Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 21, 1994 TAG: 9410210029
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
No such luck, however.
Hours after Roanoke's rousing 5-3 season-opening triumph over Hampton Roads, a gasket blew on the Roanoke Civic Center's ice compressor, turning the surface into slush by the time the civic center maintenance crew arrived for work Wednesday morning.
The calamity forced the Express to cancel its scheduled Wednesday skate and move Thursday's practice to Winston-Salem, N.C.
``We're not real happy, but what can you do in the case of a mechanical failure ... you can't blame anybody,'' said Pierre Paiement, the Express' general manager.``Hopefully, the ice will be OK for [tonight's] game with Greensboro.''
The civic center crew started putting down water to make ice at 9:20a.m. Thursday. Maintenance official Ed Parker said the crew would work through the night to get the surface ready for tonight's game.
``If we don't incur any more problems with making ice, the game should be no problem,'' Parker said. ``We're hoping to get it ready by about lunch time so the Express can skate on it.
``This is something you face with old equipment. It's just like a car, I guess. When you get 200,000 miles on it, things are going to break on it.''
The unscheduled 230-mile round trip to practice Thursday simply was another off-ice distraction for the Roanoke players. Because of a late change in club housing plans, many of the Express players still hadn't moved into their apartments as of Thursday.
``We're still stuck in the motel ... it's like we're on a two-week road trip instead of being home,'' groused one player, requesting anonymity.
Paiement said plans to house the team in a northwest Roanoke apartment complex were shelved at the last minute following an incident involving the family of new player-coach Derek Laxdal.
Paiement said Laxdal's family had some clothes stolen out of the apartment building's laundry room on their first day at the complex.
``We just felt it would be better to move the players somewhere else,'' Paiement said. ``Some have wives and kids, and they didn't want to be on the road wondering about what's happening back home.
``The apartment head had told us the undesirables were no longer there, but I guess they were wrong.''
The 11th-hour accommodations switch and civic center ice problem have made an already busy week just that much more hectic for the Express, Paiement said.
``I told my wife this morning, `What else can go wrong?' It just seems to be one thing right after another.''
SCOUTING GREENSBORO: Monarchs coach Jeff Brubaker has pulled a Houdini act the past six weeks, effectively reloading a club that lost its top five scorers, including the Nos.1, 4 and 5 point men in the ECHL last season.
The Monarchs opened Tuesday with a 4-3 victory in Charlotte, proving once again they're capable of making serious waves in the East Division.
Brubaker, whose adversarial relationship with Roanoke fans has been well-documented through the years, rolls into town with plenty of bulletin-board fodder. Not only did a Roanoke-based writer pick his club last in the East in The Hockey News - the prediction was made based on all the player losses - the Express' '94-95 program takes several potshots at the Monarchs' bench boss.
As if that isn't enough to make Brubaker's blood boil, the Monarchs never have won a game at the Roanoke Civic Center. Greensboro was 0-4 in Roanoke and 2-5-1 overall against the Express last season.
ICE CHIPS: Raleigh, a 4-3 loser in its regionally televised (Home Team Sports) opener at Richmond on Wednesday, visits the civic center Saturday. Saturday's game also starts at 7:30 p.m. ... The civic center announced it will run shuttle-bus service from the Williamson Road parking garage for all Saturday home games. Buses will make round trips from the garage beginning at 6:30 p.m., and resume from the civic center immediately following the game. The shuttle service and garage parking are free. ... Former Roanoke forward Gairin Smith has been assigned by Cape Breton (AHL) to Wheeling, where he picked up 20 penalty minutes Wednesday night in the Thunderbirds' season-opening 5-2 loss to Dayton.
Express vs. Monarchs
7:30 p.m today at the Roanoke Civic Center. Tickets are $8.50, $7.50 and $6, $5 for senior citizens and students and $4 for children 12 and younger.
by CNB