THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 17, 1994 TAG: 9412170410
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Admirals Report
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
The Hampton Roads Admirals have placed Trevor Halverson on the 14-day injured-reserve list and likely will activate Dennis McEwen to play tonight in Charlotte, team president Blake Cullen said.
Halverson, the team captain and the Admirals' fourth-leading scorer, injured his right ankle and had to be helped off the ice Friday in the second period of a 4-2 victory over the Raleigh IceCaps. The ankle had previously been sprained, though not seriously enough to keep him out.
``It's not good,'' Halverson said. ``I'll be out a little while at least.''
McEwen, the team captain before injuring his ankle during the sixth game of the season, has been on injured reserve since October. He has not been reactivated in part because he is a veteran and the Admirals already have the ECHL limit of three veterans on their roster.
However, Halverson is also a veteran, which means there is finally be room for McEwen.
McEwen is oft called the Original Admiral because he is the only player left from the team's first practice six years ago at Iceland in Virginia Beach.
Admirals' officials also placed Tom Menicci and Colin Gregor on injured reserve Friday. They say Menicci has an injured foot and Gregor a broken toe. Gregor is on the 30-day list, meaning he must sit out at least 30 days. Menicci, who was out earlier this season with a strained back, is on the 15-day list.
Menicci and Gregor made way for forward Matt Mallgrave and defenseman Brian Goudie, who were optioned from Portland to Hampton Roads earlier this week.
The Admirals also have a fourth player who is inactive, but still available for instant recall - forward Mike Nemirovsky. The Moscow-born Nemirovsky, who moved to Toronto as a youngster, was waived last week. He was not claimed by any other teams and remains in town, hopeful that a roster position will become available.
ADMIRALS WING IT: One of the most grueling parts of playing minor-league hockey is the dreaded bus rides on long road trips.
The routine can be a grind: Get on the bus after a home game, then eat a pizza and try to catch some sleep while rolling down the highway for five or six hours. You arrive as the sun rises, sleep a few hours after checking into your hotel, eat a late lunch, then go play hockey.
That's the way it is across most of the ECHL, where it's not unheard of for a team to play in Johnstown, Pa., one night and Greensboro the next.
But that's not always the case for the Admirals, whose owner, Blake Cullen, says spending some extra dollars on plane fare can pay off for a team playing a big game.
Tonight the Admirals play a big game - against Charlotte at Independence Arena, where they're 0-3 this season and were blown out the last two times - and so they're flying to the Queen City. They'll then bus to Greensboro, where they play the Monarchs Sunday.
``It's not just a big game; it's a big weekend,'' defenseman Chris Phelps said. ``We want to win all three games. Being able to sleep in town rather than trying to sleep on a bus will help a lot.''
RUSSIAN TICKETS ARE COMING: Tickets are on sale for the Admirals exhibition game Jan. 4 at Scope against Torpedo Yaroslavl, a suburban Moscow team that plays in the Commonwealth of Independent States League.
Tickets are $5 apiece, but Admirals' season-ticket holders need not open their wallets. Cullen says tickets are being mailed to the 3,800 season-ticket holders this week even though the exhibition was not advertised as part of the ticket package.
The CISL is composed of the best teams in the former Soviet Union. Five former members of the Torpedo squad are playing in the NHL. by CNB