
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 11, 1990                   TAG: 9003112834
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Staff report
DATELINE: ERIE, PA.                                 LENGTH: Medium

ERIE DEFEATS LANCERS

The Virginia Lancers' showdown with the Erie Panthers lived up to its billing Saturday night, but the Lancers came out on the short end of a 6-5 decision in the East Coast Hockey League.

The loss virtually eliminated Virginia from contention for first place in the regular-season standings and dropped them into third place. They now trail first-place Erie by four points, and the loss also put them two points behind Winston-Salem. Virginia and Winston-Salem each have two games remaining; Erie has one.

Bill McDougall scored five of the Panthers' six goals, including what proved to be the game-winner. The Erie right wing now has a league-leading 144 points on 77 goals and 67 assists.

The Lancers trailed 5-1 midway through the second period before rallying on goals by Marco Fuster and Jeff Waver. Erie made it 6-3 at 3:43 of the third period on McDougall's final goal, but Virginia closed to 6-4 on a short-handed goal by Terry Menard. The Lancers cut their deficit to a goal when Bill Whitfield scored with 58 seconds left in the game, but that was as close as they got.

The Virginia comeback, however, was overshadowed by a renewal of the rivalry between Virginia coach Dave Allison and Erie coach Ron Hansis.

After Whitfield and the Panthers' Grant Ottenbreit squared off 10 seconds into the third period, Whitfield received a five-minute major penalty for fighting while Ottenbreit got two minutes for roughing. That discrepancy drew the ire of Allison, who then engaged in a face-to-face shouting match with Hansis.

The altercation between the coaches disrupted play, and referee Mike Foy attempted to restore order by giving each coach a bench minor and a game misconduct penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.

"We never quit," Allison said. "Erie played well; they just beat us. But we knew we were behind the eight ball once we knew who was reffing [Foy], that's just the way he's been with us all year, but hey, he's been consistent."

Allison had criticized Hansis, Ottenbreit and the entire Panthers team after a recent 7-1 Erie victory at the LancerLot in Vinton.

"We're both trying to win," he said of Hansis. "We're two competitive people who want to win. The only difference is that their big, tough guy [Ottenbreit] come over to one of our guys and says, `Let's fight,' and the next thing you know he's in his turtle's shell. I guess that's just typical of the way Ronnie tells his guys to play. But hey, they won and that's the bottome line.

"They whipped us 7-1 in our building last time. . . . I guess we'll see who's standing at the end of a seven game-series," Allison added, referring to a potential meeting in the ECHL final series.

First period-1, Virginia, Richards (Whitfield, Drevitch), 5:54 (pp). 2, Erie, McDougall (Harpe, Ottenbreit), 9:42 (pp). 3, Erie, McDougall (Tarrant, Stromback), 17:56. Penalties-Ottenbreit, Er (interference), 5:47; Waver, Va (holding), 8:20; Harpe, Er (slashing), 9:42; Ottenbreit, Er major (fighting), 9:42; Neish, Va major (fighting), 9:42; Bergeron, Er minor-major (roughing, fighting), 11:57; Gutenberg, Va minor-major (roughing, fighting), 11:57; Fuster, Va (hooking), 13:12; Cook, Va (delay of game), 19:34.

Second period-4, Erie, McDougall (Buckridge, Ottenbreit), 1:09 (pp). 5, Erie, McDougall (Kummu, Harpe), 3:52. 6, Erie, Harpe (Wienke, McDougall), 8:23. 7, Virginia, Fuster (Herniman), 16:06. 8, Virginia, Waver, 18:04. Penalties-Gador, Er (elbowing), 5:22; Tarrant, Er (tripping), 11:46; Jones, Va (interference), 12:24.

Third period-9, Erie, McDougall (Harpe, Wienke), 3:43. 10, Virginia, Menard (Waver, Herniman), 12:06 (sh). 11, Virginia, Whitfield (Vitale), 19:02. Penalties-Ottenbreit, Er (roughing), :10; Whitfield, Va major (fighting), :10; Virginia bench minor-major (unsportsmanlike conduct, game misconduct coach), :10; Erie bench minor-major (unsportsmanlike conduct, game misconduct coach), :10; Fuster, Va double minor (slashing, slashing), 3:09; Herniman, Va (slashing), 5:17; Kummu, Er (roughing), 7:21; Fuster, Va (high-sticking), 11:52; McDougall, Er (hooking), 13:28.

Shots on goal-Virginia 4-11-11-26. Erie 12-10-12-34.

Power-play opportunities-Virginia 1-of-7; Erie 2-of-8.

Goalies-Virginia, Cook (34 shots-28 saves). Erie, Barnett (26-21).

A-5,486.

by CNB