ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, October 7, 1996 TAG: 9610080007
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: EXPRESS NOTES
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
Frank Anzalone all but demanded his players to bear signs ``Will work to play hockey'' when the Roanoke Express opened training camp at the Roanoke Civic Center on Sunday.
In a little more than a day since players arrived on Saturday, Anzalone has pounded a theme into his players' heads: He does not want a repeat of last year's implosion, when a veteran team lost its hunger somewhere along the way and finished near the bottom of the East Coast Hockey League's East Division.
With more new faces than it has had in camp since the team's inaugural 1993-94 season, the Express will try to blend a core of experienced players with some highly touted newcomers in hopes of erasing memories of last season.
``We're trying to set the tone early,'' said Anzalone, the Express coach. ``We're trying to get to know everyone and picking the best team that will be the most difficult to play against.
``We're also trying to reacquire the work ethic we didn't think we had all the time last year.''
Six players from last year's squad along with goalie Dave Gagnon, who played with Roanoke in 1994-95, are joined by 17 new players.
Since four of the returnees are defensemen - Dave Stewart, Michael Smith, Tim Hanley and Duane Harmer - the Express looks like it will be strong in its own end.
``Dave Gagnon is a guy we'd like to have lead us,'' said Anzalone, ``but he can't do it alone. All of these guys have got to find their way.''
Only two forwards from last year's squad are back: leading goal-scorer Jeff Jablonski (39 goals last season) and Tim Christian (24 goals, 26 assists).
``It seems like we've got a good group of young kids who work hard,'' said Jablonski. ``We didn't seem to have the desire to work last year. We had a lot of older players who were taking it easy and it [complacency] got contagious. We couldn't get going. I think that'll change.''
And those who don't get with the program?
``The pretenders will find their way out of here,'' said Anzalone.
STEWART RETIRES RUMOR: Most of the summer it was believed that Stewart, 24, had played his last game as a pro when the Express was bounced in the first round of the East Coast Hockey League playoffs. Someone forgot to tell Stewart that.
``I don't know how all that got started,'' said Stewart, whose 13 goals led Express defensemen last year. ``That was never part of the plan.''
Although Stewart is entering his fourth professional season, he won't be considered a veteran under new ECHL rules that classify a vet as a player who has played in 200 professional games. ECHL teams can carry only three veterans.
PUBLIC SCRIMMAGE: The team's first intrasquad scrimmage is tonight at 6:15p.m. at the Roanoke Civic Center. The public is invited and season-ticket holders can pick up their tickets.
The scrimmage is scheduled to last 90 minutes, but Anzalone said the team probably wouldn't play longer than an hour.
``Tell people to come to the front part [of the scrimmage] and not the end part,'' he said. ``We may not go that long. The scrimmage is going to be hard and short.''
ICE CHIPS: The Express doesn't have the infamous Hansen brothers from the movie ``Slapshot'' and the beer commercials in camp, it has the Hanley brothers, Tim and Pat.
Tim, 26, a 6-foot-3, 210-pound defenseman, returns for his second year in Roanoke and is joined by brother Pat, 24, a 6-1, 195-pound rookie defenseman from Miami University, in Ohio. ``It's the first time we've played together in about eight years,'' said Tim Hanley. ``Since the midget leagues.''
The two brothers often played against each other, even in college when Tim was playing at Lake Superior State.
Two guys who are probably anxious for the games to begin are wingers Bobby Brown and Jeff Cowan, two players on the Calgary Flames' 50-man roster who are now in their third training camp in three weeks. Both players went to camp with the Flames three weeks ago, then were sent to the Saint John Flames of the American Hockey League last week before coming to Roanoke.
Both were top-notch scorers in the junior leagues last year. Brown, who turned 21 on Sept.26, netted 42 goals and 46 assists in just 59 games for Brandon of the Western Hockey League, Cowan, who turned 20 one day after Brown's birthday, had 38 goals and 14 assists in 66 games for Barrie in the Ontario League.
Four Anzalone recruits who earned spots in the Saint John camp last week reported to Roanoke - defenseman Bill Holowatiuk and right wings Jonathan Kelley, Chris Lipsett and Chris DeProfio.
Former ECHL commissioner and former Salem Raiders coach Pat Kelly, who now has the title ``commissioner emeritus,'' will drop the puck at the home opener on Oct.18. Virginia Tech basketball coach Bill Foster, who recently announced that this season will be his last on the bench, will take part in the opening ceremony the next night. NOTE: Story originally said Sabres, not Raiders.
LENGTH: Medium: 91 linesby CNB