McNeill manages to pick Gamble's lock on the goal

It's easy to understand why Milwaukee Admirals goaltender Mark Laforest did not want to have anything to do with a shootout Wednesday night.

Laforest, who went into the game against the Houston Aeros with a 1-6 record in the extra session, appeared to be headed in that direction as he battled with former Admirals player Troy Gamble in a scoreless game through 2 1/2 periods.

There would be no shootout, however, as Mike McNeill scored at 8 minutes 57 seconds of the final period to give Laforest and the Admirals a 1-0 victory before a crowd of 5,766 at the Bradley Center.

"I figured it was going to end 0-0," said Laforest, who posted the Admirals' first shutout of the season, "but there was no way I wanted to go into a shootout.

"The boys played excellent in front of me, and Troy Gamble was phenomenal."

With the victory, the Admirals improved to 40-24-8 and are 15 points in front of the Aeros (33-32-7) in the Central Division. The teams will play each other two more times in the next three days.

The Admirals gave Gamble a tough time all night, and the Aeros' netminder responded by stopping 44 of 45 shots, including 37 in the second and third periods.

Gamble's only blemish came when McNeill took a pass from John Byce in front of the net and tapped it in for his 20th goal of the season.

"I didn't think we'd get one past him," Byce said, "but when you get 45 shots on goal, you're bound to score a goal."

Laforest, who faced only 20 shots on the night, and no more than eight in any of the three periods, held his ground even when the Aeros pulled Gamble with 1:13 left for the man advantage.

But Houston could muster only two shots on Laforest in that span.

An apparent goal by the Admirals was disallowed with less than 2 minutes left in the opening period when Brad Werenka's shot from the right circle rattled around the goal.

With the score deadlocked in the third, Tony Hrkac, who was playing in his first game since returning from a wrist injury he suffered Feb. 26, saw his breakaway attempt go off the post at the 7:30 mark, but McNeill found the back of the net a little more than a minute later.

"They have a good team," Gamble said of Milwaukee. "This was a playoff-type of game from the beginning, and it was tough for us to get good scoring chances."

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