Storm lacks power, falls to Richmond

11/16/2000

RICHMOND, Va. - Toledo coach Dennis Holland was more upset at the officiating than he was with his own team after the Storm lost 5-2 to the Richmond Renegades last night.

“I wish we had the opportunity to show you the true Toledo Storm tonight,” said Holland, after his club's second consecutive road loss.

The Storm was outshot 38-23 and Holland felt referee John Shiery might have had something to do with it.

“If you take their power-play shots away, the shots would probably be 8-5,” said Holland, whose team fell to 7-7-0.

The Renegades (8-5-1) only had four power plays, _all in the first two periods, and didn't score on any of them. But they peppered Toledo goaltender Mark Bernard during their power plays and kept Holland from using his regular lines.

“I was only able to play eight or nine guys,” Holland said. “Our speciality teams were on the ice a lot (the first two periods). Our goalie played well but we didn't get the job done.”

Bernard helped the Storm during the first 20 minutes, stopping 16 shots while his teammates produced just four shots. Toledo got a break when Shiery waved off a goal by Richmond, blowing the play dead before the puck crossed the line.

In the second period, Bernard continued to stand on his head, making a sprawling, glove save on Dan Vandermeer from point-blank range during the first minute. Richmond goaltender Rastislav Stana, who finished with 21 saves and stopped at least four breakaways, stoned James Patterson on a breakaway.

The Storm broke through when Sam Katsuras went around a Richmond defender and wristed a shot from the left hashmark that beat Stana high on the glove side at 6:04.

But the Renegades took over the rest of the period, scoring three times, including Brian McCullough's goal with 35.7 seconds remaining. The little wing broke in alone and sent a high wrist shot past Bernard, who slammed his stick on the crossbar in disgust.

“You're going to get some calls like that,” Holland said. “But that was just the tip of the iceberg. That was a big goal ... the difference in the game.”

Storm defenseman B.J. Adams scored his first pro goal during a power play, slicing the deficit to two goals with 8:25 left.