Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 5, 1994 TAG: 9402050211
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Staff report
DATELINE: HUNTINGTON, W.VA. LENGTH: Medium
Cohen became the first goaltender in the league's six-year history to post back-to-back shutouts as the Express ripped the Huntington Blizzard 8-0 at the Huntington Civic Center.
Cohen, a 25-year-old veteran picked up from the Colonial League by the Express in mid-January, shut out Huntsville 1-0 in Roanoke on Tuesday. That was the first shutout for the expansion Express.
Cohen, who turned aside 29 Blizzard shots, joins eight other goalies in ECHL history to record multiple shutouts in one season.
The victory enabled Roanoke (26-20-2) to leapfrog past Charlotte (25-19-3) and South Carolina (24-17-5) into fourth place in the ECHL East. Roanoke has 54 points, compared to 53 for Charlotte and South Carolina.
The Express threw 44 shots at former Roanoke goalie Jim Mill in scoring their fifth road win in seven games.
Tony Szabo extended his points streak to 11 games, four shy of his team record, at the 3-minute, 45-second mark of the first period, splitting two Blizzard defenders and banging his own rebound past Mill for his 28th goal of the season.
Lev Berdichevsky, who hadn't scored a goal in the past four games, changed that midway through the first period, backhanding home a goal-mouth scramble after Ilja Dubkov had lofted the puck into the crease from behind the net.
Dubkov scored just over a minute later, dancing out from behind the net to Mill's right and sliding a backhander past him on his glove side for his 17th goal of the season, making it 3-0.
Jeff Jestadt, who like Berdichevsky had a four-point night, knocked down a shin high pass from his new Russian winger, and spun around a 10-foot wrist shot to Mill's right for his 25th goal at 4:25 of the second period.
With Huntington defender Mark Velucci off for holding, Berdichevsky continued his offensive explosion. Cirling the Blizzard defense almost tauntingly, Berdichevsky outmaneuvered four Blizzard penalty killers and walked out alone in the low slot, beating a frustrated Mill to make it 5-0.
Roanoke tacked on three more goals in the third period. Trevor Burgess scored on a rebound past Mill early in the third to make it 6-0. Burgess has scored at least one point in all five games since being acquired from Greensboro two weeks ago.
Gairin Smith joined in the fun with the teams skating at 4-on-4, corralling a Chris Potter feed at the blue line and lifting home his 10th goal, and his first in nine games.
Jestadt's short-side rebound at 13:39 rounded out the scoring.
Blizzard coach Paul Pickard pulled Mill with a minute to go, hoping to avert the shutout, but put him back in after Pat Ferschweiler's empty-net goal was waived off by an offside infraction.
Cohen's toughest saves came in the game's final minute, denying Doug Stromback, Brad Harrison and Ron Majic, all on clean break-ins.
\ ICE CHIPS: Roanoke is six games over the .500 mark for the first time. The Blizzard lost its fourth straight game to fall to 11-34-4. . . . Szabo has recorded at least one point in 26 of his past 27 games, producing 22 goals and 26 assists during the span. . . . Berdichevsky's two goals boosted his club-high total to 39, which is third-best in the ECHL. . . . Mill is 2-9-0 with a 6-plus goals-against average with Huntington since the Blizzard acquired him from the Express on Jan. 13. . . . The Express, 19-8-2 since Nov. 27, continues its weekend road swing tonight at Louisville. Roanoke travels to Dayton on Sunday before returning home for a four-game stand.
by CNB