ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, November 10, 1996 TAG: 9611120024
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-14 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: HOCKEY
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR.
Sometimes, it's not how many you win, it's how many you play.
That's been true for the Roanoke Express, which is near the top of the East Coast Hockey League's East Division even though it has one of the division's worst winning percentages.
Credit the schedule-makers, who saddled the Express with a brutal first six weeks of the season. Through Thursday, Roanoke had played a division-high 12 games, twice as many as the South Carolina Stingrays, with whom the Express was tied for third place heading into the weekend.
``The schedule is difficult,'' Express coach Frank Anzalone said before his team left on a six-game trip. ``There's nothing we can do about it except play the games.''
Even though Roanoke's 5-6-1 record ranked it ahead of only Hampton Roads in terms of winning percentage (the Express had a .458 success rate, the Admirals Stingrays have the same number of points despite having played half as many games.
South Carolina most likely will pull ahead of Roanoke when it makes up its games in hand, but that does not overshadow the fact that the Express is playing much better than it did during the season's first two weeks. Roanoke is 4-2-0 after a 1-4-1 start.
The schedule doesn't get any easier the rest of the month, as the Express plays 17 games in November before getting taking the first week of December off.
One member of the Express traveling party tried to make light of Roanoke's workload after the team played at Pensacola, Fla., on Wednesday.
``I said, `Hey, that's just our fifth game this month. Only 12 to go,''' said the weary traveler. ``Needless to say, I wasn't very popular after that.''
SINKING HIS TEETH: Express center Jeff Loder certainly doesn't look like a rookie, statistically or dentally. After scoring eight goals in his first 12 professional games, Loder leads the Express in scoring with 15 points, a total that ranks eighth in the ECHL.
The 5-foot-9, 21-year-old native of Newfoundland looks like a veteran in the face, too, especially since his two front teeth were knocked out during a game against Pensacola on Wednesday. Loder was hit with Bobby Brown's stick when Brown and a Pensacola player were working the puck along the boards.
This accident happened just two weeks after Loder needed 10 stitches to close a gash in his lower lip suffered against Knoxville on Oct.17, his first pro game.
Welcome to the pros, kid.
ICE CHIPS: After getting off to a shaky start, veteran goaltender Dave Gagnon is returning to the form that made him an ECHL All-Star in 1994-95. His goals-against average soared above 6.00 during the first week, but he lowered it to 4.13 after giving up three goals or fewer in four of five starts. It was no surprise that goalie Paul Taylor was called up to the Saint John Flames of the American Hockey League last week. Taylor wound up in Roanoke when his agent worked out a deal with Saint John, Roanoke's AHL affiliate, to have Taylor play a couple of games with the Express before getting a chance to play with the Flames. Rookie forward Kyle Millar is still slowed with the ankle injury that has forced him to miss 10 of 12 games. When he returned last week, he was hit with a stick just above an eye.
AROUND THE ECHL: League vice president Andy Van Hellemond has changed league policy not only by the severity of his penalties he has doled out, but by the fact that he announces his punishments publicly. Former commissioner Pat Kelly refused to do that. Now, the ECHL issues a news release each time a player is suspended. Among the latest to feel the wrath of Van Hellemond are Charlotte's Phil Berger (for attempting to injure a Knoxville player), Mobile's Craig Johnson (for refusing to leave the ice after being ejected from a game) and Columbus' Gary Coupal (for throwing his stick and gloves toward an opposing bench). The Raleigh IceCaps are on top of the East Division despite having played its first nine games on the road. Toledo goalie David Goverde, the 1996 Sherwood/ECHL player of the year, picked up where he left off last season by earning player of the month honors for October with a 4-0-0 record.
NOTE: Please see microfilm for statistics.
LENGTH: Medium: 78 linesby CNB