Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 13, 1995 TAG: 9502140078
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Wheeling Thunderbirds haven't needed any help scoring goals recently, but they got it anyway Sunday afternoon.
The Thunderbirds scored in almost every way imaginable - and a couple of ways almost unimaginable - and blasted the Roanoke Express 7-4 before a crowd of 6,657 at the Roanoke Civic Center.
Wheeling ripped off four goals to snap a 2-2 tie and streaked to its third consecutive road victory. Wheeling (31-16-6), which owns the best record in the East Coast Hockey League, is 16-1-2 in its past 19 games.
The Thunderbirds' only regulation loss in the 1995 calender year came in Roanoke on Jan.28, when the Express won 4-1.
Both teams were playing for the third consecutive day this time, with Roanoke (26-15-8) coming off a 6-2 home victory over Erie on Saturday night. Wheeling, which won at Richmond in a shootout on Saturday, didn't arrive in Roanoke until Sunday morning.
``I thought we could beat Wheeling today,'' said Frank Anzalone, Roanoke's coach. ``Our biggest problem is ... we have four or five guys who have very little intensity and can't maintain it for more than one game at a time. When you play a three-game set, each player has to try to go.''
Wheeling got rolling with three goals in the second period. With the score knotted 1-1, Wheeling's Tim Roberts fired a shot from the left point that hit teammate Derek DeCosty, who was stationed to the right of the crease. The shot bounced off DeCosty's chest and into the goal at the 2-minute, 35-second mark of the second period.
Roanoke players protested that goal, saying it had been knocked into the net illegally, and Express captain Dave Stewart was handed a 10-minute misconduct penalty for verbally abusing linesman John Horan.
``[Horan] laughed in my face when I was arguing the call,'' Stewart said. ``I have a `C' on my jersey [signifying team captain]. I have the right to argue a call. He was laughing right at me. ... Maybe I didn't use the right choice of words after that. ... I was sure they had thrown the puck in. Maybe they did, maybe they didn't.''
Roanoke's Tony Szabo tied it at the 6:36 mark by beating Wheeling goalie Mark Lamothe with a short wrist shot. Shortly thereafter, Wheeling took control.
Jason Clarke, who gave the Express a 1-0 lead at the 2:07 mark of the first period with his fifth goal of the season, and Wheeling's Tony Prpic engaged in a fight in front of the Roanoke goal. The altercation resulted in a five-minute fighting penalty for each player, with an additional two minutes assessed to Clarke for high-sticking.
Wheeling took the lead for good on the ensuing power play, as Brock Woods drove a wrist shot past goalie Daniel Berthiaume from the left faceoff circle.
``That turned the momentum,'' Anzalone said. ``First, we have the same problem every game with a particular linesman who laughs and giggles at us, then gives us a 10-minute misconduct. Then, Clarke gets an extra two minutes for high-sticking. That segment turned the game around. They've got a great power play.''
Wheeling made it 4-2 with another bizarre goal when Dennis Holland centered the puck from the left corner and it ricocheted off Berthiaume's left skate as he rose to a crouch after making a save.
``The fourth goal was a fluke,'' said Doug Sauter, Wheeling's coach. ``[Holland] was almost behind the net and he sent it into a pile. ... This team gets those kind of breaks because they work really, really hard.''
Anzalone replaced Berthiaume with an extra attacker a couple of times in the third period, but the Express gave away the puck twice and Wheeling punched in a pair of empty-net goals, including a short-handed score by Steve Gibson.
Joe Hawley scored Roanoke's last goal when he beat Lamothe high with a wrist shot. It was Hawley's third goal in as many games since coming to the Express from Charlotte in a trade that sent Roanoke's leading scorer, Oleg Yashin, to the Checkers.
by CNB