THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 29, 1994 TAG: 9412290560
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 108 lines
Hampton Roads coach John Brophy saw it coming.
``It'll be bad,'' he said minutes before the Admirals and the Greensboro Monarchs faced off Wednesday night at Scope. ``They'll come in here wanting to fight. I can feel it.''
On this night, Brophy was a soothsayer.
Just 33 seconds into the first period, Jeremy Stevenson dropped his gloves and took off after Admirals forward Kelly Sorensen during a break in play.
Sorensen dropped his gloves and pounded Stevenson into the ice in what appeared to be a continuation of a fight from last week in Greensboro. Both were ejected.
By the midpoint of the second period, eight players had been ejected, three major fights had occurred, and a pool of blood had frozen at center ice.
The Admirals won the game, 6-2, but on this night the score seemed almost secondary. The Monarchs came out slugging, and the Admirals were determined to show they wouldn't be intimidated.
``One of the reasons we're winning is that we're all standing up for each other,'' Sorensen said. ``That's the way it was last year. Teams were afraid to come into our barn, but they were also afraid when we came into their barn.
``That wasn't the case when this season began. Teams were slashing us, running into our goaltender, and nothing was happening. Now, teams are starting to respect us again.''
The victory, the seventh in eight games for Hampton Roads, moved the Admirals to 16-11-3, within a point of third-place Charlotte.
The teams combined for 236 penalty minutes - 128 for Greensboro and 108 for Hampton Roads - and Brophy clearly put the blame on the Monarchs for the fisticuffs.
``Did they come in here to play hockey? Do you think they did?'' Brophy said. ``I don't know what they're trying to prove, they never beat us doing that, they never beat us that way.''
Added right wing Rick Kowalsky, who scored two goals and had an assist: ``I don't know what the coach said to the team after the first period, but it got to be ridiculous in the second period.
``Everyone saw what happened. It was total bush league. No other word for it. It was a circus. It's a shame. It's not good for hockey.''
Greensboro coach Jeff Brubaker pleaded innocence: ``It was a rough one. I don't know what else you can say.''
When told the Admirals blamed him and his team for the fights, he winced.
``I had no idea this was going to happen,'' he said. ``I don't really care what they say. Let them run their mouths all they want. So what. Big deal. They're pretty good at running their mouths.''
The fisticuffs didn't begin en masse until the second period and appeared to be sparked by an old nemesis of Hampton Roads - Phil Berger.
Berger departed at 3:56 of the second period after agreeing to disagree with referee Steve LeMay after he was assessed a five-minute major for kicking Admirals defenseman Ron Pascucci.
``Berger was just trying to get up,'' Brubaker said. ``The referee did a ridiculous job. That's where the referee lost control.''
So did Berger. Fans hooted and booed and the Admirals tapped their sticks on the ice as Berger was led to the penalty box.
He never made it. Instead, after being informed he had been ejected, he chased after LeMay. As he was being restrained by an linesman, he took off a glove and threw it at LeMay.
Two minutes later, with the Admirals holding a 2-1 lead, a melee ensued involving five players. Greensboro's Howie Rosenblatt and Colin Foley were ejected, as were Brian Goudie and Rob MacInnis of the Admirals. However, the weight of the penalties fell on Greensboro, and the Admirals were given two power plays.
The Admirals profited quickly. With his team enjoying a two-man advantage, Brendan Curley scored at 7:19 to make it 3-1. Another power-play goal by Kowalsky at 13:32 made it 4-1.
Meanwhile, the fighting didn't let up. Ron Majic and Jeff Gabriel were ejected at 6:22 for fighting.
Majic apparently was headed for a game misconduct and was being led away by a linesman after punching Greensboro's Dean Zayonce - who had a hand in starting the earlier fight and was not penalized - when Gabriel came up behind him and slapped him with his stick.
A short fight ensued in which Majic, regarded as the ECHL's most skilled puncher, pummeled Gabriel.
The period ended with Greensboro's Doug Evans smashing a puck in the direction of the Admirals' bench. He was assessed an unsportmanlike-conduct penalty.
Greensboro closed the margin to 4-2 on Glenn Stewart's wrist shot at 3:00 of the third period, but the Admirals won going away, with Kowalsky and Rod Taylor punching in goals to make it 6-2.
Saddled with 23 penalties to just 14 for the Admirals, the Monarchs gave up 13 power-play opportunities. The Admirals gave up just two.
``That was the story of the game,'' Brubaker said. ``Give a team 13 power plays and they're going to beat you.''
The Admirals scored four power-play goals and added a shorthanded score. Defenseman Chris Phelps had his best offensive game of the season, with two goals and two assists.
At game's end, players from both teams pushed and shoved briefly, perhaps foreshadowing more to come Friday, when the teams meet in the Greensboro Coliseum.
``If that's what they want, we'll approach it the same way we did tonight,'' Brophy said. ``We'll stand right in there with them.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MOTOYA NAKAMURA
Hampton Roads' Kelly Sorensen and Greensboro's Jeremy Stevenson set
the tone early with this clash.
by CNB