THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 18, 1996 TAG: 9610180673
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Special Preseason Pullout Guide to the Hampton Roads Admirals
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 364 lines
The lights are scheduled to go down at Scope tonight at 7:23, seven minutes before the Hampton Roads Admirals open their eighth season.
One by one, the Admirals and Charlotte Checkers will skate onto the ice bathed in multicolored strobes from a new, $23,000 lighting system.
When the lights come back on, there will be clowns and face-painting in the hallways and a mascot roaming the stands. The music will be jazzy. There will even be an 11-foot blimp hovering in the rafters.
Big changes are coming for Admirals fans in what is arguably the most critical season for the franchise since it was founded in 1989:
The team is under new management for the first time since its inception.
Attendance sagged last season and the team suffered its first financial loss - more than $100,000.
A similar loss this season could endanger the franchise's future.
Last spring, Blake Cullen sold the team to local businessmen Mark Garcea and Page Johnson, who vowed to stem the decline.
``We need to turn things around,'' Johnson said. ``We think we're doing the things to attract a larger fan base. We'll know in a month or so if we've succeeded.''
Many of the changes fly in the face of the strategy employed by Cullen, who founded the franchise and made it thrive in a market that had been a minor league hockey graveyard.
He ran a traditional hockey franchise. Cullen eschewed mascots and clowns, promoted modestly and played conservative music during breaks in play. He wanted to sell the game, not lights and blimps.
Cullen's strategy worked for his first six seasons. The Admirals were an instant hit, winning championships in two of their first three seasons and regularly selling out Scope on Friday nights. They led minor league hockey in attendance in 1993, averaging 7,904 per game.
But last season, Cullen's seventh, the team drew 6,924 per game, down an average of more than 600 paid admissions from 1994-95. No-shows, rarely a problem in previous seasons, were notorious in the latter stages of last season.
Moreover, the team's on-the-ice fortunes have sagged. The Admirals have won only one playoff series in four years. Last season, the Admirals were ousted by Richmond 3-0 in the first round.
When they bought the team, Garcea and Johnson promised change, including a reduction in the team's budget. And cut they have. Every expenditure is scrutinized - officials must get three bids on even relatively small purchases.
The Admirals are looking at everything they can - except a ticket price hike - to increase revenue. Advertising rates were raised and advertising opportunities maximized. Fans will notice more ice logos, and even logos on players: Stihl Inc. of Virginia Beach has purchased the right to have its logo on the helmets and jerseys. The Admirals even will be offering their own credit card later this month.
Tens of thousands of dollars have been poured into a newspaper and radio advertising blitz that will carry through the winter. Games will be promoted with a frenzy, with everything from tonight's magnetic schedule night to ``wiener dog'' races later this winter.
Garcea and Johnson have eagerly courted the Admirals Boosters Club. They have attended meetings and offered to help the club on more fund-raising projects.
``They've been great to work with,'' said Nancy Franklin, booster club president.
The new owners also attempted to keep some familiar faces on board, signing head coach John Brophy to a two-year contract and promoting Al MacIsaac to general manager. Rod Taylor was signed as a player-assistant coach, and they attempted to retain the entire front-office staff.
``Blake had a great staff here,'' Garcea said. ``We simply wanted to enhance what he had done.''
The schedule this season will help. There are more Friday night games than ever - 20, including 11 in a row at one stretch - and only two home games in October, when attendance is usually at its worst.
Nonetheless, the Garcea-Johnson regime has suffered setbacks:
Season-ticket sales are down several hundred from last year's 3,600 in spite of increased promotions.
A promised move of the front office to a suburban location that would include a marquee to promote games to passers-by on Northampton Boulevard has been delayed, perhaps until the spring.
The team was forced to double what it spends to put games on the radio and thus raised rates for radio ads, which have been tougher to sell.
The new owners pledged to televise at least two games locally but so far have been unsuccessful in getting their team on the tube. ``It's just too expensive,'' Johnson said.
Then there was a public relations faux pas over the summer when longtime radio voice Pete Michaud quit rather than accept what he termed a ``substantial'' pay cut. Sources put the cut at about $3,000.
When Michaud went public with the dispute, many fans were outraged. Letters and phone calls supporting Michaud poured into the Admirals' office and local newspapers. Bumper stickers began appearing that said: ``Pete Michaud, the only voice of the Admirals.''
Fans who have left messages on the team's unofficial Internet home page appear dubious of the changes and the new ownership. Most are upset that Michaud is gone.
Nonetheless, a near-sellout is expected tonight at the 8,990-seat Scope. And if the Admirals win, business manager Brian Kelley figures the fans will keep coming.
``As I've looked back on statistics from previous years, it seems the success on the ice has mirrored the success in ticket sales,'' he said. ``I think it's very important to put a team on the ice that's a championship-caliber team. I think if you ask either coach if we have championship-caliber talent, they would say we do.''
So why all the bells and whistles? Do the Admirals truly need clowns and a light show to draw fans if winning solves everything?
``I think people come because they want to see a great hockey team play,'' Kelley said. ``At the same time, I think it's important for us to show the fans that we are interested in entertaining them from the minute they walk into Scope until the minute they leave Scope.
``I think they will be happy with a lot of the things we try.''
If fans aren't happy, he suggests they give him a call (640-1212) or fax him (640-8447).
``We're making some changes in the music,'' he said. ``We'll see how the fans react to it.
``We want to provide a fun, entertaining experience. If we change the music and the fans don't like it, we'll change again. We'll do anything we can within reason to accommodate their needs.''
Beginning tonight, fans can begin to judge for themselves if the new owners live up to that pledge.
And if they can stem the decline. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo on page C1 by PAUL AIKEN, The
Virginian-Pilot
Rod "The Rocket" Taylor returns to the ice for the Admirals as a
player/coach
Photo by CHRISTOPHER REDDICK, The Virginian-Pilot
"We need to turn things around," said Page Johnson, left, pictured
here with fellow Admirals owner Mark Garcea. "We think we're doing
the things to attract a larger fan base. We'll know in a month or so
if we've succeeded."
Graphic
1996-97 Schedule; Management; Player Roster; Year-By-Year Results
Graphic
JOHN BROPHY
HEAD COACH
Brophy enters his 23rd year of coaching, and eighth in Hampton
Roads, 14 victories short of his 800th career win. He is the
winningest ECHL coach with 254 career victories and led Hampton
Roads to championships in 1991 and 1992. Brophy came to Norfolk from
Toronto, where he was head coach of the Maple Leafs for two seasons.
The 63-year-old Nova Scotia native played 21 seasons in the minor
leagues, accumulating what is believed to be a career record 4,444
minutes. Brophy and his wife, Nancy Brophy-White, share a Virginia
Beach home with their dogs, Novie and Scotia.
AL MACISAAC
GENERAL MANAGER/ASST. COACH
MacIsaac, 28, is a graduate of St. Francis Xavier University in
his native Antigonish, Nova Scotia, where he was a star defenseman.
He played on three championship teams - in junior hockey, the AHL
and with the Admirals in 1991-92, when they won their last ECHL
championship. MacIsaac became Brophy's assistant coach in 1993 and
has been head coach of the Philadelphia Bulldogs of Roller Hockey
International the last two seasons. He was promoted to general
manager and assistant coach of the Admirals this past summer.
PLAYERS
MARC SELIGER
Position: Goaltender. Size: 5-11, 165.
Hometown: Rosenheim, Germany. Age: 22.
Seliger was drafted ninth in 1993 by the Washington Capitals and
played last season for Frankfurt of the German Hockey League,
posting a 3.56 goals-against average. Seliger was 0-3 with a 5.73
goals-against average in Portland before being sent to the Admirals
this week. The Bavarian - Rosenheim is just south of Munich - speaks
fluent English. He started for the German junior national team in
1994.
MIKE LARKIN
Position: Defenseman. Size: 6-3, 210
Hometown: Rutland, Vermont. Age: 23.
The University of Vermont graduate played 35 games for Lakeland,
Fla. of the Southern Hockey League last season, scoring five goals
with 34 assists and an eye-popping plus 41. He was called up late in
the season by Hampton Roads and had 12 points in just nine games.
The rugged defenseman is a lifelong Boston Bruins fan and a
connoisseur of Metallica and U2.
CHRIS PHELPS
Position: Defenseman. Size: 6-1, 200
Hometown: Shelby Township, Mich. Age: 23.
Phelps is a two-time ECHL All-Star who struggled with injuries
and the near-death of his infant daughter last season. Phelps and
his daughter are both healthy. He gained 15 pounds lifting weight in
the off-season. Phelps had 26 points in 45 games last season.
Assigned by Portland to the Admirals, the lifelong Detroit Red Wings
fan is a born-again Christian who is active in youth ministries.
ALEX ALEXEEV
Position: Defenseman. Size: 6-1, 216
Hometown: Kiev, Ukraine. Age: 21.
Alexeev could be the Admirals best defenseman. He was a two-time
all-star for Tacoma in the Western Hockey League before moving to
Portland last season, where he played in 30 games. Alexeev has
plenty of international experience. Raised in the capital city of
the Ukraine, Alexeev speaks fluent English and developed a
reputation in Portland as a locker room prankster.
JOEL THERIAULT
Position: Defenseman. Size: 6-3, 205
Hometown: Quebec. Age: 19.
Mr. T., as teammates call Theriault, is not afraid to drop his
gloves. He set a Canadian Hockey League record last year with
Drummondville of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League by compiling
573 penalty minutes. He had 389 penalty minutes the previous year.
When he's not riding his motorcycle, shooting pool, or listening to
White Zombie, Theriault peruses Stephen King novels.
ROB MACINNIS
Position: Defenseman. Size: 6-0, 200
Hometown: Port Hood, Nova Scotia. Age: 31.
MacInnis played for the Admirals two years ago, then played for
Utica of the Colonial League last season. He has extensive AHL
experience as well. He was a Roller Hockey International all-star
for the Philadelphia Bulldogs this past summer. The brother of St.
Louis Blues star Al MacInnis, Rob races cars, water skiis and plays
the guitar in his spare time.
RYAN MULHERN
Position: Left Wing. Size: 6-1, 198.
Hometown: Havertown, Pa. Age: 23.
The Brown University graduate was Ivy League Rookie of the Year
in 1993 and Player of the Year in 1995. He was recruited out of the
Philadelphia flyers camp by coach John Brophy, who says he has star
potential. He says the beaches and golf in Hampton Roads helped sway
him to play for the Admirals. He is also into waterskiing and
jetskiing.
DENIS LAMOUREUX
Position: Right Wing. Size: 6-0, 190.
Hometown: Montreal. Age: 21.
Lamoureux was perhaps the biggest surprise of training camp,
beating out established players such as Jeff Kostuch for a spot on
the team. He is a likely candidate to be scratched early in the year
(only 18 of 19 players can dress), but will get a strong test next
week on a five-game road trip. Lamoureux was player of the year for
Kanawaki in the Junior A Tier II League with 24 goals and 49 assists
in 46 games.
ANDY WEIDENBACH
Position: Center. Size: 5-8, 175.
Hometown: Allen Park, Mich. Age: 25.
Weidenbach one of the smallest but fastest players on the team.
The Yale graduate was an All-Ivy League choice in 1994-95 and played
in Sweden last season, where he was all-league with 24 goals and 25
assists in 35 games. An avid reader who recently devoured The
Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, he is related to Jack
Weidenbach, the University of Michigan athletic director.
ROD TAYLOR
Position: Left Wing. Size: 5-10, 180
Hometown: Lake Orion, Mich. Age: 29
The Rocket, as he is known for his rocket-like shots, was
promoted to player-assistant coach this season, his sixth with the
team. He holds the franchise record for goals with 272 and needs 22
points to surpass the scoring record of Brian Martin (346). He was
the Admirals MVP the last two seasons. Taylor played college hockey
at Ferris State in his native Michigan, is an avid fisherman and
works hockey camps at Ferris State and Virginia Beach in the
offseason.
ALAIN SAVAGE
Position: Center. Size: 5-7, 190.
Hometown: Montreal. Age: 21.
Savage was recruited out of Cleveland's camp by coach John
Brophy. He was the top scorer in his junior league in 1994-95 with
55 goals and was named rookie of the year in the league four years
earlier. The Montreal native played last season for Ducs Angers in
France. Nicknamed Junior, Savage is an avid Montreal Canadians fan
who likes to rollerblade on the beach boardwalks.
RANDY PEARCE
Position: Center. Size: 6-0 198.
Hometown: Elmira, Ontario. Age: 26.
Pearce was the leading scorer for the Admirals' last championship
team in 1992 with 78 points. He returns after three years in the AHL
and IHL with Baltimore, Portland and Baltimore. He is a physical
player who rarely has an off game. Coach John Brophy said he should
be the team's best player. Pearce is married with an 8-month old
daughter.
CHAD ACKERMAN
Position: Defenseman. Size: 5-8, 190
Hometown: Rochester, Mich. Age: 23.
Ackerman was not expected to make the team, but impressed coaches
with his toughness and hustle in camp here and in Portland. Ackerman
was named the top defenseman at Bowling Green University and was an
honorable mention all-league choice. Nicknamed Barney, he plays
golf, racquetball and softball in the off season.
RICK KOWALSKY
Position: Right Wing. Size: 6-1, 195.
Hometown: Simcoe, Ontario. Age: 24.
Killer, as he is known by his teammates, was assigned to the
Admirals by Portland. He was an All-ECHL choice two years ago in
Hampton Roads but was felled by a broken wrist midway through last
season. He played on two Memorial Cup champions in Sault St. Marie
and played a season in Cornwall of the AHL. His father is the mayor
of Simcoe, Ontario.
DANIEL REJA
Position: Right Wing. Size: 6-1, 193.
Hometown: Toronto. Age: 20.
Reja was an eighth round draft choice of the Washington Capitals
in the 1994 entry draft. He played in Belleville and London of the
Ontario Hockey League the last two seasons. He was rookie of the
year in London, where he was a teammate of Jason Allison of the
Caps. Nicknamed Hollywood, he listens to The Clash and plays golf
and ping pong in his spare time.
SHAMUS GREGGA
Position: Goaltender. Size: 5-11, 185.
Hometown: Markham, Ontario. Age: 22.
Gregga was in goal for the Admirals when they clinched the East
Division title in 1994, but was released in each of the last two
seasons. He played last season in Wheeling and Cleveland of the IHL
and returns to Hampton Roads with 10 pounds of additional muscle.
Nicknamed Shamoo, Gregga enjoys jet skiing and listening to The
Black Crows in his spare time.
DOMINIC MALTAIS
Position: Right Wing. Size: 5-11, 190
Hometown: Boucherville, Quebec. Age: 24.
Maltais is the top returning scorer from last season with 63
points even though he missed 16 games with a broken wrist. He came
to the Admirals from Fort Worth of the Central League, where he
scored 149 points in two seasons. Nicknamed The Falcon, Maltais says
Mario Lemieux is his favorite NHL star. He enjoys golf and water
skiing.
JOEL POIRIER
Position: Right Wing. Size: 6-1, 190.
Hometown: Richmond Hills, Ontario. Age: 21.
Poirier has both size and quickness. He came to the Admirals late
last season from Portland and had 17 points in just nine games. He
played junior hockey in Ontario for the Sudbury Wolves and Windsor
Spitfires before going to Portland in 1995. He was a seventh round
draft pick of the Washington Capitals in 1993. Nicknamed Soup, he
says his favorite band is Tragically Hip.
AARON DOWNEY
Position: Right Wing. Size: 6-0, 205.
Hometown: Shelburne, Ontario. Age: 22.
Downey quickly established himself as one of the ECHL's fiercest
fighters last season, when he led the Admirals with 354 penalty
minutes. He also had 12 goals and 11 assists. He played junior
hockey in Halifax and Cole Harbor before coming to Norfolk last
season. Asked why he came to play for coach John Brophy, he said:
``You get to work hard here every day.''
DARRYL PAQUETTE
Position: Goaltender. Size: 5-11, 175
Hometown: Sudbury, Ontario
Age: 25
Paquette starred in goal for the Admirals last season, with a
7-2-5 record and a 3.06 goals-against average. He set the team
record last October for the most saves in a game with 49. He was
2-7-1 in Portland and figures to split time between the two teams
again this year. He was an all-star for the University of Cape
Breton and the team MVP. In his spare time he works with the
Children's Aid Society. by CNB