THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 14, 1995 TAG: 9501140329
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
The Hampton Roads Admirals saw the longest winning streak in franchise history end at eight Friday, and had nobody to blame but themselves.
The Admirals set up every Charlotte goal with poor passing or poor decisions or poor effort and fell to the Checkers, 4-3, before a sellout crowd of 8,990 at Scope.
The victory allowed Charlotte (22-12-4) to hold onto second place in the East Division with 48 points. Hampton Roads (21-12-3), which entered the night with a chance of tying Richmond for first, remains in third with 45 points.
The Admirals play tonight at Roanoke, which is fourth with 44 points.
Admirals coach John Brophy tried to be charitable in defeat. ``Charlotte played hard and deserved to win,'' he said of a team playing without its leading scorer, Darryl Noren, who was sidelined with a knee injury.
But he wasn't quite so charitable to his own team.
``When you get a streak going, you think you're 10-feet tall and bullet proof,'' he said. ``We played four goals in the net by people who are not supposed to make those kinds of mistakes.''
Added team captain Dennis McEwen: ``If we work hard tonight, we win that game. We didn't work hard, and ended up shoveling goals in our own net.''
The Admirals had won eight in a row dating back to an 8-0 victory over Charlotte on Dec. 23. But this was a far different Charlotte team than the disinterested bunch that came to Scope that night.
``It was the day before Christmas Eve, on the road,'' defenseman Ron Pascucci said. ``Once they got down a couple of goals they just packed it in and we rolled over them.
``That wasn't as good as that team is. Tonight they came to play.''
The Checkers won despite being outshot, 30-22, in part because of goaltender Rob Tallas, who held off 14 shots in the first period, including many from point-blank range.
Things went sour for the Admirals in that first period. The Checkers scored twice early, including once on an Admirals' power play. Matt Robbins scored first at 8:25 after blocking a shot by Admirals' defenseman Chris Phelps, knocking it beyond the blueline, then hustling down the ice for a breakaway goal.
Robbins set up the second goal by picking off an Admirals pass and centering to teammate Sergei Berdnikov, who scored on a short wrister at 17:49.
The Admirals finally scored at 11:26 of the second period when McEwen slapped in a short shot to make it to 2-1. But the Checkers forged ahead, 3-1, when Eric Fenton, a former Admiral, scored on another breakaway at 15:27.
Matt Mallgrave and Rod Taylor both scored in the third period, with Taylor's coming after Brophy pulled goaltender Patrick LaLime at 17:30.
But again the Admirals were done in by their own mistakes. Admirals defenseman Rob MacInnis sent an errant pass that was intercepted by Fenton, resulting in a 3-on-1 break. Daniel Ruoho then put in the game winner at 13:37 off a pass from Travis Tucker.
Trailing, 4-3, Brophy pulled LaLime again with a minute left and the Admirals nearly pulled even, as two shots narrowly missed. But the game ended with the Checkers knocking the puck into the Hampton Roads end.
Fenton, who quit the team last season in a bitter dispute with Brophy, skated off the ice playing an imaginary violin to the Admirals' fans.
The Admirals' third-period rally was bogged down by four Admirals' penalties that led to four Charlotte power plays.
``It's hard to come back when you're killing penalties,'' McEwen said.
Despite surrendering four goals, Admirals goalie Patrick LaLime was not at fault, Brophy said.
``There was nothing LaLime could do about it,'' he said. ``It's pretty tough when the other team is coming down three-on-two or three-on-none.
``And the worst thing we do is for one of our guys to have the puck and pass it back to them and they score.''
Brophy said he knew what was coming on Thursday, when he said the Admirals practiced ``like we were zombies. The way we practiced, we might as well have gone farming.
``The streak is over. The important thing is to win at Roanoke tomorrow. We've got to win that one. Losing a game is one thing, but the last thing we want to do is start a losing streak.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Lawrence Jackson, Staff
Admirals' Kelly Sorensen, left is checked into the boards by Trravis
Tucker of the Charlotte Checkers duringg the early going Friday
night before a sellout crowd at Scope
by CNB