THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 15, 1995 TAG: 9501150250
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROANOKE LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
It wasn't their most artistic performance this season, but for the Hampton Roads Admirals it was perhaps the most satisfying.
Trailing by three goals midway through the second period, the Admirals overcame injuries and a manpower shortage caused by two midgame suspensions to rally past the Roanoke Express, 6-5, before a bitterly disappointed crowd of 8,258, the second-largest ever to see a hockey game in Roanoke.
The Admirals (22-12-3) were without John Porco, their leading scorer, who was called up to San Diego of the IHL on Friday.
They were without forward Jason MacIntyre, sidelined with a knee injury.
And after the first period, they were without forwards Jim Brown and Colin Gregor. Coach John Brophy banished them to the locker room after they were tabbed with penalties.
The penalties, at 14:06 of the first period, gave the Express a 5-on-3 advantage and led to two Roanoke goals. Roanoke led, 4-1, at the end of the period, with only one of the Express goals coming with the teams at even strength.
Brophy blew a fuse between periods, in part because the Admirals had given up what he termed ``a lot of dumb penalties'' Friday in a 4-3 loss to Charlotte, one that broke an eight-game Hampton Roads winning streak.
``We had a meeting with the team,'' Brophy said. ``I told them we can't have penalties in the offensive zone and penalties at center ice.
``They (Brown and Gregor) know why it happened. I'm not going to say any more than that. I'm going to leave it with the team.''
Down to two lines, and thus outmanned at forward by a ratio of 3-2, the Admirals trailed by three, 5-2, midway through the second period and appeared all but out of contention.
But they dominated the rest of the way, getting unanswered goals from Brendan Curley, Dennis McEwen, Chris Phelps and Matt Mallgrave.
McEwen, skating with an injured knee that was misshapen from swelling, had two goals and, along with Curley and Rod Taylor (one goal, two assists), took only brief breaks in the final two periods.
``McEwen has a huge heart,'' Brophy said. ``You know he'll be out there as long as he can walk.
``This was a great win, a great comeback. We picked away, we didn't get excited, we didn't try to do it all at once. We got a couple of goals, and the closer we got to them, the more panicky they got.''
The Admirals got only one third-period power play, but they made the most of it, pounding goaltender John Bradley with three shots before Phelps slapped in a game-tying goal from just inside the blue line at 13:48.
A minute later, Mallgrave took a long pass from Rob MacInnis, outskated a Roanoke defenseman and pocketed the game-winner just over Bradley's right shoulder.
The Admirals then dug in to play defense, a task made more difficult by a penalty at 19:28 that effectively gave Roanoke a 6-on-4 advantage, since Bradley had been pulled from the net.
The game ended with defenseman Brian Goudie slapping away two shots, and knocking two Roanoke players to the ice, in the final seconds.
Seconds after the final buzzer, MacInnis took a blind-side punch from Roanoke's Ilya Dubkov that sent him to the ice and prompted a bench-clearing shoving match. The Admirals were showered with cups, ice, coins and spit as they skated to the locker room.
``This was a real character-builder, to be down 4-1 after losing the Charlotte the way we did,'' Goudie said. ``We gave the game away to Charlotte.''
But not Saturday.
``We dug our own hole,'' Brophy said. ``But damned if we didn't crawl right out of it.'' by CNB