Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 15, 1995 TAG: 9503150073
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The storylines that sprang forth from the Roanoke Express' 7-3 pounding of the Raleigh IceCaps on Tuesday night were almost too numerous to recount.
Had any one of the following items occured in one game, it would have been the evening's big story. As it was, all occurred in Tuesday's contest.
Item: Express goalie Daniel Berthiaume set an East Coast Hockey League record with his 13th consecutive victory between the pipes.
Item: Roanoke extended its franchise-record winning streak to eight. As a side item, the team's eight straight home wins are one shy of the club record.
Item: The first-place Express pushed its lead in the East Division to four points over idle Richmond.
Item: Express wing Derek Laxdal tallied a hat trick, Tony Szabo scored two goals and Jeff Jestadt notched four assists, as the Express exploded for three goals in the second period and four more in the third.
That synopsis puts things in perspective for Roanoke (39-16-9), which has the third-highest point total in the ECHL. As Berthiaume said of his record winning streak:
``It's a team record. It's not one guy. If the guys weren't playing great in front of me, I'd never had gotten it. This is a great team record.''
Berthiaume stopped 16 of 17 shots - the one goal coming when Raleigh's Lyle Wildgoose knocked in a shot late in the second period over a sprawling Berthiaume, who was face down on the ice trying to cover the puck. The Express led 3-0 at the time.
After Roanoke went ahead 6-1 on Szabo's second goal with 11:38 remaining in the game, Berthiaume was given the rest of the night off. Raleigh's final two goals were both against Express backup Dan Ryder and both came on defensive breakdowns.
Kenny Pereira scored 39 seconds after Ryder entered the game by racing past a defender and beating Ryder stickside. Trevor Jobe, the ECHL's No. 2 all-time leading scorer, made it 6-3 with a blast from between the faceoff circles.
``Those last two goals were the defense's mistakes,'' said Express defenseman Dave Stewart. ``I don't know if Berthiaume could have stopped those shots.''
Raleigh's last two goals were mere window-dressing. Darwin McClelland scored his first goal in an Express uniform with 12 seconds left to account for the final margin.
The victory did not come without a price, however. Roanoke left wing Marty Schriner left the game late in the third period with what was diagnosed as a knee strain. He will be examined this morning and could be out three weeks.
``The problem is, our playoff rosters are stuck,'' said Express coach Frank Anzalone.
After a scoreless first period, the Express played run-and-gun with the IceCaps in the second period. Anzalone switched up his lines, the most significant change being the teaming of Laxdal with Ilya Dubkov.
The move paid off as Laxdal scored twice in Roanoke's three-goal second period.
``We needed more size against Jobe's line,'' said Anzalone. ``I told the guys after the first period that Lax hadn't played well. Lax knew it. He had a very good second period.''
After Jason Clarke put the Express on the board with a wrist shot past Raleigh goalie Brad Mullahy early in the second, Laxdal made it 2-0 by taking a nice backhand pass from Dubkov and tapping a backhand past Mullahy.
Laxdal made it 3-0 seven minutes later with a wraparound. He fired off two more shots on goal that Mullahy stopped.
``Their goalie robbed me,'' said Laxdal, grinning. ``I should've had five goals.
``The key [in the second period] was that we got the puck in low. Our team plays better when we work the puck behind the goal line.''
The Express did better than that - it put the puck in the goal. Szabo's two third-period goals sandwiched Laxdal's third of the night, which came on a slapshot that bounced off Mullahy's pads and trickled in to make it 5-1. Szabo's first goal came off a rebound, the second when he picked up a loose puck and sent it through Mullahy's pads to make it 7-1.
Roanoke, which has outscored the opposition 49-15 during its winning streak, plays tonight at Hampton Roads, where the Express has won in its last two trips.
``We don't really look at this as a streak,'' said Laxdal. ``One night, if we get knocked off, we'll take it in stride. Our main goal is to have everyone on the team playing well.''
Memo: ***CORRECTION***