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

DATE: TUESDAY, March 21, 1995                   TAG: 9503210144
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE, N.C.                                LENGTH: Medium

ECHL KEEPS GROWING, AS DOES FEUD AMONG OWNERS

During a 6 1/2-hour owners' meeting, the ECHL approved the move of the dormant Louisville IceHawks franchise to Jacksonville, Fla., and awarded clubs to a new ownership group in Louisville and to Lafayette, La.

The meetings also produced an intraleague feud, as several owners accused the Greensboro Monarchs of trying to persuade other teams from the ECHL's East Division to join the American Hockey League next season.

Greensboro and Charlotte have applied for membership in the AHL. Roanoke, Hampton Roads, Richmond, Raleigh and South Carolina have made inquiries to the AHL, but have not applied for admission.

``Some seem to think that Greensboro is the focal point for all this,'' said Howard Williams, a member of Greensboro's ownership group. ``That is untrue. We have made an application [to the the AHL], but that is all. We have not withdrawn from the East Coast Hockey League. We are not trying to harm the league in any way.''

At least one owner disputed that claim.

``Greensboro is trying to kill this league,'' said John Gagnon, the Roanoke Express' president. ``I don't care if they do go to the AHL. They can go by themselves.''

Blake Cullen, the Hampton Roads Admirals' owner, informed other owners he would not make any announcement regarding his team's future until after the playoffs. The city of Norfolk is beginning to exert pressure on Cullen to move the team to the AHL.

Even if the ECHL loses teams to the AHL next season, there is no shortage of prospective members.

The new clubs in Jacksonville, Louisville and Lafayette will join the league next season, along with Mobile, Ala., which was awarded an expansion franchise in January.

Lafayette becomes the first ECHL team west of the Mississippi River. Next season, the league's boundaries will extend north to the shores of Lake Erie (Toledo, Erie), south to the Gulf of Mexico (Mobile), east to the Atlantic (Hampton Roads) and west to Lafayette.

Unless some teams follow through on efforts to join the AHL, the ECHL will have 22 teams next season. The league may be divided into two 11-team conferences with two divisions in each conference. Most likely, there would be no interconference play.

``The league is so big now, there's no way you can play everybody,'' said Pat Kelly, the ECHL's commissioner. ``To travel these kinds of distances to play a game would be unfair to players.''

The owners turned down three other potential expansion sites - Pensacola, Fla.; Columbia, S.C.; and Evansville, Ind. - but said they might reconsider during the league meetings in May.

Asked whether the tenor of that meeting would be similar to Monday's contentious talks, Kelly shrugged.

``We have that kind of thing in every meeting,'' he said. ``We're all partners. When the dust clears, we shake hands and leave [as] friends. We battle in the meetings, [and] we battle on the ice.''