ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, May 21, 1996 TAG: 9605210068
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Jack Bogaczyk
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
The dust hasn't settled from the recent ownership coup that went like a locomotive through even file cabinets in the Roanoke Express' front office. That's because now, the ramifications of management moves have reached rinkside.
John Gagnon was ousted as president of the East Coast Hockey League franchise. Pierre Paiement, after apologizing for sticking too close to his buddy's budding Biloxi club, has had some of his insecurity melted with a new two-year contract to remain as the Express general manager.
What happened to Gagnon and Paiement certainly was stunning for a franchise that has been nothing but successful. However, to the crowds who have warmed to the Express in what had been a hockey hell, the ownership controversy wasn't as much a topic of discussion as the club's unplugged power-play in the 1996 playoffs.
The Express averaged about 5,700 fans per game last season, and those folks really don't worry much about who's who at the top of an organizational chart until any changes reverberate their seats. That's happened with the Express. The club's reorganization has left coach Frank Anzalone where he was six weeks ago, wondering whether he's going to get a contract extension.
Anzalone would like another year added to the 1996-97 season he has remaining on his Express deal. Before the shocking board games, Anzalone was all but assured his deal would be extended, as it was last year. He was asked to wait.
Anzalone's security is crucial to more than the 40-year-old coach. With the club already enduring more than enough off-season upheaval, the last thing the Express needs is more wringing among its guiding hands. Whether or not Anzalone's coaching style is loved, his presence would give the club continuity where it's needed most - on the ice.
Anzalone is the club's hockey brains, although he doesn't have that title, hasn't asked for it and likely wouldn't. Paiement handles the business side of the franchise. It's a two-headed concept that could become even more defined under the board reorganization.
Paiement, a 10-percent Express investor who had been working in the front office without a formal deal in the Gagnon regime, now has a signed two-year deal on paper, at the same salary he was making, in the $50,000-55,000 range.
Joe Steffen, an Express board member and spokesman, said Monday that ``anyone who reads into the delay [on Anzalone's negotiations] an idea that we're not happy with Frank is completely wrong. ... We have to talk more, but the consensus is we eventually want to extend it.''
``Eventually'' doesn't rhyme with ``uncertainty,'' but they're in the same neighborhood. The delay on Anzalone's future sends the wrong message to the club's supporters and among the game's icemen. The longer the Express waits to deal with Anzalone, the more difficult player acquisition becomes.
Anzalone, earning $45,000, hasn't threatened to leave, although he did have permission to look into a Division I college vacancy in New York State. It was Anzalone who lined up the Express' early affiliations with San Jose of the NHL and Minnesota of the IHL, and it is with his contacts it would seem the club has its best chance at a organizational tie for next season.
He doesn't have an assistant coach - although that may be by choice - and hasn't had a practice rink, but his team has had three straight winning seasons. The competition from division rivals Richmond, Hampton Roads, Charlotte and South Carolina will only get tougher, because the brains behind Wheeling's success, Larry Kish, has moved into the backyard, too, in Raleigh.
There are four ECHL jobs open, in Dayton, Columbus, Wheeling and Baton Rouge. Because he's honest and credible and has a good reputation as a teacher and motivator in the hockey business - even if he isn't always the most positive guy - Anzalone could get another job in the league.
He's made it clear he doesn't want that. Neither should the Express. The ECHL spring meeting begins a week from today, and Anzalone's deal should be redone before then.
Isn't one train wreck an off-season enough?
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:(headshot) Anzalone. color.by CNB