DATE: Sunday, March 2, 1997                 TAG: 9703020201

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY AL MYATT, CORRESPONDENT 

DATELINE: RALEIGH                           LENGTH:   46 lines

OLD-TIMER LEADS RALEIGH TO 5-2 ROUT OF ADMIRALS

The front office came through for the Raleigh IceCaps, who got a shorthanded goal from their director of operations Saturday night en route to a 5-2 victory over the Hampton Roads Admirals at Dorton Arena.

Rick Barkovich, who wears many hats for the team and sometimes even a helmet, put the IceCaps up 1-0 at 5:31 of the first period, scoring unasssisted while teammate Steve Potvin was off for hooking.

Barkovich had retired as a player after helping the IceCaps reach the Riley Cup finals in 1994. He coached the IceCaps the following season. Last year, he did color commentary on IceCaps broadcasts and worked with an insurance company.

Barkovich, 32, currently director of operations in Raleigh's front office, was persuaded to come out of retirement by general manager Larry Kish for three games earlier this season when the team was shorthanded due to injuries and call-ups. The goal was his third in five games for Raleigh this season.

Barkovich scored on a drive from the left side after taking the puck into the Admirals' zone, and Raleigh led the rest of the way.

The Admirals can identify with a shortage of quality players. The team is without Ryan Mulhern, Rick Kowalsky, Marc Seliger and Chris Phelps, who have all been called up to Portland of the AHL.

The Admirals were outworked in the first period and outshot 14-5. Hampton Roads coach John Brophy returned to his post behind the bench after the first intermission without his sport coat, a concession to temperatures that climbed into the 80s during the day. Dorton Arena doesn't have air conditioning.

That didn't keep Brophy cool after Raleigh went ahead 4-1 in the second period on goals by Jon Larson, Chris Gotziaman and David Cunniff.

Randy Pearce's power-play goal at 10:31 of the second had pulled the Admirals within 2-1, but Raleigh responded with two goals in the next 2:10.

When Admirals center Victor Gervais drew four minutes for roughing at 13:24 with Hampton Roads on the power play, Brophy compounded the situation by getting two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct for a tirade directed at referee Terry Koharski. The IceCaps went up 5-1 on the ensuing power-play goal by Ryan Brown.

After Dominic Maltais had rattled the left pipe two minutes into the third period, Phil Berger scored to get the Admirals within 5-2 at 3:08, the game's final goal.

A crowd of 4,835 sounded larger because of castanet-like noisemakers distributed as a promotion.

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu