Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 7, 1993 TAG: 9302070226
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A RECORD NIGHT AGAINST RAMPAGE
Late Saturday night, the Nashville Knights probably had to gag, blindfold and handcuff Trevor Jobe in order to get him on the bus waiting outside the LancerLot.Jobe had to be thinking that another day and another game in this place and every East Coast Hockey League scoring record would be his.
Wielding the most potent stick out of Tennessee since Buford Pusser, Jobe single-handedly cut down the Roanoke Valley Rampage, scoring four goals and registering six assists in Nashville's 10-5 romp.
Jobe's 10 points set an ECHL record for most points in a game. The previous record was nine, set by Hampton Roads' Tom Bissett on Nov. 22, 1990, against Greensboro.
The most amazing thing about Jobe's game was that all 10 points came in the first 30 minutes.
"The guys on the bench told me we've still got 30 minutes left, and I said, `Oh, my God. Can this be happening?' " Jobe said.
The 25-year-old Alberta native had several more good scoring opportunities but didn't connect.
"I'll take my 10 points and get out of here, I guess," Jobe said. "That's not a bad night, I'd say."
Jobe's four goals ran his season total to 76, four short of the ECHL record of 80 set in 1989-90 by Erie's Bill McDougall. The 10 points give Jobe 136, 12 shy of McDougall's record of 148, also set in '89-90.
Jobe, in his fourth ECHL season, already owns every league career scoring mark. The former seventh-round Toronto Maple Leafs draft pick has 227 goals and 419 points in 222 ECHL games.
The obvious question is: Why is he still riding the bus in the ECHL?
"I came back this year to give it another shot," said Jobe, who scored four points in a three-game American Hockey League call-up to New Haven in December. "They wanted to keep me up there for a while, but it was such a bad atmosphere and Nick [Fotiu, the Knights' coach] wanted me back here.
"And, hey, Nashville is buzzing right now. They've got a winner who has a shot at a championship. I want a championship. Plus, I'd like to win the scoring title. If you look at it, every player who has won the scoring title the past four years has signed a contract with a chance to go some place.
"Scouts are looking at this league. People are checking. Ottawa wants me. It's no big secret."
Fotiu, who played in the National Hockey League, said it's only a matter patience for Jobe.
"He'll get his chance, don't worry," Fotiu said. "He'll be all right."
He was better than all right Saturday night. Jobe wasted little time showing his stuff to the Rampage and 1,359 spectators.
Fifty seconds after the opening faceoff, he set up Troy Mick with a centering pass from the corner, and Mick smoked a 40-foot slap shot past Rampage goalie Todd Chin.
Only 2:37 later, Jobe got his first goal, skating past three stationary Roanoke defenders before guiding a 12-footer between Chin's legs.
Jobe struck again at the 15:09 mark, setting up Darcy Kaminski's 30-foot goal with a centering feed from the corner.
Jobe, playing with a 103-degree fever - "I couldn't even walk [Friday]," he said - was just heating up.
At the 18:31 mark, the Nashville sniper took a pass from John Horan in the slot and beat Chin at point-blank range.
Jobe then punctuated his one-man, one-period scoring clinic, hustling down the ice on a short-handed breakaway chance and stuffing home a rebound with one second left on the clock.
The horn was the only thing that could quiet Jobe. First-period damage: three goals, two assists.
In the second period, Jobe's assault continued. He assisted on four goals in the first 8:03. The record 10th point came at 10:06, when Jobe scored in the slot on a rebound.
Second-period damage: one goal, four assists.
"The guys were really giving me the puck from that point on," Jobe said. "I get 10 points in 30 minutes and nothing after that, so . . ."
Would Jobe have liked to have spent another night in Vinton and get another shot against the ECHL's most porous defense?
"I sure would," he said.
\ ICE CHIPS: Jobe leads the ECHL in virtually every offensive category - goals (76), assists (60), points (136), hat tricks (14), power-play goals (21), game-winning goals (10), shots (283) and shooting percentage (27.0). . . . Mick also had three goals for Nashville (29-21-2). \
see microfilm for box score