Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 16, 1993 TAG: 9301160240
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
RAMPAGE FALLS AGAIN
The East Coast Hockey League's answer to the Titanic continues its depth charge.Adding another chapter to the longest futility run by a team in the ECHL's five-year history, the Roanoke Valley Rampage sank to its 12th straight defeat Friday night at the LancerLot, losing 8-5 to the Wheeling Thunderbirds.
Wheeling's potent No. 1 line of Darren Schwartz, Devin Edgerton and Robert Guillet combined for six goals and seven assists as the T-Birds (23-11-4) dealt the Rampage (10-27-1) its 22nd loss in 26 games.
Wheeling vs. the Reeling was a much better matchup than it figured to be. Despite playing four men short because of injuries and cuts, the Rampage pushed the Eastern Division leaders to the limit before bowing.
It was 6-5 until Wheeling scored twice in the final 5:21. Wheeling's seventh goal, which ended any Roanoke Valley upset hopes, came when Guillet's 10-foot shot deflected off the stick of Rampage defenseman Trevor Smith past goalie Todd Chin. If any play accurately depicted the Rampage's season, it was this one.
"[Guillet] almost whiffed it," Chin said. "The puck was going so slow that Trevor reached back to grab it with his stick. Right as I moved, he moved and it went in."
Guillet scored again on the power play 2:51 later to provide the final margin.
"Give Roanoke credit," Wheeling coach Doug Sauter said. "That was a gutsy effort with 11 skaters."
The Rampage was left short-handed by injuries to defenseman Kent Anderson and forward Ron Jones and Friday afternoon's cuts of leading scorer Craig Endean and defenseman Devin Derksen.
Roanoke Valley coach Steve Gatzos said after the game that Endean and Derksen had played their final games in Roanoke. Endean's 51 points in 37 games led the team. Derksen had eight points and 91 penalty minutes.
"Right now I'm in the process of trading both of them," Gatzos said. "There are a lot of problems here. I'm not pinning all our problems on those two guys, but you can say I certainly wasn't happy with their attitudes in the dressing room and off the ice."
When asked how he could afford to cut his slumping club's leading scorer, Gatzos reached for the statistics sheet.
"OK, Endean has scored 51 points," he said. "That means he's been on the ice for 51 goals. Well, look, his plus-minus is minus-35. That means 86 [goals] have gone in the net when he's on the ice."
Gatzos said if he couldn't make a deal for the two players that they would be released outright.
"If we have to play with 11 again [today], we'll do it," Gatzos said. "Those guys out there tonight put in a hell of an effort. It's not easy playing with four defensemen, one who is a forward, and only two lines."
Gatzos has had trouble swinging any deals simply because nobody in the ECHL wants to come to Vinton and play for a loser.
"I trade for guys and they don't report," he said. "I sent one guy a plane ticket yesterday and he was supposed to be here. He didn't show up."
In his office after the game, Gatzos received a call from Columbus defenseman Dennis Skapski, who said he would drive all night and be ready to play tonight. Skapski and another yet undetermined Columbus player are coming to Roanoke Valley in exchange for the Rampage's ECHL rights to Mark Woolf, Roanoke Valley's leading scorer last season who is toiling in the Colonial League.
\ ICE CHIPS: Russian-born Andraei Kovalev had his best game with the Rampage, scoring his first ECHL hat trick. Dean Dorchak, who scored a franchise-record five goals early in the season, and Joe Dragon are the only other Roanoke Valley players with hat tricks. . . . Dorchak scored his club-high 24th goal and center Scott Burfoot netted his 23rd. . . . The loss was Roanoke Valley's fifth straight at home. . . . Wheeling has outscored the Rampage 45-18, winning five of six meetings. . . . The Dayton Bombers, under former Roanoke Valley coach Claude Noel, make their only visit to the LancerLot tonight.
\ see microfilm for box score