ROANOKE TIMES 

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

DATE: MONDAY, November 21, 1994                   TAG: 9411220067
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                 LENGTH: Medium

EXPRESS NOTCHES WIN IN SHOOTOUT

The Roanoke Express was left for dead twice - once in regulation and once in an overtime shootout - but came back to defeat the Richmond Renegades 4-3 on Sunday in the Express' third overtime shootout in as many days.

WIth the victory, Roanoke's fifth in seven road games, the Express extended its franchise-record regulation unbeaten streak to 10 games (7-0-3).

With the Express trailing 3-2 in the waning moments of regulation and goaltender Dave Gagnon replaced by a sixth attacker, Pat Ferschweiler tipped in a Dave Stewart wrist shot from the blue line with 1 minute, 7 seconds remaining in regulation.

After Richmond missed an open net twice in the sudden-death five-minute overtime period, the two teams met in a shootout for the second time in two games during the weekend.

Roanoke's Oleg Yashin and the Renegades' Jan Benda each converted in the opening round of the shootout, the only goals until Richmond player/assistant coach Scott Gruhl ripped a forehand drive over Gagnon's glove in round four.

But Jeff Jestadt's dramatic fifth-round attempt snuck over the goal line after Renegades goalie Jason Currie had deflected it.

Gagnon, the Express goaltender in the weekend's two previous overtime shootout losses, turned away Kurt Mallet's fifth-round forehand to send the shootout into sudden death.

Ilya Dubkov's 15-foot drive bounced off Currie's left shoulder into the air and just over the end goal line in round six. Gagnon then denied Blaine Moore on Richmond's sixth attempt to preserve the victory.

Rouslan Toujikov opened the scoring for the Express, jamming home his own power-play rebound at 14:42 of the first period after a centering feed from Dubkov. Roanoke entered the second period with a 1-0 lead, despite being outshot 16-3 in the opening 20 minutes, thanks to a spectacular first-period performance by Gagnon.

Despite the victory by Roanoke (8-3-3), Richmond (13-0-3) extended its ECHL-record regulation unbeaten streak to 16 games. 


 by CNB