THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 19, 1995 TAG: 9507190547
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
Two prominent investors in the Norfolk Tides baseball team tried unsuccessfully to purchase the Hampton Roads Admirals hockey team this summer.
Ken Young, president of the Tides, and Mark Garcea, a local businessman who is part owner of both the Tides and the Hampton Roads Mariners soccer team, made separate offers to purchase the Admirals from Blake Cullen.
``We made an offer to Blake,'' Garcea said. ``If he considers selling the team in the future, we'll make another bid. We'd love to own the Admirals.''
Neither Garcea nor Young would say how much they offered Cullen, who won't say how much he was offered. He had been seeking $3 million.
Two other groups from out of town also approached Cullen, including one that would have moved the team to the American Hockey League.
Young and Garcea said they would have kept the Admirals in the East Coast Hockey League.
``From everything I could gather, I would have stayed because I don't think the offer from the AHL was a very good one financially,'' Young said. ``And I think the fans are better off because ticket prices would have been inflated to pay for the higher costs in the AHL.
``I'm sure the hockey is better (in the AHL), but I'm not sure a whole lot of people would have noticed.''
Cullen, who has owned the Admirals since their inception six years ago, had not entertained offers to buy the team until last spring. He announced earlier this summer that he had rejected several offers, saying, when push came to shove, he didn't want to sell.
``When you start something from scratch like this and watch it grow, it's more than a business,'' he said. ``I'm just not ready to give it up.''
FINAL CURLEY SHUFFLE: Brendan Curley will put on an Admirals uniform one last time Sunday when he and several teammates host a series of roller hockey games in Virginia Beach for charity.
Curley, who was traded to Louisville on Monday in exchange for defenseman Brian Florio, has organized the 1995 Admirals Challenge. It will be a marathon of 11 roller hockey games that will start at noon and continue, Curley said, ``until we drop,'' in the parking lot of H2O restaurant at 1069 19th Street, near the Pavilion. The last game should end at 6 p.m.
Curley will be joined by Admirals Kelly Sorensen and Dennis McEwen, who live in Hampton Roads, and Tom Menicci and Ron Pascucci, who are driving from Boston for the event. Dayton enforcer Pat Cavanaugh, a former Admiral, also will play.
Media personalities scheduled to play for the Admirals include WAVY-TV's Bruce Rader and Chris Reckling, WTAR-AM sports director Jack Ankerson, and Les Wooten, Deej and Eric Worden, all disc jockeys at The Coast, 93.7-FM.
Teams are paying $150 apiece to play the Admirals; proceeds will benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association. That charity was selected because of Curley's close association with Justin Sokolowski, a Kempsville High student and avid Admirals fan who has muscular dystrophy.
SHORT STICKS: John Porco, the Admirals' All-Star center last season, has told Cullen he likely won't return. Porco has received a lucrative contract offer from Italy, where he played two seasons before coming to Hampton Roads. Though Porco would prefer to play in Norfolk, the Admirals can't come close to matching the money the Italian team would pay. . . . Several former and future Admirals were on display Monday night on ESPN2 when the Philadelphia Bulldogs defeated Detroit, 6-5, in a Roller Hockey International game. Coach Al MacIsaac, the Admirals' assistant coach, was interviewed on national TV, as were Admirals defenseman Rob MacInnis and former Admirals star Kent Hawley. Florio drew praise as the Bulldogs' top defenseman. Future Admiral goaltender Mark Bernard sprained his knee, but it is not thought to be seriously injured. station are close to a deal to televise a series of road games. by CNB