THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 21, 1994 TAG: 9407210657
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
Friday night truly will be hockey night at Scope this winter.
The Hampton Roads Admirals released their 1994-95 East Coast Hockey League home schedule Wednesday and it includes a franchise-record 19 Friday night home dates.
The Admirals traditionally attract their largest and most vocal crowds on Friday nights.
``We're really, really thrilled,'' Admirals president Blake Cullen said of the schedule, which he called ``our best ever.''
``Friday night is such a tradition with our fans, and Scope has cleared Friday night for us,'' he added. ``If you come to Scope on almost any Friday, we'll be playing hockey.''
The home schedule opens Friday, Oct. 21, against Raleigh, includes a 6 p.m. New Year's Eve date with Raleigh and ends with a three-game stand against Roanoke (March 15), Richmond (March 17) and Charlotte (March 18).
The schedule is dominated by the Admirals' Eastern Division opponents because of an ECHL decision to reduce inter-divisional play. The change was made in part to reduce travel costs for a league that stretches from Florida nearly to the Canadian border.
Hampton Roads will face Eastern Division opponents in 28 of its 34 home games. Raleigh, Greensboro, Charlotte, Richmond and Roanoke are in the Eastern Division, along with Hampton Roads.
The Admirals also will play South Carolina, Knoxville, Erie, Wheeling, Johnstown and Dayton once each at Scope.
The Admirals played every league team at least twice last season. However, Tallahassee, Birmingham, Nashville and Toledo don't appear on the schedule this season.
Meanwhile, Raleigh and Greensboro will come to Scope four times each before New Year's Day.
``The new format means we'll be seeing a lot of the teams in our division,'' Cullen said. ``Time will tell whether the fans like the change or not.''
Cullen said he was disappointed that South Carolina, the Charleston-area team that led the league in attendance and developed a fierce rivalry with Hampton Roads in the playoffs last season, wasn't included in the Eastern Division. It is in the Southern Division with Birmingham, Nashville, Knoxville, Tallahassee and Huntington.
The Admirals do not play at South Carolina this season.
``It was much to their disappointment,'' Cullen said of the Stingrays. ``They wanted to play us. Any time you play someone in playoffs, it develops into something special.''
The league will add Columbia, S.C., and perhaps one more team in 1995-96.
``I hope then that we'll go to a two-division format and that South Carolina and Columbia will be in our division,'' Cullen said.
Regardless, Cullen says the timing of the Admirals' home schedule is nearly perfect. In addition to the 19 Friday games, the Admirals will play three times on Saturday, 11 games on Wednesday and once on Thursday.
In recent years the Admirals have played their weekday games on Tuesday nights, something Cullen says might have hurt attendance.
``It's too early in the week,'' he said. ``The feedback we've heard from our fans is that Wednesday night is better.''
NOTES: The Admirals haven't released their road schedule, but it opens on Tuesday, Oct. 18, at Roanoke and includes a 13-day, eight-game trip that begins in Roanoke and goes on to Huntington, Dayton, Wheeling, Johnstown (twice), Columbus and Erie in late February and early March. . . . The Admirals recently opened season-ticket sales to the general public and are expecting to surpass last season's total of 4,100 by the end of the summer. Single-game tickets for all games will go on sale Friday, Sept. 13. . . . League officials have yet to agree on a playoff format. Cullen, who is chairman of the league rules committee, hopes an agreement will be finalized next Wednesday, when the rules committee comes to Norfolk for a daylong meeting. ILLUSTRATION: Listing
HOME SCHEDULE
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