ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 2, 1996 TAG: 9604020045
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
IT'S DO OR DIE TIME for Roanoke as it tries to stay alive against Charlotte.
The task for the Roanoke Express is simple: Either make history or become history.
Facing a 2-0 deficit in its best-of-five East Coast Hockey League playoff series with the Charlotte Checkers, the Express is one loss away from elimination heading into Game 3 tonight at the Roanoke Civic Center. The Express must either win three in a row to claim the series or put away the skates and sticks until autumn.
ECHL history reveals that rallying from two games down to win a five-game series is next to impossible. It's happened only once in the league's eight-year history, which covers 40 best-of-five series.
That series was in 1994, when the Raleigh IceCaps, backstopped by current Express goaltender Matt DelGuidice, won three straight in the quarterfinals over the Greensboro Monarchs after falling behind two games to none.
``We know that [the Checkers] have a huge advantage over us,'' said Express coach Frank Anzalone. ``There's no use thinking about [it]. We've just got to live with what we've done and get ready for [tonight].''
What the Express has done in its previous two games is play just well enough to stay close to the Checkers. What it hasn't done is show any scoring punch.
In the first two games of this series at Charlotte's Independence Arena - a 3-0 loss in Game 1 on March 27 and a 4-2 Game 2 loss on Saturday - the Express has gone 0-for-14 on power plays. Another power-play short-circuiting tonight will mean lights out in Roanoke.
Charlotte, meanwhile, has converted 5-of-10 opportunities with a man advantage.
``They're a very good offensive team that's getting some breaks,'' said Anzalone, ``and we're a team that's not getting enough from skilled players. [Scoring goals] seems to be a real labor for us. If our skilled players are on their game, we could've scored four or five goals [in Game 2].''
If Roanoke wins tonight, Game 4 will be Thursday at the civic center. A fifth game, if necessary, would be played Friday in Charlotte.
The Checkers come into Roanoke having set an ECHL regular-season record with 23 road victories this season, one more than it had at home. The Express, meanwhile, set a franchise record with 24 home victories, although it lost three of five regular-season home games to the Checkers.
``They haven't lost many at home and we haven't lost many on the road,'' said Charlotte coach John Marks. ``They're going to play as hard as they can to force [a game on] Thursday night.''
MAD MAX: Charlotte has appealed the one-game suspension of Dennis Maxwell to league commissioner Pat Kelly. The Checkers will know today whether or not Maxwell's suspension will be lifted.
Maxwell was suspended for one game after receiving a double game misconduct during a game-ending brawl in Game 2.
Eight players received game misconducts during the altercation, which began moments after Charlotte's Phil Berger scored an empty-net goal to make it 4-2. Express goalie Daniel Berthiaume took a swing at Maxwell, who was fighting another Express player. Maxwell subsequently received the double game misconduct for fighting Berthiaume, who earlier was decked by Scott Kirton.
Roanoke's Jeff Jestadt, Karry Biette, Craig Herr and Berthiaume all received game misconducts, as did Charlotte's Mick Kempffer, Daryl Nirton and Kirton.
Berthiaume ``shouldn't have been out there during that [melee],'' said Marks. ``That's what made everything worse. I don't think things would have gotten out of hand if he hadn't left his crease.''
LENGTH: Medium: 70 linesby CNB