Hockey homecoming at Scope

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) - For the first time this season, the new faces of the 2012-2013 Admirals team will welcome a familiar opponent to Scope - the Syracuse Crunch.

The two teams met for the first time last week in Syracuse and the Crunch won 4-2.

"It's a good point for us in the season to try and turn it around a little bit. They're coming in and it's kind of they're homecoming. We need to take that and use it as our motivation and have a solid two games against them," Admirals scoring leader Peter Holland said.

The Admirals won two games in November and seven last month. It's a number the players hope continues to rise starting this weekend against Syracuse.

"We don't want them to come in here and think they still own this building. We know they're going to be pumped up to come back here after the season they had so hopefully we can stop them," said DeVante Smith-Pelly, who spent most of last season playing in the NHL.

The Calder Cup-winning Admirals only lost 11 regular season games at Scope last season. 

This year, Syracuse Crunch Head Coach Jon Cooper's team holds the AHL's best record on the road.

"You know, we've got the mentality that this is our house and we didn't have the weekend we wanted last weekend against them. I think we've got something to prove," Admirals forward Jay Rosehill said.

Rosehill played for the Marlies last season and was on the losing end of the Calder Cup Finals.

Last week, the Admirals returned from the holiday break with three road games in three nights. The Admirals fell to the Crunch, 4-2, on Friday night. Patrick Maroon scored a power play goal in overtime as Norfolk upended Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, 3-2, on Saturday night from Pennsylvania. The road trip concluded in Massachusetts on Sunday evening as the Admirals dropped a 4-1 decision to the Springfield Falcons.

"They have a lot of confidence and obviously the fan base loves them here and they already know what they're doing and I think we just need to respond and show this is our place now and they're not going to take it away from us," said Patrick Maroon.

The Admirals and Crunch face off on Friday night 7:30 p.m. and Saturday night 7:15 p.m. at Scope. The first 2,012 fans through the gates on Friday will receive an Admirals Calder Cup replica trophy.