Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 16, 1993 TAG: 9303160044
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
RAMPAGE SEASON MAY END TONIGHT
The Roanoke Valley Rampage's 1993-94 East Coast Hockey League Misery Tour will end tonight.With any luck.
Despite no uniforms, helmets, pads, sticks - all of its equipment was still buried Monday in the rubbish left from the roof collapse at the Vinton LancerLot - and only nine skaters, the Rampage hopes to make it to Norfolk today without further incident and terminate its ill-fated season against the Hampton Roads Admirals.
The game originally was scheduled for Sunday but had to be postponed when the Rampage's bus line out of Lynchburg was not operating because of the blizzard. The Admirals expected the Rampage at Scope on Monday, but Roanoke Valley elected not to make the trip because it had no equipment.
"There was absolutely no way we could have gone to Hampton [on Monday]," Rampage owner Larry Revo said. "All our equipment was still stuck in the mess at the building."
Revo phoned Admirals owner Blake Cullen at 2 p.m. Monday to inform him the Rampage was not making the trip. The news made Cullen go on his own Rampage.
"It is beyond my concept that [Roanoke Valley] couldn't make it here to play this game," Cullen said. "They knew they were supposed to be here Sunday. Now it's Monday afternoon and they still haven't left Roanoke.
"We understand they've had a blizzard. I've talked to people who've told me that once you're out of Roanoke, it's clear sailing all the way here. If their bus line isn't running, they could have gotten a couple of vans and made the trip.
"I'd call it a forfeit but the league will not allow that. No matter what happens, they've got to stop all this `maybe, maybe, maybe' stuff and get down here and play this game. They said Sunday they'd try to make it Monday."
Cullen said it would cost him approximately $50,000 if the Rampage fails to show again tonight since the Admirals would have to refund some 8,000 tickets already sold for the season finale.
"This is devastating and puts me under," Cullen said. "What can we say? We'll be here. I can't force [Revo] to come. But now we have egg on our face again. This is the worst thing I've been through in this league."
Monday afternoon outside the twisted, mangled metal that used to be their home rink, Rampage coach Steve Gatzos and several players were thinking about anything but playing another hockey game.
"For us, obviously the game means nothing," Gatzos said. "It's an away game, a 5 1/2-hour trip with nine skaters and no equipment. It just seems a little ridiculous to me, but I understand on Hampton's end it means a lot of money to them. They draw big crowds and I'm sure they're going to make quite a bit of money off the game.
"It's unfortunate it's the last game of the season and on the road like that, and under these circumstances, it's asking an awful lot of our guys.
"It's going to be extremely difficult using borrowed equipment. How's it going to be when we can't even change lines? There isn't enough guys to go back out and change lines. With all the injuries we have now, there's nothing we can do.
"We're going to need everything, from underwear on. And if they want to loan us a player or two, that will be fine, too."
Chances are, if the Rampage makes it to Norfolk, it won't be pretty. Roanoke Valley (14-47-1) was drubbed 13-3 on its last visit to Scope on Jan. 22. The steamed Admirals figure to be in a run-up-the-score mood.
"This whole deal is a joke," Admirals coach John Brophy said. "They [the Rampage] are a joke anyway. They don't belong in this league."
The game is important to Hampton Roads in the ECHL's final playoff seedings. The Admirals (36-21-6) need a win to secure second place in the Eastern Division ahead of Raleigh (36-22-5), which was scheduled to finish its season Monday night against Louisville.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the ECHL office said Monday that Saturday's game between Richmond and Roanoke Valley at the LancerLot, which was suspended with Richmond leading 6-2 has yet to be termed official. The game was stopped with 6:03 left in the second period when emergency crews ordered the building evacuated.
"It's not official yet, but it's going to have to be," Gatzos said. "What are we going to do? Play here and dodge all the girders down on the ice?"
\ ICE CHIPS: Revo, whose future plans for the franchise have been overshadowed by the roof collapse the past couple days, confirmed Monday that he has talked with Tom Ebright, owner of the American Hockey League's Baltimore Skipjacks. Ebright is interested in buying either the Rampage or Knoxville Cherokees and moving them to Baltimore, where they would replace the Skipjacks, who are moving to Portland, Me., for the 1993-94 AHL season. "We've talked, but nothing serious," Revo said. . . . No wonder Cullen is wondering why the Rampage can't make the trip to Norfolk. The Admirals' bus was involved in a head-on collision with a pickup truck on the way from Wheeling, W.Va., to Pittsburgh 10 days ago, but the team still flew to Raleigh, N.C., for a game the next night. After the wreck that left the pickup truck demolished, the Admirals' bus limped into a truck stop, where the team caught a ride to Pittsburgh in the trailer of an 18-wheeler. The truck driver, who was paid $200 for his effort, dropped off his hitch-hikers in front of the Pittsburgh Airport Marriott. "You should have seen the looks we got," goalie Nick Vitucci said. "Here's a hockey team getting off the back of a dirty, grimy, 18-wheeler in the middle of the night and walking into one of the finest hotels in Pittsburgh."