Grand Rapids 2, Admirals 1

MAYBE LIGHTNING REALLY DOESN'T strike twice in the same place. But gruesome injuries? Apparently, that's a different story.

Oh, no!

With 5:34 left in the first period, the skate of Admirals forward Radek Smolenak gashed referee Chris Cozzan's neck. Smolenak was coming out of a corner when Grand Rapids' Brett Peterson checked him. The impact caused Smolenak's skate to fly up and clip Cozzan.

After the game, Smolenak said he initially had no idea what happened to Cozzan and continued to play.

"Then I heard screaming, so I turned around and saw blood coming out of his neck," said Smolenak, who then began frantically waving for the trainer.

Both medical staffs raced to the scene and attended to Cozzan, who remained on the ice for about 10 minutes until he was taken off on a stretcher. Cozzan flashed a thumbs-up sign as he departed.

Cozzan was transported to Norfolk General Hospital where surgery was performed to repair the injury. A statement from the AHL said he is expected to make a full recovery. Updates on Cozzan's condition will be posted on theahl.com.

Because of the delay in play, the teams were sent off for the first intermission after Cozzan was taken off. They then played 25:34 before the second intermission, with linesman Mark Hamlett assuming Cozzan's referee duties.

Oh, no! Part II

Play continued without incident until the 13:45 mark of the second period when - in the same corner where Cozzan went down - Grand Rapids winger Ryan Oulahen got his left skate caught in the boards, wrenched his body at a severe angle and apparently snapped his femur. He too lay in a heap on the ice, in virtually the same spot when Cozzan was some 45 minutes earlier.

There was no official word on the severity of Oulahen's injury. Admirals coach Darren Rumble said the report he saw indicated that Oulahen's femur was visible clear through his skin.

Oh, yeah, the game

The Admirals launched 48 shots and looked like the sharper team for most of the night. But they were stymied by Grand Rapids goalie Jimmy Howard, who repeatedly snapped would-be goals out of the air with his lightning-quick glove.

"Their goalie stole 'em two points," Rumble said.

Smolenak agreed, to a point.

"I guess he did," he said. "But you have to bury a couple of those chances. You have that many chances, you have to find a way to get two or three goals."

Juraj Simek staked Norfolk to a 1-0 lead midway through the first period, but the Griffins needed just 26 seconds before tallying the equalizer.

The decider

As has often been the case for Norfolk this season, one defensive mistake triggered the Admirals' downfall. Blair Jones was checked off the puck in his own end, and Geoff Kinrade jammed his stick into Jones' skate trying to make a retrieval. The Griffins skated in two-on-one against Riku Helenius, and Cory Emmerton connected for what stood up as the game-winning goal at 5:01 of the second period.