THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 5, 1997 TAG: 9702050692
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 65 lines
About a year has passed since Dominic Maltais was standing in front of the Erie goal one moment, holding the puck on his stick, and kneeling behind that cage the next, cradling a broken wrist.
Before he was rushed from behind and his wrist thrust into the goalpost last Feb. 16, Maltais had scored 31 goals and had 32 assists for the Hampton Roads Admirals.
``After that night, nothing, no hockey for six, seven months,'' Maltais said Tuesday. ``I never missed a game in two years in the Central Hockey League. I think I missed one game in my career before that.
``Depressed? Yeah. I'm not playing hockey for the money. I play because I love the game. After the (injury), all I could do was go home and relax.''
It wasn't all he could do. Maltais worked so hard on conditioning that when the Admirals play host to the Toledo Storm tonight at Scope, he'll take the ice as the team's leading scorer and one of the ECHL's premier players.
The 5-11, 188-pound forward has a team-leading 29 goals, 36 assists, 65 points - 10th-best in the ECHL. His plus-26 plus-minus ratio is second on the team to defenseman Chris Phelps and one of the league's best marks.
``He's been great,'' said Admirals coach John Brophy. ``What else can you say? He leads the team in scoring and he's a great competitor. He seems more hungry this year. He's a goal-scorer. As much as anyone, he knows how to go to the net and put that puck through.''
Maltais admits he was ``a little more ready'' to play hockey this season than in the past, and that his attitude grew out of last season's inactivity.
``I worked hard during the offseason and I came here in really good shape,'' he said. ``I've never been in this kind of shape before, and it also helps that this is probably the best line I've ever been on, ever.''
Maltais has teamed with center Victor Gervais and winger Joel Poirier to score 56 of Hampton Roads' 200 goals this season. That line alone is responsible for 28 percent of the Admirals' goals.
Maltais also has 163 penalty minutes this season, or 10.2 percent of the team's total. That's not a stat that pleases Brophy, although the coach admits he doesn't want to see Maltais do anything differently these last 25 regular-season games.
``He's a feisty guy,'' general manager Al MacIsaac said. ``He's out there to score goals and to create havoc. The way he plays, he's going to get some penalties. You just hope not too many.''
Maltais says he'd be a lot less effective if he toned down his act. He's at his best when he is fueled by emotion, and what gets his juices flowing are crashing into an opponent and talking to him about it. Neither of those actions is much appreciated by thin-skinned opponents, who frequently respond to Maltais stick for stick, word for word.
``If I'm not doing those things, I'm not in the game,'' he said. ``Of course, when you play that way you're going to take some penalties. I've got to work hard all the time. Got to stay up and in the game.''
Maltais says he doesn't have any personal goals for this season. Setting the bar at 40 or 50 goals would be too much self-inflicted pressure. Besides, he never guessed his '95-'96 season would have ended when and how it did.
``I think I learned what it means to play one game at a time,'' he said. ``Do I hope I score 40? Sure, but I'm not aiming for that. This is the first time I'm scoring big in plus-minus. I want to keep that going. But what I want more than anything is to stay healthy and just keep working. I've got good skills, but I can't take a night off. I had enough of those last year.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Dominic Maltais, back after breaking a wrist Feb. 16, is the
Admirals' top scorer.