Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 3, 1992 TAG: 9201030051
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RANDY KING SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
COACH HOPES REBELS HEAR WAKE-UP CALL
In hopes of waking up his slumbering hockey team, Roanoke Valley Rebels coach Roy Sommer has decided to crack the whip.Riled over the club's recent lackadaisical play, Sommer said Thursday that he will get tough.
"It's a new year and a new season. We've still got more than one-half our schedule [36 games] to prove something," said Sommer, speaking by telephone from his Ohio hotel room Thursday, before the Rebels took on the Columbus Chill. "If there's any guy who doesn't want to be a part of it, I'm going to move their rear end out of here."
Posteriors began to move Wednesday, before the club left Vinton for three games in Ohio.
Sommer traded goaltender Mike Mudd to Raleigh for future considerations and picked up two new goalies: Ray Letourneau and Dan Bouchard.
Letourneau, who played two games for the Rebels in late November, has been returned by the Hershey (Pa.) Bears of the American Hockey League. Bouchard, who was the final cut in Columbus' preseason camp, was picked up to replace injury-riddled Mike James (hip flexor), who has been put on the club's two-week injured reserve list for the third time.
Other new additions in Thursday's lineup were defenseman-forward Frank "The Animal" Bialowas and Czechoslovakian-born forward Ramon Trebaticky.
"I'm trying to shake things up," Sommer said. "I was really hot after the 7-6 loss in Greensboro [on New Year's Eve]. We scored six goals and Greensboro was there to be had.
"Then, on the way back on the bus, some of the guys acted like it was a big party. Well, I've got some news for them. I skated their guts out in practice on [New Year's] Day."
Roanoke Valley (11-14-3) trailed fifth-place Knoxville (12-18-4) by three points entering Thursday's game. The Rebels' lead on seventh-place Raleigh (9-21-2) is down to five.
"We've been close in all these games [three straight road losses], but close doesn't get you a damn thing," said Sommer, whose club is 3-8-2 on the road. "Knoxville and Raleigh both have started to win. We've got to start making some hay to stay in the race."
One of the three teams will suffer the indignity of being the only club in the seven-team East Coast Hockey League's Eastern Division not to make the playoffs.
\ Trebaticky, who had a goal and an assist Tuesday in Greensboro, is with the club on a short-term basis. Before Sommer called him, Trebaticky already had made plans to return to Europe to play.
"I expect to have him for only a couple of games," said Sommer, short at forward because Ron Jones has been out since Saturday with foot and hand injuries.
\ Players are not the only ones coming and going in Vinton. Sommer said Thursday that he has fired team trainer Tim Lennon for insubordination.
"I'm the trainer now," said Sommer, who indicated he expects to hire an assistant trainer from the AHL in the next week.
\ Peter Kasowski still is looking for his first International Hockey League goal.
Kasowski, sent up from the Rebels to Salt Lake City on Dec. 17, has two assists in four games with the Golden Eagles.
"The fact Peter hasn't scored is not a real reflection on him," said Salt Lake City publicist Mark Kelly. "He has played pretty well, but the whole team is struggling right now scoring goals. He has shown the skating ability to play in this league."
Despite missing the past six games, Kasowski's 51 points paced the Rebels through Wednesday.
\ The Greensboro Monarchs will open the 1992-93 season with the longest road trip in league history.
Because of an expansion project on the Greensboro Coliseum, Monarchs officials have been told the building won't be available for hockey until mid-December, seven weeks into the season.
Monarchs officials say the most likely solution will be to play home games in nearby Winston-Salem. A game or two also could be played in Raleigh or Charlotte, which will field a team in '92-93.
\ ICE CHIPS: Red-hot Toledo's league-high 10-game winning streak was chilled 3-2 in Columbus on Saturday. . . . Hampton Roads finally broke its Saturday jinx last week, winning 4-2 at Raleigh. It was the Admirals' first win in eight Saturday games. . . . No wonder goalie Dean Anderson doesn't like to remove his mask in Knoxville these days. Anderson, a first-team all-star last season with a 23-5 record and 2.95 goals-against average, is 1-8-1 with a 6.26 GAA this season. . . . ESPN's Tom Mees continues to moonlight in the ECHL. Mees called the Admirals' Saturday telecast in Raleigh on Norfolk station WVEC.
Memo: a shorter version ran in the Metro edition.