THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 31, 1994 TAG: 9412310461
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: GREENSBORO, N.C. LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
The Hampton Roads Admirals play their final game of December tonight when they host the Raleigh IceCaps, and you can't blame them for shedding a tear when the month comes to an end.
The red-hot Admirals claimed their ninth victory in 12 December games by holding off the Greensboro Monarchs, 6-5, Friday before 7,492 at the Greensboro Coliseum.
When the month began, the Admirals were 8-9-2 and in last place in the ECHL's East Division. They are now 17-11-3, in fourth place and gaining on third-place Charlotte.
The game was a rematch of Wednesday's 6-2 Admirals' victory at Scope when the teams combined for 236 penalty minutes, eight ejections and enough fights to fill a Friday night card. But it did not turn into a return bout. Both teams were on their best behavior - there just 12 penalties and nothing resembling a fight occurred until the final two minutes.
Perhaps that was because neither team could afford to lose any players. The Admirals were without defenseman Brian Goudie and forward Kelly Sorensen, both suspended for fighting on Wednesday, and thus had 13 skaters and two goalies.
The situation was worse for Greensboro, which was without Phil Berger, and league's career scoring leader, and defenseman Jeremy Stevenson, who were both suspended. Moreover, with a player out sick and two more recalled to IHL and AHL teams, the Monarchs dressed just 10 skaters and two goalies.
``We beat a wounded team tonight,'' Admirals coach John Brophy said. ``Give them (the Monarchs) credit. They fought hard and played hard.''
And they did so after digging themselves into a deep hole. Rod Taylor scored two goals and John Porco and Jason MacIntyre one apiece to put the Admirals ahead, 4-0, early in the second period.
When forward Jim Brown then made it 5-1 at 4:55 of the second period, the exhausted Monarchs appeared to be finished.
``Once you get up on a team with 12 men, you figure it's all over. You don't mean for it to happen, but unconsciously it does,'' Brophy said.
``I guess our guys thought they couldn't come back.''
But they did, scoring four more goals before the period ended, including three in less than two minutes. After the Monarchs scored three in a row to close it to 5-4, Matt Mallgrave put in a wrister at 19:39 that appeared to blunt the Greensboro rally.
However, Colin Foley sent a soft shot from the circle that Admirals goaltender Corwin Saurdiff tried to poke out. He missed and the puck went between his legs just six seconds after the Mallgrave goal.
With both teams apparently exhausted, the third period settled into a physical, defensive struggle, one the Admirals dominated.
Greensboro appeared headed for a power play at 18:38 of the third period, when Admirals captain Dennis McEwen took a swing at Greensboro's Dean Zayonce, who had rubbed McEwen's face into the boards on a check seconds before.
``I knew I was going to get a penalty,'' McEwen said. ``I'd taken a selfish swing and I wasn't going to give up a power play.''
So he pretended to be preparing to fight Zayonce.
``He asked me if I was ready to go,'' McEwen said. ``So I said, yeah, sure, and pretended to throw down my gloves. He took a swing at me and I backed away.
But both players were assessed roughing and 10-minute misconduct penalties, the only major penalties of the game.
The Admirals surrendered just five shots on goal in the final period, and all five were turned away by Saurdiff, who won for the fifth time in his last six starts and added two assists. He has five assists in eight starts, an unusually large number for a goalie. by CNB