Hurley's Late Strike Gives Admirals Series Win

Connor Hurley’s goal broke a late deadlock in the final minutes of the game and gave the Norfolk Admirals (4-2-0-0) a 5-3 win over the South Carolina Stingrays (4-4-0-0) on Saturday night at the Norfolk Scope.Matt Pohlkamp, Christian Horn and Andrew Cherniwchan each scored goals for the Rays in the contest, while goaltender Parker Milner made the start and stopped 24 shots.The opening period had lots of excitement, with a total of 12 minor penalties, 29 total shots and three goals scored. Norfolk had two of those tallies, with defenseman T.J. Melancon scoring on the power play at 3:56 and forward Chris Crane netting his fourth goal of the week at 12:35.South Carolina’s strike came from Pohlkamp who found the back of the net for the second straight game and third time in four contests at 9:33. Forward Tad Kozun took an initial shot on net from the right circle and the rebound kicked out to Pohlkamp who quickly swept it into the net. Defenseman Kevin McKernan recorded the second helper on the play, his sixth assist of the year.The Stingrays took control of the game in the middle frame, scoring twice in the first four minutes to take a 3-2 advantage. First, Horn scored against his former team at 1:29 from defenseman Mike Chen, and then Cherniwchan scored his second in as many games from Joey Leach and Grant Besse at 3:39.Horn’s tally was also on a rebound after Chen hit the post with an initial attempt at the Norfolk goal, while Cherniwchan wristed the puck over goaltender Ty Reichenbach’s right shoulder and into the net for his fourth marker of the season.But the Admirals evened things back up at 3-3 with a goal by Domenic Alberga at 18:16 of the second and the teams skated into the third frame all knotted up.Hurley’s game-winner didn’t come until 16:20 of the final period, giving Norfolk the lead for good. Crane added an empty-net tally in the final second of the contest to seal the victory for the Admirals.The Stingrays outshot Norfolk 12-7 in the third period and 41-29 for the game, making it the third consecutive contest between the teams in which SC had more chances on net. Reichenbach made 38 saves for the Admirals to pick up the victory in between the pipes.Norfolk finished 1-for-7 on the power play, while the Rays were 0-for-6 on the man-advantage in the contest.South Carolina will travel south to Allen, Texas for two games against the Americans next week on Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. EST. The Stingrays will return home to the North Charleston Coliseum on Saturday, Nov. 10 for Health and Wellness Night presented by Planet Fitness against the Orlando Solar Bears at 7:05 p.m.Season tickets are on sale now! For more information or to purchase, contact the Stingrays by phone at 843-744-2248 or visit 3300 W. Montague Ave. Suite A-200 during business hours.For all the latest news and updates, head to StingraysHockey.com and follow the Stingrays on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.Photo Credit: Sarah Hobday