ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, October 19, 1996 TAG: 9610210117
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: JACK BOGACZYK
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
What was remarkable about Roanoke's latest Ice Age three years ago has become the expected.
Hockey is still a hit here.
The Express continues to be the biggest success story in Roanoke Valley pro sports history. The club has sold 2,125 season tickets. That's 77 percent more than the 1,200 the Express began with in 1993-94, roaring into what had been a dead-end place for pucks.
On the ice, however, there is something distinctly different about the fourth edition of the Express, which made its home debut Friday night with a 5-4 victory over Huntington before 5,392 at the Roanoke Civic Center.
No, it's not just Elmer the Engineer, a new mascot sharing ice time with Loco, the pooch who either needs a goalie's mask or a dentist.
It's the roster.
The Express doesn't play Peoria, but not only will some of the ``Roundhouse'' visitors in the bloated, 23-team East Coast Hockey League be new to Roanoke. The Express has 12 first-year pros. That should help sell programs.
What this also means, of course, is learning on the fly, as the Express did in its opening loss Thursday at Knoxville. Still, coach Frank Anzalone likes his club.
No, he really likes it.
There weren't many smiles below the Anzalone mustache last season, when a roster with too many veterans was skating in too many different directions, one of them toward home winless after the first round of the playoffs.
As is said in hockey, they weren't good ``in the room.'' The Express wasn't as good as it should have been on the ice, either. The 1996 upheaval for the Express wasn't just on the shuffled board of directors.
On the ice, the Express appears to be much like the past two years in style, muckling and grinding. No one should be surprised Anzalone has a hard-working club.
However, this Express team also has more offensive promise and speed than the last two clubs. It put more pressure on the Blizzard net than Anzalone's past two teams. The Express was still trapping as usual, but also trapping Huntington goalie Rob Laurie.
When the Express brought hockey off this melting pond in 1993-94, Anzalone had a team of swift scorers, but not enough goaltending. The last two clubs were better in net, but couldn't turn on the red light enough.
The '96-97 Express has only five players back from last season, and thanks to a new - and needed - NHL affiliation with Calgary, a player with exciting potential and speed in winger Bobby Brown.
How long Brown will be around before he goes north in more ways than one - to the Flames' AHL affiliate in Newfoundland - is a good question. There are more young guns in the Express' lines, however, like Brown's fellow Calgary farmhand, Jeff Cowan.
``We have talent,'' Anzalone said. ``We're going to have some bumps and bruises and headaches, and it may take time, but we have the makings of a good team. And the selfishness we saw last year isn't there.''
With Dave Stewart suspended for three games after an opening-night hit and the Hanley brothers history, Roanoke begins the season short on defense. However, if the club can score, it won't have to try to win on grizzled Dave Gagnon's goaltending most nights.
The biggest question about the club? Roanoke plays only four of its first 14 games at home. Will the Express survive November?
``If we can get through that, it will be a big `Wow!''' Anzalone said.
Talk about a grinder. Roanoke has 17 games in November, including an early, six-game, nine-day trip to South Carolina, Richmond, Birmingham, Pensacola, Mobile and Baton Rouge.
The Express' month also includes three games in three nights three times. Anzalone said he could find no other team, even in the NHL, with more than 14 games in a month.
It appears Anzalone has recruited well. His first three clubs have won 55 percent of their games. This team could improve that number slightly.
LENGTH: Medium: 76 linesby CNB