ECHL targets Sharks for violations April 14, 1999

The Tiger Sharks are under investigation for possible salary-cap violations.

By John Nogowski and Jack Corcoran
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITERS

After a turbulent and disappointing season, the Tallahassee Tiger Sharks found out Tuesday that the East Coast Hockey League is investigating the team for -- of all things -- salary-cap violations.

"I'm thunder-struck," Tiger Sharks co-owner Dave Elmore said. "I just talked to (ECHL president) Rick Adams, and we're going to have a hearing on this. I am just absolutely stunned. This is very upsetting. It's always been a source of pride for us because we didn't do it."

Elmore said the hearing likely would be "within a week to 10 days." The ECHL office, he said, had requested all the team's payroll records and check registers.

Joe Sloboda, who resigned as Tiger Sharks general manager late in the season, said Tuesday that the team was turned into league president Adams under the ECHL's new whistle-blower program.

Sloboda said Adams asked him to comment on the allegations during the final weekend of the regular season. "And I told him I did not" have anything to add, Sloboda said. "Somebody had blown the whistle."

Tiger Sharks coach Jeff Brubaker said late Tuesday: "I'm just starting to hear about this, and I'm not going to comment until I know what this is all about. I haven't even talked to the league yet."

Brubaker, who last summer signed a two-year contract as Terry Christensen's successor, had spoken out strongly throughout the season against teams violating the league's salary cap.

"I'm like Ken Starr right now," Brubaker said on Jan. 24, after learning that Louisiana players Eric Cloutier and Mark DeSantis had refused to report to Tallahassee. "I'm going to get all the facts before I make my referral. . . . We dealt in good faith with both of these organizations (Louisiana and Pensacola), and we've gotten nothing but lies and misrepresentations."

Brubaker also was candid in a March 21 report in the Democrat that discussed salary-cap violations by other ECHL franchises, such as Louisiana and Pensacola, and explained how high and illegal salaries may have caused the refusal of some traded players to report to Tallahassee this season.

Notified of the league's investigation of the Tiger Sharks, Pensacola coach Al Pedersen laughed.

"All I know is, don't get involved," Pedersen said. "Money is evil."

Adams, the league president, on Tuesday confirmed that the ECHL is investigating Tallahassee. It is the first time the league has ever made public any information about teams under investigation.

It is not clear whether the suspected violations happened during this season.

The league could fine the Tiger Sharks as much as $50,000 for salary-cap violations. Three ECHL teams -- Louisiana, South Carolina and Pensacola -- have been fined that much for similar violations.

Clearly, that's money that team owner Elmore doesn't want to shell out.

"I remember Terry (Christensen) and I talked about (violating the cap), and I recall him saying, `You'd fire me if I did that,' " Elmore said. "I don't want to pronounce us guilty until we get all the facts, but the fact that we're going to have a hearing, well, you have to have something to have a hearing about."

Christensen, now coach of the Miami Matadors, coached the Tiger Sharks from 1994-95 to 1997-98. He said he was not concerned about any possible violations dating back to his years as coach and that he was surprised at the news.

"I have no idea what went on up there this year," Christensen said. "I think that Jeff Brubaker is a good hockey man, and everything will come out in the wash. I can't see Jeff doing something like that."

It is not known what salary-cap violations the league might be looking into.

Elmore said Adams indicated that there are two types of violations. The most serious is blatant disregard for the salary cap in the form of repeated and hefty under-the-table payments.

The less serious is one in which the team was merely "technically" over the cap -- that is, the ECHL's problem isn't as much with the amount of money as how the money was distributed. For example, if the Tiger Sharks paid players more than their regular weekly pay allotment once or twice, that would not be as serious as long as the total of all those payments did not exceed the team's allotted $198,000 for the season.

The ECHL allows teams a weekly salary cap of $8,250 for the 24-week ECHL season.

Just this season, the ECHL instituted the whistle-blower program, which encourages players or coaches with knowledge of a team's salary-cap violations to contact the ECHL office. An informant can receive cash rewards for information.

Brubaker traded or waived a number of players during the season. There is speculation that a spurned player or two might have contacted the ECHL about Tallahassee.

"All I hear is rumors. Lots of rumors," Pensacola's Pedersen said. "Why Tallahassee? Guys weren't getting paid (money they were promised), that's why."

To that, Brubaker said: "I have no comment -- at the moment."

Brubaker said he would be surprised if the ECHL office was notified by a disgruntled player.

"Look, I got traded seven times in 11 years," he said. "If I was going to be bitter every time that happened, I would have had to have had a grudge against half the teams in hockey.

"What you do when you leave, no matter how bitter you are, you leave with some class. Because when you get right down to it, the team paid you, a grown man, the team gave you an opportunity to make a living in a boy's game."

The Tiger Sharks finished 27-34-9 this season and missed the ECHL playoffs for the second straight season.

"They seemed to be in a free fall," Elmore said.

Despite that, he said, no consideration had been given to replacing Brubaker as Tiger Sharks head coach.

"You can't just blame the coach for a bad season," Elmore said. "He's had a good track record in the ECHL."

Posted at 12:59 a.m. EDT, Wednesday, April 14, 1999