Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, December 19, 1993 TAG: 9312190048
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Among the recent shenanigans:
After the Huntington Blizzard blew away its coach, firing Bob "Battleship" Kelly, the expansion franchise's players were so distraught they strongly considered a mutiny.
Blizzard captain Brad Harrison and alternate Doug Roberts met with team officials the day after Kelly's firing to discuss the possibility of a player walkout before the club's game on Dec. 10.
Blizzard president-general manager Bob Henry was so worried about a mutiny that he phoned the Roanoke Express office to inquire if the Roanoke club had any "extras" it could ship to Huntington on short notice.
ECHL Commissioner Pat Kelly put a stop to the walk talk, informing the players that such a move would terminate their careers in the league.
And Kelly? He skipped town with nary a word.
"Nobody likes this [firing]," said Bob Destocki, the 52-year-old Blizzard vice president-public relations director who has replaced Kelly.
Because of a rash of call-ups and injuries, the Greensboro Monarchs' lineup in last Sunday's 4-3 home loss to Toledo included a school teacher, a car salesman and a satellite dish installer.
Todd Gordon (wing-teacher), John Devereaux (center-car salesman) and Chris Wolanin (defenseman-dish man), all former Monarchs living in Greensboro, were summoned by coach Jeff Brubaker to help fill roster holes.
"We got a bunch of guys off the street and still almost won," Brubaker said.
The previous day in Greensboro, the Zamboni broke down before making one full lap around the ice. After a half-hour delay during which clouds of exhaust fumes began to take up residence, the entire Monarchs team was called on to push the machine off the ice. The two teams agreed to play the second period on badly grooved ice, switching sides after 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, a doctor was called to the game officials' dressing room to check referee Gord Buchanan, who was having heart palpitations. Buchanan checked out and returned to call the final two periods.
Hours before getting a call from Raleigh IceCaps coach Kurt Kleinendorst asking him to return to the team, forward Steve Mirabile had a close call.
Mirabile returned on the 4:43 train from Manhattan Dec. 7 after a stock-market job interview. Shortly afterward, five people were killed and 18 injured by the Long Island, N.Y., commuter train gunman. When the Rochester Institute of Technology graduate learned of the carnage that occurred on the 5:33, he decided it was an omen.
"It could have been me," Mirabile said. "I knew a lot of people on that train. Kurt's timing couldn't have been better. I told him I'd be down the next day."
Not by train, though.
\ EXPRESSIONS: Through its first 12 home dates, the Roanoke Express has drawn five 5,000-plus crowds compared with only two sub-3,000 gatherings. The Express, which already has drawn more spectators than last season's Roanoke Valley Rampage attracted in 32 dates, is averaging 4,044 through 12 home dates. Roanoke's average ranks 11th in the 19-team ECHL. . . . Roanoke is the only ECHL club yet to be involved in a shootout. . . . Roanoke has outshot its opponent in 17 of the first 23 games. . . . Roanoke has yet to blow a late lead. The Express is 7-0 when leading after two periods.
\ ICE CHIPS: Hampton Roads coach John Brophy says if Victor Gervais can't play at the next level, he isn't sure anyone in the ECHL can. "Best player in the league. Nobody's better," said Brophy of his center who was called up to Portland of the American Hockey League for a 25-game tryout on Dec. 10. . . . The rumors of all-time ECHL scoring leader Trevor Jobe returning to Nashville were well-founded until this week. Jobe's club in Austria has boosted his contract, thus ending the center's thoughts of returning to the ECHL. . . . It's been all or nothing for Ken Blum in Richmond. The former Roanoke Valley Rampage forward has six goals - two hat tricks in two games and no goals in 14 other games.
by CNB