ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 12, 1997 TAG: 9701130126
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
A FOUR-GAME STREAK of success comes to an end at the hands of the Hampton Roads Admirals.
It took two tries, but the Hampton Roads Admirals once again broke a Roanoke Express winning streak.
The Admirals took it to the Express on its home ice and came away with a 4-3 victory, the same score the Express hung on Hampton Roads 24 hours earlier in Norfolk.
Friday's victory extended Roanoke's winning streak to four games, only to have the Admirals come back and snap it just like they did Dec. 29 when they stopped Roanoke's season-high six-game winning streak.
In fact, Roanoke has lost just four times in 15 games since Nov. 22 with all four losses coming to the Admirals. Saturday's win, the Admirals' East Coast Hockey League-leading 11th road victory, resulted from prototypical Hampton Roads hockey: rugged forechecking and crisp hitting from the start.
``Anybody on our side who did not know this was going to be a physical war just doesn't understand what this league is all about,'' said Express coach Frank Anzalone. ``You gotta come here after you've beaten them in their barn and play with passion. We never took it to the next gear. We never took it to that championship gear.''
Roanoke (21-12-3), which could have forged a second-place tie with Richmond in the East Division had it won, never led in the game but Hampton Roads (24-11-3) could never relax, either, even when it had a two-goal lead in the third period.
``It's the only way to play in this place,'' said Admirals coach John Brophy. ``You have to try to forecheck and stay on 'em. This is a smaller rink than some others.
``Some people call it `old-style hockey.' It's not old-style hockey. It's hockey. There's nothing wrong with hitting. I'll bet you Green Bay will be doing some hitting [today in the NFC championship game]. What do you call that? Old-style football?''
The Admirals dictated the action from the outset with their physical play, owned a 4-2 lead with under six minutes to play then withstood an Express flurry that lasted until the final horn. Even then, with a season-high crowd of 7,905 screaming in the Roanoke Civic Center, the teams had to be separated before leaving the ice.
Hampton Roads' Chad Ackerman and Rick Kowalsky were handed 10-minute misconducts after it was over, as were Roanoke's Dave Stewart and Doug Searle.
The action was pretty intense on the ice, as well. Victor Gervais scored a power-play goal with a shot from the right circle that trickled past Express netminder Dave Gagnon to give the Admirals a 4-2 lead with 10:42 left. Roanoke came back with 5:49 remaining when Bobby Brown tipped Stewart's shot past Darryl Paquette.
A pivotal play occurred 34 seconds later when Roanoke's leading scorer Jeff Jablonski, who scored twice on the night, was banished for the remainder of the game after he and Alex Krivchenkov tangled and were called for slashing and fighting.
Roanoke had some opportunities after that and even pulled Gagnon for an extra attacker with 60 seconds left, but couldn't convert.
``Sure it was big to lose Jabber for the last shift and a half,'' Anzalone said. ``That could have been the [Admirals'] plan, who knows?''
Jablonski had tied it at 1-1 after lifting a rebound of an Ilya Dubkov attempt at 12:31 of the first. The assist extended Dubkov's scoring streak to a league-high 15 games and it came after Randy Pearce had scored a short-handed goal at 6:49 after Hampton Roads' Aaron Downey was handed a game misconduct and a major penalty for boarding Michael Smith at 5:12.
Dominic Maltais scored a power-play goal to make it 2-1 at 5:42 of the second, then Jablonski notched his 25th goal of the year on a wraparound. Rod Taylor gave the Admirals the lead for good at 16:06 when fired a backhander past Gagnon's glove side to make it 3-2.
ICE CHIPS: Dubkov was named Roanoke's offensive player of the month by the Roanoke Valley Hockey Boosters after scoring a point in all eight December games. Gagnon, who was 6-1 in December, was named defensive player of the month. Roanoke's game at Richmond scheduled for today has been postponed because of a fire that severely damaged the Richmond Coliseum's electrical system Wednesday night. A new date has not been set for that game. The Renegades come to Roanoke on Tuesday for a 7 p.m. game. see microfilm for box score
LENGTH: Medium: 83 linesby CNB