better at the start,” Carr said. “We’ve got to inject a little more life in our lineup, take the body and play a little harder.”

Travis Broughman fought off an Admirals defender, circled around the back of the cage and slipped in a centering pass that found Smith crashing into the crease. Smith one-timed it in for the Thunder, who cut their series deficit to 2-1.

An announced crowd of 4,309 showed up at Scope in the series’ first game in Norfolk. Game 4 is at 7:05 p.m. Friday and Game 5 will be the same time Saturday, both at Scope.

The Admirals used their speed to swarm all over the ice and find themselves in good positions to score. They finished with a 55-29 advantage in shots in a loosely called game that featured just five penalties, which gave the Admirals a lone power play.

“I don’t know what more we can do as a hockey team,” Admirals coach Jeff Carr said. “Fifty-five shots — complete domination from top to bottom. We get one power play and it was tackle football out there. We’re going to have to flush it and move on.”

Erik Middendorf tipped in the first goal of the game with a little more than eight minutes remaining in the first period as Adirondack took advantage of a power play following Simon Kubicek’s high-sticking penalty. Shane Harper flung a pass into the crease to find Middendorf.

The goal came during a back-and-forth period in which both Darick Louis-Jean and Carson Golder drew cheers from a raucous crowd. The Admirals went into the first intermission with an 11-10 edge in shots and turned the intensity up a notch in the second period.

Josh McDougall pinged the puck off the post a little more than three minutes into the period, sparking a small flurry of shots back into the Adirondack crease.

Three minutes later, following a cross-checking penalty, the Admirals leveled the score at 1. Danny Katic snapped a shot on goal while skating through the crease from the left. Andrew McLean collected the rebound and slid a pass to an open Kubicek, who fired the puck home past Thunder netminder Isaac Poulter.

A BLAST FROM KUBI TIES US BACK UP@KubicekSimon scores his 2nd goal of the #KellyCup playoffs with that from the point to make it 1-1 at the Scope!!@ECHL | #AllHandsOnDeck pic.twitter.com/h2i92ocCOB

— x – Norfolk Admirals (@NorfolkAdmirals) May 9, 2024

The low-scoring, physical affair was markedly different from the previous two games, when both teams combined for 18 goals. The Admirals, who totaled seven goals in the third periods of Games 1 and 2, drew some groans from the crowd as both Brandon Osmundson and Brady Fleurent forced saves from Poulter in the final period of regulation.

Poulter finished with 54 saves, while Admirals counterpart Yaniv Perets stopped 27.

“You tell the guys to keep fighting through tackles and cross-checks,” Carr said.  “We’ll come back and know we have to overcome a lot of stuff that we shouldn’t have to.”

Perets, on an entry-level contract with the Carolina Hurricanes, stopped 20 of 24 shots in a 7-4 victory Friday in Game 1 and then had 41 saves in a 5-2 victory the following night in Game 2.

“We’re still taking it one day at a time, like we have all season,” Admirals coach Jeff Carr said. “Following Yaniv’s performances over the weekend, we like where we’re at in the series, but there’s still a long way to go.”

Norfolk’s defense received an unexpected boost on Monday when the Winnipeg Jets reassigned goaltender Oskari Salminen from the Manitoba Moose to the Admirals. Salminen made 33 saves in a first-round playoff opener against Trois-Rivieres and in 12 appearances with the Admirals this season went 8-2-1 with a 2.82 goals-against-average.

Perets, though, has made seven postseason appearances for the Admirals with a 5-2 record. He’s recorded 195 saves with a 3.18 goals-against average.

The win and save totals rank second and fourth in the ECHL playoffs, respectively.

Perets “closed out the Trois-Rivières series and he’s had a great start to this one,” Carr said. “Adirondack has been throwing everything at him and he’s been getting better as the playoffs have been going on.”

A little more than a year ago, Perets won the NCAA hockey national championship with Quinnipiac University in Connecticut. Three days later, on April 12, 2023, he signed with Carolina.

The return of Salminen illustrates another key factor in Norfolk’s success this season: team depth. Norfolk’s roster features 10 players with four or more points since the start of the playoffs. In the series against Adirondack, Thomas Caron led the Admirals with two goals in the first game, while Austen Keating had a goal and an assist to power them in Game 2. Both players, along with Danny Katic, Mathieu Roy, Keaton Jameson, Stepan Timofeyev and Carson Golder, have recorded points against the Thunder.

“Everybody has the next-man-up mentality,” Carr said. “Depth and conditioning have been strengths we’ve been working on all year that highlights everyone’s competitive side. They like sticking their noses in on the ice and getting dirty.”

The puck drops at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday for Game 3, while Game 4 is on Friday at the same time. If necessary, Game 5 will also be at Scope at 7:05 p.m. Saturday. Games 6 and 7 would be back at the Cool Insuring Arena in Glens Falls, New York, next Tuesday and Wednesday.

The winner of the North Division finals advances to the Eastern Conference finals and will face the winner between the Florida Everblades and the Orlando Solar Bears. Florida currently leads the South Division finals 2-0.

Norfolk has a 5-3 overall record against the Adirondack Thunder, starting 1-3 in the regular season, but are currently on a four-game winning streak, including consecutive wins on March 23 and 24.

“They’re probably coming in with an eye-for-an-eye mentality,” Carr said. “We just need to keep the defense insulated on the back end by stalking them in the neutral zone and then use our speed against them on the counterattack.”

Game 3, North Division finals

Adirondack Thunder at Norfolk Admirals

When: 7:05 p.m. Wednesday at Scope

Tickets: Start at $19 on norfolkadmirals.com

Promotion: The Admirals are hosting a “Whiteout the Scope” and are asking fans to wear white for home games Wednesday, Friday and Saturday (if necessary).

“It doesn’t matter if it’s tough play or lethal goal scorers, the mountain is going to get higher and tougher to climb every time,”
Admirals coach Jeff Carr said. “We knew the first playoff series in 10 years wasn’t going to be easy, no matter what. Even up 3-1, that could’ve went to Game 7 really quick.”

The Admirals clinched the series 4-2 and await the winner between the Adirondack Thunder and Maine Mariners. The Thunder are up 3-2, with Game 6 of their series scheduled for Tuesday.

Jakov Novak, who had the go-ahead goal in Saturday night’s win for the Lions, put his team ahead 1-0 with less than nine minutes remaining in the first period. Novak, who was a thorn in Norfolk’s side all series long with four goals, an assist and 23 penalty minutes going into Game 6, gathered a loose puck just outside the blue line and combined with Nicolas Guay on a two-versus-one situation to slot the puck past Admirals goaltender Yaniv Perets.

Golder, who rejoined the team in time for Saturday’s matchup, then collected both goals in the final three-plus minutes of the period to give the Admirals the lead the rest of the way. Simon Kubicek sprung Golder with a pass just inside their defensive zone, and Golder turned on the jets to skate past two defenders and backhanded the puck in to tie the score at 1.

A Trois-Rivières slashing penalty with two minutes remaining in the first period gave the Admirals a power play right before the intermission. Forty seconds later, Danny Katic pounced on a loose puck near the boards on the left side of the ice, spun around to avoid a defender and found an open Golder, who snapped the puck in for a 2-1 advantage.

“It just kind of worked perfectly,” Golder said. “Yesterday, I had quite a few shots but couldn’t bury one. Today, they just all happened to work out. Momentum is a huge thing in hockey, and I think that (the goals) got us really going.”

Tempers started to flare in the second period as a slashing call on Trois-Rivières’ Mason Kohn sparked a melee, resulting in a quartet of additional penalties, for Kohn and teammate John Parker-Jones, along with the Admirals’ Mark Liwiski and Stepan Timofeyev.

Midway through the period, Timofeyev knocked a goal in to push the lead to 3-1. Golder came from around the back of the net to set up the chance. The whistle to signal the second intermission was met with another skirmish, this time between Liwiski and Trois-Rivières’ Nolan Yarmenko. Novak also got involved, which gave the Admirals another power play following the break. Thirty seconds following the restart whistle, a high-sticking penalty gave the Admirals a five-on-three opportunity that they couldn’t convert.

“Last game got pretty chippy, and we thought they were going to leave it on the table again,” Golder said. “It was pretty physical, but we were able to push through.”

Midway through the third, Novak cut the deficit to 3-2, poking in a puck that squirted into the crease as Perets wasn’t able to
clear it. Shortly after that, Timofeyev and Justin Ducharme got into a scuffle after the latter’s questionable hit on Denis Smirnov.

Golder was at the heart of restoring the two-goal lead at 4-2 after some sharp stickwork to free himself to the right side of the goal, when he set a pass across the face of the goal to a streaking Carson Musser, who one-timed it home.

Guay scored a power-play goal to bring Trois-Rivières to 4-3 with 1:30 remaining and, with their netminder pulled, the Lions frantically searched for an equalizer that ultimately didn’t come.

“The season series was a little lopsided, so their game plan probably wasn’t to play us straight up,” Carr said of the physicality of the Lions, who lost seven of eight regular-season games to the Admirals. “Competitors find ways to try and win and ways to be competitive.”