THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, December 27, 1995 TAG: 9512270194
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
It was back to basics on Tuesday for the Hampton Roads Admirals, who spent most of a 2 1/2-hour practice at Scope going over the fundamentals of playing defense in their zone.
It would seem the work was needed. The Admirals, who host Richmond tonight at Scope, have seen one of the ECHL's strongest defensive units bled almost dry in recent weeks. Only Sergei Voronov remains of the five defenders who opened the season nearly 11 weeks ago.
Alexei Krivchenkov was recalled by Cleveland of the International Hockey League and Ron Pascucci by Portland of the American Hockey League. Claude Fillion is out with a knee injury and won't play until January. And Chris Phelps, an ECHL All-Star last season, is out indefinitely while his newborn daughter struggles with health problems in Ottawa.
What once was a wealth of defenders - the Admirals sold highly regarded rookie Martin Woods and Tom Menicci because they weren't getting ice time - has thinned so rapidly that center Steve Richards now is working primarily with the defense. Even right wing Rick Kowalsky, who has 30 points, was moved temporarily to defense last week against South Carolina.
The remaining defenders are Bob Woods, who was moved from forward; Mike Larkin, who was called up from Lakeland of the Southern Hockey League; and Jason MacIntyre, quickly pressed back into action last week in spite of having taken a puck to the face that knocked him unconscious two weeks ago.
Not surprisingly, the Admirals have allowed an average of 5.2 goals in their last four games, in which they've gone 0-3-1. Their latest defeat was a 9-4 shellacking at Roanoke.
``When somebody scores nine goals against you, you're doing lots of things wrong,'' coach John Brophy said. ``But the effort was good.''
That also has shown up in the statistics. The Admirals outshot Charlotte and Roanoke in their last two games 92-50.
``We're getting shots, but we've been letting in easy goals,'' Brophy said. ``Am I blaming the goaltenders? No. . . . (The defense) has been lackadaisical, we haven't gotten the puck out where it should be, we're not taking men out like we should, all of the things that go with losing.
``We need to stop the bleeding.''
That won't be easy against Richmond (21-3-5), which leads the East Division with 47 points but has lost twice and won a shootout in three starts against the Admirals.
PHELPS UPDATE: Kayla Phelps, the newborn daughter of Chris Phelps, will undergo surgery today in Ottawa, where she was born last week with an apparent hole in her heart.
Phelps has told teammates that Kayla will need a second operation, and doctors have told him they can't give a definite prognosis.
Phelps, a born-again Christian, is bearing up well, said teammate Bob Woods.
He's got a positive attitude,'' said Woods, who speaks to Phelps daily. ``He's doing a lot of praying.''
STATS STUFF: Although attendance is down slightly for the Admirals, they are third in the league at 6,859 per game and are gaining on No. 2 South Carolina (7,193). No. 1 is Louisiana at 9,466. . . . Former Admirals goalie Shamus Gregga is 1-7-3 with a 4.52 goals-against average with Huntington, which is 7-19-5 and last in the North Division. . . . Scott Gruhl leads Richmond with 35 points. He also leads the league with penalty minutes in 14 consecutive games, dating back to Nov. 19. by CNB