ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, March 27, 1996 TAG: 9603270052
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: EXPRESS NOTES
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
As a team, the Roanoke Express succeeded in its bid to finish fourth in the East Coast Hockey League's East Division, but a couple of players came up short of individual milestones.
Goalie Daniel Berthiaume, who joined the Express in November and appeared in 39 games, tied the franchise record for victories with 22 set by Dan Ryder in 1993-94. Berthiaume missed an opportunity to set the record by losing his last two decisions.
Jeff Jablonski fell one goal short of becoming the third player in Express history to score 40 goals in a season. He had two great chances to get No.40 on Saturday in Raleigh, N.C., but he shot high over an open net and was denied a couple of rebound chances, one of which he felt crossed the goal line.
Jablonski finished with 61 points on 39 goals and 22 assists. Ilya Dubkov, who had 72 points (20 goals, 52 assists), led the team in scoring for the second consecutive season.
CHECKING IN: Roanoke almost certainly will see Charlotte's Nick Vitucci, the ECHL's all-time winningest goalie, in the Riley Cup playoffs tonight. Vitucci led the league with 32 victories during the regular season and has won five in a row against the Express, but he did not play against them in the teams' past three meetings. ... Charlotte will be without J.F. Aube, who returned to college several weeks ago. The Checkers' Jeff Connolly has recovered from a broken jaw and will play. ... Roanoke has three former Charlotte players on its roster - Jason Clarke, Dan Murphy and Matt DelGuidice. Charlotte has one former Express player, Gerry Daley.
PLAYOFF PICTURE: The Raleigh IceCaps clinched the wild-card spot with a 5-3 victory at Charlotte on Sunday, meaning all six East Division teams made the playoffs. The top five teams in each of the three divisions automatically qualified, with Raleigh earning its berth by having the most points of the six remaining teams.
One of the best first-round matchups will be the Hampton Roads-Richmond series, which begins today. The Renegades won the Brabham Cup with the most total points in the league (105) during the regular season, but lost five of 10 games to the Admirals, although two were in shootouts.
In the other best-of-five first-round series (team with home-ice advantage is listed first), Toledo plays Dayton, Wheeling faces Columbus, Louisiana takes on Jacksonville, Nashville plays Knoxville, Tallahassee meets Raleigh and South Carolina plays Louisville.
The eight winners will be re-seeded for the quarterfinals.
LENGTH: Medium: 54 linesby CNB