ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, November 17, 1996 TAG: 9611180129
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
The Roanoke Express can thank the gods of hockey that Jeff Cowan picked Saturday to have the biggest night of his nascent professional hockey career.
Had he not scored four goals, the Express would've had to sweat one out against the lowly Louisville Riverfrogs. Had it not been for Cowan, Roanoke would've won by only six goals.
Thankfully for the Express, Cowan lit the lamp four times, including three in a row, as Roanoke River-flogged winless and hapless Louisville 11-1, tying a franchise record for goals in a game.
While the season-high Roanoke Civic Center crowd of 7,291 fans celebrated Macarena Night with what had to be the largest Macarena dance in the history of the Roanoke Valley, it was Pad the Stats Night for the players.
Cowan had four goals and an assist to tie Jeff Loder for the team lead with nine goals, Chris Lipsett had two goals and two assists, Kyle Millar scored two goals and Jeff Jablonski became the team's leading point-scorer with 19 thanks to a goal and two assists.
Cowan, a 20-year-old rookie center under contract with the Calgary Flames, stole the show with his natural hat trick bridging the second and third periods and a fourth goal that made it 11-1 with 2:48 left.
``It's easy to score like that when your team is playing well,'' said Cowan. ``This is one of the first times when we've played an entire 60 minutes. We knew they hadn't won, but we weren't coming in cocky. We didn't know anything about them.''
The Express knows now that the Riverfrogs aren't very good. Their 0-10-3 record constitutes the worst start in East Coast Hockey League history. Meanwhile, Roanoke (8-8-1), which entertains Wheeling on Tuesday, won its third in a row.
Jablonski wasn't on the ice for any of Cowan's goals, but he may have given him the biggest assist of the night by letting the rookie use one of his sticks. Cowan is still awaiting his first shipment of personal sticks.
``There are a lot of goals left in that stick,'' said Jablonski. ``I haven't scored them all. This league is notorious for not getting sticks to you.''
Goals came fast and furiously in the first period of this Riverfrog-gigging. Roanoke skaters roamed the ice so freely, they walked in on Louisville's goal as unmolested as they did during Friday night's shootout.
The Express scored its first five goals in less than six and a half minutes. The first three came in a span of 2:18, with only nine seconds elapsing between the second and third.
The crowd hadn't finished celebrating Kyle Millar's goal at 11:08 that made it 2-0 before the Express had scored again. Nine seconds after the ensuing faceoff, Express defenseman Duane Harmer, who was a plus-7 in the game, found himself alone in front of Louisville goalie Klemen Mohoric, who was deked by Harmer's fake and allowed his third and final goal of the evening.
His replacement, James Konte, may as well have had a bull's-eye on his jersey, too. The Express unloaded on him from remarkably close range, with skaters buzzing around the Riverfrog goal like bees around a hive.
``Their defense was flat-footed and we were skating well,'' said Express coach Frank Anzalone. ``Once we got the lead, you could almost see their depression setting in.''
Jablonski, Ilya Dubkov and Millar also scored in Roanoke's first period.
As might have been expected from such a blowout, the game turned physical soon after the Express had taken control. There were six fights, two between Roanoke's Eric Landry and Louisville's Trevor Buchanan.
``We had some great fights out there,'' said Cowan. ``We were bumping them. We backed them up on their heels.''
ICE CHIPS: Before Dubkov rejoined the Express this week, a couple of his team records were broken by Michael Smith. On Roanoke's 10-day trip, the fourth-year defenseman played in his 206th game and registered his 139th assist, eclipsing Dubkov's team highs. Smith was named the team's defensive player of the month for October and Jeff Loder was named offensive player of the month. The Roanoke Valley Hockey Boosters also recognized Bobby Brown before the game for his Oct.17 hat trick against Knoxville. see microfilm for box score
LENGTH: Medium: 78 linesby CNB