Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 18, 1995 TAG: 9508180046
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Roanoke Express is assured of having a coach and a place to play during the 1995-96 season. Now, the East Coast Hockey League team would like to have an affiliation with an NHL team and a place to practice.
The Express announced Thursday it had extended the contract of coach Frank Anzalone through the 1996-97 season and had reached a three-year lease agreement with the Roanoke Civic Center that will run through 1997-98. The announcements came during a news conference at Macado's, a Roanoke restaurant owned by Richard Macher, one of the team's owners.
General manager Pierre Paiement also confirmed the Express will remain affiliated with the International Hockey League's Minnesota Moose. Earlier in the week, Paiement confirmed Roanoke's two-year working agreement with the NHL's San Jose Sharks had not been renewed.
Paiement is working on other affiliation possibilities, including a potential deal with the NHL's Colorado Avalanche. A spokesman for the Avalanche, formerly the Quebec Nordiques, said this week the teams may be able to work out some type of agreement within two weeks.
Paiement spoke with Colorado general manager Pierre Lacroix in March, when the team still was in Quebec. Jean Martineau, Colorado's director of media relations, said the Avalanche may be able to accommodate Roanoke's affiliation wishes, but only in a limited way.
``We'll have fewer players under contract next season,'' Martineau said. ``We'll be working with Cornwall [in the AHL]. If we have any players we can send to Roanoke, we may try to do that. We may have something in writing in another 10 or 15 days, I don't know.''
Until an NHL affiliation materializes, Paiement said it was more important to sign Anzalone to a longer deal and to extend the team's lease with the civic center.
``It used to be that players would get traded to [hockey teams in] Roanoke and they would refuse to report,'' Paiement said. ``That's all changed now. Frank is a big part of that.''
Anzalone, the only coach in the Express' two-year history, has a record of 76-47-13 with Roanoke and has guided the team to the ECHL's Riley Cup playoffs in each of its two seasons. None of the other three 1993 ECHL expansion teams - South Carolina, Charlotte and Huntington - has more victories than the Express.
Anzalone, who also is the team's director of hockey operations, was signed to a two-year deal in 1993, then was given a one-year extension in June 1994.
The 39-year-old New York native had a coaching record of 46-75-13 in two seasons with Newmarket of the American Hockey League (1990-91) and Nashville (1991-92) of the ECHL when he was hired by the Express. In two seasons with Roanoke, Anzalone put together winning teams that have played trapping, defensive hockey.
Anzalone said the past two years in Roanoke have been ``comfortable'' for his wife, Teresa, and son, Francis, after several years of changing jobs and cities.
``If I'm going to be a coach in the ECHL, Roanoke is a good place to be,'' Anzalone said. ``I enjoy the people I work with here. They're fair with me and I think I've been fair with them. My family is comfortable in Roanoke.''
The team will continue to call the civic center home at least through 1997-98. Paiement, team owner John Gagnon and civic center manager Bob Chapman signed the new lease at the news conference. Roanoke vice mayor John Edwards, who also attended the news conference, said Thursday was a ``great day for the Roanoke Valley.''
``The Roanoke Express has made a big impact on the Roanoke Valley,'' Edwards said. ``The next thing we need to do is [build] an indoor athletic field house ... and an ice rink.''
Since there is no skating facility in the Roanoke Valley other than the civic center, the Express often is left without a practice rink when the civic center is playing host to another event. The team will hold its training camp in Hillsborough, N.C., in October.
``All I can say about a rink is: I hope it gets done,'' Anzalone said.
Anzalone and Paiement also hope an affiliation agreement gets done. Last season, during the first year of the Roanoke-Minnesota affiliation, the Moose recalled several Express players, including All-Star goalie Dave Gagnon. The Moose also recalled All-Star defenseman Michael Smith seven times.
``We decided to renew [the affiliation] because we think it will be more beneficial for us this year than it was last year,'' Paiement said.
Another reason for staying with Minnesota was the fact that Moose coach Frank Serratore has promised to invite a few Express players to Minnesota's training camp. That opportunity could prove to be a great recruiting tool for Anzalone.
Serratore ``has promised three or four [training camp] spots [for Express players] and I'm going to ask for six,'' Anzalone said.
by CNB