Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 20, 1993 TAG: 9310200230
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Before a crowd of 3,576 at the Roanoke Civic Center, the expansion Express embarked on its 1993-94 East Coast Hockey League run with a 5-4 overtime victory over the South Carolina Stingrays.
Rookie right wing Gerry Daley punched in defenseman Michael Smith's long drive off the pads of Stingrays goalie Francis Ouellette for the game-winning goal with 24 seconds left in overtime.
"There was a bit of a confrontation in front of the net," said Daley, describing the setup. "I had been knocked down, so I got back up and tried to lull [Ouellette] into a false sense of security.
"Smith took the long drive, the puck hit Ouellette and then some part of my body. The puck was just lying there and I knocked it in. That's the kind of easy goal you dream about."
Daley's goal capped a rousing comeback that saw Roanoke wipe out a 3-0 South Carolina lead.
"We were a little frustrated early," Daley said. "It was opening night, there was a good crowd and I think we had some jitters. But when you can get behind like that and still win, it makes it sweet."
The Express must have been lugging a brakeman or two early. After the Express players were introduced while skating through a cloud of smoke, they proceeded to play the first period as if they still were in a fog.
Rick Vaive's club took advantage, building a 2-0 lead in the first 11 minutes, 55 seconds on a pair of cheap goals.
South Carolina's Andrei Yakovenkogot a gift goal 1:43 into the game. Yakovenko fired a 15-foot wrist shot at Express goalie Dan Ryder, who got his glove on the puck and then proceeded to flip it over his left shoulder into the net.
The Stingrays made it 2-0 when Ken Thibodeau circled the net and jammed the puck past Ryder, who was late covering the left post on a wrap-around shot.
The Express, which had blown an 85-second, five-on-three power play in the first period, squandered another two-man advantage early in the second.
The situation grew dimmer a few minutes later when Ryder strayed 20 feet from the net to smother the puck in a delayed-penalty situation, only to see it poked away and into the wide-open goal by South Carolina's Sylvain Fleury.
Down 3-0, the Express got its wakeup call three minutes later. It came courtesy of captain Dave "Moose" Morissette, who took a beautiful breakout pass from Tony Szabo and ripped a 40-footer on the fly off Ouellette's shin pads and into the net.
"Big Moose got us going," said Frank Anzalone, Roanoke's coach. "That's what captains are for."
Morissette, known more for his muscle than his scoring ability, was revved up about his red-lighter.
"I scored that goal - I don't know how - and I told the guys we can get three more and win this thing," he said. "I think this kind of comeback shows just what kind of team we have. We may be a first-year team, but we're not going to play like it, believe me."
Ouellette, a first-team ECHL All-Star last season with Wheeling, kept the steaming Express at bay with one good save after another for the next eight minutes.
But Roanoke got even in the final 2:25 of the period, picking up power-play goals from Russians Oleg Yashin and Ilja Dubkov.Roanoke took its first lead, 4-3, at 2:08 of the third period on Conrad Thomas' point-blank deflection of defenseman Kyle Galloway's drive from just inside the blue line.
The lead was short-lived; South Carolina tied it 2:47 later on Thibodeau's power-play score.
In overtime, South Carolina spent the first 2 1/2 minutes in the Roanoke end. Finally, Roanoke got the puck to the other end, where Daley provided his late heroics.
\ ICE CHIPS: The Express played with only eight forwards for the final two periods after Russian forward Lev Berdichevsky was hit, aggravating a deep thigh bruise. Berdichevsky could be out for as long as two weeks, Anzalone said. . . . Anzalone was forced to tell left wing Jeff Jestadt right before game time that he couldn't suit up as the Express' 17th man. After league coaches voted overwhelmingly Monday in favor of dressing 17 players instead of 16, the ruling was overturned Tuesday when Hampton Roads filed a protest. Blake Cullen, the Admirals' general manager, contended such a rule change can only be passed by the ECHL's board of governors. . . . The Express hosts Richmond at 7:30 p.m. Friday. \
see microfilm for box score
by CNB