Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 9, 1994 TAG: 9402090066
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The 6-year-old league took another public relations hit Saturday night when three Huntsville players climbed out of the penalty box and went into the stands after taunting fans midway through the third period of the Blast's 4-3 overtime loss to the Monarchs at the Greensboro Coliseum.
The three Huntsville players - Chris Belanger, Kurt Walsten and Pat Cavanaugh - eventually were swarmed by a mob of police officers and coliseum security staffers and pulled from the stands. Neither the players nor the fans involved were injured.
ECHL Commissioner Pat Kelly refused to field phone calls concerning the incident Monday and Tuesday. Kelly was scheduled to announce any fines or suspensions Tuesday, but as of 5 p.m., no announcements had come from the league office in Charlotte, N.C.
A spokesman for the Greensboro Police Department said Tuesday no charges had been filed.
A videotape provided by a High Point, N.C., television station aired nationally on ESPN's "SportsCenter" Monday night. The video shows the trio, led by Cavanaugh, climbing into the stands at the rear of the visitors' penalty box. Few punches were thrown, and none appeared to connect, but one unidentified fan can be seen placing his hand on Cavanaugh's helmet and shoving him backward as the player wrestled with a police officer.
The video shows another Huntsville player swinging his stick over the Plexiglas and losing it in a futile effort to hit the fan. Another Blast player leaves the ice and tries to climb the Plexiglas, but the glass section breaks when a game official pulls him back toward the ice. The melee then ends as the players are yanked from the stands.
Monarchs owner Morris Jeffreys said the melee was triggered when Belanger started to jaw with fans while in the penalty box.
"From all indications," Jeffreys said, "their player started the whole ruckus."
Blast coach Vic Posa blamed the incident on the coliseum's failure to install Plexiglas behind the visitors' penalty box.
"You've got to have something to separate the player in the box and the fans," Posa said Tuesday from Norfolk, where his club played Hampton Roads.
When asked about the incident Tuesday, Roanoke coach Frank Anzalone confessed it's not good for the ECHL, especially coming on the heels of the much-publicized Jan. 7 brawl in Norfolk between Greensboro and Hampton Roads.
"It's going to hurt us in recruiting players," Anzalone said. "It gives the other minor leagues something to say, and it gives us nothing to say. There's a lot of negative stuff going on about our league right now."
\ LIMBO LEV: Anzalone said Tuesday he has his fingers crossed that leading goal-scorer Lev Berdichevsky will be returned by Adirondack of the American Hockey League on Thursday. Roanoke loaned the Russian forward to Adirondack on Saturday.
"Noel Brown [Red Wings coach] told me today that he he'd use Lev [tonight] and that he thought he'd send him back on Thursday," Anzalone said. "But he told me on Saturday that Lev would be back Monday, and he wasn't here."
Berdichevsky, whose 39 goals lead the Express and rank third in the ECHL, had a goal and an assist in his AHL debut on Saturday. Berdichevsky didn't play Sunday when Adirondack visited Fredricton because he didn't have the proper papers to cross the U.S.-Canadian border.
"Lev didn't play Sunday, and we could have used him," Anzalone said. "All I told Brown was, `If you want Lev, sign him and take care of him. If you don't, send him back.' I've got to know something soon because after next week [Feb. 15] you can't trade anymore in this league. The only players you can add after next week are players sent down from affiliates and those on the waiver wire. If Lev stays [at Adirondack], it will be almost impossible to get a player at this point anywhere near his ability."
\ ICE CHIPS: Anzalone said it's a "40-60" chance that left wing-captain Dave "Moose" Morissette will be activated in time for this weekend's home twin bill with Raleigh on Friday and Louisville on Saturday. Morissette has been out since undergoing knee surgery on Jan. 7. . . . Anzalone said that center Roger Larche, who underwent knee surgery Jan. 19, likely will return next week. . . . Anzalone was furious Tuesday after the Express' afternoon practice session at the Roanoke Civic Center was cut short. The reason? The ice couldn't be shaved because the civic center Zamboni driver didn't show up. . . . The Express (27-21-2), which entered Tuesday with a one-point lead on Charlotte and South Carolina for fourth place in the hotly contested ECHL East, is 20-10-2 since Dec. 1. . . . The Express will top the 100,000 attendance mark Friday. Roanoke has drawn 99,356 through its first 23 home dates.
by CNB