Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 27, 1992 TAG: 9203270092
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
After spending Thursday at home trying to regroup from two straight losses to Greensboro and an unnerving motel-room robbery, the Rebels will attempt to steal Game 5 tonight in the two clubs' wild first-round East Coast Hockey League playoff series.
Game time is 7:30 at the Greensboro Coliseum.
The best-of-seven series, tied at two games apiece, has been boiled down to a best-of-three, with the heavily favored Monarchs still holding home-ice advantage.
If the underdog Rebels are going to pull off the mammoth upset, they will have to win at least one game at the Greensboro Coliseum.
Roanoke Valley's assignment is an unenviable one. Counting their 5-2 and 5-1 wins in the Games 3 and 4, the Monarchs are 28-4-2 at home. Meanwhile, the Rebels have won only six times in 34 road games this season. They are 0-6 in Greensboro, being outscored 32-13.
Tonight's winner will have an opportunity to sew up the series in Saturday night's Game 6 at the Vinton LancerLot. A seventh game, if necessary, will be played Tuesday night in Greensboro.
\ When it comes to dealing with the media, head coaches and players from both teams have been less than cooperative.
After Wednesday's Game 5 loss, Rebels coach Roy Sommer refused to comment to reporters from Roanoke and Greensboro. A "No Press Allowed" sign was pasted on the Rebels' locker-room door.
Sommer, perturbed by two losses and a motel-room hold-up of players Dan Bouchard and Ken Moran by three robbers, indicated he was upset by a headline and wording in a game story in Wednesday's Roanoke Times & World News.
Greensboro coach Jeff Brubaker also decided to dodge the media Thursday, making a quick U-turn and exit when approached by the hockey reporter for the Greensboro Daily News & Record.
Each team's coaches and players have been hesitant to talk to reporters, in fear of supplying bulletin-board fodder for the other team.
"Whatever happened to the day when somebody beat somebody and then told the world about it?" one writer mumbled after Game 5.
\ Entering Thursday's action, league attendance numbers are taking a playoff pounding.
Roanoke Valley, surprisingly, is one of only two playoff participants whose average playoff draw has topped its regular-season average. The Rebels averaged 2,060 for their two home playoff games, seven more than in the regular season. Erie was the other, drawing an average of 3,665 for two playoff games, up 194 from the regular season.
Elsewhere, the turnstile averages are way down. Richmond is down 3,472; Raleigh, 2,035; Greensboro, 1,822; Hampton Roads, 1,268; Cincinnati, 1,158; Johnstown, 797; and Toledo, 168.
Then there's Winston-Salem. The Thunderbirds drew 2,395 - for three games, not one - against Richmond, including 692 for Wednesday's series-deciding Game 5.
\ ICE CHIPS: Besides Mike James' play in net, the biggest reason the Rebels are hanging tough has been special-teams' play. Seven of Roanoke Valley's 10 goals in the series have come via the power play. Meanwhile, the Rebels' penalty-killers virtually have shut down the ECHL's No. 1 power play, yielding only three goals in 25 short-handed situations. . . . The low-scoring series has been dominated by goaltending. James owned the first two games, allowing two goals, while counterpart Nick Vitucci took over in games 3 and 4, permitting only three goals. . . . Despite not scoring a goal, Rebels center Peter Kasowski is the series' leading scorer with seven points. The Rebels' Mark Woolf and Corey Lyons have three goals each. All three of Lyons' goals have come on the power play. . . . Greensboro forward Gord Cruickshank is the series' top goal-scorer with four.
by CNB