Wednesday night at Scope: Admirals 3, Hershey 2

ADMIT IT, ADMIRALS FANS. You winced when you saw the backup goalie starting against one of the AHL's most explosive teams. Cringed when the Admirals began the game as though they were skating in quicksand. And prepared for the worst when the Bears skated 6-on-4 for the final minute. Darren Rumble doesn't blame you. But the coach insists he wasn't worried.

KILLER KOWALSKI

A deserving No. 1 star, reserve netminder Craig Kowalski stood on his head for the Admirals on Wednesday night, especially in the opening minutes when the Bears opened fire against a lethargic home team.

“That’s not the kind of team you want to start slow against, either,” Kowalski said after making 34 saves against the AHL’s second-ranked team. “But I made a few saves to keep us in it, and the guys kept battling and really got it going.”

TAKE IT TO THE (BROOK)BANK

The Admirals (30-36-3-5) snapped out of their funk – or more accurately, Hershey’s Kip Brennan snapped them out of the funk – when Brennan leveled Blair Jones with a vicious check midway through the first period. Norfolk’s Wade Brookbank immediately sought out Brennan and the two squared off in the fight that Rumble said woke the Admirals up.

“The turning point of the game,’’ Rumble said.

OFFENSIVE PUNCH

Jones tied the game at one on a power play with just less than five minutes left in the first period when he took a feed from Zenon Konopka and zipped a wrist shot between Michael Neuvirth’s pads.

Less than two minutes later, Radek Smolenak banged home the rebound of a Ty Wishart slapshot. And at 10:48 of the second period, newly signed John Swanson converted another Wishart rebound for his first pro goal and a 3-1 Admirals advantage.

HANGING ON

Hershey’s Alexandre Giroux cut the deficit to one early in the third period, and the Bears (47-21-1-6) peppered Norfolk with 16 more shots the rest of the game. But Kowalski denied them all, often in spectacular fashion.

“Honestly, I wasn’t all that worried, even when we started out slow,” Rumble said. “A few games ago, when we went through kind of a mental block, I might have thought, 'Oh, no....’ But with the kind of effort we’re getting now, I really wasn’t all that concerned that we wouldn’t find a way.”

LESSON LEARNED

The fans showered referee Francis Charron with boos for calling goaltender interference on Norfolk’s Juraj Simek with 1:17 remaining as they believed Simek was shoved into the netminder by Hershey’s Chris Bourque. But Rumble was more frustrated by Simek.

“It’s was a boneheaded play,” he said. “With a one-goal lead, you shouldn’t even put yourself in that situation. But it’s something he’ll learn from.”

MEDICAL ALERT

In a pre-game ceremony Friday, the Admirals will honor the doctors, trainers and EMTs who responded quickly to the injuries to referee Chris Cozzan and Grand Rapids forward Ryan Oulahen during a game last Friday. Cozzan was gashed in the neck by an Admirals player’s skate; Oulahen suffered a dislocated hip so severe part of his femur protruded through his skin.

– Paul White