ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 29, 1996 TAG: 9612310025
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-6 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: HOCKEY
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR.
In less than half a season, the legend of Matt O'Dette has spread like a wind-fueled prairie fire.
School children in rural places and in the streets speak the name of the Roanoke Express' rookie defenseman and know of his deeds. Whenever he appears in public, people want to know the details of the event that has endeared him to Roanoke faithful.
Even in a YMCA in the town of Rocky Mount in the Roanoke border county of Franklin, O'Dette's reputation is known. Earlier this month, when Express players were visiting children there, a small boy came up to O'Dette and made this inquiry:
``Why did you break Jason Clarke's jaw?''
Like the character played by James Stewart in ``The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,'' Matt O'Dette can't shake the title of being The Man Who Broke Jason Clarke's Jaw.
``Tons of people are coming up asking me about that,'' said O'Dette. ``I don't mind it. I just try to play it down a little bit.''
A year ago, it would have been unfathomable for a player to have been revered in Roanoke for fighting Clarke. In two years with the Express, Clarke became one of the most popular players in Roanoke Valley hockey history.
By the thousands, Roanoke hockey fans cheered every goal, check and punch thrown by the East Coast Hockey League's renowned bad boy. He was about as big a sporting celebrity this town has seen in awhile. He was besieged by fans after games, hounded by autograph-seekers and lauded whenever he slugged it out with enemies adorned in the colors of opposing teams.
But last summer, Clarke was traded to one of those opponents - the Birmingham Bulls, a team Roanoke played on Nov.5. It was inevitable that Clarke would be mixing it up with his old team - that's an enforcer's job.
He wound up not fighting with one of his former teammates, but with O'Dette, who in the process of the altercation landed a blow that cracked one of the bones in Clarke's jaw. Clarke finished the game, but, as of this weekend, had not played since.
``I figured that playing against his old team and his old coach, he'd want to go out there and prove something,'' said O'Dette. ``I knew he'd want to show his old teammates something. It wasn't that big a deal. It was just a fight.''
If anything, that fight has obscured O'Dette's other contributions to the Express. At 6-foot-5, 220 pounds, O'Dette has been a fine stand-up defenseman for Roanoke. With the Express down to no more than five true defensemen on most nights, O'Dette has logged plenty of minutes. He's scored just nine points, but his plus-minus rating was a plus-2 heading into the weekend.
That means when he is on the ice, the puck rarely goes into his team's net.
``Matt's done what we've asked of him,'' said Express coach Frank Anzalone. ``He had to shed a little weight when he got here, but he's done that and played better since then. I've got no complaints with Matt O'Dette.''
With veterans like Dave Stewart and Michael Smith missing time for various reasons this season, O'Dette has had a chance to play.
And, he's made a name for himself.
``I've got to be ready to play every other shift,'' said O'Dette. ``It's been tough at times. For me, having older guys to play around has helped.''
BACKHANDED COMPLIMENT: First-year Richmond coach Scott Gruhl has hardly missed a beat in taking over for Roy Sommer, who guided the Renegades to the Riley Cup championship in 1994-95 and led his team to the best regular-season record in 1995-96. Under Gruhl, Richmond is in first place in the ECHL's East Division with a league-high 41 points entering weekend games.
Still, the guy is 0-4 in his career against the Express. That hurts.
``They're the most boring team to watch,'' he said of his in-state rival, ``but they beat us.''
REST IS BEST: Playing a bunch of games in a short amount of time may be grueling, but Anzalone has said before that he doesn't like long layoffs, either. When the Express endured a pair of week-long breaks in December, Anzalone was concerned the team would not be as sharp when it returned to the ice.
Not surprisingly, veterans Ilya Dubkov and Jeff Jablonski raised the level of their games and sparked the Express during the past month by combining for eight goals during Roanoke's four-game winning streak.
``Dubkov and Jablonski can finesse their games to the point where a layoff doesn't hurt them,'' said Anzalone. ``Their timing is so good, they can take some days off and still play the same. Other guys, a layoff may disrupt their timing. Shoot, Jablonski took a whole year off and still came back and scored 39 goals'' last season.
DR. STEWART: Express defenseman Dave Stewart already has missed more games this season than he missed all of 1995-96. A three-game suspension in October and a nagging ankle injury conspired to knock Stewart out of 12 games.
``It's been one of the toughest times I've ever gone through,'' said Stewart, whose left ankle is still sore, but not enough to keep him off the ice.
At least he's learned a little bit about the anatomy of the ankle.
``I've never had an injury like this, where it continues to bother you. I tore a ligament, stretched the Achilles' [tendon] It's a complex thing the ankle.''
NOTE: Please see microfilm for statistics.
LENGTH: Medium: 99 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS Staff. Defenseman Matt O'Dette hasby CNBbeen effective in keeping opponents from putting the puck in
Roanoke's net.