THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, February 3, 1997 TAG: 9702030145
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY AL MYATT, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: RALEIGH LENGTH: 52 lines
Home-ice advantage against the Hampton Roads Admirals melts about as quickly as ice cream on an August afternoon.
The East Coast Hockey League East Division leaders won their sixth straight road game, a league high this season, topping the Raleigh IceCaps 4-2 at Dorton Arena on Sunday night.
The victory gave the Admirals 65 points in the standings, best in the 23-team league. Rested from a rare Saturday night off, the Admirals took charge early against the IceCaps, who were playing their third game in three nights.
``That was definitely a factor,'' said Raleigh defenseman Kevin Hoffman. ``They were rested and we were feeling the effects a little bit. That's not an excuse. In the third period, we turned it on a little bit. We got some chances and got a couple of goals.''
Raleigh left wing Kory Karlander beat Admirals goalie Darryl Paquette at 8:56 of the third period to break up the shutout and cut the Admirals' lead to 4-1. Defenseman Maco Balkovec added his first goal since joining the team six games ago at 13:18 of the final period.
Raleigh had a power play in the game's last 56 seconds after Rod Taylor's stick was challenged and found to be illegal. The IceCaps pulled goalie Bill Horn for an extra attacker but the Admirals held on.
Horn came in for starter Patrick Charbonneau at 29:50 with the IceCaps down 4-0. Horn had stopped 34 of 35 shots in a 4-1 win over Knoxville on Saturday night, which many of the Admirals had watched on their night off.
The IceCaps start a seven-game road trip at Hampton Roads on Friday. Then they're off until another trip to play the Admirals the following Friday - Valentine's Day.
The Admirals, who host Toledo on Wednesday, are 5-1-0 against Raleigh this season.
The Admirals put the IceCaps in a catch-up mode with three goals in the first period. Alexei Krivchenkov made it 1-0 just 1:47 into the game. He fired from just inside the blue line and got credit for the goal although it might have been deflected past Charbonneau. Rick Kowalsky and Aaron Downey got assists.
Victor Gervais scored on a rebound for a 2-0 Admirals lead at 5:33 of the first.
Krivchenkov's second goal came on a shot from the point through traffic at 12:35 to put the Admirals up 3-0.
Not only did Raleigh not score on its seven power-play opportunities, but Kowalsky had a shorthanded goal for the Admirals at 1:31 of the second period for a 4-0 Hampton Roads lead.