THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 30, 1995 TAG: 9512300504
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
On a night when Rod Taylor etched his name in the record books and Virginia's chief executive got his first look at a hockey game in Norfolk, the true stars Friday at Scope were the four Hampton Roads Admirals defenders.
Playing with three forwards and only one true defender on defense, the Admirals blew past Knoxville 7-3 before a crowd of 7,794 that included Gov. George Allen and his family.
Taylor scored two goals and had two assists to move past Victor Gervais and into second place among the team's career scorers with 289 points. The four-point night broke a three-game scoreless streak for Taylor, whose 13 goals and eight assists are far behind his usually prolific scoring rate.
``We won, that's all I care about,'' Taylor said. ``It's just been a frustrating season, but we're winning now, and that's all that matters.''
Frustration has been the watchword of late for Admirals assistant coach Al MacIsaac, who coaches the defense and has seen six quality defenders sidelined in the last month.
Alexei Krivchenkov is with Cleveland of the IHL, Ron Pascucci is with Portland of the AHL, Claude Fillion has a knee injury and Chris Phelps is in Canada attending to his ailing newborn daughter.
Meanwhile, it was learned Friday afternoon that Jason MacIntyre is out indefinitely with a severely injured shoulder and Sergei Voronov is sidelined for the weekend with the flu.
That left Mike Larkin, called up a week ago from Lakeland of the Southern Hockey League, as the team's only true defenseman.
Forwards Bob Woods and Steve Richards, who is ailing with two pulled groin muscles, were moved to defense recently. They were joined Friday by forward Rick Kowalsky.
Yet the defense, aided by goalie Mark Bernard and crisp forechecking from the Admirals' forwards, was sharp. The Admirals led 6-1 late in the third period before surrendering two power-play goals.
``Our forwards did a great job of forechecking and keeping the heat off of the defense,'' Brophy said. ``Woods (a goal, an assist and plus-3 on the night) had a great game, and not just because he scored. His defense was outstanding.''
The Admirals made it a blowout early, peppering Knoxville goalie Cory Cadden with 20 shots in the first period.
After former Admiral Jimmy Brown scored on a power-play goal at 2:18, it was all Hampton Roads.
Dominic Maltais scored on a power-play goal on a centering pass from Larkin at 4:26. Ron Majic made it 2-0 three minutes later when he scooped in a block of a Serbe Aubin shot.
Trevor Halverson scored his 26th goal of the season at 15:43 when he faked right, then wrapped the puck around Cadden's outstretched glove. Taylor then closed out the first period by taking a Larkin pass and swatting it into the net at 19:45 to make it 4-1.
Aubin scored five minutes into the second period to make it 5-1. Taylor then added another goal at 12:06 of the third to make it 6-1.
Meanwhile, Bernard, who starred in a 4-3 shootout victory Wednesday over East Division leader Richmond, was nearly flawless when it mattered, collecting 30 saves.
``Bernie's playing great,'' Brophy said.
And so, to Brophy's delight, is Taylor, whose progress this season was slowed by an eight-game suspension in late November and early December.
``He's getting his confidence back and starting to score,'' Brophy said. ``He's skating like he used to, and getting some life back into him.
``The entire team played hard. We were just determined to win.''
Even if shorthanded. ILLUSTRATION: MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN
The Virginian-Pilot
Three Knoxville players scrap with Aaron Downey of the Admirals,
right, during the first period of Friday's game.
by CNB