Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 21, 1995 TAG: 9510230098
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Before the season, some players had stated they would go on strike if the PHPA asked them to. Apparently, the players made these statements without talking to PHPA officials first.
``A strike hasn't been discussed,'' said Alan Hepple, the PHPA's director of player relations. ``That hasn't even entered our minds.''
Unlike the labor battles that rocked major-league baseball and the NBA in the past couple of years, the ECHL and PHPA negotiations have shied away from press coverage. Hepple thinks that is a good sign.
``We did not want the press to dictate how things would go,'' he said.
These are the first negotiations between the ECHL and the PHPA, which became the players' negotiating arm last spring.
Neither side has set a timetable to have an agreement in place.
``Things are going well,'' ECHL president Rick Adams said. ``The first time around, these things are complicated. Both sides need to move slowly so both sides can accomplish everything they need to accomplish.''
A lockout of players by the owners is not an option, a league source said, meaning that the season should be played to a conclusion whether or not an agreement is in place.
But, as Hepple said: ``In labor negotiations, you never know what's around the corner.''
HOT GOALIE: Former Express goalie Daniel Berthiaume was named the International Hockey League's goalie of the week Oct.2-8 when he posted two shutouts in his first three games with the Detroit Vipers. Berthiaume, who set an ECHL record with 13 straight victories last season, is 3-1 with a league-leading goals against average of 2.00. His .939 save percentage is second-best in the IHL.
AROUND THE ECHL: If opening weekend attendance totals are any indication, the ECHL may be on its way to another season of record attendance. Most teams attracted good crowds for their home openers, including the Express, which drew nearly 12,000 fans for its first two home games, nearly 1,000 more than it had for opening weekend last year.
The Tallahassee Tiger Sharks set an ECHL opening-night record when 10,109 fans turned out for the opener with Nashville on Oct.13. Also encouraging for the league was the sellout crowd of 8,343 in Mobile, Ala., that saw the expansion Mobile Mysticks make their ECHL debut. That was the third-highest opening-night crowd in league history.
With four new teams, the ECHL expects to draw nearly 4 million fans this season. ...
The expansion teams are having some early success on the ice, as well. The Louisville RiverFrogs started 2-0 by beating Erie and Dayton. ... The Louisiana IceGators play the latest home opener of any ECHL team (Nov.5), but the team is expecting a sellout crowd of 10,600 in the Cajun Dome - a total that would eclipse Tallahassee's first-night record crowd by nearly 500 fans. ...
The ECHL has two coaches named Barry Smith. The Erie Panthers moved Ron Hansis from coach to team president and promoted Smith, a Hansis assistant, to head coach. This Barry Smith is not the same guy as the Knoxville coach of the same name. ...
It wasn't a totally surprising move when Wheeling Thunderbirds general manager Larry Kish named himself as the team's coach, but some league insiders wondered if new player-assistant Ron Wilson would be handling the X's and O's. Wilson, a 39-year-old former NHL player, certainly will help, but Kish is a guy with 27 years of coaching experience at the professional and college levels, including a one-year stint as coach of the Hartford Whalers. He was also The Hockey News' minor-league coach of the year in 1982 with the Binghamton (N.Y.) Whalers of the AHL.
by CNB