Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 9, 1994 TAG: 9403090090
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
While a sense of concern has slashed the finish of the first season for the East Coast Hockey League franchise, the Express' playoff hopes surely aren't on thin ice yet.
Even if that were so, that's preferable to being on no ice at all - and that certainly has played no small part in the recent meltdown of an expansion club that's been far more successful than anyone could have expected.
One of the smallest crowds of the Express' season saw Birmingham's first civic center visit Tuesday. No one in the arena had to be reminded that any combination of Roanoke success or Richmond failure equaling 10 points would clinch a playoff spot for the Express.
The players know that, too, even without reading it when they drive past their arena on I-581.
"I don't like seeing it on the building," admitted coach Frank Anzalone of the countdown. "We're as anxious to get it as anyone else. And I'm probably more anxious than any or our players or fans."
That's because Anzalone, as legitimate a candidate for ECHL coach of the year as any other bench-backer in the 19-team league, has never reached the playoffs as a pro coach.
He's coached a high school state champion and an NCAA Division I title team in 1988 at Lake Superior State. However, at Newmarket of the AHL and at Nashville in this league, he's lost crucial performers to trades and callups to melt playoff bids.
You have to wonder if more than the French-Canadians among the Express' management and players are having a sense of deja vu.
The loss last month of Russian star Lev Berdichevsky to the AHL took scoring steam out of the Express. Not only was it a loan the club couldn't afford. It's paying a penalty, too.
Today, goalie Dan Ryder is goin' to Kansas City, leaving the Express with no farmhands from their NHL parent club, San Jose. The toothless affiliation with the Sharks has produced little more than a ticket-selling preseason news conference.
Last weekend, Wheeling rolled into the civic center with seven NHL contract players from Montreal and Edmonton. Raleigh got slump-stopping Christmas gifts from New Jersey and Hartford.
Besides an NHL deal that will yield more than nice lapel pins, what the Express needs to remain a legitimate competitor in a growing league is consistent practice.
It's fun to play at the YMCA, but left wingers should be skating and not shooting hoops. Driving two hours or more for ice is rinky-dink for what otherwise is a first-class operation.
The civic center has given the Express as much ice time as possible, particularly on the short notice that the new franchise could give. The only other ECHL club without a regular practice facility is Richmond, and the Renegades are building one.
There apparently is hope where hockey once died. The Valley Youth Hockey Association and the Express are considering a lease arrangement or purchase of the Lancerlot rink in Vinton. An aluminum shell for the roofless rink would cost about $200,000. Or, a spartan facility could be built elsewhere for about $500,000.
The growing popularity of youth hockey and potential public-skating dollars could make that feasible. It's more than that for the Express. It's a necessity if Roanoke is to be a playoff regular in the ECHL.
Considering the Roanoke Valley's recent hockey reputation as frozen pond scum, reaching the playoffs with an expansion team in the ECHL's most competitive division would be a triumph.
However, it's not that tough to keep playing after the regular season, because 84 percent of the ECHL teams - 16 of 19 - will do it.
The Express has six games remaining, including two at home the next two Tuesdays. Roanoke, which stands 12th in the league in winning percentage, is 10-4-1 against the remaining foes.
Richmond has three games in hand, but even if the Renegades tie Roanoke in the standings, the Express plays on because it has won six of nine in the head-to-head series.
"We set up a pattern of success in January (22-11-2 after a 5-9 start)," Anzalone said. "Lately, we've been in the kind of slump an expansion team usually has in November.
"We are an expansion team, but making the playoffs is kind of the line that says you've had a successful season. It's that way everywhere."
It's nothing new for a Roanoke hockey club to have its days numbered. Most of those just haven't been good enough to have it done facing a six-lane highway.
by CNB