Admirals confident they're on right path

Two steps down, two steps to go.

If the brain trust of the Norfolk Admirals has it right, the franchise is halfway through a four-step plan geared toward becoming one of the elite teams in the American Hockey League.

This may be small consolation for Admirals fans who, after 18 straight years of advancing to the postseason, endured a second straight season without a playoff payoff.

Making matters worse, Norfolk hasn't contended for a postseason bid either time. This season, realistic playoff hopes effectively ended Jan. 17, when the Admirals blew a 5-1 lead in a 6-5 loss to Worcester before a season-high 7,595 fans on "Pink at the Rink" night at Scope.

Norfolk's final record of 33-38-4-5 (75 points) this season fell 18 points shy of the East Division's final postseason slot. Only a surprise, season-ending three-game road winning streak allowed the Admirals to escape last place in the seven-team division.

"No one's happy with the record," Admirals coach Darren Rumble said. "But this is a process. And we have made some strides."

Indeed, while Admirals fans are looking at two years of subpar results, Tampa Bay's cycle of AHL futility extends five years to the days when Lightning prospects were weaned as Springfield Falcons. This season's 75 points, paltry a total as that is, are 10 more than any Lightning AHL team over this span.

So what's this four-step plan for digging out of the morass? Rumble said Step One involved changing a losing culture, and the Admirals think they began that process by infusing the team with players with winner's pedigrees like captain Zenon Konopka and Brandon Bochenski.

The second step was to become competitive with the elite teams. Anyone who watched the Admirals last season knows that the team was notorious for playing like winners through the opening 40 minutes.

The next step, winning many of those games, is where the club fell woefully short. Norfolk lost an AHL-high nine games (regulation, overtime or shootout) when leading after two periods. The Admirals also had 22 losses when either tied or ahead through two periods, three more than any other AHL team.

A team-wide lack of optimum conditioning was clearly an issue. Ten games into the season, the Admirals underwent a week-long "boot camp" to get into better shape. But why wasn't the squad ready to go all-out from the jump?

To be fair, the Lightning organization underwent a massive overhaul last summer, from new ownership and management to a host of new players. Rumble and general manager Mike Butters didn't take over in Norfolk until mid-July.

Still, the Admirals can't afford to work their way into shape in what is typically the AHL's toughest division, and the leaders in the Lightning organization know it.

"This season's team played quite a bit harder after 20 games, but that's too late," Lightning general manager Brian Lawton said in an interview on Tampa Bay's Web site. "This team will be very well-conditioned from the start next season and the common message between here and Tampa is that we'll be running one of the toughest training camps the NHL has seen in some time."

The roster also figures to get a makeover as the Admirals transition from a physical, at times lumbering team to a more athletic, better-skating unit. Rumble called this season's Admirals a team of Clydesdales, which is fine if you're selling beer. But too often, opponents skated circles around Norfolk's Clydesdales, particularly late in games.

Despite the team's struggles, Admirals fans haven't bailed on their team yet. Norfolk's average attendance of 4,109 did represent a three-percent decline over the previous season. But Admirals vice president Joe Gregory said that's defensible considering the poor economy, the team's lack of on-ice success and the fact that Gregory himself didn't take over until last July and got a late start on marketing.

Clearly, this "late start" theme permeated the entire organization this season. But with a full year under them now, the Admirals' brass fully expects to produce a playoff team next season. Record aside, the Admirals showed enough competitiveness this season to make that seem like a realistic goal.

Then again, given the history of the Admirals franchise, the team's fans probably won't be truly satisfied until the program reaches Step Four of the Rumble Plan: competing for a championship.

But first things first.

Paul White, (757) 446-2630, paul.white@pilotonline.com