THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 8, 1995 TAG: 9501080237
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
Richmond had the ECHL's hottest team when the season began, but Hampton Roads made it abundantly clear Saturday that the mantle has passed down Interstate 64.
Playing before a boisterous sellout crowd of 8,990, the Admirals plastered the Renegades, 5-0, to set a club record with their seventh victory in a row.
The Admirals' 11th triumph in their last 12 games pulled Hampton Roads (20-11-3) into a third-place tie with idle Roanoke in the East Division and within three points of first place.
Richmond (20-9-5) dropped into second with 45 points. Charlotte, a 4-2 winner over Greensboro, is first with 46 points.
``And the beat goes on,'' Admirals coach John Brophy said in a jubilant Admirals locker room. ``We played a great game tonight, I tell ya. This was a very satisfying win. Our special teams did a great job tonight, didn't they?''
They did indeed. Hampton Roads scored three power-play goals in seven chances, shut Richmond down on its nine power plays and even had a shorthanded goal by John Porco, his fifth shorthanded score of the season.
Rookie goaltender Patrick LaLime recorded his second shutout and a club-record seventh victory in a row.
``LaLime has been playing well for a long time now, and the defense set things up for him,'' Brophy said. ``Rob MacInnis played great. All of our defensemen did, including Brian Goudie.''
For Richmond, a loser in four of its last five starts, it was the fourth loss in a row to a Hampton Roads team it defeated three times straight at the beginning of the season. Richmond was 13-0-3 at one point, the best start ever by an ECHL team, but has slumped thereafter.
``We're not playing well at all,'' Richmond coach Roy Sommer said, shaking his head. ``Not all of our guys came to play tonight.''
The Admirals took a 2-0 first-period lead on goals by Rick Kowalsky and Chris Phelps, then blew Richmond out in the third period on goals by Porco, Jim Brown and Brendan Curley.
Curley set up Porco's shorthanded goal when he stole the puck and passed it to Porco, who backhanded it past Renegades goalie Dwayne Derksen at 4:39.
As the Admirals poured it on, the Renegades lost their cool, and the result was 74 penalty minutes, six penalties for fighting and two 10-minute misconducts.
At one point Richmond's Mike Vandenberghe plowed into LaLime. Shortly thereafter, Admirals forward Ron Majic punched Vandenberghe to the ice. MacInnis and Richmond player/assistant Scott Gruhl exchanged harsh words at 19:04 and were escorted off the ice by linesmen.
The game ended with the crowd chanting ``64 West'' to the Renegades, whose route back to Richmond takes them 90 miles westward on I-64.
Porco said it's hard to recall how it felt six short weeks ago, when the Renegades were in first and the Admirals last in the East Division.
``We couldn't beat anyone at the beginning of the year, and we couldn't figure out why,'' he said. ``We knew we had talent. Deep down, we were all amazed that we were losing. We were right. The last 20 games, everyone has come to play every night. Now we're full of confidence.
``I don't know what was wrong at the beginning of the year, but now we're taking care of business.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Richmond's Darren Wethergill checks Hampton Roads' Rob MacInnis into
the boards.
by CNB