ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 4, 1997 TAG: 9701060055
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: KNOXVILLE, TENN.
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
Wayne Strachan endeared himself to his Roanoke Express teammates almost immediately.
Strachan, who was assigned to the Express from the International Hockey League's Manitoba Moose earlier this week, scored two goals and Jeff Cowan added a pair as Roanoke hung on for a 7-6 win over the Knoxville Cherokees at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum on Friday night. (Summary in Scoreboard. B5)
The win was the eighth in nine games for Roanoke (19-11-3), which has won its past four road games.
The Express led by four goals - 6-2 - in the second period but Knoxville (12-17-1) ripped off three straight goals and Roanoke had to hang on in the third.
Strachan tipped in a Tim Christian shot at 2:13 of the third for a 7-5 lead.
Vaclav Nedomansky scored 59 seconds later, but the Express defense then shut down the Cherokees.
Strachan centered a line with Cowan and Christian that accounted for five goals. For a couple of weeks, Express coach Frank Anzalone had been searching for production outside the line of Ilya Dubkov, Jeff Jablonski and Eric Landry.
The Express scored four straight goals in the first to take a 4-1 lead less than 10 minutes into the game. Cowan scored to tie the score 1-1, then Michael Smith, Christian and Dubkov tallied before Knoxville's Nedomansky.
Cowan and Strachan scored early in the third to make it 6-2.
The teams play again tonight.
LENGTH: Short : 39 linesby CNB