Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 22, 1995 TAG: 9502220108
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
In a game that featured a four-goal third period by the Express, the player who perhaps was most responsible for Roanoke's fourth straight victory scored nary a goal nor a point.
But it was Express forward Jason Clarke who took a spear from South Carolina's Scott Boston that set in motion a sequence of third-period events that allowed Roanoke to take the lead.
If it sounds strange that Clarke would be a star on a night when Express players Derek Laxdal and Ilya Dubkov scored two goals each, it is. That's the kind of game it was.
``It wasn't a great hockey game,'' said Express coach Frank Anzalone. ``It was more like mud wrestling. It was a tough game to coach, a tough game to referee and probably a tough game to play.''
At no time did the game cease to be entertaining.
The game contained more plot twists and surprise endings than an old-fashioned B-movie. Dubkov stole the final scene by scoring an empty-netter from about 120 feet away to account for the final margin.
The game began to swing Roanoke's way midway through the final period. With the score tied 3-3, Boston was handed a game misconduct for spearing Clarke. According to most observers, it was a retaliatory penalty.
``I slashed him pretty good before that, when the referee wasn't looking,'' said Clarke. When the linesman turned around, ``he saw Boston spearing me. I stayed down on the ice a little longer than usual to make sure I got the call.''
The Express (30-15-9) garnered nearly eight straight minutes of power-play opportunities, scored twice and even allowed a short-handed score that nearly undermined its man-advantage.
Dubkov made it 4-3 by deflecting Dave Stewart's shot from the point with 10 minutes, 35 seconds left. South Carolina (32-18-6) tied it with a short-handed breakaway goal from defenseman Vasily Demin, who netted his first goal of the year.
``That's when you say, `This is the kind of game it's going to be,''' said Anzalone.
With the Express still on a power-play, Stewart sent a forehand from the right faceoff circle that whizzed past the stick of Stingrays goalie Jason Fitzsimmons with 8:48 left.
That score stood as the game-winner only after the Express killed off back-to-back penalties - a hook by Jon Larson followed by an elbowing call against Marty Schriner - in the game's final 2:59 and got Dubkov's empty-netter from the Roanoke blue line.
``That was a relief to see that go in,'' said Laxdal, who celebrated his 29th birthday with a two-goal party. ``They've got some big guys with big reaches who could've tapped in any rebound.''
Laxdal and Larson scored in the first period to give the Express a 2-0 lead. The Express lost center Craig Herr after he was handed a game misconduct for fighting with Boston after assisting Laxdal's score.
South Carolina answered with three goals in the second period, but Laxdal tied it early in the third by beating Fitzsimmons low to the stick side off a Michael Smith feed early in the third.
ICE CHIPS: Independent producer Dan Falinski said Tuesday that one of Roanoke's first-round playoff games will be televised locally. One of the road games will be telecast, probably game three of the five-game series. ... Before the game, the Express activated right wing Darwin McClelland from the 30-day injured reserve list. Rouslan Toujikov was loaned to Minnesota to make room for McClelland, who was out with a shoulder injury.
by CNB