Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 23, 1995 TAG: 9508230053
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
League expansion is just one of the topics on the agenda for the ECHL's board of governors, which completes its two-day meeting in Roanoke today.
The board, which is essentially a collection of the team owners, also will discuss establishing a better relationship with the International and American Hockey Leagues, an anonymous club owner said.
The AHL is making inroads into southern markets and into the ECHL. The ECHL's Greensboro Monarchs jumped to the AHL in June and will be known as the Carolina Monarchs.
``We'd like to get an agreement with these leagues and work with them better,'' said the owner.
AHL president Dave Andrews said in June that his league would continue to expand southward. Current ECHL markets Norfolk and Charlotte are reported to be potential AHL expansion sites.
``Everyone has to recognize the environment in hockey and the competition for markets and the competition for leases,'' said ECHL president Rick Adams. ``I think we have the best product in minor-league hockey. It's my job to make sure the franchises [in the ECHL] know that they'd be best off in [the ECHL] with us.''
The ECHL, which expands to 21 teams next year with the addition of four new franchises, has a list of at least six cities that are expansion candidates.
Evansville, Ind., Trenton, N.J., Camden, N.J., Baton Rouge, La., Memphis, Tenn., and Pensacola, Fla., are possible expansion sites. One or more of those cities could be added to the league for the 1996-97 season. Greenville, S.C., will join the league then.
``We have about a half-dozen inquiries, but we're not sure who's going to apply,'' said Birmingham owner Art Clarkson, who chairs the league's expansion committee. ``We'll probably add one or two more [teams]. You look at the NHL, and it looks like the optimum number is 28 teams.
This season, the ECHL will span 11 states from Pennsylvania to Louisiana.
``As long as we can keep the league centralized, we'll be fine,'' said Clarkson. ``We still need to be a `bus league' and keep our salaries down. We still want to be a developmental league and the top feeder league to the AHL and IHL.''
In Tuesday's business, the owners decided by an 11-10 vote to eliminate overtime periods next season. Instead, games in which the score is tied will advance to shootout rounds. Last season, tied score games went into 5-minute overtime periods followed by shootouts.
Also on the owners' agenda is an update on the current negotiations with the new players' union. The owners are expected to approve the sale of the Huntington Blizzard to former Greensboro Monarchs president Morris Jeffreys.
EUROPEAN VACATION: Tony Szabo decided to give European hockey one more try. Derek Laxdal decided to do the same for his playing career.
Both Szabo and Laxdal, two of the Roanoke Express' top offensive players, have decided to play in Europe next season. Szabo, who was named Roller Hockey International's player of the year on Monday after leading the league in goals, has signed with a team in Sweden and Laxdal is going to England.
It will be the second European tour for Szabo, who led the Express in scoring with 42 goals and 54 assists in 1993-94 before signing with a team in Scotland last season. He returned to Roanoke in January and played in the Express' final 36 games of the 1994-95 season, scoring 22 goals. Szabo broke the RHI record for goals in a season by netting 50 in 20 games for the Detroit Motor City Mustangs.
Laxdal, Roanoke's player/assistant coach last season, had talked about checking into coaching opportunities next season but he decided to sign with a professional team in England. A former NHL player with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Laxdal was Roanoke's fifth-leading scorer with 32 goals and 24 assists last season.
``I've known Szabo would be gone for about two months,'' said Express coach Frank Anzalone. ``First, he was going to Austria, then it was somewhere else.''
PLAYER NOTES: Some other Express players appear to be moving to higher leagues. All-Star defenseman Michael Smith is on the verge of signing a contract with the International Hockey League's Milwaukee Admirals. Forward Jason Clarke, who set an ECHL record with 467 penalty minutes last season, will go to training camp with the IHL's Las Vegas Thunder.
EXPRESS JOBS OPEN: Express management is looking for someone to play the part of team mascot Loco the Railyard Dog. Express marketing director Tim Woodburn said that the mascot, who must wear the heavy bulldog costume, role can be ``a very vigorous regimen.'' A skating mascot would be ideal, he said. The team also is looking for a music coordinator to work on game nights.
Job-seekers can call Woodburn at 989-4625, ext. 212.
by CNB