ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, March 11, 1996 TAG: 9603110065
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NORFOLK
SOURCE: Landmark News Service
ROANOKE MOVES one point behind Hampton Roads on the strength of four power-play goals in a 6-3 victory in Norfolk.
There's something about a game against the Hampton Roads Admirals that causes the Roanoke Express' power play to run right on schedule.
The Express, playing its third game in as many nights, scored four power-play goals and whipped the Admirals 6-3 on Sunday night at the Scope. The victory moved the Express a point behind Hampton Roads in the race for fourth place in the East Coast Hockey League's East Division.
Jeff Jestadt, Tim Christian, Chris Potter and Ilya Dubkov scored power-play goals for the Express.
It's the second time this season the Express, which usually converts just under 20 percent of its power-play chances, has scored four man-advantage goals against Hampton Roads, which stops 80 percent of opponents' power plays.
``There's nothing they do differently,'' said John Brophy, the Admirals' coach. ``We let them through the middle of our defense a couple of times and everything they touched went in.''
Roanoke chased Admirals goalie Mark Bernard by taking a 4-0 lead eight minutes into the second period. The Express increased its margin to 6-0 through two periods before Hampton Roads scored three times in the third to make it respectable.
``We were sluggish in pregame warmups and we went back to the locker room to talk about what we needed to do to get working hard,'' said Frank Anzalone, the Express' coach.
Hampton Roads outshot Roanoke 19-8 in the first, yet trailed 2-0. With Admirals forward Rod Taylor off for boarding, Jestadt tipped a Potter shot past Bernard to make it a 1-0 lead.
Seven minutes later, Express defenseman Duane Harmer slipped a screened shot past Bernard.
``We created a little bit of luck for ourselves in the first period with a couple of the kind of goals we don't usually score,'' Anzalone said.
After Christian beat Bernard twice in the second - one on an even-strength goal after an assist from Potter, the other a power-play effort with assists from Jeff Jablonski and Potter - Brophy pulled Bernard.
``The first shot was a deflection, on the second I was screened, the third was a knuckleball and the fourth was a deflection,'' Bernard said. Roanoke goalie Daniel ``Berthiaume made the big saves. I didn't. What can I say? I feel bad.''
Berthiaume faced 49 shots and turned aside 46.
``When we got behind by four goals, we could have turned it ugly,'' Brophy said. ``Instead, we kept working and had a good third period.''
Hampton Roads was assessed 67 minutes in penalties to Roanoke's 27. That's more penalty minutes than the Admirals had drawn in the past five games combined.
``I don't know if they felt frustrated or not,'' Anzalone said. ``I'm just happy the referee made the calls.''
Taylor said if there was frustration, it came from the fact the same officiating crew worked the previous night's game Raleigh-Hampton Roads game in North Carolina. The Admirals had 24 penalty minutes in that game.
``There's lots I'd like to say about all the penalties, but I'm not interested in being fined by the league,'' Taylor said. ``At one point, I skated over, whistled the circus song and got a 10-minute misconduct. Let's leave it like that.''
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 69 linesby CNB