THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 24, 1995 TAG: 9502240676
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 40 lines
The Hampton Roads Admirals have lost starting goaltender Todd Hunter, perhaps for the season, and are scrambling to find a replacement for tonight's contest at Wheeling.
Hunter pulled a hamstring in the first period of a 6-0 loss at Dayton on Wednesday.
``We need a goaltender, a starting goaltender,'' assistant coach Al MacIsaac said.
And fast. League rules require every ECHL team to have two goaltenders on its roster. Shamus Gregga is the only goaltender on the Admirals' depleted staff.
The Admirals recently lost goaltenders Corwin Saurdiff (Kansas City) and Patrick LaLime (Cleveland) to IHL teams. LaLime, the starter in Cleveland, apparently is gone for good, but the Admirals are negotiating with Kansas City about Saurdiff.
``There's a chance he'll come back,'' MacIsaac said. ``How good that chance is, I don't know.''
Hampton Roads has four other players hobbling with injuries and recently lost All-ECHL forward Rick Kowalsky to Cornwall of the AHL.
Wheeling, meanwhile, has the league's best record (39-12-5), has lost only once at home and recently regained Vadim Slavchinko, the league's second-best scorer with 76 points, from the IHL.
Wheeling won at Scope, 4-3, in overtime two weeks ago in the only previous contest between the two teams. But the Admirals had Kowalsky and Hunter and played perhaps their best game of the season.
``Beating Wheeling at their best will be quite a challenge,'' MacIsaac said. ``We just don't have much depth right now. We're hurting.'' by CNB