Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 8, 1995 TAG: 9503080120
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Express continued steaming toward the playoffs Tuesday night at the Roanoke Civic Center. The start of a regular-season finishing stretch of nine games in 13 days was a 5-2 victory over Greensboro in a longtime rivalry that may be on thin ice.
At a Charlotte hotel on Thursday, the ECHL Board of Governors is likely to hear officially that the Monarchs, Checkers, Hampton Roads and South Carolina want to leave for the American Hockey League.
Those are the four top ECHL clubs at the box office, drawing 925,000 of the league's 2.88 million fans this season. Three of those are Roanoke divisional foes. All have already clinched ECHL playoff spots.
That doesn't mean the other 14 clubs will look upon the potential defectors as rink rats. It's part of a hockey fight that's National and International, and it's happening in part because of the ECHL's success.
It's no secret that the IHL is intrigued by the Norfolk and Charlotte franchises. The IHL already has too many major-market clubs for the NHL's liking, including Wolves and Vipers in original NHL cities Chicago and Detroit.
So, the NHL wants the AHL to beat the IHL to increased Southern exposure with the four clubs and an expansion team in Baltimore. The NHL also would help the AHL buy some of the IHL's Midwest sites. So, what's in it for the ECHL besides a diminished attendance base? Well, the ECHL clubs would be assured of stronger affiliations with NHL clubs. The league still would be a level below the AHL, but the quality of play with more assigned pros should be a step faster.
The NHL also would likely assign officials to the ECHL, improving the quality and consistency of the whistle-blowers. And even if the ECHL loses a few of its larger markets, there are plenty of other cities that want teams.
Does this potential upheaval in the league leave Roanoke short-handed?
``Only in rivalries,'' said Express general manager Pierre Paiement. ``If it were Dayton and Toledo and a couple of others going, it wouldn't be that big to us.''
What the Express needs now more than old rivalries is a practice facility. Besides, the Express doesn't have to be jealous of the success of other franchises in only the second winter of hockey's revival here.
The club already has sold more than 1,000 season tickets for 1995-96, and already has reached that number for this year's home playoff dates after only a few hours of sales.
With Tuesday's victory, the Express has won nine of its last 10 after a mid-season slide in which too often it couldn't ice the deal. One reason is that ex-NHL goalie Daniel Berthiaume has been as tough to beat as that Roundhouse win-a-car plywood that has a slot one-quarter inch wider than a puck.
Berthiaume's save percentage since joining the Express is .932. The league record is .911 by Hampton's Nick Vitucci in 1992-93. And Express coach Frank Anzalone's winning percentage in two seasons is .609, impressive for an expansion franchise that suddenly is tied for fourth in ECHL points.
The Express can afford the loss of a few rivals, but not Anzalone. He's tough, and can be difficult at times. When his team plays his system, they can be that way, too - and need that the next two weeks, as they're only three points from clinching home-ice advantage in the first round of the 16-team playoffs.
It wasn't that long ago that when the ECHL needed to salvage a franchise, Vinton oil man Henry Brabham would dig into his pocket and make the save. Now, the icemen cometh from everywhere.
Mobile, Greenville, Columbia, Jacksonville and Pensacola are waiting in line. Louisville could return. Erie and Johnstown may leave Pennsylvania for Florida.
Sure, Roanoke fans might miss the old foes at first, but won't they love thoughts of Greensboro coach Jeff Brubaker and Hampton bench boss John Brophy maybe cooling off in AHL outposts like Newfoundland and Nova Scotia?
In the alphabet-soup on ice, the battle between the NHL and the IHL may not only mean expansion of the AHL, but improvement in the ECHL, too.
One thing is certain. In hockey's so-far-civil war, the South is winning.
by CNB