THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, March 11, 1996 TAG: 9603110144
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
There's something about being on the power play against Hampton Roads that makes the Roanoke Express a scoring machine.
Roanoke, which normally converts fewer than 20 percent of its power-play chances, scored on 4 of 9 Sunday night in crunching the Admirals 6-3 at Scope.
It's the second time this season the Express has scored four extra-man goals against Hampton Roads, which otherwise stops 80 percent of its opponents' power-play chances.
``There's nothing they do differently,'' Admirals coach John Brophy said. ``We let them through the middle of our defense a couple of times and everything they touched went in.''
Roanoke took a 4-0 lead to chase Mark Bernard 7:43 into the second period. The Express then scored two goals against replacement goalie Corwin Saurdiff - playing for the first time since Jan. 26 - before the Admirals came back with three third-period goals.
The loss kept the Admirals out of a tie for third place with South Carolina in the East Division. The Admirals not only continue to trail the Stingrays by two points, but now lead the fourth-place Express by just one.
``We needed the two points really bad,'' said Admirals forward Rod Taylor, who scored one goal but otherwise had a fruitless night seeing eye-to-eye with referee Ian Walsh on several penalty calls. ``It was kind of a frustrating night. Things really didn't go our way.''
Hampton Roads trailed 2-0 at the end of the first period despite outshooting Roanoke 19-8. With Taylor off for boarding, Roanoke wing Jeff Jestadt tipped a Chris Potter shot by Bernard for a 1-0 lead.
Seven minutes later, Roanoke defenseman Duane Harmer slapped a shot from the point that slid past Bernard, who was screened.
``We created a little bit of luck for ourselves in the first period with a couple of the kind of goals we don't usually score,'' Roanoke coach Frank Anzalone said.
After Tim Christian beat Bernard twice in the second period, one an even-strength goal, the other a power-play effort with assists from Jeff Jablonski and Potter, Brophy pulled Bernard.
``The first shot was a deflection. On the second, I was screened. The third was a knuckleball and the fourth was a deflection,'' Bernard said. ``(Roanoke goalie Daniel) Berthiaume made big saves. I didn't. What can I say? I feel bad.''
Berthiaume faced 49 shots and turned aside 46.
``When we got behind by four goals, we could have turned it ugly,'' Brophy said. ``Instead, we kept working and had a good third period.''
Hampton Roads, which outshot the Express 49-28, was assessed 67 minutes in penalties to Roanoke's 27. That's more penalty minutes than the Admirals have drawn in their last five games - combined.
``I don't know if they felt frustrated or not,'' Anzalone said. ``I'm just happy the referee made those calls.''
Taylor said if there was frustration, it came from the fact that the same crew worked the Admirals' game the previous night at Raleigh in which Hampton Roads had just 24 minutes in penalties.
``There's lots I'd like to say about all the penalties, but I'm not interested in being fined by the league,'' Taylor said. ``At one point I skated over, whistled the circus song - and got a 10-minute misconduct. Let's leave it like that.'' by CNB