DATE: Friday, November 14, 1997             TAG: 9711140898

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   79 lines

``KILLER'' IS BACK, AND OPPONENTS HAD BEST BEWARE

Rick Kowalsky finished the body check with gusto, slamming Charlotte defenseman Justin Gould into the boards with such force it drew a roar of applause from the Scope crowd.

Before turning to skate away, Kowalsky raised his glove and landed a quick jab on Gould's nose.

It was vintage Kowalsky: chippy, emotional, take-no-prisoners hockey, the kind Hampton Roads Admirals fans saw little of from Kowalsky last season.

An ECHL All-Star three years ago, Kowalsky split last season between the Admirals and Portland of the AHL. His numbers were the worst in his three seasons in Hampton Roads: 14 goals and 26 assists in 54 games.

``I didn't play with passion, I went through the motions,'' Kowalsky said. ``I was determined this season that I was going to play like I know I can play. I wanted to score more. I wanted to have fun again.''

Kowalsky is again scoring and having fun for the Admirals (6-2-1), who host Roanoke tonight at Scope. The 6-foot-1 right wing has eight points, including two game-winning goals. He leads the team with 39 penalty minutes.

``Confidence for a hockey player is so important, and I think I lost my confidence down here last year. I was frustrated,'' said Kowalsky, a native of Simcoe, Ontario, whose Sault Ste. Marie Ontario Hockey League team won Canada's junior championship in 1990-91.

Kowalsky, 25, was frustrated because he thought he'd won a spot on Portland's roster last season, when he had 15 points in 22 games. A tenacious penalty killer, Kowalsky moved up to Portland's third line.

``He showed he was good enough to play there,'' Admirals coach John Brophy said. ``But then some guys got healthy and he was sent back here'' with six games left in the regular season.

The bottom line: Portland saved money by sending Kowalsky back to Norfolk. The players who recovered from injuries have contracts that guarantee them AHL salaries. Kowalsky had a two-way contract that obligated Portland to pay him an AHL salary only when he was with Portland.

Over the summer he told Portland coach Barry Trotz to sign him to a one-way contract or not sign him at all. Trotz agreed, saying he'd get a contract to Kowalsky within a few weeks.

But a week later, Trotz was named head coach of Nashville's NHL expansion team, and the offer was gone.

``Nobody was left in Portland who really knew me,'' he said. ``I was in no-man's land. It was like I was a rookie again.''

He eventually signed a two-way agreement again, and after being cut by Portland, he said he was determined to make amends in Norfolk.

``There were times in the third period last year when I would just think to myself, `This really sucks,' '' Kowalsky said. ``I hated it.

``I decided I was just going to play and have fun and win as an Admiral. I knew this team was going to be good again, that we had a chance to win a championship. That was probably the major reason I signed again.''

Kowalsky, whose father is mayor of Simcoe, goes by the nickname ``Killer,'' one he came by honestly. Though friends often used the nickname playfully because of former wrestling star Killer Kowalsky, it didn't stick until he tried out for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.

Another player, hoping to prove he was tougher than Kowalsky, dropped his gloves during practice.

``He'd planned to fight me and had his helmet on, with the chinstrap all tight and (the face mask) over his face,'' Kowalsky said. ``He got my helmet off.

``I just started pounding him. The visor popped off and the helmet landed in my hand. I kind of lost it and started beating him with the helmet.''

Teammates had to wrest the helmet from Kowalsky's hand to save the unfortunate player. Ever since, Kowalsky has been known as ``Killer.''

``I'm not a heavyweight. That's not my game,'' he said. ``But when you play with passion, when your adrenalin gets going, it's so much more fun to play the game, so much easier to get into conflicts with guys.''

Just ask Charlotte's Gould. ILLUSTRATION: L. TODD SPENCER/file color photo

Rick Kowalsky, right, has been an unstoppable force, with two

game-winning goals already this season.

HUY NGUYEN/File photo

``When you play with passion, when your adrenalin gets going, it's

so much more fun to play the game,'' the Admirals' Rick Kowalsky

says.

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