DATE: Sunday, March 30, 1997                TAG: 9703300178

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER

DATELINE: ROANOKE                           LENGTH:   55 lines

PAQUETTE SHATTERS A SHUTOUT MARK THE ADMIRALS HOST ROANOKE AS PLAYOFFS OPEN WEDNESDAY NIGHT AT SCOPE.

Goalie Darryl Paquette became the ECHL's all-time shutout king as the Hampton Roads Admirals finished their best regular season ever by crushing the Roanoke Express 6-0 on Saturday night.

The victory, the Admirals' 46th of the year, relegated Roanoke to fourth place in the East Division and locked them in as Hampton Roads' opponent in the first round of the ECHL playoffs. The best-of-five series begins with games at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Friday at Scope before returning for a game Saturday night in Roanoke. If necessary, Game 4 would be played next Sunday in Roanoke and Game 5 would be Wednesday, April 9, at Scope.

Paquette, stopped 25 shots in recording his third consecutive shutout, tying a club mark set by Mark Bernard.

More importantly, he hasn't allowed a goal in his last 203 minutes and five seconds, bettering the old league mark of 136 minutes, set by former Roanoke goalie Paul Cohen in 1994.

The last goal Paquette allowed was 16:55 into the second period of last Sunday's victory at Richmond. Since then, he blanked the Renegades over the final 23:05 and whitewashed Knoxville, South Carolina and Roanoke.

``I'm seeing the puck amazingly well, and the way the team is playing defense, I only have to come up with three or four (tough) saves a game instead of 10 or 12,'' Paquette said. ``This is the third shutout in a row and I call all of the them `team shutout' because that's how they are playing in front of me.''

Paquette's toughest moment Saturday was easy to determine. It came with two minutes left in the first period with the Admirals ahead 1-0. Roanoke's Chris Lipsett got loose on a breakaway, but Paquette kept his shot out of the net with a sprawling kick save.

After that, it was all Admirals. Although they took just five shots in the second period, they scored on three to turn a 1-0 lead into a 4-0 rout.

Rod Taylor began the scoring with a blast from just inside the blue line at 3:37 of the second period. Taylor was being shadowed by defenseman Dave Stewart but unleashed a shot that sailded past goalie Dave Gagnon. It was Taylor's third goal in as many games.

Five minutes later, Aaron Downey scored on a twisting wrist shot. Taylor then followed with a goal at 18:35, assisted by Andy Weidenbach and Rick Kowalsky.

Taylor was just one of several Admirals with big scoring nights. Weidenbach had a goal and two assists, and Alex Alexeev had four assists.

``What I like best about tonight is that we didn't come in here and do anything stupid,'' Admirals coach John Brophy said. ``We played the game like it meant something, and now we have some momentum heading into the playoffs.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo

ERIC BRADY/Landmark News Service

Alexei Krivchenkov and goalie Darryl Paquette deny Roanoke's Todd

MacIsaac. Paquette has not allowed a goal in more than 203 minutes.

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