Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 24, 1995 TAG: 9503240141
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
On a night when gritty wing Darwin McClelland claimed he had no recollection of his stellar performance after taking a wicked hit, the Express erased the memories of a four-game winless streak by blasting the Knoxville Cherokees 6-1 before 3,464 fans at the Roanoke Civic Center. Roanoke took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series.
The win is the first playoff victory for the Express, which was eliminated in the first round of last year's playoffs by Raleigh, two games to none. Game 2 of this first-round series is Saturday night in the civic center.
The victory resulted as much from McClelland, who had to be helped from the ice after getting his bell rung in the first period, as it did from Ilya Dubkov, who scored Roanoke's first two goals.
McClelland was able to make the Roanoke faithful forget that center Craig Herr had been tossed off the ice in the first period. Herr was handed a game misconduct for jumping into a tussle between Roanoke's Jason Clarke and Knoxville's Justin Hocking at the 15:44 mark.
McClelland, too, had been escorted off the ice three minutes earlier after taking a high stick from Cherokees captain Carl LeBlanc. McClelland, who was disoriented as he was helped to the locker room, needed 14 stitches to close a gash above his upper lip. Three of his top teeth were dislodged.
``I went to hit the guy [LeBlanc], and I don't remember anything after that,'' McClelland said.
Unfortunately for McClelland, that means he missed some of his best work. Like the crisp centering pass he gave to Clarke, who beat Knoxville goalie Cory Cadden to make it 4-0 with 3:44 left in the second period. Or the assist he notched on Mike Krygier's third-period goal that made it 6-0.
``I think I remember most of that,'' said McClelland, who will be visiting a dentist today. ``I remember congratulating Clarkie.''
If there's anything that should be remembered about Thursday's game, it's the effort put forth by role players such as McClelland, Krygier and Chris Potter.
``Those guys came through when we lost Craig Herr,'' Express coach Frank Anzalone said.
Potter, especially, has been asked to do more since forward Marty Schriner went down with a knee injury. Potter, who has played mostly defense this season, has filled in at a wing for the past week.
``I'm just doing what Frank asks me to do,'' Potter said. ``Me, Darwin and Mike Krygier just try to get the puck down low and go to work.''
Roanoke goalie Daniel Berthiaume was five minutes away from posting his first shutout for the Express when Knoxville's Michael Gaul scored a power-play goal. Berthiaume made 23 saves.
``We took away most of their shots,'' Anzalone said. ``They have guys who can shoot the puck. We did a good job of not letting them shoot the puck on Danny from 30 feet away.''
Roanoke, which finished second in the East Division after blowing a six-point lead last week, went to work quickly. Dubkov's two goals came 62 seconds apart in the first period.
He put a rebound past Cadden at the 4:06 mark after Cadden deflected Tony Szabo's shot. He followed that by sending a slap shot through Cadden's pads from just inside the blue line at the 5:08 mark.
``Tony [gave] me the pass,'' said Dubkov, who saw ``the defenseman on my side. I saw it open. I shoot.''
Joe Hawley put Roanoke's speed factory to work in the second period by blowing past the Knoxville defense, cutting across the middle and wristing the puck over Cadden's shoulder to make it 3-0 with 17:09 left in the second. It was Hawley's second goal in the last 17 games.
In the third, Jeff Jestadt put the puck into an empty goal to make it 5-0 when Cadden strayed about 20 feet from the net in an attempt to cover the puck.
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
by CNB