Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 17, 1990 TAG: 9003172499
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
"I'd say we got a fight on our hands now," Virginia defenseman Doug Hobson said.
The Greensboro Monarchs, losers of seven of eight games to Virginia in the regular season, rolled into the foggy Vinton LancerLot on Friday night and stunned the Lancers 3-2.
The victory gave Greensboro a 1-0 lead and control of the home-ice advantage in the best-of-five series. Game 2 will be played tonight at the LancerLot at 7:30.
Bearing little resemblance to the team that lost here 10-2 in Wednesday's regular-season finale, the Monarchs built a 3-0 lead in the first 42 minutes and staved off a furious Lancers rally to score the upset.
"We did what we had to do to beat this team," said Jeff Brubaker, Greensboro's coach. "Sure, they beat us 7-1 in the regular season. And a lot of clubs facing that situation would have come in here tonight and said, `We don't have a chance.'
"But these guys are mentally tough, and they just sucked it up and got the job done."
The LancerLot fog, created by the rain and high humidity outside the building, created havoc for the goaltenders.
"It's crazy," Virginia goalie Steve McKichan said. "You couldn't see a thing at times," he said. "I thought somebody was going to get killed out there."
The game was interrupted 14 times as both teams emptied the benches to skate around the rink to reduce the fog.
Greensboro, which has had problems containing the Lancers' speed this season, spent the first period playing the body. The tactic knocked the Lancers off stride.
By controlling play, Greensboro broke on top with 6:48 left in the period. Mike McCormick turned on the red light when he took a rebound off McKichan's stick in front of the net and whipped in a quick backhand.
In the second period, the Monarchs doubled their lead despite being outshot 17-8.
Boyd Sutton, unchecked by Virginia's Greg Neish, made it 2-0 at 11:33 when he took a behind-the-net feed from Chris Robertson and stuffed it past McKichan.
At the other end, Monarchs goaltender Nick Vitucci put up a personal roadblock, stopping everything sent in his direction, including breakaway chances by Chris Lindberg and Jeff Waver.
In the third period, the Monarchs got what the Lancers desperately needed - a quick score.
Greensboro's Phil Berger made it 3-0 only 2:27 into the period when he skated past Virginia defenseman Shannon Travis and easily beat McKichan on a breakaway.
When the Lancers finally threw it into high gear, it was too late.
Dan Richards scored on a power play with 9:28 left, and when Marty Raus' 30-foot fogcutter whistled past Vitucci with 5:47 left, it appeared the Lancers might get back.
Vitucci, though, kept coming up with saves and the Monarchs held on.
"It would have been a catastrophe if we'd lost this game after leading 3-0," Brubaker said. "But Nick wasn't going to let them score."
Vitucci, who was burned for six goals in 28 minutes on Wednesday, said his club caught the Lancers off-guard with their constant bumping style.
"We came out different because Virginia has had unbelievable success against us," he said. "We went over a new system, something we hadn't shown them before.
"Fortunately, we held them off for two periods before they really started buzzing."
The Lancers waited too long to buzz.
"We played right into their hands," Hobson said. "I don't know if the guys were nervous, the jitters or what. We waited for them to dictate the style of play and we got burned."
Said McKichan: "Brubaker stalled the game every chance he got and that worked to their advantage. But I promise you it will be the other way around [tonight]."
Brubaker, who predicted after Wednesday's drubbing his team would win the series, said, "It's a long way from being over. But we had to win one game here, and we got it."
\ ICE CHIPS: The Lancers played without all-league defenseman Bill Whitfield, who was called up to Binghamton, N.Y., of the American Hockey League for a weekend trial. The Virginia captain also will miss tonight's game. Al Leggett has taken Whitfield's spot on the playoff roster. . . . The valley apparently refuses to get caught up in playoff fever. The game attracted a crowd of only 1,043. Thanks to a couple of busloads of Greensboro fans, the Lancers were spared their fourth sub-1,000 crowd of the season. Greensboro 111-3 Virginia 002-2
First period-1, Greensboro, McCormick 1 (Lawrence, Butters), 13:12. Penalties-Herniman, Va (roughing), :28; Butters, Gr (unsportsmanlike conduct), :28; Brown, Gr (holding), 2:24; Herniman, Va (roughing), 9:17; Butters, Gr (roughing), 9:17; McKinley, Gr minor-major (unsportsmanlike conduct, misconduct), 9:17; Neish, Va minor-major (unsportsmanlike conduct, misconduct), 9:17; Herniman, Va (slashing), 14:05; Berger, Gr (slashing), 14:05; Va bench (too many men on ice), 17:48.
Second period-2, Greensboro, Sutton 1 (Robertson), 11:33. Penalties-Sutton, Gr (interference), 2:04; Neish, Va (slashing), 4:03; Sullivan, Gr (roughing), 6:28; Stanley, Va (roughing), 6:28.
Third period-3, Greensboro, Berger 1 (White), 2:27. 4, Virginia, Richards 1 (Vitale, Hobson), 10:32 (pp). 5, Virginia, Raus 1 (Waver), 14:13. Penalties-Stanley, Va (roughing), 5:10; Neish, Va (roughing), 9:35; Blessman, Gr (roughing), 9:35; White, Gr (slashing), 10:12; McKinley, Gr (interference), 19:32.
Shots on goal-Greensboro 15-8-9-32. Virginia 10-17-10-37.
Power-play opportunities-Greensboro 0-of-3. Virginia 1-of-4.
Goalies-Greensboro, Vitucci (37 shots-35 saves). Virginia, McKichan (32-29).
A-1,043.
by CNB