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If professional hockey returns to Baltimore next season, it might be without Tom Ebright.The Skipjacks owner, who will move his American Hockey League franchise to Portland, Maine, after this season, has agreed to step aside as the Baltimore Hockey Advocates explore other ownership options for an East Coast Hockey League team here, members of the advocates said yesterday.Ebright's credibility with local fans became an issue with the advocates when he signed a lease last Friday to relocate the team -- exactly five weeks after he announced plans to stay in Baltimore.

Baseball ANGELS: Agreed to terms with IF-OF Clay Bellinger and P Donne Wall on minor-league contracts. CARDINALS: Agreed to terms on minor-league contract with P Jaime Navarro and assigned him to Triple-A Memphis. DEVIL RAYS: Agreed to terms with P Jesus Colome, P Travis Phelps and P Ryan Rupe on one-year contracts. INDIANS: Signed IF Mike Lansing to minor-league contract. PADRES: Agreed to terms with former Orioles OF Pete Incaviglia on minor-league contract. RED SOX: Agreed to terms on minor-league contract with IF Tom Hage.

Tom Ebright says he isn't going to hold any grudges.Asked by the Baltimore Hockey Advocates last week to step aside in the bid to bring an East Coast Hockey League team here next season, the Skipjacks owner said he still will try to promote the cause."

The Skipjacks' first road victory in their current 10-game swing through Canada's Maritime Provinces took a week, but the team has been seeing signs of life for three games.Last night in Moncton, New Brunswick, the Jacks defeated the Hawks, 5-1, behind a pair of goals from Steve Seftel and strong goaltending from rookie Olaf Kolzig."We've been working hard in every game and we finally got rewarded," said Jacks coach Robbie Laird, whose club is 1-3-1 on the trip. "Three of the games could have gone either way but last night we had the hot goalie and that was the difference."

Skipjacks owner Tom Ebright told the Portland (Maine) Press Herald Sunday night he is negotiating with officials there about moving his American Hockey League team to that port city.If negotiations are successful, the Skipjacks would play in the 6,726-seat Cumberland County Civic Center next season.Ebright was unavailable for comment yesterday. He was scheduled to fly to Detroit and then to Portland, Ore., on business for Quest Advisory, a New York investment firm of which he is vice president.

Negotiations to replace the departing Skipjacks have reached an impasse, placing the future of professional hockey in Baltimore in jeopardy once again.Whether Baltimore retains hockey next season could come down to three issues: Does Centre Management want hockey in the Baltimore Arena? Will Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke use his political muscle to assist in the effort? And will the Washington Capitals give their blessing to a new team in the area?Ed Anderson, would-be owner of an East Coast Hockey League team, and Gary Handleman, vice president for facilities at Centre Management, have been unable to reach a lease agreement for the Baltimore Arena in negotiations that began March 30.Now, time is running out on Anderson and the Baltimore Hockey Advocates, a group of local businessmen trying to keep hockey here.

The East Coast Hockey League, once considered the lowest of the U.S. minor hockey leagues, has been growing steadily the past five years under Pat Kelly, the league commissioner.The ECHL has as many teams as the well-established American Hockey League (15) and five more than the International Hockey League. Two of its teams, the Cincinnati Cyclones and Hampton Roads Admirals, have the best attendance in minor-league hockey. Cincinnati, with former Baltimore Skipjacks radio broadcaster Terry Ficorelli as general manager, is averaging nearly 10,000 customers to the Cincinnati Gardens.

Centre Management, the arm of Abe Pollin's sporting empire that manages several arenas along the East Coast, isn't sure Baltimore wants to buy the product Tom Ebright is selling.That product is an East Coast Hockey League team in a town on the brink of losing its American Hockey League Skipjacks.And when Ebright, the Skipjacks owner, began negotiations this week on a lease at the Baltimore Arena for his would-be ECHL team, he was in for a surprise."There seems to be some resistance on the part of Centre Management to have the Coast League team in the building, in that we have made a money proposal to them that's better financially than the existing contract," Ebright said.

In the space of 12 months, Trevor Halverson has progressed from an AHL rookie who was unsure of himself to a Skipjacks leader.A native of Ontario and then barely 20 years old, Halverson came to the Skipjacks last season out of junior hockey in Canada and was shocked that he had so much to learn."