ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, April 6, 1997 TAG: 9704070141
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-11 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: HOCKEY
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR.
For the second year in a row, the East Coast Hockey League playoff system has done no favors for the Roanoke Express.
Despite finishing with the seventh-highest point total in the 16-team field, Roanoke found itself going on the road against one of the league's elite teams instead of getting a couple of home games against a lower-seeded team.
If this were 1995, when playoff teams were seeded 1-through-16 and the top eight held home-ice advantage, Roanoke would have faced 10th-seeded Dayton in the first round.
However, with ECHL owners wanting to reduce travel in their sprawling league, first-round games are played mostly within divisions. Having familiar foes face off is also seen as a way to boost attendance for playoff games, a hope that has yet to become a reality.
Hampton Roads doesn't have it much better. Although the Admirals finished with the second-highest point total (97), they were rewarded with a tough first-round draw against the Express. Under the old format, Hampton Roads would be the playoffs' No.2 seed and would be playing 15th-seeded Pensacola.
Making matters doubly difficult is the potential second-round opponent for the winner of the Roanoke-Hampton Roads series. First-round winners also stay in the division. That means the Express-Admirals winner will most likely meet South Carolina, this year's regular-season champ, provided that the Stingrays finish off Charlotte. Last year, first-round winners were re-seeded 1-through-8.
If anyone wants to complain about the playoff system, save your breath. With the league going to two conferences and four divisions next season, the ECHL will institute its 10th different playoff format in as many years.
PLAYOFF NOTES: If the Express can get past Hampton Roads, it would be only the second time since 1988 that a Roanoke Valley-based hockey team has advanced past the first round of postseason play. ... On the other hand, if the Admirals eliminate the Express, they should feel pretty good about their chances of making it to the finals. Each of the three teams to beat the Express in the playoffs from 1994-96 advanced to the championship, with the last two teams - Richmond (1995) and Charlotte (1996) - winning the title. Raleigh beat the Express in the first round of the 1994 playoffs and made it to the finals before losing to Toledo.
STINGRAYS SLASHER: South Carolina got a break when it was determined that it can retain the services of right wing Ed Courtenay through the playoffs, despite a 25-game suspension he received for slashing a Knoxville player in the face in the next-to-last game of the regular season.
Courtenay, who led the league in scoring with 54 goals and 56 assists, missed the last game of the regular season and won't serve the rest of his suspension until next season, when he will be forced to sit out the first 24 games.
He received a match penalty for hitting Knoxville rookie Dave Jesiokowski in the face with his stick on March 27. Jesiokowski suffered a broken orbital bone above his right eye.
Courtenay, 29, is the third ECHL player to receive a major suspension for a stick-swinging incident this season. In February, Toledo goalie David Goverde was suspended for seven games for swinging his stick at a referee. In December, Columbus forward Gary Coupal was suspended for the remainder of the season for slashing Hampton Roads' Aaron Downey in the back of the head as he sat on the bench.
ICE CHIPS: The Stingrays are trying to become the first team to win both the regular-season and playoff championships. The previous eight regular-season champs have fallen victim to the ``Brabham Cup Curse.'' The Brabham Cup, which is named after longtime Roanoke Valley hockey mogul and ECHL co-founder Henry Brabham, goes to the team with the highest point total in the regular season. The previous eight playoff champs won the Jack Riley Cup, which has now been changed to the Patrick J. Kelly Cup in honor of the ECHL's commissioner from 1988-96. ``Since they changed the name, maybe the Brabham Curse has been removed,'' said South Carolina coach Rick Vaive. ... The Louisiana IceGators became the first ECHL team to draw over 400,000 fans in a season when a standing-room only crowd of 11,800 came to the Cajundome in Lafayette, La., to watch Louisiana play Mississippi on March 29. The team sold 6,182 season tickets this season and expect to go over the 8,000 mark next year.
LENGTH: Medium: 80 linesby CNB