ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 17, 1996 TAG: 9601170055
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
SHORT-HANDED CHARLOTTE SCORES four goals in the second period en route to a 6-2 victory over lackluster Roanoke.
One shudders to think what would have happened to the Roanoke Express had the Charlotte Checkers had the rest of their team with them.
Down to 13 skaters, the short-handed Checkers crowned the Express 6-2 in front of 3,668 witnesses at the Roanoke Civic Center on Tuesday night.
The Checkers, who scratched five players from the lineup because of injuries and a suspension, were so depth-shy that head coach John Marks actually wrote the name of Express general manager Pierre Paiement on his official lineup card (Paiement was listed as No.99). Marks also included a mystery name - John Gauthier - that apparently was intended to be Express president John Gagnon.
For a while, it looked as if Paiement and Gagnon would be the only guys who wouldn't score for the Checkers, who racked up four second-period goals to take a 6-1 lead. Charlotte's forward raced past Roanoke's defensemen as if they were skating in the mountainous snow piles in the civic center parking lot, as they fired a rink-full of point-blank shots at goalie Daniel Berthiaume.
After back-to-back victories during the weekend, Roanoke (22-20-1) ended its four-game home stand 2-2. The Express surpassed last season's total of regulation losses with Tuesday's drubbing.
``We took another step backward,'' said Express coach Frank Anzalone, whose team missed two days of practice after the civic center installed the basketball floor for Monday's Virginia Tech-George Washington basketball game.
``The mental preparation was not there. We used the lack of ice and the fact that they were hurting as excuses. ... The bottom line is that we have guys who spend more time reading the pregame notes and seeing that [Charlotte left wing Shawn] Wheeler is out. Instead of growling at that, we got soft.''
With ECHL All-Star right wing Tim Christian out because of a bruised knee, Anzalone constantly shuffled his lines, but couldn't get any combination to produce.
Everyone was on the minus side of the plus-minus ledger except for Craig Herr, who was even. Michael Smith, Jeff Jestadt, Karry Biette and Dave Stewart were at minus-3 for the night.
``We have some guys who are minus-12, minus-13 against Charlotte,'' Anzalone said. ``After 10 minutes tonight, we could have played with eight guys.''
The Express scored first on Jestadt's backhand wraparound on the power play, then the Checkers ripped off six consecutive goals.
After Darryl Noren tied it at 1 with a right-circle blast on the power play at 7:13 of the first, Scott Meehan gave the Checkers the lead for good as the teams skated four-on-four by tipping in Matt Robbins' perfect back-door feed from the right wing at 18:04.
Then, things disintegrated like a snowman in sunshine, as the Checkers bombarded Berthiaume with 15 second-period shots, most of them wide-open from close range, four of which found the back of the net.
``They had open guys everywhere,'' said defenseman Tim Hanley. ``Those shots were point-blank. Nobody could've stopped them.''
Matt DelGuidice played the third period for the Express and saw only five shots. After Charlotte's Nick Vitucci stopped 17 of the 18 shots he saw, Paul Krake mopped up.
Dennis Maxwell started the downhill snowball that flattened the Express by getting behind the defense and scoring easily at 1:18 of the second. Noren made it 4-1 by knocking in his own rebound off one of Berthiaume's skates at 9:26, former Express forward Gerry Daley scored his own second-chance goal to make it 5-1 at 15:21, and Robbins upped it to 6-1 at 16:25 with an unguarded high shot right in front of Berthiaume.
Hanley's 60-foot rocket from the right-wing boards with 5:21 to play accounted for Roanoke's last score.
``I couldn't ask for any more from this team,'' said Marks, whose team scored five third-period goals to beat Hampton Roads 8-5 on Monday. ``Wow! Last night was very emotional, very physical. I didn't know what to expect tonight. I was worried. The guys couldn't have played better.''
ICE CHIPS: Christian, the only Express player picked to play in the ECHL All-Star Game, could be back by Saturday's game at Charlotte. Stacchi took Christian's place Tuesday night. ... Berthiaume's five-game home winning streak ended. His last previous loss at the civic center was Dec.17. ... Krake, who finished the game in goal for the Checkers, was a 10th-round draft pick of the Quebec Nordiques in 1989. His signing Monday forced the Checkers to release female backup Manon Rheaume.
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: DON PETERSEN/Staff. 1. Roanoke's Ilya Dubkov leaps inby CNBthe air to chase the puck as Charlotte's Fran Bouchard (8) defends
during the third period 2. Roanoke's Jason Clarke (right) was
ejected Tuesday night for spearing Charlotte's Shawn Reid on this
play in the third period. color. 3. Roanoke's Mike Stacchi (left)
controls the puck while being defended by Charlotte's Eric Flinton
on Tuesday.