Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 10, 1994 TAG: 9403110175
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOE KENNEDY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
``I'm going to give it a try,'' said Poe, a truck driver who was wearing a black Chevy cap. He and Betsy were race fans, mainly. Both work at the New River Valley Speedway during the season, he as a clown who roams the stands. But hockey had their attention for the moment. Hockey in Roanoke has the attention of a lot of people this year.
Call it luck. Call it pluck. Since it's hockey, you might even credit the puck. Whatever the reason, the Roanoke Express hockey team has, in its first year, won the hearts of sports fans in the Roanoke Valley and beyond.
Rising from the ashes of Larry Revo's Roanoke Valley Rampage, a failure in spades, the Express has drawn nearly 146,000 fans in its first 32 home games, an average of about 4,600 per game and more than 1,000 over the team owners' fondest projections, to its new home at the Roanoke Civic Center. Last year, playing at the LancerLot in Vinton, the Rampage drew 45,998 fans for the season, an average of just 1,483 per game.
The Express has done it despite a shortage of Saturday night games, despite some rough winter weather and despite a hockey history that made winning a franchise an uphill fight.
But the Express has arrived, big-time. Last weekend, it drew more than 13,000 fans to games in which it was drubbed by the Raleigh Ice Caps and the Wheeling Thunderbirds. The crowds got more than just hockey. Adopting the techniques of major-league franchises in all sports, the Express fills quiet moments with loud rock music, entertains between periods with baton twirlers, slapshot contests and other activities and works hard to provide the much-needed family atmosphere that was largely absent in Roanoke's hockey past.
People are buying it. The hockey booster club has seen its membership climb to 170, up by 100 from the end of last season. Civic Center seats are filled with repeat customers, people who have been to 10, 15, 20 or more home games. For them, going to see the Express is a social as well as an entertainment event.
Then there is the team's record of 32 wins, 26 losses and 3 ties. True, the players' performance has slipped of late, but the numbers far outdistance the owners' hopes for their new franchise.
Hockey is back in the Roanoke Valley. It never left, except on paper, for teams played for years at the LancerLot in Vinton under the ownership of businessman Henry Brabham and the unlamented Larry Revo. Those teams had obstacles, though. The LancerLot was an inadequate structure, poorly heated and populated by 2,500 fans on a good night. Many who attended say the atmosphere was decidedly rough. The building's roof collapsed from the weight of snow during last March's blizzard.
The pieces were picked up by seven Western Virginia investors led by trucking executive and native Canadian John Gagnon. They persuaded reluctant officers of the East Coast Hockey League to grant them a franchise, and persuaded a reluctant Roanoke Civic Center administration to take a flyer on hockey.
Once they won the franchise, they designed a marketing program built around the area's railroad history. The civic center was dubbed The Round House. The team logo consists of a locomotive racing out of the Mill Mountain Star with a hockey puck in its mouth. The team mascot is called Loco, the Railyard Dog. A train whistle celebrates every Express goal.
A night at an Express game is a night of witnessing a big deal in a small city. Shannon Eaton, 20, and her sister, Kelly, 14, have traveled more than an hour from Giles County to see nearly all of the team's 12 Tuesday night games, and they were on hand again Friday night, for the contest against the Ice Caps.
One game was all it took, Shannon said, for them to get hooked on the speed, the excitement and their favorite players - for Kelly, No. 3, Trevor Burgess, and for Shannon, No. 2, Chris Potter. Each has had her picture taken with her hero, and had the pictures autographed.
For Bob Woolwine, the 37-year-old booster club president, this is the year he has dreamed about. The employee of Medeco Security Locks in Salem played in youth and adult hockey leagues and devotedly followed the Express's ancestors for more than two decades.
He and other booster club members provide unpaid security at the games, put on Christmas, Valentine's and farewell parties for the players and ship cases of fresh fruit and juices along on their bus trips.
``It's great that we've finally got people who know the sport running it,'' he said. ``It makes a difference. It's run professionally.''
The players are ``the most appreciative we've ever had.''
So, too, with the fans. Make no mistake: With the smoke of cigarettes thick in the civic center's hallways (smoking is not permitted in the arena) and the beer lines long, this is not church. If a fight erupts on the ice, you'll see middle-aged men and women hurling invective at the opposition from safe spots behind the protective Plexiglas. But it's a lot more civilized than what longtime hockey buffs are used to.
Early on, said Andre Savard, the team's security chief and former homicide detective with the Montreal police department, the ushers and security staff were instructed to eject anyone who cursed, got drunk or in other ways violated sports decorum. After only a few games, he and Woolwine said, things calmed down. For the most part, they've stayed that way. One key has been the beer policy, which limits customers to three cups per game.
``This is so much better than the LancerLot,'' said Robert McDaniel, 24, as he stood with two friends near a concession stand before Friday night's game. He figures he's been to 12 to 15 games this year - ``as many as my wife will let me.''
``It seems more major league,'' said Jerry Fortuna, 40, who works at the Sam's store in Lynchburg.
``I come to just about every game,'' said Janice Barker, who was accompanied by her husband and two sons. ``I love the excitement.''
For John Gagnon, the majority owner, those are sweet words. Only half-joking, he said he and his partners realized that if they could win the hearts of the women in the crowd, the men and the children would surely follow them to the games. They have. Friday night, there appeared to be hundreds of youngsters on hand, and many more young adults, the key to a long-term customer base.
Still, there is room for improvement, Gagnon said. The club is working with the civic center to upgrade the food. Parking can be a problem, though free shuttle bus service often is available. Because of previous bookings at the center, the team had only 16 Friday or Saturday nights on its schedule, though the league guarantees each team at least 20. Generally, the weekend contests draw 3,000 more fans than the weeknights. Gagnon said the team hopes to schedule 20 or 24 weekend games next year.
His biggest concern is ice time for team practices. Last week, the Express practiced once, as other events, including the Virginia Tech-UVa basketball game, claimed the space. Gagnon wants the civic center to invest $25,000 in a jet ice system capable of producing a playing surface in eight hours. The center spent $60,000 on Plexiglas and other equipment for this season.
With a $500,000 league franchise fee to pay, the team is not making as much money as it appears, he said. But the excitement bodes well financially for next year.
``I'm happy,'' he said. ``October, November and December were hard.'' Attendance was acceptable but not overwhelming in the early going, and in December, the numbers dropped. League officials told him and his partners that was normal, with Christmas expenses and holiday activities taking fans' dollars. They assured the Roanoke owners that the situation would improve in January, and it did.
Thinking back over the Tuesday night brainstorming sessions that went on for months in the team's offices on Virginia 419 as he and his partners struggled to come up with marketing and promotions ideas, Gagnon said, ``I couldn't have asked for more.''
After one period of play on Friday night, Junior Poe was having a good time. Betsy, his wife, who had never seen a live hockey game before, emerged from the stands to say she was finding the action fast, the puck a little hard to follow and the experience enjoyable.
``I don't understand it,'' she said, ``but I like it.''
by CNB