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

DATE: SUNDAY, October 1, 1995                   TAG: 9510020102
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Long

EXPRESS RUNS THROUGH N.C.

The Express is going out of town for training camp, a situation that is testing coach Frank Anzalone's logistical skills as much as a Riley Cup playoff series.

``It's complicated,'' he said. ``It's very involved. It's messy.''

The Express will hold training camp this week at the Triangle Sportsplex in Hillsborough, N.C. - a 2 1/2-hour drive from the team's home ice - because the Roanoke Civic Center is holding another event.

By the time the Express makes its first appearance in Roanoke, for an Oct. 10 exhibition game against Hampton Roads at the civic center, the team will have spent a week in Hillsborough and will have played exhibition games at Hampton Roads (Friday) and at Charlotte (Saturday).

Planning the trip has been far from a vacation for Anzalone, who has to coordinate the arrival of 29 players in camp and make sure accommodations are available.

``I just got off the phone with a new lady [at the Holiday Inn in Hillsborough] who didn't get the [reservations] file from somebody else,'' Anzalone said. ``Everything has worked out. We can't get rooms for Saturday night, though. I think it's homecoming at Duke [that day]. We won't get the players in until [today] and we won't be able to start camp until Monday, so we're losing a day.

``I know that NHL teams hold their training camps on the road, but they have somebody else [besides the head coach] who handles it.''

Such is the life of an ECHL coach in a city that has only one ice rink.

The Express is one of four teams in the 21-team ECHL that will hold its training camp on the road. The Knoxville Cherokees, Louisiana RiverFrogs and Mobile Mysticks are the others.

Only Knoxville and Mobile have farther commutes than does the Express. The Cherokees will train nearly four hours from Knoxville in Spruce Pine, N.C.; the Mysticks will travel three hours to Baton Rouge, La., which is where the RiverFrogs also will train.

Two other teams - the Raleigh IceCaps and the Jacksonville Lizard Kings - won't be training on their home ice, but the IceCaps will hold camp 15 minutes away in Cary, N.C., and the Lizard Kings will use another ice rink in Jacksonville, Fla.

The Express would like to hold camp closer to home, but there are no ice rinks in Southwest Virginia other than the civic center. There hasn't been another ice rink in the Roanoke Valley since the LancerLot in Vinton went out of business after the building's roof collapsed under the weight of a blizzard in March 1993.

Express officials have made it known they would like to have a rink that could be used for practices on days when the civic center is occupied by other tenants.

City officials, including Mayor David Bowers and Vice Mayor John Edwards, have said an ice skating facility - which would be open for public skating in addition to housing the Express - would be a boon to the valley.

Still, it appears unlikely such a facility will open before the end of this hockey season.

Last season, there was talk a rink was going to be built in Roanoke County just north of the city limits. Those plans, a cooperative effort between private investors and the county government, have been delayed repeatedly.

However, another private group is lining up investors and could be ready to go to work on a rink in the near future, Express president John Gagnon said.

``All I know is that something is in the works,'' Gagnon said. ``It's very close, but very private.''

The Express may be asked to contribute money to the project, but the group ``could go [and build the rink] without any help from us,'' Gagnon said. ``If we wait for someone else to do it, it could take five or 10 years.''

Anzalone, who has made several public and private pleas to government officials to explore the possibility of building a rink, now says he's letting others handle the issue.

``I am out of it totally,'' he said.

With the regular season less than two weeks away, Anzalone has more than enough to keep him busy. He will have 29 players in training camp this week, 18 of whom will make the final roster.

The training camp roster has grown recently with the return of defensemen Michael Smith and Dave Stewart and forward Craig Herr, three players who helped the Express win 39 games last season and advance to the second round of the ECHL playoffs. None of those three was expected to be back with the Express.

Other veterans from last season's squad include forwards Jeff Jestadt (26 goals, 44 assists), Ilya Dubkov (28 goals, 47 assists), Marty Schriner (12 goals, 15 assists), Jason Clarke (an ECHL-record 467 penalty minutes last year) and Chris Potter (who played defense last season) and defenseman Jon Larson (11 goals, 17 assists).

Newcomers to watch are forwards Brian Gallentine (who attended the Detroit Red Wings' camp after scoring 23 goals at Western Michigan University last season), Louis-Phillipe Charbonneau (404 penalty minutes in 47 games in junior hockey) and defenseman Duane Harmer (43 points at Ferris State University).

Goaltending should be a strength if Matt DelGuidice, who has played for the NHL's Boston Bruins, and Mike Parson, a former American Hockey League netminder, work out. Scott Barber, who went 22-3-2 at Mercyhurst College last season, also will get a long look.