Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 12, 1995 TAG: 9503130108
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
He did just that.
On a record-setting Saturday night, Berthiaume tied the East Coast Hockey League record for consecutive victories by a goalie by stopping eight of nine shots in a shootout to help the Roanoke Express defeat the Hampton Roads Admirals 3-2.
In the process, the Express set a team record with its seventh consecutive victory and increased its lead in the East Division to four points over second-place Richmond, a 6-4 loser to Charlotte on Saturday. Berthiaume won his 12th consecutive decision, tying the league record set by Knoxville's Cory Cadden last season.
``Outstanding,'' said Roanoke coach Frank Anzalone, whose team won for the 12th time in 13 games. ``We're not a great team. We're playing great.''
It was a great night off the ice, as well. Playing before a record crowd of 8,661 at the Roanoke Civic Center, which installed 120 temporary seats to ensure the attendance record would fall, the Express won when Marty Schriner beat Admirals goalie Corwin Saurdiff in the eighth round of the shootout.
Afterward, Express players mobbed Schriner and Berthiaume.
``It feels great to win this game,'' said Berthiaume, a nine-year NHL veteran who has given up two goals or fewer in 14 of 15 games. ``The guys worked really hard. What can you say? The goalie on the other side made some great saves, too. I just got lucky.''
Actually, the Express should consider itself lucky. Berthiaume's play has not gone unnoticed by clubs in the International and American hockey leagues. The Chicago Wolves of the IHL made an offer to Berthiaume's agent this week, but Berthiaume said he is staying in Roanoke through the 1994-95 season.
``This organization has been good to me,'' Berthiaume said. ``Chicago contacted my agent. He asked me [about the offer] and I told him no. That's my answer. There's no chance of that.''
Berthiaume, whose record is 20-2-2 this season (14-1-1 with Roanoke), finished with 22 saves, not counting the eight he made in the shootout.
The teams played scoreless hockey after Hampton Roads tied it at 2 on Chris Phelps' goal with 11:03 left in regulation. The Express had a chance to win during the five-minute overtime, but Saurdiff, who made 26 saves, stopped Jeff Jestadt on a close-range shot and rebound.
Tom Menicci beat Berthiaume in the first round of the shootout with a shot barely under the crossbar. Roanoke's Derek Laxdal countered with a goal low to Saurdiff's stick side, then the next seven shooters for both teams were denied.
Berthiaume made sparkling back-to-back glove saves in the fifth and sixth rounds. Berthiaume got a break in the seventh when Brendan Curley's shot hit the right post.
``Danny Berthiaume was outstanding in the shootout,'' said Anzalone, whose team won for the sixth time in 14 shootouts this season. ``That was great, because we don't win too many shootouts.''
The game went to the sudden-death shootout after the teams were tied at 1 through five rounds of the overtime shootout.
After Berthiaume sprawled to stop Matt Mallgrave in the ninth round, Schriner won it by faking, then sliding the puck between Saurdiff's pads when he bit on the fake.
``I played against [Saurdiff] in college, so I knew he was a butterfly goalie,'' Schriner said, referring to Saurdiff's tendency to go to the ice and spread his leg pads. ``I figured he would go down when I faked it, so I just had to put it through his legs. That was big for me, because I allowed them to get their second goal. I didn't clear the puck out. I sort of paid my dues for that.''
Hampton Roads took a 1-0 lead on the power-play when Menicci tipped Trevor Halverson's shot past Berthiaume, who had just been given a penalty for slashing.
Herr tied it barely four minutes later by taking a clearing pass from Chris Potter and beating Saurdiff on a breakaway.
Jestadt gave Roanoke a 2-1 lead at the 15:22 mark of the second. Jestadt scored on a one-timer from the left faceoff circle off Darwin McClelland's feed from behind the goal.
The third period was mostly a defensive struggle, as the two teams spent most of the last 11 minutes skating in the neutral zone. There were few scoring opportunities in the last five minutes of regulation.
``We were tired, no question,'' Anzalone said. ``Danny did a great job and the defense did a good job, especially in the third. When you've won that many games, you get tired. We just tried to hang on in front of a big crowd and do the job. We did.''
by CNB