THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 30, 1995 TAG: 9501300222
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
There was more than one blowout on Super Bowl Sunday.
The Hampton Roads Admirals, already shorthanded by injuries and call-ups, compounded their problems with ill-timed penalties and three game misconducts and were drubbed by the Richmond Renegades, 8-3, Sunday afternoon at the Richmond Coliseum.
The loss, which included a rare fight between goaltenders, ended Hampton Roads' five-game winning streak against Richmond, and dropped the Admirals (25-14-4) to 0-2-1 since last week's all-star break.
Richmond (27-13-5) leads the East Division with 59 points. Hampton Roads is third with 54.
The slump has coincided with the loss of five key players - three to injuries or sickness and two to call-ups - but the Admirals did much to add to their problems Sunday.
Coach John Brophy emphasized at the team's pregame meal that the Admirals could not afford ``dumb penalties.'' Yet, with just 1:27 gone, the Admirals had committed two penalties and were skating with a 5-on-3 disadvantage.
The Admirals gave up three power-play goals in the first period, fell behind, 6-1, midway through the second and never mounted anything resembling a rally, in part because there were barely enough players to go around.
The Admirals came to Richmond with 16 players, one below the ECHL limit, including Bob Jones, who was signed as a emergency backup goalie after Shamus Gregga was declared ineligible. Jones was forced to play the final 31:04 after a round of fights in the second period that included a bout at center ice between the goaltenders.
The trouble began shortly after Admirals defenseman Brian Goudie was escorted to the penalty box for knocking a Renegade into the Richmond goal. Things unraveled when Richmond's Jan Benda pushed Admirals center Jim Brown to the ice. Admirals forward Matt Mallgrave then jumped on Benda and a series of pushing and punching matches began.
Richmond goaltender Duane Derksen left the crease to join the fray, much to the delight of a Richmond Coliseum crowd of 4,388.
When Derksen crossed his own blue line, Admirals goaltender Corwin Saurdiff also raced to center ice and grabbed his counterpart.
The unpleasantries ended with Saurdiff and Derksen, neither of whom appear to have done much work on a punching bag, each ripping off the face mask of his counterpart and landing several glancing blows.
The Admirals lost Saurdiff and Rob MacInnis to game misconducts and Mallgrave for 10 minutes to a misconduct. Already gone was Ron Majic, who was thumbed in the first period. That left Brophy with 12 players for the rest of the period, including Jones.
Attired in his own pair of red baggy pants because the Admirals have none to fit him, Jones played remarkably well under the circumstances, stopping 15 of 17 shots and drawing several standing ovations from about 400 Admirals fans.
Brophy defended Saurdiff for going after Derksen, even though doing so meant certain ejection.
``What's he supposed to do? The guy had crossed the blue line. Corwin had to come out, and he handled himself well,'' Brophy said.
``Do you think that wasn't a setup (by Richmond)? You think they didn't know our situation at goalie, that we were shorthanded?''
Unlike losses Friday to Charlotte (in overtime) and Saturday at Raleigh, after which he criticized his team for not hustling, Brophy said the Admirals played hard.
``There was no shortage of effort,'' he said. ``Our guys worked hard. We just didn't put it in the right places.'' by CNB