THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 7, 1995 TAG: 9505070164
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
No longer can East Coast Hockey League officials claim with a straight face that the ECHL is a ``developmental league.'' Not after the Richmond Renegades won the ECHL title last week.
While most ECHL teams stocked their rosters with green youngsters, the Renegades built their foundation on three players with NHL experience.
Scott Gruhl, who is the career goals-scoring leader in the International Hockey League and also had several brief NHL stints, became the player/coach. Goaltender David Littman, who played briefly in the NHL, was signed late in the season and allowed just over two goals per game in the playoffs. And then there was 37-year-old Rod Langway, a former NHL All-Star defenseman, who after being injured in Norfolk toward the end of the season recovered and played a key leadership role for the Renegades.
Richmond fought its way to the Riley Cup finals, then spanked Greensboro, four games to one, to win its first cup.
More than 10,000 fans - a huge throng for a Monday night in a city where hockey had never been embraced with passion - screamed with joy as the Renegades circled the Richmond Coliseum ice Monday with the cup. Thousands sprayed the ice with Silly String. Gov. George Allen drank champagne from the cup with the players.
Perhaps Geritol might have been a more appropriate thirst-quencher, said a Greensboro official watching the celebration.
The ECHL has tried to portray itself as a developmental league for players just out of junior and college hockey. That's why each team is limited to three veterans.
But the Renegades weren't making any apologies for the age of their top players, or for their strategy of winning with a 30-something crowd.
``Players like Scott Gruhl and Rod Langway provided a lot of leadership,'' coach Roy Sommer said. ``We had a good blend of young players and veterans, whose experience really helped us in the playoffs.''
Regardless, it was the championship series from hell for the Hampton Roads Admirals. Greensboro, Hampton Roads' arch-enemy, vs. Richmond, the Admirals' second-most-hated rival.
Hampton Roads was 7-3-2 against Richmond and 7-4 against Greensboro. Yet Richmond overcame a late-season slump and, as the Admirals were crashing and burning in a first-round playoff matchup with Tallahassee, the Renegades caught fire.
And the benefits of winning the title don't end with a trophy.
``There were a lot of people here tonight who maybe never saw a hockey game here before,'' Renegades owner Harry Feuerstein said. ``After what they saw tonight, a lot will be back next season.
``We still don't have the fan base Blake Cullen has in Hampton Roads. But this was a big step forward.''
CULLEN KEEPING BUSY: It appears doubtful that Cullen, the Admirals' president, will sell the team. Though he won't rule out a sale if an offer is made, sources say he appears determined to keep the team for at least another year.
Cullen is proceeding with plans for next season, and met two weeks ago with other members of the rules committee, which he chairs. The league's spring meetings begin Tuesday in New Orleans and will last six days.
Because negotiations begin shortly with a new players' union, no one is saying what the league will do with its salary cap ($6,000 per week), veterans rule, and roster (18 players, 17 of whom can dress). But it seems likely the cap will rise or be abolished, the roster will grow and the number of veterans will increase.
AROUND THE ECHL: Greensboro officials are mum on their expected move to the American Hockey League. ``I don't know when we'll announce anything,'' media relations director Mark Mead said. But the team must tell the ECHL of its intentions by Tuesday. Few expect the Monarchs will stay. ``It's my impression they're going,'' ECHL commissioner Pat Kelly said. . . . Johnstown's new ownership group wasted little time in making changes, firing head coach Eddie Johnstone. Kelly is urging Johnstown to expand the 4,045-seat War Memorial Arena. by CNB