ROANOKE TIMES

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

DATE: FRIDAY, March 25, 1994                   TAG: 9403250186
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium


WILL RALEIGH BE EXPRESS' LAST STOP?

When his hockey team lost six of seven games in November, Roanoke Express president John Gagnon summoned a Catholic priest to the Roanoke Civic Center, in hopes that divine intervention might turn the club in the right direction.

Considering the mountain it faces this weekend in Raleigh, N.C., the Express might want to call on Pope John Paul II.

After a 5-2 loss to Raleigh in Game 1 on Wednesday in Roanoke, the Express must win tonight and Saturday at Dorton Arena in a best-of-three first-round East Coast Hockey League playoff series.

"There's no tomorrow now," said Roanoke forward Jeff Jestadt. "We either win in Raleigh in Game 2 or the season is over. It's not impossible. We've beat 'em there before [3-2 on Nov. 12]. We have to go into Raleigh and just take it to 'em."

Once simply to stay alive; twice to win the series. In a building where Raleigh hasn't lost since Jan. 28.

"All you can do now is take it one shift at a time," said coach Frank Anzalone, who realizes the Herculean task his Express faces.

"To beat Raleigh, we have to have a good game plan that needs to be exquisitely executed, our goaltending has to be great and we can't make any mistakes," he said. "If we do all that, we have a chance.

"We're not saying the series is over. They were just a bigger, better team in Game 1. Whether we can offset that, I'm not sure, but we're going to try."

The Express will have to find a way to slow the quick-skating IceCaps, whose roster is loaded with six players under contract to National Hockey League clubs. Roanoke has only goalie Dan Ryder under NHL contract.

"We're going to have to take the body more, hit 'em, play a clutch-and-grab game," said Express defenseman Kyle Galloway. "We've got to do something to slow them down. They make the transition so fast after a turnover. By the time a defenseman can get stopped and start the other way, those guys have blown right by you if you're not careful."

Galloway, who got burned by Raleigh's Steve Mirabile for the key goal in Game 1, said Roanoke isn't ready to trade sticks - hockey for golf - yet.

"Raleigh came in here and spoiled our party. Now we want to turn around and spoil theirs," he said. "We want to continue what we've started here. Sure, Raleigh has a load of talent, but I think we can play with them."

The Express didn't show it in Game 1. The IceCaps outshot Roanoke 48-19 and shut down the Express' top scoring threats, limiting Jestadt, Tony Szabo, Pat Ferschweiler and Oleg Yashin to one shot on goal apiece. It took some great work by goaltender Paul Cohen to keep the score as close as it was.

The IceCaps, who have won 10 of their past 11 games, will have their shovels out tonight. They want to bury the Express as quickly as possible and grab some much-needed rest for the second round of the playoffs.

"We'd like to have a three- or four-day break before we get into our next series, so we're going to do everything we can to win [Game 2]," said Kurt Kleinendorst, Raleigh's coach. "But Roanoke is going to be like a cornered cat. They're going to come in and throw everything they've got at us. We'd better be ready for it."

The Ice Caps, who have won 11 in a row at home, lost back-to-back home games once during the regular season - Dec. 11 to Toledo and Dec. 14 to Richmond.

"Hey, stranger things have happened," Galloway said.

\ WHERE WAS EVERYBODY?: Express management had to be dumbfounded at Wednesday's crowd of 3,624. Only 24 hours earlier, the Express had drawn 5,214 for a meaningless regular-season finale with woeful Huntington.

Sure, playoff ticket prices were hiked $1, but it's hard to believe the club's first postseason game would attract 1,029 fewer spectators than the regular-season average of 4,653. And with the Express facing powerful Raleigh, fans had to know it might be the final home game of the season.

"The fan turnout was a little disappointing," Galloway said. "We [the players] figured there would be a few more people."

The players had a keen interest in the attendance figure, since they each get a share of the extra $1 per ticket.

\ GAGNON PIPELINE: Gagnon will spare no expense when it comes to keeping track of the Express.

During a long-planned trip to Mexico City on Wednesday afternoon, Gagnon called from the Houston airport and asked the club to request WLNI-FM in Lynchburg to set up a special link so he could listen to the broadcast of Game 1 via phone in Mexico.

\ FINAL NUMBERS: Express forward Tony Szabo, chosen the club's Most Valuable Player by the Roanoke Express Booster Club, finished seventh in the ECHL scoring race with 96 points. . . . Jeff Jestadt's empty-net goal with 29 seconds left against Huntington enabled him to nip Szabo for the team lead in goals, 43-42. . . . Cohen gave up three or fewer goals in 10 of his final 13 appearances to finish seventh among ECHL goaltenders in goals-against average (3.54). Cohen won his final four decisions to finish with a 10-7-2 record. His two shutouts led the league.



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