ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, November 2, 1996 TAG: 9611040121
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
The Charlotte Checkers must have been wondering who those guys were skating around in Roanoke Express uniforms.
Many of the Roanoke fans, and perhaps a few of the Express players, were wondering the same thing.
Backed by newly acquired goaltender Paul Taylor and featuring several new faces in the lineup, the Express blanked its usual scourge 3-0 in an East Coast Hockey League game Friday before 5,216 fans at the Roanoke Civic Center.
It was the kind of performance Roanoke (3-4-1) would like to bottle and take on the road, where it will play its next six games beginning tonight at South Carolina. Taylor, who arrived from the International Hockey league by way of Louisville in the ECHL on Thursday, stopped all 27 shots he saw - including a penalty shot with six seconds left - before leaving with a strained groin.
``It's hard to beat that, when you have a guy stand on his head like that,'' said Express center Jeff Loder.
The Express scored 23 seconds into the game and never trailed a Charlotte team that blew out Roanoke 9-1 last Friday.
Taylor was one of three new players to suit up for the Express on Friday. Roanoke also added forward Steve Salhany and defenseman Olegs Sorokins, while they lost a couple of others. Tim Christian (shoulder) and J.F. Tremblay (ankle) are out with injuries and rookie center Chris DeProfio quit the team Friday, the fourth Express player to do so since training camp.
Taylor may not be around much longer, either. He tried to latch on with Fort Wayne and Salt Lake City in the IHL before winding up in Louisville, where he stayed one day. He wanted to hook up with the American Hockey League's Saint John Flames - who are affiliated with the Express by virtue of Roanoke's association with the parent Calgary Flames - so Express coach Frank Anzalone talked to Taylor's agent, Hugh Gorman, and got him to Roanoke.
``I guess I'm here sort of as an intern,'' said Taylor, who thinks he could be in Roanoke as little as one week. ``Hopefully, I'll show what I can do and get a call.''
What he showed Friday was impressive. He stopped the high-scoring Checkers, who could only bang a couple of posts. The shutout appeared in danger late in the third period when Charlotte (4-2-1) added an extra skater on the power play for a 6-on-4 situation. The Checkers got a penalty shot with six seconds left when Express defenseman Dave Stewart was whistled for knocking the net off its moorings while the puck was in the crease.
Taylor, whose right groin was obviously hurting at that point, never had to make another save, as Charlotte's Matt Robbins sent the penalty shot well wide. Larry Moberg relieved Taylor and saw Phil Berger's shot clang off the left post as time expired.
``Taylor really made seven or eight big saves,'' said Anzalone. ``The team gave a good effort. We scored early goals and played good defense after that. Charlotte had handled us pretty easily in the past. We didn't dominate this game at any point. We just were in good position when they had the puck.''
Roanoke outshot Charlotte 22-13 in the first two periods and out-Jeffed them, too. Jeff Cowan, Jeff Loder and Jeff Jablonski accounted for all the scoring.
Roanoke took the lead 23 seconds into the game on Cowan's goal and got a huge goal from Loder with just nine seconds left in the period to make it 2-0.
Cowan's goal came on a rebound after Ryan Equale won a faceoff and Matt O'Dette put the puck on net. The Express controlled action the rest of the period and reaped the rewards for hard work when Stewart tied up a Charlotte clearing attempt and the puck squirted free to Loder, who skated unfettered in front of the net and roofed a shot from the left side at 19:51.
Jablonski put Roanoke ahead 3-0 with a wraparound that slipped through Paxton Schafer's pads at 6:04 of the second.
``All the guys who have been together since training camp are starting to come together pretty good,'' said Loder. ``This was a good week. We had a 2-2 tie [but lost to South Carolina in a shootout], beat Hampton Roads and Charlotte. We want to get back to .500 and take it from there.''
ICE CHIPS: Sorokins is from Latvia, not Russia as originally reported. When asked by an Express official what part of Russia he was from, Sorokins said, ``Latvia, not Russia. Big difference.'' Loder leads the Express with 12 points in eight games.
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ERIC BRADY\Staff. 1. Paul Taylor, who joined the Expressby CNBon Thursday, deflects a shot during the second period of his first
appearance at the Roanoke Civic Center. Taylor stopped all 27 shots
he faced. 2. Roanoke's Jeff Cowan (right) scores on Charlotte's
Paxton Schafer with just 23 seconds elapsed in the first period on
Friday. Ryan Equale (left) assisted on the goal. color.