ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, October 18, 1996 TAG: 9610180053
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: KNOXVILLE, TENN.
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
ROANOKE STARTS and ends slow in losing its East Coast Hockey League opener to the Knoxville Cherokees 6-4.
If the first seven minutes of the Roanoke Express' season opener were brutal, the final three minutes were devastating.
After digging itself a two-goal hole in the first 6:25, Roanoke roared back to tie the score before giving up a pair of crushing goals in the last 2:41 of a 6-4 loss to the Knoxville Cherokees Thursday night.
On a night when 10 Express players began their professional careers, and one of them, Bobby Brown, netted his first professional hat trick, head coach Frank Anzalone was concentrating on the positives of seeing a young team develop.
``We played very, very well,'' said Anzalone, whose team opens its home schedule tonight against Huntington. ``We made some mistakes. With under five minutes left, you can't let a wide open guy shoot the puck into your net.''
That would be Knoxville's Kyle Reeves, who netted the game-winner with 2:41 left. Twenty-six seconds later, Dan Chaput scored the back breaker.
Reeves finished with two goals and two assists and veteran forward Jim Brown had four assists.
The six goals all came against Express goaltender Dave Gagnon, who is back with Roanoke after 11/2 seasons in the International Hockey League. Most of the goals came as a result of breakdowns in the Express zone.
``They could have had two or three more,'' said Express left wing Jeff Jablonski. ``We had some bad breakdowns.''
After falling behind 2-0, 3-1 and 4-2, the Express began its comeback in the second.
Brown, a 21-year-old center on the Calgary Flames' 50-man roster, scored his first goal on a power play in the second period to cut the Express' deficit to 3-2.
Thirty seconds later, Kelly Hollingshead scored for Knoxville to make it a two-goal game again.
It took Brown 3:36 of the third period to complete his hat trick and knot the score at 4. ``I was lucky enough to sweep one in and then get a couple more,'' said Brown. ``There are still a lot of things I can do better. We should have won tonight. We had some jitters, but letting it slip away like that is unacceptable.''
The Express trailed 3-1 after one period and never led. David Neilson scored 20 seconds into the game. Six minutes later, Ole Kjenstad, who refused a trade to Roanoke last month, made it 2-0 on the power play. Tim Christian scored for Roanoke at 14:24, but Reeves made it 3-1 two minutes later.
``We had some jitters but the young guys didn't look out of place,'' said Anzalone. ``It's a bad loss but I saw some good things.''
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 57 linesby CNB