ROANOKE TIMES Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times DATE: Tuesday, February 25, 1997 TAG: 9702250093 SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO COLUMN: EXPRESS NOTES SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
Jeff Jablonski needs five goals to set a Roanoke Express single-season record. Based on his recent performances, that should take only a couple of games.
Jablonski will be hard-pressed to match his performance last week during Roanoke's southern sojourn, when he scored seven goals in four games, including four in a 10-8 loss to Jacksonville last Friday. The outburst gives him 39 goals this season, tying the career high he set last year.
With 19 games remaining, including tonight's home game against Hampton Roads at 7 p.m., Jablonski is just four goals short of Jeff Jestadt's record of 43 goals in 1993-94. Jablonski won't challenge the ECHL single-season record held by Nashville's Trevor Jobe, who lit the lamp 85 times in 1992-93.
``I never think about those things,'' Jablonski said. ``I just want to play consistently and try to score every game, just like everyone else.''
Jablonski reached the 39-goal plateau last season after taking a year off from hockey. Despite being in the prime of his career, Jablonski, 29, set modest goals this season.
``At the beginning of the year, I really just set my goal at like 30'' goals, he said. ``I didn't want to set it too high or too low. I thought that was a good number to shoot for without putting a lot of pressure on myself.''
Jablonski also notched three assists in his 10-point week, during which the Express went 2-2 on the road, with wins at Charlotte and Mississippi and losses at Jacksonville and Tallahassee.
``There was a concern that we had come in flat [before the losses], but we still could've been 3-1 on this trip,'' he said. ``Our goal is just to finish as high as we can and just worry about ourselves and see what happens.''
ECHL RESTRUCTURING: East Coast Hockey League owners may approve a realignment this week that would affect Roanoke's divisional rivalries.
With the league adding two teams next season and possibly expanding to 26 teams by 1998-99, owners are considering a proposal to realign the league into two conferences - Northern and Southern - with each conference consisting of two divisions. Teams would play a majority of their games within their conference.
Roanoke would be placed in the Northeast Division of the Northern Conference along with Richmond, Hampton Roads, Johnstown, Wheeling and Upper Marlboro, Md., pending that club's approval as an expansion site. It is doubtful Roanoke would play current East Division rivals Charlotte, Raleigh, South Carolina and Knoxville.
Roanoke most likely would play several games against members of the Northwest Division of the Northern Conference, which would include Huntington, Dayton, Columbus, Toledo, Peoria and Louisville.
The Southeast Division of the Southern Conference would comprise Jacksonville, Tallahassee, South Carolina, Charlotte, Raleigh, Knoxville and (in 1998-99) Greenville, S.C. That conference's Southwest Division would include the ``Interstate 10'' teams of Birmingham, Mobile, Louisiana, Baton Rouge, Mississippi, Pensacola and New Orleans.
ICE CHIPS: The Express acquired forward Todd MacIsaac from Baton Rouge to complete the January trade that sent Bobby Brown to the Kingfish. ... Roanoke plays nine of its final 17 games at home, including nine in March. ... The Express will have a chance to make up some ground in the East, since it has nine games against the three teams it trails - South Carolina, Hampton Roads and Richmond.
LENGTH: Medium: 65 linesby CNB