THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 1, 1995 TAG: 9501010221
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
The Hampton Roads Admirals gave a crowd of 7,301 much to celebrate on New Year's Eve by rallying from a two-goal deficit to top the Raleigh IceCaps, 4-2, Saturday at Scope.
The victory closed out a most successful December for the Admirals, who were 10-2-1 during the month and have won five in a row.
Coach John Brophy, who came attired in a tuxedo, was ecstatic with his team's play in December.
``You can't get much better than that, except to win them all,'' he said. ``We're 10-3-3 at home. I don't know if we've ever had a better start than that.
``We're .500 on the road, and at one time we were 1-6. We got eight points (by winning all four games) this week.
``Who knows? The way we're playing, we might not ever lose again.''
That didn't appear to be the case in the first period. Raleigh, though last in the East Division, temporarily kept the confetti and noisemakers at bay by taking a 2-0 lead in the game's first seven minutes.
Jamie Erb scored first at 4:07, and Scott MacNair followed three minutes later on a power-play goal. The IceCaps carried the 2-0 lead into the second period.
``We weren't focused in the first period,'' Admirals forward Matt Mallgrave said. ``Everyone was thinking about New Year's Eve parties and not about the game.
``Broph was very calm in the locker room. He just told us to get back to basics and go out and win the game.''
And that they did. Mallgrave took a long centering pass from Rob MacInnis and put in a backhanded wrist shot on a breakaway at 5:42 of the second period to cut the lead to 2-1.
Less than a minute later, Jim Brown scored on another breakaway. Brown faked right, getting goaltender Brad Mullahy to commit, and flipped a backhanded wrister over Mullahy's shoulder at 6:21.
Rick Kowalsky put in the game-winner at 5:08 of the third period by sailing a short shot in front of the net that bounced off Mullahy's glove.
The Admirals then dug in and played tough defense the rest of the way. The IceCaps managed just six third-period shots, and all were easily turned away by goaltender Patrick LaLime, who is unbeaten in his last five starts.
The IceCaps had one brief flurry of shots that began with 1:20 left, when Mullahy was pulled from the net. But Admirals defenseman Brian Goudie sent the puck nearly the length of the ice to score the Admirals' fourth goal at 19:08.
It was the first goal as an Admiral this season for Goudie, who spent a month with Portland in the AHL. Jason MacIntyre, who hadn't tallied a goal or an assist since Nov. 5 before scoring a goal Friday in Greensboro, had two assists. Dennis McEwen added two assists.
The Admirals will play Torpedo Yaroslavl, a touring Russian team, on Wednesday before hosting second-place Roanoke on Friday and first-place Richmond on Saturday.
``We had a good month, but it starts all over again next week,'' Brophy said. ``It's a long season.''
Added MacInnis: ``Teams go through a lot of changes during the season. Richmond was the best team at first. Lately, we've been the hottest thing.
``But it's not winning games now that wins championships. It's whoever is hottest in the playoffs. That's what we're striving to be, the hottest team at the end of the season.'' by CNB