THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 28, 1996 TAG: 9602280530
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
The Hampton Roads Admirals hope their last game of a two-week road trip is an omen of things to come as this frustrating ECHL regular-season begins to fade into the playoffs.
Starting now.
The Admirals, who play host to the South Carolina Stingrays tonight at Scope - their first home game since Feb. 14 - are coming off a 6-2 trouncing of the Louisiana IceGators Saturday night in Lafayette. And although they are just 1-8-1 in their last 10 games, it's the first ``1'' on which coach John Brophy chooses to dwell.
``The pressure's off a little bit,'' Brophy said Tuesday, after a crisp late-morning practice at Iceland in Virginia Beach. ``It came at a great time. If we don't take advantage of it and slack off because we won one hockey game, we'll be right back where we started from again. I don't think that's going to happen. We had two great practices (Tuesday). We'll see what we've got (today).''
With seven of the team's final 10 games at Scope, Brophy is hoping the Admirals' offense starts to purr. At home, Hampton Roads has scored 131 goals and allowed just 88, second-lowest number in the ECHL. On the road, the Admirals have been outscored by 23.
``We came alive in the last game, at Lafayette,'' Brophy said. ``We're terribly short of players, but I'm not going to use that as an excuse. We have to win, that's all that matters. Coming home should help.''
The Admirals will have a new man in goal. Mike Torchia, property of the Washington Capitals but with suitcase stickers from Portland, Kalamazoo and Orlando this season alone, will start for the third consecutive game.
He has broken even in two games and has 76 saves in 83 chances.
``Mark will play most of the games,'' Brophy said. ``He broke our slump for us, so we'll see how that goes. He played last year in Dallas; I'd say he's a guy with some ability. He's got the right attitude as far as not getting excited when the puck goes in. He doesn't go crazy. The next time someone makes a shot, he makes a save. He made great saves when guys were close down there in some of those games.''
Torchia - pronounced - TOR-Key-yuh - and the Admirals have been living in parallel universes this season. Hampton Roads remains undermanned and injury-riddled, with two players out with broken arms, one with a broken jaw and, most recently, defenseman Sergei Voronov with a broken finger. In November, Torchia tore ligaments in his knee and couldn't play for eight weeks.
When Torchia returned to Portland in January, he found two goalies ahead of him and playing well. So it was off to Kalamazoo, then Orlando, where he had a 5-1-1 record. But the goalies there were under contract and he wasn't, necessitating one more move - here.
``A lot of things have come back to haunt me and hurt me,'' he said. ``I'm basically starting at the bottom and workiny my way back up again. It's frustrating, definitely frustrating, but you've got to make the best of the situation, take advantage of it any way you can.''
Torchia is intimately familiar with the Admirals' injury avalanche. He rattles them off as though he'd been with the team the entire season. He is keenly aware of the team's frustrations. He knows he can't completely counter what's gone wrong, but he's confident he can make a difference.
``The guys look at me and say, `He's been there before, he should help us a lot,' '' Torchia said. ``Really, the best kind of impact I can have is to stop as many pucks as I can and control things back there. A situation like this, you hope for the best because you know the team has been riddled by injuries.
``In the back of your head, the frustration is always there. You're always going to be upset. But you must work through it. Go out and play. Learn to have fun again. Forget all the other crap. Go out and play the game. That's how you deal with something like this.'' by CNB