ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 12, 1997 TAG: 9701140009
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: HOCKEY
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR.
It's not often that one hears an East Coast Hockey League player say he's relieved to be playing against the defending league champions.
But Jeff Jablonski of the Roanoke Express can't help feeling that way after being named to the ECHL All-Star team, a squad of 22 players that will face the Charlotte Checkers on Jan. 21 in Charlotte, N.C.
It's not that Jablonski takes the Checkers lightly. It's just that with the ECHL experimenting with a new format that pits the all-stars against the team in the game's host venue, he's glad to be playing the Checkers and not a team that might see an opportunity to eradicate some of the league's best players.
``I mean, what if this game was in Hampton or Louisiana,'' Jablonski said, thinly veiling an insinuation that those teams might like to spice up an All-Star Game with a little rough-housing. ``It's not like we're dressing any goons on the All-Star team.''
True, most hockey all-star spectaculars are relatively gentle, high-scoring affairs speckled with more bad checks than the cash register of a pizza parlor in a college town.
That's been the case in the ECHL, where four All-Star games have produced an average of 10.1 goals per game. Even though the attendance for the four contests has averaged a respectable 5,613 fans, league bosses wanted to jazz up the proceedings in hopes of selling out a game.
As a result, they may have sold out the Checkers, who must prepare to play the league's elite players during a time when most teams are getting a break.
Charlotte coach John Marks is more concerned about his club's recent three-game losing streak than he is about readying for a game billed as ``The ECHL's Best vs. the Best of the Rest.''
``To be honest, I haven't even thought about the All-Star Game,'' Marks said. ``I know it's a scenario in which the league wants to create more interest in the game and have a fan base. To beat that group of players will be difficult. What concerns me is that we only have 14 skaters right now. It'll be bad enough to try to get through the season.''
Marks said it's possible he'll ask the league for permission to invite a couple of players from other ECHL teams to fill out his lineup.
``It's billed as the All-Stars playing the East Coast Hockey League champions,'' Marks said. ``The problem with that is I don't have the same team I had last year. Half that team isn't here.''
SECOND TIME AROUND: This is Jablonski's second ECHL All-Star honor. He scored a goal as a member of the West squad in 1994, when he was with Toledo.
``It's great to be going back to the All-Star Game,'' he said. ``It's going to be different this year with the new format. It might just be the typical, non-checking type game. I don't know how it's going to go.''
GRUHL-ING STRETCH: A fire at the Richmond Coliseum during a concert Wednesday night has forced the postponement of today's Express game against the Renegades. The game will be rescheduled.
Roanoke will play host Tuesday to a Renegades squad itching to improve its 0-4 record against the Express.
After Roanoke beat the Renegades 4-2 on Dec. 27, Richmond coach Scott Gruhl said: ``I guarantee you, the next time we play them we'll play them a little different. We'll see what they're made of. They hit and hide. They're a bunch of homers. They don't hit on the road. I'm sick and tired of losing to them.... They're the most boring team in the world, but they beat us.''
Express coach Frank Anzalone knows his team is in for a physical contest, to say the least.
``Scott Gruhl will have them sky high,'' Anzalone said.
CLARKE PUNCHES OUT: The Jason Clarke era ended in Birmingham, Ala., this past week when he left the Bulls and signed with the Western Professional Hockey League's Central Texas Stampede, where he will be reunited with former Express teammate Daniel Berthiaume.
Clarke, who was Roanoke's resident brawler for two seasons before getting traded to Birmingham in September, never returned to the Bulls' lineup after his jaw was broken by Roanoke's Matt O'Dette during a fight Nov. 5.
Bulls coach Dennis Desrosiers said he unsuccessfully attempted to trade Clarke before placing him on the suspended list. In eight games with Birmingham, Clarke had one goal, two assists and 90 penalty minutes.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?: Former Express players are strewn across the hockey landscape, from Texas to Michigan to England.
Heading into the weekend, Berthiaume was 12-11-0 in goal for the WPHL's Stampede, and he recently was selected to be a back-up in the league's All-Star game. Former Express goalie Matt DelGuidice was 3-11-4 for Amarillo (Texas) in the WPHL, but owned a 3.91 goals-against average and a .897 save percentage for one of the league's worst teams.
Dave ``Moose'' Morissette, the Express' captain in its inaugural season of 1993-94, had one goal and 128 penalty minutes with the International Hockey League's Houston Aeros, and Pat Ferschweiler, the Express' captain for part of 1994-95, had two goals in 19 games with the IHL's Kansas City Blades.
Derek Laxdal and Karry Biette are in Great Britain. Laxdal had 10 goals and 10 assists in 24 games with the Nottingham Panthers, and Biette had 28 goals and 37 assists in 31 games with the Swindon Ice Lords.
Dan Ryder, who still holds the Express record for career victories by a goaltender (42), has played for the Port Huron (Mich.) Border Cats and Saginaw (Mich.) Wheels in the Colonial League.
AROUND THE ECHL: Dayton goalie Derek Herlofsky, the ECHL's player of the month for December, was trying to break Berthiaume's league record of 13 consecutive victories when he was called up by the IHL's Michigan K-Wings this past week. Herlofsky had won 10 consecutive decisions when he was recalled. recorded a hat trick and scored five points.... The Louisiana IceGators topped the 500,000 mark in attendance in their 49th home game of the club's 1 1/2-year history.
OFFICE MOVES: The Express announced this past week that public relations director Tommy Benizio was replacing Steve Troutman as the team's marketing director.
Benizio, a Radford University graduate who helped start a club hockey team there, is in his first year with the Express. Four years ago as a college student he suited up for the Roanoke Valley Rampage.
Another Radford graduate, Shannon Hawley, was named the team's director of merchandise and sales representative.
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