Shutout caps a perfect night

The Journal staff

You almost had to feel sorry for the Houston Aeros.

Here they were, on the verge of being shut out for the third consecutive game on Friday night, the last two at the hands of the Milwaukee Admirals, when the Aeros gave it one last push in the closing minute in an attempt to gain a moral victory: scoring a goal.

The Admirals, though, hung on despite being at a two-man disadvantage in the final 30 seconds, as Mark Laforest recorded his second consecutive shutout with a 3-0 victory over the Aeros before a crowd of 11,927 at the Bradley Center.

"Trees {Laforest} played a hell of a game for us," defenseman Ken Sabourin said. "There were guys playing with a lot of pride on the ice in the closing couple of minutes to preserve the shutout."

Laforest's 33-save performance came on the heels of his 1-0 victory over the Aeros on Wednesday at the Bradley Center, marking the first time in franchise history that the Admirals have recorded consecutive shutouts.

"It was a lot easier tonight working with a little cushion," Laforest said jokingly. "My confidence was way up from Wednesday and I felt sharp when the game started."

The Admirals (41-24-8), who had only four shots on goal in the opening period, made the most of their 12 shots in the first two periods with three goals.

John Byce, who has come on strong in the last couple of weeks, scored his 11th goal of the season at 11 minutes 40 seconds of the opening period when he came down the right side and put it past Rob Dopson.

Mike McNeill, who scored the lone goal in Milwaukee's 1-0 victory on Wednesday, scored on the power play 2:48 into the second when he flipped one over Dopson.

And finally, 12 seconds after the Admirals killed a penalty, Tony Hrkac went coast-to-coast zig-zagging through three defenders for his 23rd goal of the season at 16:26.

The key to Milwaukee's success, however, was their ability to kill penalties. After going 0 for 5 on the power play Wednesday, the Aeros went 0 for 7 on Friday.

"Our penalty killing has been exceptional," Admirals coach Phil Wittliff said. "Mike McNeill and Fabian Joseph have been doing a great job and Dave Mackey and Brian Dobbin played well tonight."

After Byce received a roughing penalty with 1:39 left in the game giving Houston (33-33-7) the man advantage, things got even more interesting when Dopson was pulled with 28 seconds remaining.

"We killed penalties all night," Laforest said. "I wasn't worried."

Notebook: Following the game Friday night, the Admirals signed goaltender Wayne Cowley and released Bob Mason. Cowley, who was playing with Worchester of the American Hockey Leage, was scheduled to start on Saturday.

Copyright 1995
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