Admirals Stat-urday: Norfolk By The Numbers

0 - Number of goals allowed (0) by Igor Bobkov in his first shut-out of the season against St John's Icecaps on Oct. 28
1 - The Admirals streak of scoring first in every game was ended in a 3-2 loss vs St John's Icecaps on Oct. 27
2 - Goals by Emerson Etem, his first of the season, vs the Binghamton Senators on Nov. 2
3 - Fewest shots taken (3) in a period by the Admirals, Oct. 28 against St John's
4 - The Admirals are 4-0 when scoring four goals or more
5 - Number of wins (5) out of 7 games played
6 - Number of shots taken (6) in the third period against the Binghamton Senators on Nov. 2
7 - Number of assists (7) Sami Vatanen has to lead the Norfolk Admirals
8 - Goals against (8) for Frederik Andersen vs (11) against Igor Bobkov
9 - Nate Guenin leads the league in +/- with a plus-9

- A distressing statistic of late has been Shots-on-Goal Against, with the Admirals allowing 37 SOG vs Binghamton on Friday; 38 against vs St John's this past Sunday; and 43 vs St John's previous Saturday. This trend is indicative of Norfolk's inability to get the puck out of their own zone.

In the third period against the Binghamton Senators on Friday night, the Admirals went a full 12 minutes without a single shot on goal and could barely get the puck past the red line. It has become very apparent that Norfolk can easily become hemmed in to their own zone for extended periods of time as was demonstrated both last weekend against St John's and Friday night vs Binghamton.

As aggressive as the forecheck has been for Norfolk, the play in the defensive zone is its polar opposite. It's early in the season and still a situation that can be chalked up to a "learning experience," but at some point the Admirals are going to have to figure out how to clear the puck out of their own zone. Norfolk's only goal in the third period came on the only shot to be taken in the first 14 minutes of the period.

- Emerson Etem scored his first and second goals of the season on Friday night vs Binghamton. Etem, who had been pointless in the first six games, credited his teammates for helping him keep his head up. Coach Yawney said he was pleased with Etem's goals and that he was happy that Etem was finally rewarded for his play.

- Earlier this week, Coach Yawney decided that enough was enough. Passes that didn't go tape to tape, not running break-outs correctly, "losing" third periods in games, all were cause for sprints, push-ups, and other calisthenics on the ice during practice. In fact, Yawney was so disappointed in practice that he left the ice and left the remaining sprints to his assistants as an attempt at a "wake-up call." One could surmise from the result of Friday's game that the message was not received based on Yawney's own admission of "sloppy play all around," and it will be interesting to see whether or not Norfolk players understand the message in their rematch against Binghamton on Saturday.