Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 21, 1993 TAG: 9311200215
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Roanoke Express must have gotten held up in the snarl.
Before a franchise-record 5,279 fans, the Express showed up late and it cost the home team dearly in a 7-4 loss to the South Carolina Stingrays.
Despite outplaying the Stingrays for most of the final 40 minutes, the Express couldn't overcome a first period that ended with South Carolina leading 5-1.
"You can't give up five goals in the first period and win in this league," said Roanoke forward Jeff Jestadt, who scored two goals. "We've got to learn to play 60 minutes, not 40, not 20."
The Stingrays (7-3-1) conducted a veritable skating drill in the first period, racing down the the ice on repeated three-on-one breaks as Express defenders time and time again were caught out of position.
Goalie Jim Mill, making his Roanoke debut, got caught in the avalanche, getting beat on three of the first four shots he faced. Mill settled down somewhat after the first period, but by then it was too late.
"No excuses," Mill said. "I don't care if it was my first game in one year or two years. I definitely didn't do my job tonight. It's not exactly the way I planned my first game here."
After skating off the ice for the first intermission to a cascade of boos - "that's not easy to take in your home building," Jestadt said - the Express woke up.
Jestadt's first goal - a rebound of Pat Ferschweiler's shot - made it 5-2.
Roanoke (5-9) continued to apply the pressure in the third period, closing to 5-4 in the first 2 minutes, 11 seconds on goals by Jestadt and Tony Szabo.
With the crowd suddenly rocking, the Express appeared to be primed for the biggest comeback in its brief history. But South Carolina's Ken Thibodeau quieted the fans with 10:46 left, when he skated around Roanoke defenseman Michael Smith and beat Mill with a high shot.
"The team had worked its can off to get back and then I let it down," Mill said. "[Thibodeau] cut in and I went down too early. I'm supposed to make that save. That's why I'm here."
With his club down 6-4 and not getting any penetration or shots, Roanoke coach Frank Anzalone decided to roll the dice, replacing Mill with an extra attacker with 4:20 left.
The gamble backfired 80 seconds later, when Thibodeau banged in an empty-net goal from the Roanoke blue line off an Express defender.
"We hadn't had a shot in about seven minutes, so I thought we had to take the chance," Anzalone said. "You take chances and you're either a hero or a goat. Tonight I was a goat.
"The key goal was South Carolina's sixth one. That was the killer."
Anzalone, whose club has lost three in a row at home and eight of its past 10 overall, said he and his players will have to pick up the pieces. The next chance comes tonight, when Nashville visits the civic center at 7:30.
"We're in a funk right now," Anzalone said. "Oleg [Yashin] hasn't scored in five games. Lev [Berdichevsky] hasn't played in five games. And Szabo should have 14 goals and he's lucky to have five.
"When we play poorly, it seems to start in our net. With the size we have, we have to play sort of a European style and our defense has to be awfully solid.
"I'm not happy with what's happening. No question it's awful to lose at home. We're a little down, but the point must be made that we're not the old Roanoke team that sits back, says, `We're awful,' and that's it. We're not losers. I just hope the fans stay with us."
Szabo summed up the feeling inside the quiet Express locker room.
"No one is happy. The management, the coach, the players," he said. "Somehow, we're going to have to shake it off and simply work harder."
\ ICE CHIPS: Ferschweiler had another big game, picking up three assists. . . . Dave "Moose" Morissette scored Roanoke's first goal, his fourth, but saw his ECHL-leading streak of consecutive games with penalty minutes end at 11. . . . Thibodeau led the Stingrays with three goals. Jason Winch added two for South Carolina. . . . Berdichevsky, the Express' leading goal-scorer (10), was scratched from the lineup again because of an injury to the palm of his right hand.
by CNB