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News & Record Masthead
January 11, 2004

Boardwalk Bullies shut out Generals

Boardwalk Bullies- 4
Generals - 0

BY KEITH TOLBERT
Special to the News & Record

GREENSBORO - Maybe all the Greensboro Generals needed was one goal to get the 7,349 fans at the Greensboro Coliseum going.

January 10 Pack-The-House Crowd
Greensboro Generals fans cheer for the chance to get T-shirts and Frisbee during intermission of a game against the Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies Saturday at the coliseum. The game drew 7,349.
Photo by Rebekah Kates / News & Record

But despite 31 shots, the Generals failed to score and the largest crowd of the season wasn't a factor as the home team lost to the Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies 4-0 on Pack-The-House night. It was the third time this season the Generals have been shut out.

"If we get one goal early and the fans are with us it would be different," said Generals coach Rick Adduono. "We got beat by a solid team tonight. It's disappointing with the big crowd. It's not like we were playing bad."

Adduono said that despite the recent return of Pete Gardinier, the team is still trying to adjust to several injuries and call ups that have left them without key players on offense and defense. They also lost right winger Matt Elich in the first period of Saturday's game with a knee injury, but it is not known how serious it is.

"We're kind of in the middle of a rebuilding process," Adduono said. "We're just not as good a team as we were a month-and-a-half ago. Were not the team I want us to be."

The Boardwalk Bullies scored their first goal in the first period when Stephan Rivard fought off Geno Parrish right in front of the net to score on a power play. Adduono said that the defense is definitely in need of some bigger bodies to keep teams from exploiting them in during power plays.

"There's no question we need more size on defense," Adduono said. "We miss the size of (Kevin) Grimes (out with an injury), (Ryan) Bonni, and (Alex) Andreyev (out with an inury)."

Atlantic City put the game out of reach in the second period when it scored three goals in a three minute span, including back-to-back goals by left winger Jon Cullen. Gardiner called two of the goals lucky because they bounced off a skate and the other was deflected, but the Generals can't use that as an excuse.

"You can't really fault anyone," Gardimer said. "But then again, maybe we should have had the puck down in our zone. They're a good team and for whatever reason we came up short tonight. It just shows us we have a lot of work to do to get as good as them."

Mike Bayrack
The Generals' Mike Bayrack (center) has possession of the puck against Atlantic City.
Photo by Rebekah Kates / News & Record

After the Generals fell behind 4-0 in the second period, there were some unhappy fans and Adduono wasn't afraid to let them know how he feels about the situation.

"I'm trying to figure out were all the negativitiy is coming from," Adduono said. "We've won 63 games here in the last year-and-a-half. This loss tonight wasn't the end of the world. Everybody needs to remember that Turek, Turner, Bayrack, Gardimer and Berthiuame are the guys that put hockey back on the map in Greensboro."

The Generals continue their homestand on Tuesday night.



GENERALS REPORT

Boardwalk Bullies - 4
Generals - 0

INSIDER

Site: Greensboro, Greensboro Coliseum
Why the Boardwalk Bullies won: The visitors scored three goals in a three minute span of the second period to take control and silence the largest crowd of the season.
Stars: Atlantic City - Scott Stirling 31 saves, Jon Cullen 2 goals, 1 assist, Luke Curtain 2 assists.
The play: With the Boardwalk Bullies ahead 3-0, Danny Eberly gets the puck after a faceoff and blasts a shot past Generals goalie Daniel Berthiuame to put the game out of reach.
What they said: "It's not like the world ended" - Rick Adduono, Generals coach
Records: Greensboro 2 1-15-1. Atlantic City 25-9-1