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

DATE: SUNDAY, March 19, 1995                   TAG: 9503210034
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

LEAGUE MUST DEAL WITH GROWING PAINS AFTER SEASON

Expansion, defection and union. Those three words best describe the changes the league will undergo next season.

The ECHL is wrapping up perhaps the most successful season in its seven-year history. Record attendance, tight divisional races and the growing popularity of hockey in the South have led to that success.

As a result, cities are lining up to enter the league. The ECHL will expand by as many as four teams next season, with each new team shelling out $1 million to join.

However, the ECHL's success is not coming without a price. The league's top four in home attendance are being courted by the American Hockey League. A players' union most likely will make its presence felt next season. Travel expenditures will rise as the league's geographic boundaries are extended from the Mid-Atlantic to the Southeast.

Some teams may raise ticket prices to deal with rising costs. Some teams may go under; Erie and Johnstown already are struggling with low attendance.

The only certainty is that change is on the way for all three of hockey's top minor leagues - the ECHL, AHL and International Hockey League. As one sportswriter recently put it, ``in minor-league hockey's civil war, the South is winning.''

But don't count out the union.

DEFECTION: Charlotte and Greensboro have made it official: They will join the AHL next season. The clubs presented the AHL with $55,000 checks as the first payment of a reported $1 million entry fee.

Three other clubs - Hampton Roads, Richmond and South Carolina - have not made their plans clear. All three have been invited to join the AHL, but all three have wavered. Pierre Paiement, the Roanoke Express' general manager, said last week that two of those clubs informed him they would be staying in the ECHL.

That may be true, but none of those clubs has announced anything, and the Norfolk business community is starting to pressure Hampton Roads to jump to the AHL. If the Admirals go, look for Richmond to follow.

The Express also is keeping its options open. John Gagnon, the club president, has made it clear to his fellow owners that Roanoke would be interested in moving to AHL if Hampton Roads and Richmond leave the ECHL, although life in the AHL may be too expensive for Roanoke and its fans. Raleigh, which will miss its rivalries with Charlotte and Greensboro, also wants to be included in the AHL talks.

EXPANSION: Much of the ECHL talk has centered around teams that might be leaving, but it should be noted that there is no shortage of cities wanting to join the league.

In addition to Mobile, Ala., which was awarded a franchise in January, the ECHL may add teams in Jacksonville, Fla.; Pensacola, Fla.; Columbia, S.C.; Greenville, S.C.; Louisville, Ky.; Biloxi, Miss.; and Lafayette, La.

UNION: On Friday, ECHL players voted on a proposal to allow the Professional Hockey Players Association to become the league's first players' union. Results of the balloting will not be released until next week, but there is little doubt the PHPA will receive the simple majority necessary to become the bargaining unit for ECHL players.

Some owners fear the presence of a union will sour relations between management and players and will cause player salaries to rise beyond the budgets of some clubs. In reality, there is little chance of any of that happening.

Most ECHL clubs are run by smart people. As John Gagnon, the Express' president, said: ``The only teams that will have trouble with the union are the teams that don't treat their players fairly. We treat our players fairly.''

AROUND THE ECHL: The name of the ECHL expansion club in Mobile, Ala., will be the Mobile Mysticks.

The name was chosen for a couple of reasons: First, the annual Mardi Gras festivals and parades of the Gulf Coast are filled with mystical, magical characters; second, Mobile's management added the ``K'' to create a play on words and hockey tie-in - ``My-sticks.'' ...

Greensboro and Charlotte each held a ``Turn Back the Clock Night'' when the teams played March 4 and 5. They were decked out in replica uniforms from the 1959 season - Greensboro wore the green uniforms of the Greensboro Generals, Charlotte sported blue replica jerseys of the '59 Checkers.