THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 3, 1995 TAG: 9503030261
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: JOHNSTOWN, PA. LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
A long, frustrating road trip ended on an upbeat note for the Hampton Roads Admirals Thursday when they rallied to beat the Johnstown Chiefs, 2-1, at Cambria County Memorial Coliseum.
After 13 days on the road, in which the Admirals were 3-4-1, Hampton Roads returns to Scope tonight against the Raleigh IceCaps.
``It will be good to get home,'' said Admirals coach John Brophy, who added that his team isn't out of the East Division championship race in spite of its slump since the all-star break.
Hampton Roads has won only six of its last 18 games, but with 68 points is fourth in the East, a point behind Charlotte, four behind Roanoke and eight behind first-place Richmond, all of whom have also slumped lately. Of nine games left on the Hampton Roads schedule, seven come against those three teams.
``We can still move up,'' he said. ``Richmond hasn't wrapped anything up yet. We need to beat Raleigh and get on a roll.''
It took some improvising for the Admirals to get on a roll Thursday. Injuries and call-ups have reduced the Admirals to 14 players, including seven defensemen and only two centers. Brophy attempted to compensate for the unbalanced lineup by moving defenseman Rob MacInnis to second-line center and sending Jason MacIntyre from forward back to his natural position on defense.
``MacInnis is one of our best guys at handling the puck, and MacIntyre is great at knocking people around on defense,'' Brophy said.
The change seemed to work, as MacIntyre indeed knocked people around, and MacInnis forechecked and passed well at his adopted position.
The Admirals played with more defensive intensity than they did in a 6-2 loss Wednesday at Erie, the ECHL's worst team, in which they surrendered five goals in less than 12 minutes.
The Chiefs' only goal - a Rod Hinks shot at 9:16 of the first period - came after an intercepted pass. Generally, the Chiefs were limited to low-percentage shots, which goaltender Shamus Gregga swatted away.
Hampton Roads tied the score at 10:41 of the second period when Trevor Halverson passed to Tom Menicci, who slapped the puck into the net as he was diving into the ice. Brendan Curley picked up an assist, his fifth in three games.
Johnstown's Jason Brousseau helped the Admirals score the game-winner when he skated into the crease and elbowed Gregga, sending him sprawling to the ice. Brousseau's two-minute interference penalty at :48 of the third period gave the Admirals their only power play.
Kelly Sorensen then scored in the final seconds of the power play when he flipped the rebound of a Chris Phelps shot past goaltender Aaron Israel.
Rather than sit on their lead, the Admirals continued to pound Israel with shots - 17 in the third period - and in the final minute had two chances to salt the victory away with empty net shots.
MacInnis's slap shot from about 30 feet hit the goal post at 19:05. Rod Taylor's breakaway slap shot from 15 feet hit the same goal post at 19:50.
``I should have walked that one in,'' Taylor said with a smile.
Brophy also was smiling after a road trip that included a 3-2 victory over Wheeling, the league's best team, the loss to Erie, a three-game suspension for himself and Halverson and Ron Majic, and the losses of All-ECHL forward John Porco (called up by St. John), forward George Zajankala (injury) and goaltender Todd Hunter (injury).
``We needed to win tonight in the worst way,'' he said. ``It wasn't a good road trip, but going 3-4-1, one point short of .500, isn't bad either.'' by CNB