ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, April 6, 1997 TAG: 9704070146
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. THE ROANOKE TIMES
Roanoke, playing without injured goaltender Dave Gagnon and forward Tim Christian, is one loss away from being eliminated from the East Coast Hockey League playoffs.
Dave Gagnon has been a star for the Roanoke Express in the playoffs, but how much he could have helped the Express on Saturday is debatable unless he suddenly became a goal-scoring sniper.
Goaltenders, however, are not known for their prodigious offensive output. Neither was the Express in its 4-1 loss to Hampton Roads in Game 3 of a first-round Kelly Cup Playoff series. It was a game Gagnon, the Roanoke netminder, had to watch as a spectator in the Roanoke Civic Center while nursing an injury.
Roanoke now trails 2-1 in this best-of-five series and must win tonight or go on summer vacation. It would like to take one more trip to the beach, but to do so the Express must win Game 4 tonight at home to force a series-deciding fifth game in Norfolk. The puck drops at 6:05.
After splitting two hard-fought games in Norfolk, including Friday's 4-2 win over the Admirals in Game 2, the Express dropped to 0-6 at home against Hampton Roads this season. Rookie goalie Matt Carmichael, who three weeks ago was tending net in major juniors for North Bay of the Ontario Hockey League, had to start in place of Gagnon and found himself and his team behind 2-0 barely two minutes into the game. The Express, which also played without injured Tim Christian, would not get closer than two goals down the stretch.
``Matt did all he could,'' said Express coach Frank Anzalone. ``They got some goals early in the game. He got surprised early. The start and finish of a game is key to goaltending. We're asking a lot of Matt. He did the best he could.''
He may have to get back out there today if Gagnon isn't ready. The veteran goalie had been phenomenal in stopping 103 of 109 shots through the first two games, including 64 saves in Hampton Roads' 4-3, triple-overtime victory in Game 1 on Wednesday. But he pulled a groin late in Game 2 and had to rely on Carmichael's 91 seconds of relief in Roanoke's 4-2 win.
Gagnon said he would make a decision today about whether or not to play.
``We'll see how it feels,'' he said.
Anzalone said, ``It's a very close call'' on Gagnon's status.
Admirals goalie Darryl Paquette won for the second time of this series by stopping 30 of 31 shots. He didn't look as sharp as he had in the first two games of the series. But the only marker he yielded was when Jeff Jablonski top-shelved Chris Lipsett's centering feed on a textbook 2-on-1 to pull Roanoke to 3-1 at 6:09 of the second
The Express couldn't afford to play catch-up, yet that was the task it faced a mere 54 seconds into the game when Admirals center Alain Savage won a faceoff in the Roanoke zone and scored. Barely a minute later, Rod Taylor scored on a drive from the top of the left faceoff circle, putting Hampton Roads ahead 2-0 just 2:06 into the game.
Carmichael settled down a bit and made 10 saves in the period, but Chris Phelps scored a power-play goal with 3:48 left to give the Admirals a 3-0 lead.
``We were thinking about a lot of shots early'' on Carmichael, said Hampton Roads' Joel Poirier. ``We wanted to see what he had. We had a couple of good goals. ... Taylor's went in off the post. If they want to blame the goalie, go ahead.''
After Jablonski's goal, the Admirals made it a three-goal game again at 11:44 of the second when Poirier took the puck from Roanoke's Matt O'Dette between the circles and beat Carmichael to his glove side. Neither team scored in a skate-through-the-motions third.
Today, ``we've got to play our best, give it 100 percent,'' said Anzalone. ``Who knows, things may fall into place.'' NOTE: please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS. 1. Hampton Roads' Alexi Krivchenkovby CNB(rear) commits a hooking penalty against Todd MacIsaac during
Saturday's game. color. 2. Roanoke's Ilya Dubkov is unable to get
the puck past Hampton Roads goalie Darryl Paquette as Admirals Neal
Martin and Mike Larkin (right) defend during the Express' 4-1 loss
Saturday in the ECHL playoffs.