
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, January 17, 1994                   TAG: 9401170114
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From staff reports
DATELINE: WHEELING, W.VA.                                LENGTH: Medium

WHEELING SKATES PAST ROANOKE

Peter Marek scored his first three goals of the season and added an assist in leading the Wheeling Thunderbirds to a 7-4 East Coast Hockey League victory over the Roanoke Express Sunday night.

With the score tied at 3-3 midway through the second period, Marek, while on one knee, sliced a rebound on a Tim Roberts shot past Express goalie Paul Cohen at 13 minutes, 48 seconds in the second period to give the Thunderbirds a 4-3 lead.

Wheeling (23-13-13) opened the scoring at 7:29 of the opening period as Jim Bermingham raced in on the left wing and blasted his 20th goal of the season under the left arm of Dan Ryder.

The Express (21-18-1) countered 1:07 later as Jeff Jestadt broke a four-game scoring drought by chopping a backhanded rebound under Wheeling goalie Brett Abel.

Jestadt's goal was the first of three in less than two minutes. Mareck scored his first of the night 38 seconds later, leading Express head coach Frank Anzalone to pull Ryder in favor of Cohen at 9:14 of the first period.

Jestadt tied the score at 2 about a minute later as he spun around at the top of the right circle and blasted a bouncing puck to the left of Abel.

Oleg Yashin gave the Express a short-lived lead early in the second period as he intercepted a Terry Virtue clearing attempt at the blue line and skated in alone, tucking a back-hander under Abel at 2:21.

However, the Thunderbirds dominated the remainder of the period and the game.

At 3:35, Wheeling's Darren Schwartz, the ECHL's leading goal scorer, jammed in his 36th of the season as he corraled a Bermingham feed while parked at the left post to tie the score at 3-3.

After Marek's acrobatic goal gave the Thunderbirds a 4-3 lead, Vadim Slivchenko scored his 34th goal of the season 26 second later as he blazed around the Roanoke defense on the right wing and beat Cohen on the short side. Slivchenko's goal gave Wheeling a 5-3 lead after two periods.

In search of its 10th consecutive home victory, Roanoke returns home Tuesday night to take on the Johnstown Chiefs.

by CNB