Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 17, 1991 TAG: 9102170204
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Rebels failed to score on six power-play opportunities and it cost them yet another close game as Hampton Roads skated away with a 5-3 victory Saturday night at the LancerLot.
The setback was the Rebels' fifth straight and further endangered their hopes of qualifying for the East Coast Hockey League playoffs.
With only 10 games left in the regular season, including six on the road, Roanoke Valley (22-25-7) now faces an uphill climb to outlast Nashville (24-26-3) and Louisville (23-25-4) for the final wild-card spot in the playoffs.
Toss out Murray Hood's empty-net score with 46 seconds left, and the Rebels were involved in their fourth consecutive one-goal game. All ended in losses, thanks primarily to Roanoke Valley's inefficiency on the power play.
In losing eight of their past 11 games, the Rebels are only 4-for-57 (7 percent) on the power play.
"You can't win games, especially close games, not scoring on the power play," said frustrated Rebels coach Claude Noel.
"They [the Admirals] get two [actually one] on the power play, we get none and that's the difference. The key element we're missing on the power play is a quarterback on the point - a guy with a cannon shot who also can quarterback the play.
"We've been missing that all year. But you can't just find those kind of guys just anywhere."
Noel said he has talked with Scott Drevitch, who played here last season, about coming to Roanoke. Drevitch, as well as ex-Virginia Lancer coach Dave Allison, needs a job after the Albany (N.Y.) franchise of the International Hockey League folded Wednesday.
Twenty-four hours after seeing Johnstown score three times in four minutes to tie and eventually win, the Rebels must have thought they were watching a replay. Hampton Roads (30-18-4) scored three goals in a 3:26 span midway in the second period to wipe out a 1-0 Roanoke lead.
After Pat Bingham ripped a high 15-foot slapshot past shell-shocked Rebels goalie Bill Horn to tie the game, the Admirals took the lead for good only 44 seconds later. The goal came off a faceoff when Hood won the draw and dumped the puck to Brian Martin, whose long blast from between the circles was redirected by Al Murphy past Horn.
Only 2:42 later, the Admirals scored off a faceoff again, as Bingham won the draw and set up Greg Bignell's long slap shot.
After Greg Simeone's late second-period score made it 3-2, the Admirals answered only 56 seconds into the third period when Billy Nolan's pass bounced off Martin's body into the net. It was the ECHL-leading 54th goal of the season for Martin.
The Rebs closed to 4-3 on Wayne Muir's backhanded breakaway score with 12:13 to play.
"The guys are depressed at losing," said Rebels captain Bill Whitfield. "It's not a case of not working. Sometimes when things are going bad, everything goes bad. It's like a batter in baseball being in a slump."
If this slump doesn't end soon the Rebels will be watching the playoffs.
"Every game is crucial," Noel said. "And at this point, you begin to run out of games."
\ ICE CHIPS: Simeone's goal was his first in two seasons in the ECHL. He failed to score last season at Nashville. . . . Steve Gatzos' first-period score ran his goal-scoring streak to four games. The ex-NHLer has averaged a goal a game since joining the Rebels 11 games ago. . . . The game launched a eight-game, three-week road trip for Hampton Roads. The Admirals will fly out of Roanoke this morning for Johnstown, where they play at 2:30 this afternoon. Hampton
Roads 032-5 Roanoke Valley 111-3
First period-1, Roanoke Valley, Gatzos 11 (Kasowski), 18:00. Penalties-Hawley, HR (tripping), 6:33; Bellefeuille, RV (roughing), 7:17; Boyd, HR (roughing), 15:00; Neish, RV (cross-checking), 15:00.
Second period-2, Hampton Roads, Bingham 3 (Nolan, McEwen), 11:42. 3, Hampton Roads, Murphy 6 (Martin, Kehrer), 12:26 (pp). 4, Hampton Roads, Bignell 7 (Bingham), 15:08. 5, Roanoke Valley, Simeone 1 (Jones), 18:23. Penalties-Murphy, HR (tripping), 1:01; Fuster, RV (high-sticking), 3:18; Murphy, HR (slashing), 5:05; McEwen, HR (holding), 9:04; Horn, RV (slashing, served by Simeone), 12:21; Neish , RV double minor (high-sticking, roughing), 19:14; Murphy, HR double minor (roughing), 19:14.
Third period-6, Hampton Roads, Martin 54 (Nolan, Hood), :56. 7, Roanoke Valley, Muir 30 (Heine), 7:47. 8, Hampton Roads, Hood 18 (Boyd, Martin), 19:14 (en). Penalties-Kaminski, HR (high-sticking), 3:13; Whitfield, RV (hooking), 4:30; Boyd, RV (cross-checking), 11:11.
Shots on goal-Hampton Roads 15-10-8-33. Roanoke Valley 11-10-10-31.
Power-play opportunities-Hampton Roads 1 of 4. Roanoke Valley 0 of 6.
Goalies-Hampton Roads, Kolzig (31 shots-28 saves). Roanoke Valley, Horn (33-29).
A-1,878.
by CNB