RAMPAGE COACH PUT HIMSELF IN STRANGE POSITION

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 5, 1993                   TAG: 9303050009
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
RAMPAGE COACH PUT HIMSELF IN STRANGE POSITION
The Roanoke Valley Rampage's bizarre season blew a great chance to turn even more so this week.
Question: What would have happened if another East Coast Hockey League team had opted to pick up Rampage coach Steve Gatzos on waivers this week?
Don't laugh. It could have happened.
After his one-game sojourn on skates sparked Roanoke Valley to a 6-5 win in Johnstown, Pa., on Saturday, Gatzos was forced Sunday to waive himself in order to reopen a roster spot and comply with league rules.
"What if I get picked up by another team? Do I have to go play for them or do I stay here and coach?" Gatzos wondered with a laugh.
"Hey, I might still make the playoffs this season."
If Gatzos had been claimed by another club, of course he could have elected not to report.
Rampage trainer Mark Jones, listening to Gatzos joke about his possible options, said he could have stepped in behind the Roanoke Valley bench for the season's final two weeks.
"I'm 1-0 lifetime in this league," said Jones, who served as bench coach while Gatzos played in Johnstown. "Anybody else in this league got a perfect lifetime winning percentage? Therefore, I retire. I'm done as a coach."
\ HE TRIED TO TELL US EARLY: Rampage owner Larry Revo has been accused of a lot of things this season, but he can't be blamed for failing to tip off the Roanoke Valley fans early on his plans. The cover of the club's souvenir program says: "On the Move - The Roanoke Valley Rampage."
\ FITTING PERHAPS? The Roanoke Times & World-News, sponsor of last Sunday's home game, published a free advertisement and discount coupon in Sunday morning's edition. The ad, placed at random in the paper according to RT&WN community services manager Nancy Hughes, wound up on Page C3, underneath the area obituaries.
\ KNOXVILLE SITUATION: A league source said Thursday that it appears "99 percent certain" that the Knoxville Cherokees will not relocate for the 1993-94 season. The source said owner John Staley may sell the club, but if so, it would remain in Knoxville for at least one more season.
That had to be music to Revo's ears. An 11th-hour bid by Staley to move his club to the Von Braun Civic Center could interfere with the expected Revo-Huntsville marriage because the league gave Staley first dibs on Huntsville.
\ ECHL LAW: The league suddenly has become a financial oasis for the legal aid society. Lawyers around the league continued to work overtime this week on various lawsuits being filed.
A lawsuit filed by a Greensboro fan against former Roanoke Valley Rebel defenseman Frank "The Animal" Bialowas was settled out of court this week for a reported $500. The fan alleged Bialowas, now with the Richmond Renegades, attacked him in the Greensboro Coliseum stands last March 25 during Game 4 of the Rebels-Monarchs playoff series.
Meanwhile, a $1 million suit filed by Renegades owner Allan Harvie Jr. against the league and Commissioner Pat Kelly is still on hold. The league has seven days to respond to the suit, which claims an earlier $10,000 fine levied against the Renegades for breaking roster rules was the result of "a series of hostile, discriminatory . . . and bad-faith actions" directed at the club by Kelly.
\ ROWDY COACHES: The rap sheets of John Brophy and Nick Fotiu got longer last week.
Brophy, the volatile Hampton Roads coach, reportedly exchanged punches with Louisville assistant coach Mitch Wilson over the glass separating the teams' benches at the Broadbent Arena. Brophy already was on probation from the league.
Fotiu, the Nashville coach already on probation for a postgame fistfight with Richmond coach Roy Sommer earlier this season, now faces a fine and/or suspension for charging referee Kevin Hall and nearly inciting a riot after a game last Saturday in the Music City.
\ ICE CHIPS: The Rampage faces Johnstown tonight at the LancerLot. The Chiefs will be out to avenge last Saturday's home loss to Roanoke Valley, which ended the Rampage's ECHL-record road losing streak at 26 games. . . . Because Sunday's home game with Greensboro has been moved to Winston-Salem, the Rampage has only two more LancerLot dates after tonight - Birmingham next Thursday and Richmond on March 13. . . . Former Roanoke Valley goalie Bill Horn was involved in an ECHL history-making game last Saturday. In the first 1-0 overtime shootout game ever played in the fifth-year league, Horn and Greensboro bested Francis Ouellette and Wheeling. It was Horn's league-high third shutout of the season.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB