Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 15, 1995 TAG: 9501170086
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Twenty-four hours after being clobbered by Raleigh in one of the worst performances in franchise history, the Express was dealt a brutal defeat Saturday night, as Hampton Roads erased a three-goal deficit to win 6-5.
A season-high Roanoke Civic Center crowd of 8,258 - the second-largest home throng in the Express' two-year history - watched Roanoke squander leads of 4-1 and 5-2 in extending its franchise-record winless streak to six games. This, on the heels of Friday night's 7-1 drubbing at Raleigh, drops Roanoke (19-11-6) three points out of third place in the East Coast Hockey League's East Division. The Express has but two points in its past six games.
``All losses are tough,'' said Express center Craig Herr, who had two goals. ``They're all tough.''
This one had to be the toughest. Typical of this rivalry, the game featured two near-brawls - one after the first period and one after the final horn.
Roanoke failed to score during a six-on-four advantage in the final seconds after its goalie was replaced by a sixth attacker and after the Admirals got caught with too many men on the ice with 32 seconds left.
Hampton Roads (22-12-3), which saw its eight-game winning streak end Friday, scored twice in the final 6 minutes, 12 seconds to win for the ninth time in 10 games. The two goals came 62 seconds apart.
The tying score came on a power play after Roanoke defenseman Stephane Desjardins was penalized for high-sticking Dennis McEwen away from the action as Express goalie John Bradley was gloving Chris Phelps' shot.
With a man advantage, Hampton Roads tied it at 5 when Phelps one-timed a Rod Taylor pass just in front of the blue line and delivered a shot that nicked Bradley's glove before landing in the back of the net.
Before the stunned Express could recover, Matt Mallgrave skated in and wristed a wide-open shot from the right side past Bradley for the game-winning score.
``We had too many stupid penalties,'' said Derek Laxdal, Roanoke's player-assistant coach. Head coach Frank Anzalone was unavailable for comment after the game.
``We had two stupid penalties in the third period. When we were winning, we were working hard and getting all the bounces. Now we're doing too many stupid things.''
Afterward, in a morose Roanoke dressing room, all a teary-eyed Desjardins could say when asked if his penalty was questionable was: ``They called high-sticking. I don't know.''
Added Laxdal: ``You usually don't see that kind of call that late in a game.''
When Herr guided a forehand drive from the top of the left faceoff circle between the spread leg pads of Admirals goalie Corwin Saurdiff, the Express led 5-2 with 12:23 left in the second period.
It was all Hampton Roads from there, as the Admirals became the aggressors. Brendan Curley deflected a wraparound shot past Bradley to make it 5-3 at the 9:11 mark.
Three minutes later, McEwen converted a rebound from the left side to cut the Express' lead to 5-4.
``We wanted to just keep chipping away,'' said John Brophy, Hampton Roads' coach. ``They had us on the ropes all right. They had us on the bottom [expletive] one.
``We're very fortunate to win tonight. At the end of the first period, I thought we were heading south again. [Friday night] we were terrible. We started out that way tonight.''
Tony Szabo got Roanoke on the scoreboard first with a smooth individual effort for his first goal since returning last week from the Scottish pro league. He intercepted Curley's pass near the red line, skated past two defenders and smacked a right-handed forehand into the net from the right point at the 6:25 mark.
The Express went up 2-0 when Jon Larson's attempt from 20 feet was deflected to Herr, who knocked in the rebound from the left circle to make it 2-0 at the 9:23 mark.
The Admirals came back quickly. McEwen stole a clearing pass in his zone and skated unimpeded to beat Bradley with 8:16 left.
Roanoke's Russian line of Oleg Yashin, Ilya Dubkov and Rouslan Toujikov scored two power-play goals to make it 4-1. Yashin scored first by converting his own miss.
His goal touched off an altercation that resulted in five penalties - including a 10-minute misconduct on Saurdiff for shoving referee Terry Koharski - and a five-on-three Express power play that resulted in Toujikov scoring to make it 4-1 with 3:56 to play in the period.
Brophy was so incensed with his team's first-period play, he sent Colin Gregor and Jim Brown to the locker room after the period and played with two lines the rest of the night.
ICE CHIPS: When Roanoke outshot Raleigh 34-32 in a 7-1 loss Friday, it marked the first time the Express had outshot an opponent in 10 games and the first time it had recorded more than 30 shots since Dec.18. ... Express right wing Jason Clarke, who had one point in his first 24 games, scored five points in the first six games in January.
by CNB