ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 1, 1996 TAG: 9612020108
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
It takes some people awhile to flip over their calendar when one month changes to another. A guy might go an entire week of December before he checks a date for a birthday or to see what day of the week Christmas falls on and realizes the November page still is hanging on the wall.
That, of course, would be a guy who does not play ice hockey for the Roanoke Express. Those dudes probably went home Saturday night and built a bonfire stoked with the ripped-out pages bearing ``November.''
The toughest month in franchise history ended the toughest way possible when the Express used every ounce of effort it could muster after playing 16 games in 29 days only to lose 4-3 to Hampton Roads in a shootout.
Twenty-four hours after getting blown out 6-2 by the Admirals in Norfolk, Roanoke (11-11-2) rode a man-sized effort from Jeff Jablonski to rally from a three-goal deficit and force a shootout it eventually would lose.
``We definitely deserved to win it,'' said Jablonski, who scored his team-leading 15th and 16th goals. ``To have come back from a three-goal deficit after what they did to us last night would have been great.''
It wasn't to be, as the Express closed an arduous 17-game November schedule with a 9-6-2 record. The team doesn't play for a week, and it's a good thing. It may take a long time to forget this one.
Both goalies - Roanoke's Dave Gagnon and Hampton Roads' Darryl Paquette - were solid, but the Admirals prevailed 3-2 in the five-round shootout. Admirals center Victor Gervais used a great fake to put the puck behind Gagnon in the fifth round and Paquette got enough of Ilya Dubkov's high attempt to send it wide and seal the victory.
``You've got to get a great goaltending job to win in this building,'' said John Brophy, Hampton Roads' coach. ``It's never easy here.''
Paquette stopped 31 shots in regulation, Gagnon 30. The Express netminder stopped everything he saw after giving up three first-period goals, including one on a fluky Rod Taylor attempt on which the puck was deflected high into the air and looped over Gagnon's head before he could see it.
``We never get a goal like that,'' said Frank Anzalone, the Express' coach.
Alain Savage scored twice in the first for Hampton Roads (12-6-2), but the Express came back with two goals in the second. Bobby Brown scored on a rebound at 8:14, and Jablonski added a power-play goal by taking an assist from Dubkov and racing from the right corner to beat Paquette.
Jablonski's best move came in the third period to tie the score, and it electrified a crowd of 6,405 at the Roanoke Civic Center. He raced into the Hampton Roads zone along the left wing, dodged a stick on the end boards and circled in front to fire a bullet just inside the left post.
``Jeff Jablonski epitomized tonight everything that I'm about and everything this organization is about,'' said Anzalone. ``He took the game on his shoulders and got us into the shootout. The bottom line, though, is we lost at home and that's a big point [in the standings] to lose.''
ICE CHIPS: Jeff Jestadt, the all-time leading scorer in Express history, was in town visiting friends and attended Saturday's game. Jestadt said he would like to play hockey again, although he is enjoying spending time with his wife and young son. ``I still get the itch to play,'' said Jestadt, who scored 90 goals in three seasons. A comeback this season appears doubtful, however.
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ERIC BRADY\Staff. Roanoke Express forward Eric Landryby CNB(foreground) is checked from behind by a Hampton Roads Admirals
player Saturday. color.