THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 16, 1995 TAG: 9512160417
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
Talk about your welcome-home presents.
The Hampton Roads Admirals returned to Scope after a two-week absence Friday, their most special night of the week. They came in 7 for 7 on Friday nights, all on home ice.
And only eight minutes into their game against Roanoke, they already were two goals up on the Express and their terrific goaltender, Daniel Berthiaume.
Two goals up on Berthiaume, at any point in a hockey game, is a rare perch. The Admirals know this as well as anyone in the East Coast Hockey League. Before Friday, they had lost twice in shootouts this season to Berthiaume, a 29-year-old with 214 NHL games over seven seasons on his resume.
Add the 4-1 record Berthiaume (pronounced bear-ty-OHM) threw at the Admirals last year and Friday's challenge was clear: Swarm like maniacs and keep the front of the crease jammed with white jerseys.
``We're gonna have to get in his face a little bit,'' Admirals coach John Brophy understated beforehand. ``It's hard to get (Roanoke) out of a game because of his goaltending.''
Particularly lately. Berthiaume carried in a seven-game winning streak and Roanoke, three points behind Hampton Roads in the East Division, was 8-2 in its last 10 games.
So much for momentum.
The Admirals, well-oiled and flying at several notches higher than the Express, had Berthiaume flipping and flopping like a fish from the opening minute.
In two periods they peppered him with 36 shots, five of which found the back of the net. Two others got behind Berthiaume, drawing red lights from the goal judge, but were waved off for not entirely crossing the goal line. On a couple Berthiaume had no chance, but mostly he was beaten.
``There's a respect there, but nobody thinks we can't beat him,'' said Rick Kowalsky, who burned Berthiaume for one of his two goals. ``This is a credit to us. Before the game you go over the game plan, and when you execute it perfectly, it's great.''
It was a blitz, so severe that Berthiaume even had to suffer sarcastic cheers when he swatted a puck clear as the second period ended. The night finished with the Admirals 8-1 winners, and with Berthiaume long banished to the bench, black Nike cap on his head, as backup Matt DelGuidice mopped up the entire third period.
They told Berthiaume there'd be days like this. Just not in the ECHL.
``There's only so much you can do back there,'' said Berthiaume in a swipe at his defensemen's non-support. ``It's just one you have to forget.''
Berthiaume last played in the NHL in the 1992-93 season and spent time with Winnipeg, Minnesota, Los Angeles, Boston and Ottawa. But unlike dreamers chasing a final big-league shot, Berthiaume harbors no such fantasies.
``No. I'm done,'' Berthiaume said of his NHL days. ``I just like playing. Two more years, then I'm gone. I'll come back here if they want me. I'm not looking at it any other way.''
Meanwhile, the Admirals' Mark Bernard issued the kind of performance you would have expected from Berthiaume. Bernard, rolling along on a fine season of his own, was saved by a post once. But he was solid otherwise, registering a handful of point-blank saves and even turning a tasty pirouette after gloving one puck chest-high.
``He's good,'' Brophy said of Berthiaume. ``But he's not a bleeping bit better than any of the guys we've got.''
The Admirals get to test Berthiaume again next Saturday in Roanoke. And if the veteran once held any particular power over them, you have to believe it floated off like wood smoke on another Friday night in Norfolk. by CNB