Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 14, 1994 TAG: 9405140011
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Express general manager Pierre Paiement announced Friday that the East Coast Hockey League club has reached a formal agreement with the Roanoke Civic Center to secure 24 available weekend dates plus Thanksgiving night for the 1994-95 season.
"Thanks to a lot of smooth negotiation between City Manager Bob Herbert, Bob Chapman [civic center manager], Mark Collins [civic center assistant manager] and the cooperation of several show managers who were previously scheduled at the civic center," said Paiement, "we were able to secure our Thanksgiving date, in addition to six potential weekend dates in the month of March."
Two of the six additional dates offered by the civic center come in the final week of March, when the 1994-95 ECHL playoffs start.
Before club owners made their plea public at a Roanoke City Council meeting Monday, the Express had been offered 20 weekend dates.
Given other ECHL teams' conflicting schedules, the Express was looking at landing about the same number of weekend openings as last season. The Express had 15 Friday-Saturday dates last season. Only two clubs - Wheeling (14) and Huntington (13) - had less.
Since it had no Sunday dates, the Express played an ECHL-high 19 of its 34 regular-season games on weeknights. Charlotte (17) was the only other club to have more than 15 weeknight home dates; 11 clubs had 12 or less.
League bylaws require the submission of 55 total weeknight and weekend available dates by each franchise by Wednesday, when the ECHL Board of Governors meetings commence in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
"We're taking the 24 weekend dates down there, and ideally, I'd like to get 24 games," Paiement said. "But I know that will be tough. If we get 20 of 24, that wouldn't be too bad. I've already written the league a letter saying that since we got short-changed last season that we should get every consideration to be taken care of this season."
The Express management contends, that weekend dates are far more conducive for drawing big crowds. The club averaged 5,872 for its 15 weekend dates compared to 3,167 for its 19 weeknights.
\ MEETING AGENDA: The possible sale of the Huntsville (Ala.) Blast to a ownership group that would move the struggling franchise to Jacksonville, Fla., will be one of the top items of discussion at the league meetings, which run through May 21.
A league source said Friday that the rumored move of the Erie (Pa.) Panthers to Baltimore appears to be dead.
No matter what moves transpire, the league is expected to stand pat at 19 teams for '94-95.
The league also is expected to decide on whether to alter the present three-division alignment. There has been some movement to return to a two-division setup, one with 10 clubs and the other with nine.
\ ICE CHIPS: Express players Tony Szabo and Oleg Yashin have joined ex-teammate Lev Berdichevsky on the roster of the San Diego Barracudas of the Roller Hockey International League. The trio joins a group of ECHL players toiling in the summer league. . . . The Richmond Renegades have decided to stay put. Owner Dave Elmore, who had pondered moving the club after losing $250,000 last season, recently signed a one-year lease with the Richmond Coliseum. . . . Coach John Brophy has signed a two-year contract extension with Hampton Roads.
by CNB