ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 23, 1997 TAG: 9702250039
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-9 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: HOCKEY
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR.
Perhaps today's game between the Roanoke Express and the Mississippi Sea Wolves should be played for the John Gagnon Cup. After all, neither East Coast Hockey League team would exist if not for the Roanoke Valley's leading French Canadian trucking magnate.
He'll be there today in Biloxi, Miss., but insists he won't be outwardly rooting for one team or the other.
``I will be very neutral,'' he said. ``If Mississippi ever plays in Roanoke, I'll wear a jersey that's half and half; one half Express, one half Sea Wolves.''
That would almost be like wearing a ball cap with bills pointing in two directions, but that's the way life has been for Gagnon, who for nearly four years has had to split his time between running his Covington-based trucking firm, Canadian-American Transport (CAT), and attending to business in Roanoke, Mississippi and other locales in Canada and the United States.
Owning two hockey teams, though, has been the most costly proposition for Gagnon, and not just because of the expansion rights fees he and his business associates shelled out for the Mississippi squad a year ago.
It was his decision to put an ECHL club in Biloxi, Miss., that essentially ended his day-to-day involvement with the Express, the club he and five other investors founded in 1993 in order to keep professional hockey in the Roanoke Valley.
For nearly three years, Gagnon was the Express' only major player who didn't wear a green-and-red jersey. Rarely was he without an opinion, whether it was about the team he owned, a rival team or a league matter. Other faces in the organization probably were better known to the public than that of Gagnon, but there was little question who the boss was.
That was until he went to Mississippi and ticked off some of his co-owners, who didn't like the idea of their team president getting involved with another team in the same league. So, on April 19, 1996, Gagnon's partners voted him out as an officer on the Roanoke club by invoking an organizational rule that allowed each partner to have one vote regardless of the amount of stock owned.
Gagnon still attends Express games, still owns 50 percent of the team. He's just not the boss.
``It's definitely been different,'' Gagnon said. ``It's been a different feeling going from running the team to assisting with the running of the team. It was a little hard those first three months. One good thing about it: It gave me a chance to look over Mississippi a little bit.''
Both of Gagnon's teams are doing well. The Express set a record for season-ticket sales despite the tumultuous off-season and puts an entertaining, winning team on the ice. Mississippi also has a winning record and is averaging more than 6,000 fans per game in the suddenly hockey-mad Gulf Coast region of the Deep South.
Perhaps more importantly, Gagnon has turned more of his attention back to CAT, which he feels he neglected in his years of trying to make the Express a viable enterprise. He now spends much of his time in CAT's Roanoke County office, which sits on the first floor of the same Starkey Road building that houses the Express offices on the second floor.
``Basically, [working in hockey] hurt my business as far as CAT was concerned,'' said Gagnon, who added that having a limited role in the Express office has ``enabled me to concentrate on my main business. My partner[s in CAT] worried that I spent too much time with the hockey team. I neglected CAT for a while. There's always a good thing that comes out of something that didn't appear good in the beginning.''
The lasting damage has been to Gagnon's relationship with his Express partners. He remains close to general manager Pierre Paiement, who initially joined Gagnon in the Mississippi deal before pulling out to keep his job with the Express, and he said relations with the other owners have improved somewhat.
``We have learned to live with each other,'' Gagnon said.
That assessment was supported by Joe Steffen, the team's vice president, who led the effort to remove Gagnon as a club officer.
``I guess I'd compare it to a couple that goes through a divorce and remains friends,'' Steffen said. ``You can't ever get back that level of synergy and trust, but you realize you have common goals, which in this case is the success of the Roanoke Express franchise.''
The events that led to Gagnon owning the Mississippi franchise transpired quickly, beginning at the ECHL winter meeting in January 1996, when a prospective ownership group suddenly scuttled plans to put a team in Biloxi. After a league source inquired if he was interested in leading the Mississippi effort, Gagnon flew to Biloxi to inspect the coliseum, the city and the market. Within two days, he was on his way to owning a second hockey franchise.
``The deal in Mississippi came so fast,'' he said. ``I had a 48-hour window to say yes or no, I'm going in or not. If I look back, I don't know what I would have done differently.
``Probably the communication between my [Express] partners and I would've been something to change in the beginning.''
For now, the business operation of the Roanoke Express will continue as it has since April 19. This past summer, there were rumors of partners attempting to buy out Gagnon and vice versa. Today, Gagnon said everything stands ``status quo for right now.''
As owner of the Mississippi team, Gagnon still has a say in league matters. Just this past week, the ECHL restored the voting authority he lost following the Express shake-up. He said now it's time for some healing to take place.
``My feelings after the events of last year were harsh,'' he said. ``There's been a lot of explaining to calm things down. You can't hold a grudge for the rest of your life.'' NOTE: please see microfilm for statistics.
LENGTH: Long : 104 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Gagnonby CNB