Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 8, 1990 TAG: 9003082084
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: randy king
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Trainer Scott Jess has his pillbox crammed with tape, freeze guns and gauze pads.
The rest of the heavy load is left for Dave Allison and the Virginia Lancers to handle.
"Yeah, this is it," said the coach, pondering today's start of a 1,248-mile round trip that stops at Hampton Roads on Friday, at Erie, Pa., on Saturday and back in Vinton on Sunday.
"Now," Allison said, "we'll find out who's got the best team in the East Coast Hockey League."
Once upon a time, Allison didn't have to worry about such nonsense. He had the best team. Hands down.
"But that was yesterday and this is today," Allison said. "It's a whole new game now."
You bet. And the Lancers, who only two weeks ago had their names written all over the ECHL's regular-season title banner, may not win a thing.
Stripped by player recalls and injuries, Virginia lost four games during what was supposed to be a haymaking homestand. In the process, the Lancers let Erie and Winston-Salem chase them down.
Suddenly, the ECHL is a three-team race. With four games left, Virginia (35-21, 76 points) and Erie (35-22, 76) are tied after Erie's 8-2 home victory over fifth-place Nashville in Wednesday night's only ECHL game. Winston-Salem (34-22, 74) is on their heels in second place.
The Lancers finish the 60-game season with road games Friday at Hampton Roads and Saturday at Erie and home games Sunday against Winston-Salem and Wednesday against Greensboro.
Erie, which has won nine straight, has the best of the schedule. The Panthers have three games left - at Greensboro on Friday and at home Saturday against Virginia and Tuesday against Johnstown.
Winston-Salem has the toughest schedule, playing at Knoxville on Friday and Saturday, at Virginia on Sunday, and at home to Greensboro on Tuesday.
"Erie has the schedule edge, but we're still in the driver's seat," Allison said. "We just have to win 'em all.
"Hey, we can do it. We've done it before."
Despite their recent swoon, which included back-to-back 6-0 and 7-1 poundings at home, the Lancers still contend they will take care of business.
"We're not panicking; it's too late to panic," said defenseman Doug Hobson. "But we've won enough games to know what it takes.
"Hey, it's not like we've cashed in the chips here. We lost a couple of games and everybody says this is the bottom of the barrel.
"Yeah, maybe we did get a little overconfident [with the lead]. Whatever happened, we got away from the things that made us successful.
"I'm probably to blame as much as anybody; I've been dogging it. But that's over. Sure, the chips are down now, but we're not out of it."
Allison, in his first season as a coach, says he may be the culprit for the Lancers' collapse.
"Maybe I didn't work these guys hard enough," Allison said. "Maybe I have been a little easy on them.
"But that's the way I've been all year, and we've been in first place for most of the season. . . . I don't see any reason to change now."
Allison can fish for all the answers he wants, but there remains one big catch: He lost most of his best players.
But the coach will not, at least publicly, ride that crutch.
"We've still got the talent to win," he said. "It's just up to us whether we want to get it done enough or not."
The Lancers received a boost Wednesday when Allison learned that one of the missing players - playmaking center Terry Menard - is returning to the club.
Menard, who had 13 goals and 17 assists in only 21 games for Virginia, has been sent back down from Milwaukee of the International Hockey League after a four-week stay. To make room on the 16-man roster, Allison put defenseman Marty Rouse on waivers.
On the negative side, Allison said forward Graham Stanley is out for the season. Stanley sustained a broken jaw from a stick in the Lancers' 6-0 loss to Hampton Roads on Friday.
Stanley, a Los Angeles Kings farmhand, will be missed. He was third on the team in goals scored with 23 and fourth in points with 46.
\ ICE CHIPS: The road doesn't bother Virginia. The Lancers have scored the same number of points in 28 road games as in 28 home games. Virginia is 18-8-2 at home; 17-7-4 on the road. . . . If the regular-season race ends in a tie, the deadlock will be broken in this order - number of victories, least number of losses and least amount of overtime losses. If the tie is still not broken, the next tie-breaker is head-to-head. Virginia is 5-2 vs. Erie; 3-5 vs. Winston-Salem. . . . Erie forward Bill McDougall continues to dominate the ECHL statistics sheet. Going into Tuesday night's game against Nashville, McDougall led the league in goals scored (70), points (136) and game-winning goals (10) and ranked second in assists (66). It makes one wonder why the Boston Bruins' farmhand hasn't been assigned to a higher league. . . . Winston-Salem should finish with a league-record three 100-point players. Len Soccio has 102 points, Trent Kaese 98 and Joe Ferras 96, and they rank 2-3-4 in ECHL scoring. . . . Amazingly, first-place Virginia has no player among the leaders in any offensive category. . . . As usual, ticket prices around the league will escalate for the playoffs. Playoff tickets for Virginia home games will be $7 instead of the usual $5.50.
by CNB