THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 22, 1995 TAG: 9512220544
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 108 lines
Mark Bernard almost made a career of it in that giant, stench-filled slaughterhouse. He worked eight-hour days, cutting up cow meat, sorting it into boxes and packing it into trucks. At day's end, he was covered with blood, entrails and sweat.
``I even worked a little on the kill floor,'' he said. ``It was a good job, but not one for everybody.''
The money was good. The location, in blue-collar Hamilton, Ontario, was just minutes from his hometown of Glanbrook. He was in the final year of his junior hockey eligibility and playing hockey every night.
``I thought that was my life,'' he said. ``I'd finish junior hockey, then work there the rest of my life.''
Then came the call. The Johnstown Chiefs needed him for a weekend. His father urged him to go. The weekend became a week, then a month, and again at his father's urging, he resigned from meatpacking for good.
Five years later, Bernard is in goal for the Hampton Roads Admirals, with no end to his hockey career in sight.
``It was a tough decision to quit (the meatpacking plant) and stay in Johnstown,'' said Bernard, who will start tonight when the Admirals host Charlotte at Scope.
``But my dad said that the meatpacking plant would always be there, and the chance to play pro hockey wouldn't. He was right.''
Thanks to his father's advice, ``Bernie,'' as he is known by fans and teammates alike, has played parts of three seasons for the Admirals, and is the only player left from the team's championship squads in 1991 and 1992.
Bernard is immensely popular with Admirals fans - he's usually mobbed before and after games by autograph seekers - and the affection dates back to his second season, when he played a club record 48 consecutive games and was Most Valuable Player of the Jack Riley playoffs.
He remains popular in part because of his size (5-foot-6, 188 pounds) and his aggressive nature. Skate across the crease in front of Bernard and you're liable to end up flat on your back, courtesy of Bernard's stick. He has 17 penalty minutes, an unusually large number for a goalie.
He's an emotional player who carries his feelings on his sleeve and is not above playing to the crowd. If he dives and gloves what looked to be a sure goal, he'll often get up and skate in circles around the goal while fans at Scope cheer.
``When he's out there kicking and stuffing, there aren't many at this level better than Bernie,'' coach John Brophy said.
Yet, Bernard's career has taken a torturous path since that second title season with the Admirals. He spent the balance of his third sitting on the bench in Baltimore, then the Admirals' AHL affiliate. ``A wasted season,'' he calls it.
He then asked Brophy to trade him to Erie so that his newlywed, Julie, could work in nearby Canada - U.S. immigration laws forbid her from working in America.
Life in Erie was good, but the hockey was bad. The team finished last in the ECHL and Bernard was peppered with an average of more than 40 shots per game.
``It was just a nightmare there,'' Bernard said. ``You don't appreciate what you have until you go somewhere else.''
Last season, he moved on to London, Ontario, in the Colonial League, which he found to be worse than Erie. ``They don't take hockey very seriously in that league,'' he said.
He quit after a month and signed with San Antonio of the Central League, where the Iguanas finished second in the playoffs.
He was planning to return to San Antonio when, while playing last summer for the Philadelphia Bulldogs of Roller Hockey International, he got a call from Admirals president Blake Cullen. The Admirals needed a goalie and wanted Bernard.
``We didn't even talk about terms,'' Bernard said. ``It was good enough for me that Blake said he wanted me. This is the only place I wanted to go.''
Once again, the Bernards packed up their stuff and moved to Norfolk. When he arrived, he found three goalies on the Admirals roster under contract to IHL and AHL teams - Shamus Gregga, Darryl Paquette and Corwin Saurdiff. ``I knew unless something changed I wasn't going to play.'' he said.
For a week during exhibition season, Bernard didn't even practice. Seems there's not room in practice for four goalies.
The Admirals offered to trade Bernard to any team in the league, and there were plenty of potential takers. Nine other clubs had contacted him during the summer.
But he declined and waited, hoping the logjam of goalies would be broken.
It finally was. Gregga was traded to Huntington prior to the start of the regular season, then Saurdiff was sidelined with colitis. Finally, Paquette was called up by Portland of the AHL.
Bernard is now the Admirals starter, with a 6-2-2 record and a 3.02 goals against average. ``This is as happy as I've been in years,'' he said.
But he knows that could change any day.
Todd Hunter, the backup, is playing so well that he has threatened to supplant Bernard.
Saurdiff returns to the ice in January.
Paquette has played sparingly in Portland, and likely will return when an injured Pirate goalie recovers from an injury.
``I'm going to make the best of it while I have a chance to play,'' he said. ``If I play well, I'm going to keep playing. I want to finish my career here.''
How long will that be?
``I'm not quitting until they tell me to leave. If it's paying your bills, and you're having fun doing it, why not? It beats the 8-to-5.''
And slaughtering cows. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Bill Tiernan\The Virginian-Pilot
Mark Bernard, the only Admiral left from the 1991 and '92
championship teams, is 6-2-2 in '95.
by CNB