DATE: Tuesday, September 30, 1997           TAG: 9709300441

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   67 lines

ADMIRALS' EARLY ROSTER INCLUDES A FAMILIAR FACE POPULAR GOALIE CORWIN SAURDIFF IS ON THE LIST, BUT FACES STIFF COMPETITION.

The Hampton Roads Admirals unveiled a tentative, 15-man training camp roster that includes goalie Corwin Saurdiff, who played for the Admirals for parts of three seasons before being forced to sit out most of last season with a digestive ailment.

Saurdiff, an emotional player whose gestures to fans made him popular at Scope, became the first ECHL goalie to score a goal late 1995 against Charlotte at Scope. At the time Saurdiff was only the fourth goalie in pro hockey to score a goal. His stick is in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.

In spite of his credentials, Saurdiff will struggle to make the Admirals. Promising goalies Sebastien Charpentier and Jason Saal were both assigned to Hampton Roads on Monday by the Portland Pirates, the Admirals' AHL affiliate.

Charpentier was 37-17-4 with a 3.05 goals-against average for Shawningan of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League last season. Saal played for Peoria of the ECHL (8-6-1, 2.79) and St. John's of the AHL (2-5-2, 4.11) last season.

Both are under contract to teams from higher leagues, which gives them a leg up on Saurdiff. Charpentier is a Washington Capitals signee. Saal was signed by Portland.

The roster released Monday contained few surprises. Four forwards return: Victor Gervais, Rick Kowalsky and Joel Theriault, who were assigned by Portland; and player-assistant coach Rod Taylor.

The defense looks strong, with Portland optioning three players to Norfolk: Chris Phelps, an All-ECHL pick the last three seasons; Alex Alexeev, second in the ECHL in plus-minus last season; and Chad Ackerman, who starred last season as a rookie.

Two rookie defenseman of note include Jason Mansoff from the University of Maine and Jay McGee from the North Battleford (Saskachewan) All-Stars.

The Admirals have five or six holes to fill at foward and likely will do so with rookies.

Among the most promising are Dan Ceman from the University of Windsor, who led the Ontario Universities Athletic Association with 65 goals; Rob Bonneau, who led UMass in scoring with 16 goals and 31 assists in 34 games; Matt Lahey, who had 25 goals and 27 assists for Sault St. Marie of the Ontario Hockey League last season; and Ryan Mougenal, who had 71 points in 61 games for the Kitchener Rangers of the OHL.

Bonneau and Ceman are under contract to Portland. Lahey was a Caps draft choice and comes to Norfolk as a free agent. Mougenal is under contract to Cleveland, who assigned him to Norfolk.

The Admirals also have a toughguy in Jeff Ewasko, a 6-foot-7, 230-pound forward who had 455 penalty minutes in junior hockey last season.

The Admirals also announced:

Regular-season single-game tickets go on sale Wednesday at 10 a.m. at Scope and all TicketMaster outlets. Tickets are priced at $10, $9 and $8 and can be ordered by calling 671-8100. They can also be ordered online at http://www.ticketmastercom.

Tickets for the Admirals two home exhibitions, priced at $5 apiece, go on sale at the Admirals Scope office on Wednesday. About 500 tickets, all standing room, will be sold for games Thursday, Oct. 9, against Richmond and Friday, Oct. 10, against Chesapeake at the Ice Palace in York County. Both games will begin at 7 p.m.

Inside Admirals Hockey, the half-hour magazine show to be shown weekly on WPEN-TV, will be broadcast each Saturday at 6:30 p.m. However, the first show, featuring an interview with coach John Brophy, will be aired Thursday, Oct. 16, at 10 p.m. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Corwin Saurdiff was the first ECHL goaltender to score a goal, while

he was with the Admirals.

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