Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 14, 1993 TAG: 9303140192
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
FANS, PLAYERS EVACUATE LANCERLOT
The cursed season of the Roanoke Valley Rampage continued Saturday night.The Rampage's East Coast Hockey League home finale against Richmond was suspended with 6:03 left in the second period because of a fear that the roof would collapse at the Vinton LancerLot.
Emergency officials ordered the 63 fans and both teams to evacuate the 3,250-seat arena at 9:10 p.m., after a warped steel beam roof support and allowed water to seep in on the building's east end.
The roof apparently couldn't hold up under the weight of Saturday's 16-inch snowfall, Vinton Fire Marshal Barry Fuqua said.
"The roof caved in some," Fuqua said. "There's not a lot we can do if [the roof] decides to go, though."
LancerLot owner Henry Brabham said the weight of the snow separated the purlings of the rear portion of the building's roof and forced part of the inwall out. He said the roof couldn't handle the weight when high winds blew snow from the northeast side of the building to the southeast side.
"All the snow had been pushed to one side and the weight was just too much," Brabham said. "There's nothing you can do. Everything, I think, is under control. It was a little scary there for a while, though."
Frightened players from both teams quickly changed into their streetclothes and made a beeline for the exit.
"I'm outta here, man. Isn't this just unbelievable?" Rampage forward Chris Smith said.
The 63 fans, who had braved blizzard conditions to see what may be the final minor-league hockey game in the Roanoke Valley, also wasted little time evacuating.
"That's what they get for playing this damned game tonight in the first place," one spectator bellowed while heading outside.
Richmond was leading the game 6-2 when the scare occurred. The first tipoff something was happening came when two people rushed from Brabham's east-end office waving their arms frantically.
Noticing the commotion, the players stopped on the ice and looked toward the roof. It didn't take them long to notice a steel beam over Brabham's office had begun to buckle.
"You could tell it looked like it was coming down. I wasn't going to hang around," said an unidentified Richmond player, fleeing for the safety of the Renegades' bus.
Shirley Woolwine, the Rampage's marketing director, was on the building's second floor at the time.
"You could hear the roof creaking," she said. "I knew it was time to get out then. Talk about an eerie feeling."
Quipped longtime fan Paul Rice: "I guess we can finally say the Roanoke Valley Rampage brought the house down."
The incident had many asking why the game wasn't called off in the wake of the worst winter storm to hit the Roanoke Valley in years. It took the Renegades 6 1/2 hours to make the 200-mile trip to Vinton on Saturday afternoon. The game started 30 minutes late when the referee and one linesman failed to show up. Linesman John Horan did arrive and worked the game with Rampage trainer Mark Jones and former player Nick Pappas as his linesmen.
Rampage owner Larry Revo said he didn't want to play the game, but after Richmond arrived at the arena, Revo said ECHL commissioner Pat Kelly told him via phone that the game had to be played.
"Kelly said we should make every effort to play after after Richmond had busted its tails to get here," Revo said. "I would have rather played when we could have drawn a few more than 63 people.
"I'm just glad we got everybody out. You could just see it happening [the roof collapsing]."
Revo said the game likely will be called official and not completed.
"There's nothing official," Revo said. "I haven't talked with Kelly. But there's really just no practical way to pick the game up. I'd say it's official."
Before the roof incident, Revo had described the setting "as a totally appropriate way to end this season." The Rampage, which still plans on finishing the season today at Hampton Roads, has won only 14 of 63 games, if Saturday's score is ruled official.
Revo has plans to either move the franchise, sell the franchise or suspend operations for next season rather than keep it in the Roanoke Valley. The club was averaging an ECHL all-time low 1,483 fans per game before Saturday.
"A Hollywood script writer couldn't have written a more bizarre ending," Revo said.