
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, December 24, 1993                   TAG: 9312240166
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-10   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: Staff report
DATELINE: NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C.                                LENGTH: Short

EXPRESS STILL HOT

Jeff Jestadt scored two goals, including his league-leading fourth short-handed, to spark the Roanoke Express to a 5-2 victory over the South Carolina Stingrays Thursday night at the North Charleston Coliseum.

Roanoke (14-13-1) broke a four-game winless streak on the road and crossed the .500 mark for the first time since the season's fifth game.

Stingrays goaltender Francis Ouelette, the ECHL player of the week, frustrated the Express throughout, stopping four consecutive breakaways at one point and six overall, as Roanoke matched its team record with 54 shots on goal.

The Express banged home three goals in the third period to break a 2-2 tie, beginning with Lev Berdichevsky taking Roger Larche's feed from behind the net and swatting home his team leading 18th of the season, and third in three games, at the 7:43 mark for a 3-2 lead.

Stingrays defenseman Brad Pascall coughed the puck up to Larche three minutes later, and he wasted no time in beating Ouelette from the low slot for his fifth goal of the season to pad the lead to two goals at 4-2.

Jestadt scored only the Express' second empty net goal of the season at 19:21 with Ouelette pulled in favor of a sixth attacker.

South Carolina's four-game winning streak was snapped. The Stingrays (14-11-3) remain two points ahead of the Express for fifth place in the East Division.

Roanoke continues its three-game road swing with a 1 p.m. matinee Sunday in Richmond.

Keywords:
HOCKEY

by CNB