DATE: Sunday, November 2, 1997              TAG: 9711020339

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Column 

SOURCE: Bob Molinaro 

                                            LENGTH:   67 lines

PRICE IS RIGHT IN THE ECHL, THE ADMIRALS' DIEHARDS SAY

Rick Hoiler put down his beer bottle during the second intermission of a Hampton Roads Admirals game and reached into his pocket for a ticket stub.

``My seat goes for, let's see, what does it say? Yeah, $7.85,'' he said, offering the stub for inspection. ``This is more or less the same price as a movie. And this is a lot more entertaining than most movies. You can't beat that.''

The price is right. How many professional sports can you say that about anymore? The price is important to a self-employed carpenter and Admirals season-ticket holder.

Sticking to a budget also concerns Rick Langlands, a computer specialist with the government. He's had Admirals season tickets for nine years.

``The main thing is the expense,'' he said. ``For the money, it's good entertainment. It gets me out of the house two nights a week.''

What about Norfolk's plans to join the American Hockey League, the premier developmental league for the NHL, by 1999-2000? This is the hot topic for Admirals fans.

Or is it?

``Either way,'' Langlands said, ``it doesn't matter.''

``Of course, the level of hockey's going to be better,'' Hoiler chimed in. ``Yeah, the AHL would work here. But we like it the way it is.''

They like it the way it is. Evidence suggests that this is true for all the men, women and children who slip into their Admirals jerseys and carry their homemade signs into Scope to root for their favorite players, cheer for the volcanic John Brophy, and, not incidentally, catch up on the latest news with their neighbors. ``It's a fraternity of fans,'' Dave Bradfield said.

Bradfield does marketing for a cellular phone company that works with the team. He is a frequent visitor to Admirals games. He has observed an interesting dynamic at work in the stands: fans as happy to see one another as they are to watch hockey.

``I think they come out here to have fun with the people they've met at the games,'' he said. ``You'll hear them ask one another about their nephews and brothers and mothers. Over the years, these people have become friends.''

As for their interest in hockey, well, something attracts them to the Admirals. But does their loyalty translate into a desire to support a pricier AHL version?

``Many people I see here,'' Bradfield said, ``I don't think they would tell the difference in the quality of hockey.''

As we know, some fans are downright hostile to the idea of Norfolk's abandoning Admirals tradition for the AHL. But many others probably are more like Hoiler and Langlands - ambivalent.

Tony Euken, a plaster mechanic, sounds like he falls into this category. On the one hand, he'd welcome the AHL. (``I'd like to see more talent come in.'') On the other hand, he'll keep turning out for Admirals games. (``It's a lot of fun what's going on here.'')

But former New Yorker Bob Staicer, a transplanted Islanders fan turned Admirals booster, is not amused by the pressure the city is applying to local ownership.

``Norfolk really has no business forcing this issue,'' he said. ``The fans are here. I don't know what Norfolk has to gain.''

Well, perhaps prestige.

For Mayor Paul Fraim and the city government, there's a desire to raise the town's sports profile.

But is Hampton Roads really such a hot hockey community? And what becomes of the present interest when tickets no longer can be had for only $7.85?

A higher league with steeper tariffs could chase away the fraternity of fans who have never been interested in ``better hockey,'' only their Admirals.

The customers who could take their place need to be located.

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