THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 10, 1995 TAG: 9502100673
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
No longer can anyone apply the G word to Ron Majic and make it stick.
Majic, the 6-foot-4, 220-pound forward with some of the most feared fists in the ECHL, knocked in two goals and came close to pulling off a hat trick to lead the Hampton Roads Admirals to a 5-3 victory over the Erie Panthers Thursday at Scope.
The victory moved the Admirals (28-16-4) past Charlotte and into second place in the East Division, one point ahead of the Checkers.
Majic, derided by opponents as a goon, has proven to be much more than just a fighter of late. He's scored five goals since the beginning of January and has 10 points for the season.
Majic, Jimmy Brown (two goals) and Mike Nemirovsky (three assists) highlighted an otherwise lackluster Admirals performance against an Erie team with the ECHL's worst record (14-35-3). Tonight the Admirals host Wheeling (33-12-5), which has the league's best record.
``We won a hockey game and played awful,'' coach John Brophy said. ``If we play that pace against Wheeling, we're not going to win. We're not going to come close.''
The Admirals struggled in the first period but led, 2-1, on two goals by Majic. Stephane Charbonneau knotted the score at 2:19 of the second period, but then the Admirals pulled comfortably ahead on a Kelly Sorensen goal and two more by Brown in the same period.
The Admirals' first line didn't score, although two goals - one by John Porco (after the whistle) and another by Rick Kowalsky (knocked in by a high stick) - were disallowed.
``We were flat,'' Porco said, shaking his head. ``It was one of those nights. I had two breakaways and one hit the cross bar.
``We had a lot of other guys, like Brownie and (Brendan) Curley and Majic who stepped up and played well.''
Curley, who turned 24 Thursday, played for the first time in 22 days after being sidelined with a rib injury. He had an assist on Majic's first goal - which came on a rebound of a Curley shot.
``It felt great to be back out there; even during warmups it was a great feeling,'' said Curley, whose father attended the game.
``It was so hard to sit in the stands the last three weeks.''
Goaltender Shamus Gregga won in his first start since being recalled from a junior team in British Columbia.
``I didn't play that well,'' he said. ``The first game is always the toughest to get into it.
``But our defense played great. They didn't have many shots and that made things a lot easier for me.''
Hampton Roads outshot Erie, 35-22. Surprisingly, Majic had only three.
His final shot came with six seconds remaining. He took a breakaway pass and tried to backhand a shot past goaltender Francis Cuellette, who slapped the puck away and foiled what would have been Majic's first career hat trick.
``I was thinking about a hat trick,'' Majic said with a smile. ``I knew how much time was left. I just didn't get off a good shot.''
Does this mean he'll become a scoring machine?
``No,'' he said. ``Scoring is just a bonus. The physical part is still my game.''
But as he showed Thursday, not the only part of his game. by CNB